Sweetgreen Guacamole Greens Salad

The Sweetgreen Guacamole Greens bowl is basically deconstructed guac but in SALAD form, and it’s delicious as a healthy lunch or dinner option! There’s an easy roast chicken, red cabbage, avocado, the quickest pickled red onions, cherry tomatoes, and crushed tortilla chips. 

Components and Substitutions

The Salad

• The base of this salad include vegetables like greens (I used romaine and arugula, but the original bowl suggests spring mix), red cabbage, cherry tomatoes, and avocado.

The quickest pickled red onions

• Sweetgreen’s original Guacamole Greens salad calls for raw red onions. Feel free to use this, but I’m personally not a huge fan of straight up raw onion. Therefore, I do the FASTEST ever quick pickled red onion. All you do in thinly slice some red onions, add this to a bowl with 2 tablespoons of white wine vinegar, and let this sit until you’re ready to assemble. They’re delicious and so simple!

Crunchies – Tortilla Chips

• The tortilla chips really make this bowl feel like a deconstructed guacamole salad. I crush them over the top at the end but you could also leave them whole to scoop up the salad too. My favorite brand or Tortilla Chips are the Casa Sanchez brand – thin and light. They’re the BEST!

Easy Roast Chicken

• Simply seasoned with a sprinkle of salt, pepper, paprika, and garlic powder, these chicken thighs still pack in the flavor and make this salad filling.

Lime Cilantro Jalapeno Dressing

• The same dressing as my favorite Salmon Taco Bowl salad, this lime cilantro jalapeno dressing has cilantro, jalapenos, fresh lime juice, garlic, and olive oil. I find the dressing to be pretty mild, just make sure not to include the seeds if you don’t want it spicy! Make a double batch of this and use the extra for other salads – I promise you won’t regret it 🙂

step by step instructions

1. Thinly slice the red onion, then let this sit in 2 tablespoons of white wine vinegar.

2. Preheat the oven to 425F. 

3. Add the chicken thighs to a baking sheet. Season with kosher salt, a sprinkle of paprika, garlic powder, and black pepper. Once the oven is preheated, roast for 15 minutes. After the chicken has been roasting for 15 minutes, remove this from the oven. If you’d like more of a char, you can broil this for an additional minute. Once the chicken is ready, cut the chicken into 1” pieces. 

4. While the chicken is roasting, prep the remaining produce – halve the cherry tomatoes, dice the avocado, and chop the red cabbage if you did not already get the pre-shredded version.

5. Make the jalapeno lime vinaigrette by combining all the ingredients in a food processor. Blend together, taste, adjust seasoning, then pour into an airtight jar. 

6. Assemble the salad by adding the greens, chicken, and chopped veggies in a mixing bowl or serving bowl. Toss with your desired amount of vinaigrette (for each serving, use 2-3 tablespoons), taste and adjust more dressing as desired. Top with crushed tortilla chips, and serve.

If you’re meal prepping this, leave the dressing to assemble until the end, and keep the tortilla chips stored separately to keep this crisp!

FAQ

• How many servings do you make, and how long does this store for? 
  • I meal prep 3 days worth on meals to ensure optimal freshness. I also use the forth serving for dinner one evening. This should keep in the fridge (unassembled) for up to 4 days. See below on how to store each individual ingredient to last this long.
• What’s the best way to store the ingredients?
  • Store the greens in a plastic ziplock bag with a paper towel to absorb moisture. If you purchased a pre-washed bag of greens, you can add a paper towel directly into the container to help with freshness.
  • Cut the tomatoes fresh each morning as you pack together the vegetable components. You could keep the tomatoes whole in the salad as well.
  • Store the shredded cabbage in its own container, or with the greens.
  • Store the roast chicken it its own smaller container. Additionally, you can freeze the chicken, defrost the night before, and heat it slightly before adding to the salad.
  • Keep the dressing in a airtight jar or bottle and this will keep in the refrigerator for up to 3 weeks.

Video Tutorial Here: Sweetgreen Guacamole Greens Salad

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My other Sweetgreen copycat recipes: