This is not just a salad. This is a full-blown grilled drama starring chicken with a smoky past, corn that’s been charred into character, and poblanos that have seen things. It’s the kind of dish that makes your grill feel important and your vegetables feel like they’ve survived a reality show.
You’ll be rubbing spices like a potion master, peeling peppers like a therapist, and slicing chicken with the precision of a ninja chef. There’s avocado involved, because of course there is—it’s the creamy glue that holds this chaotic masterpiece together.
Perfect for impressing guests, confusing your neighbors with the smell, or just feeding yourself while pretending you’re on a cooking competition show. Grab your tongs, your bravest vegetables, and prepare to make a salad that’s way too dramatic for its own good.
Ingredients
- 2 tbsp avocado or olive oil plus more for the grill
- 3 ears corn husked
- 2 poblano peppers
- 1 tsp chili powder
- ½ tsp salt divided
- ¼ tsp garlic powder
- pinch cayenne pepper
- 2 boneless skinless chicken breasts
- 3 scallions thinly sliced
- ½ cup fresh cilantro coarsely chopped
- 2 tbsp coarsely chopped pickled jalapeños, plus more as needed
- 1 tsp grated lime zest
- 2 tbsp plus 1 tsp fresh lime juice
- 2 medium avocados halved and pitted
Instructions
- Prepare the grill for direct heat and emotionally prepare yourself for a journey involving fire and vegetables.
- If using gas, set it to 450°F and pretend you’re launching a flavor rocket.
- If using charcoal, light it like you’re summoning smoky spirits from the underworld.
- Wait until the coals are gray and hot, like they’ve seen things.
- Test the heat with your hand, but don’t sacrifice your fingerprints.
- Clean the grates because burnt mystery bits are not seasoning.
- Oil the grates gently, as if you’re moisturizing a dragon’s skin.
- Place corn and poblanos on the grill and let them tan aggressively.
- Turn them every 2 minutes so they don’t burn out or develop uneven personalities.
- Remove corn when it’s charred and poblanos when they look like they’ve been through a breakup.
- Put poblanos in a bowl and cover with a plate so they can stew in their feelings.
- Let everything sit for 10 minutes while you contemplate your own life choices.
- Mix chili powder, salt, garlic powder, and cayenne in a bowl and pretend you’re a spice wizard.
- Rub the spice mix all over the chicken like you’re giving it a spicy massage.
- Grill the chicken until it has dramatic grill marks and reaches 165°F, the temperature of truth.
- Let the chicken rest for 5 minutes because it’s been working hard.
- Slice the chicken into strips like you’re preparing it for a red carpet event.
- Cut corn kernels off the cob while trying not to chase them across the kitchen.
- Peel the poblanos, remove their insides, and chop them into bite-sized pieces of redemption.
- Combine corn, poblanos, scallions, cilantro, pickled jalapeños, oil, lime zest, lime juice, and salt in a bowl.
- Toss everything together like you’re mixing a salad and a mild identity crisis.
- Taste and adjust seasoning until your mouth says “yes.”
- Mash avocados with lime juice and salt until they resemble green happiness.
- Spread avocado mash on each plate like edible abstract art.
- Mound corn-poblano salad on top like a delicious mountain.
- Add sliced chicken and admire your creation like a proud food parent.
- Serve immediately with lime wedges and a sense of accomplishment.
Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!
Brian Gerard (Lewandowski) writes books critics call "aggressively adequate"—better than "aggressively terrible" but somehow more concerning. He once traded a MetroCard for a pitchfork on a subway platform and now uses it exclusively for dramatic pointing. He lives on a farm outside Charlottesville, Virginia with three disappointed potted plants, a judgmental pig named Trouble McFussbucket, and a wife who smiles politely at his life choices.
See my Amazon author page.
His first manuscript was composed entirely of punctuation marks and confused sketches. He's since published "Not Bukowski" (poems that don't rhyme) and "Slop and Swell from a Festering Mind" (essays so concerning that bookstores check on his wellbeing). He once spent three hours photographing a rare bird that turned out to be a plastic bag, and he's the only person banned from church bake sales for "weaponized brownies." Inheriting absurdism from Vonnegut and Adams, sprawling narratives from Irving, and weaponized failure from Moore, he writes about conflicted everymen struggling through supernatural chaos. He remains unconvinced that birds aren't surveillance drones.
More biographic lies...err...info.
See my Amazon author page.
His first manuscript was composed entirely of punctuation marks and confused sketches. He's since published "Not Bukowski" (poems that don't rhyme) and "Slop and Swell from a Festering Mind" (essays so concerning that bookstores check on his wellbeing). He once spent three hours photographing a rare bird that turned out to be a plastic bag, and he's the only person banned from church bake sales for "weaponized brownies." Inheriting absurdism from Vonnegut and Adams, sprawling narratives from Irving, and weaponized failure from Moore, he writes about conflicted everymen struggling through supernatural chaos. He remains unconvinced that birds aren't surveillance drones.
More biographic lies...err...info.
Latest posts by Brian Gerard (Lewandowski) (see all)
- When God Closes a Door, He Needs to Go Get Some Paprika - March 5, 2026
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- Under the Blood Worm Moon, Nobody Has to Learn Anything - March 3, 2026
