If salads were people, this Copycat Quesadilla Explosion Salad would be a real party animal. Surrounded by wedges of quesadilla and bursting with fajita chicken, cheese, corn and black bean salsa, and tortilla strips, this Chili’s copycat is basically a fiesta on your plate.
As a former waitress at Chili’s, I can personally testify to how MASSIVE this salad is when it’s served at the restaurant: a literal mound of lettuce, chicken, cheese, corn, beans, tomatoes, and tortilla strips, not to mention the quesadilla wedges shooting out the sides. So while this recipe makes 2 restaurant-sized salads, in reality it serves 4.
Like most copycat restaurant salads, there are a lot of different components here, but don’t let that stop you. The dressing can be made up to 1 week ahead of time, while the chicken and the salsa can be made up to 3 days in advance and stored in airtight containers in the refrigerator. The only things that really need to be done at the last minute are making the quesadillas and tossing the salad.
Since there are SO many other things going on in this recipe, we opted to buy tortilla strips rather than frying our own. But if you want to make your own (and we highly recommend it!), you can easily buy a pack of corn tortillas, slice them into thin strips, and then fry them in about 1/2″ oil in a heavy pan, similar to the way we do for our favorite tortilla soup.
Made this? Let us know in the comments below.
