Hearty, fresh and flavor packed, this Southwestern Salad is a great option to round out a Southwestern meal, or serve as a main course. Scoops of black beans and sweet corn, and a combination of salad greens and vegetables, and the sweet and tangy Southwestern Vinaigrette steals the show.
What Is This Southwestern Salad
My Southwestern salad is a bold, New Mexico style salad built with crisp greens, black beans, corn, fresh vegetables, and a punchy dressing. You'll often see avocado, crunchy tortilla strips and Mexican cheese as a topping. It eats like a full meal, but make a great side dish for your Southwestern dinner spread.
Why You’ll Love This Salad
Everyone needs a good Southwest Salad recipe that you can serve with Enchiladas, Tacos, Burritos … and beyond. This salad is not only a healthy eating lifesaver, it’s awesome with flavor and full of fresh ingredients. What’s not to love:
- It’s tossed with an exciting Southwestern vinaigrette salad dressing, which honestly, I think steals the show. It’s actually a vinaigrette that includes lime juice, honey and of course my favorite ingredient for any of my Southwest recipes, New Mexico Red Chile Powder.
- And a beautiful excuse to use crunchy jicama.
- It showcases corn and black beans.
- It doubles as a side dish and a tossed salad.
- It’s very versatile for swapping out the vegetables, not to mention very pretty to look at.
- Most Important …. it … is … so … Good.
This Southwest salad has become our go-to side salad to serve with any type of Mexican food. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve made it for dinner and and served to guests when entertaining.
It’s made with a bright zesty cumin-lime salad dressing that’s easy to make in just a couple of minutes. Just grab a mason jar with a tight fitting lid, add the ingredients and give it a really good shaking.
I make this salad nearly every time I make Mexican food. It’s a winner.
Southwest Salad Ingredients:
As with any salad, the ingredients are so easily customized. Greens, cheeses, just use what makes you happy.
- Greens: I like to buy the clamshell of Super greens at King Soopers. The package contains sturdy varieties, and a variety colors and shapes. Which makes for a pretty combination to compliment the bright colored vegetables. Iceberg lettuce and romaine are also a good choice here.
- Jicama: This salad benefits from the cool crunch of Jicama. And what a great excuse to use this globe shaped root vegetable from Mexico.
- Canned Black Beans: So easy, just drain and rinse.
- Corn: Choose frozen to make this easy. But feel free to use fresh corn removed from the cob during sweet corn season.
- Bell Pepper: Red, orange or yellow brings beautiful color and crunch.
- Fresh Tomatoes: When it’s not tomato season, I buy those packages of grape tomatoes that one can find year round. They’re sturdy and easy to slice.
- Onion: I like to use sweet yellow onion for this salad. Of course you can use red onion, it’s just a little strong in flavor for me. But looks pretty.
- Radishes: Sliced thin, they’re commonly used as a garnish for Mexican food, and, of course, they work beautifully in this Southwestern Salad.
- Cilantro: We love it. Omit if you’re not a fan.
- Avocado: Friends don’t let friends eat a Southwestern salad without chopped avocado.
- Jalapeno Peppers: So pretty, so festive. Just cut off the top, and using the handle of a spoon to scrape the veins and seeds from the pepper. This will reduce the heat factor. Just slice thin and sprinkle.
Toppings and Southwestern Vinaigrette Dressing
- Lime Juice and Honey, for that glorious sweet tangy flavor
- Spices: Chile Powder, Cumin, Kosher Salt and Garlic Powder
- Olive Oil: The backbone to any vinaigrette dressing.
- Toppings:
- Tortilla Strips: Adding a handful of crispy tortilla strips gives this salad a wonderful crunch. You can purchase bags of pre-made tortilla strips at the grocery store. We happen to like the New Mexico “Santa Fe” style. That little bit of heat just adds another layer of Southwestern flavor.
- Cheese: Use a dry Mexican Crumbling cheese. I love how it looks and it brings a salty topping to all of those beautiful vegetables. Look for Cotija or Queso Fresco.
Want a creamy dressing option? Take a look at this recipe for Red Chile Buttermilk Dressing. A recipe from the Rancho de Chimayo restaurant in Chimayo, New Mexico.
Protein Add-ins
This salad would also make a fabulous Southwest main course salad: …
- Chicken, cubed, shredded, or grilled.
- Steak: Choose a grilled or pan-seared, sliced flank steak or lean steak like this Denver Steak.
- Shrimp: Top with some spicy Firecracker Shrimp. Delicious!
Want to make it a meal and keep it vegetarian? Add some (cooled) cooked pasta. I like spiral shaped rotini for this.
How To Make It
Once all the chopping and dicing is complete, this is a quick assembly salad:
- Prep vegetables, slice, dice and chop all of the vegetables. Keep in mind, save slicing the avocado until just ready to serve so it doesn’t turn color.
- Make the Southwestern dressing.
- Add the salad greens to a large salad bowl and then start sprinkling in the vegetables.
- Top with crumbled cotija cheese and tortilla strips.
- Serve dressing on the side.
Presentation Tip
No need to toss the salad before serving, you don’t want all of those colorful vegetables to fall to the bottom of the bowl. Arrange sliced radish and jalapeno on the edges of the bowl. Sprinkle on tortilla strips (if using) and serve with dressing on the side.
Tips For Success
- Beans: Drain and rinse black beans well. And it’s even a good idea to pat the beans dry with a paper towel, while they’re still in the colander. Doing so will reduce the risk of a watery salad.
- Avocado: Wait until the last minute to slice or dice the avocado. Doing so too early will cause the avocado to become discolored.
- Lime Juice: Please use fresh lime juice rather than bottled.
What To Serve It With
So many options. This salad is a great side dish for any Mexican Southwestern Main Course. Here are a few of our favorites.
Storage
Unfortunately leafy green salads aren’t the best candidates for storage. But keeping the vinaigrette on the side and the salad undressed will help. Pick out any unused avocado. Store salad in an airtight container in the refrigerator. It will keep for one day. Store dressing separately, and it will keep in the refrigerator for up to a week.
FAQ’s
Absolutely yes. Everything about it is healthy. The vegetables and green are high in fiber and the beans provide healthy protein. And adding lean proteins like chicken and shrimp keep it healthy.
Yes, and you should. Prepping the vegetables can be a bit time consuming. Chop them in advance and then add the avocado, cheese and tortilla strips right before serving. The dressing can be made well in advance, up to a few days.
Explore More Southwestern Salad Recipes
And don’t miss my category for Salads Recipes, you’ll find lots of tasty recipes including the most popular in the category, Taco Salad Recipe With Catalina Dressing and Fritos.
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Southwestern Salad with Southwestern Vinaigrette Dressing
Ingredients
- For The Southwest Dressing
- ¼ cup fresh lime juice about 1 large lime
- 2 tablespoons honey
- ½ teaspoon cumin
- ½ teaspoon garlic powder
- ½ teaspoon Kosher salt
- 4 tablespoons olive oil
- ¼ teaspoon New Mexico Chile Powder Add more if you want more heat.
- For The Southwest Salad
- 1 jalapeno pepper thin sliced (seeds and veins removed if you want less heat)
- 1 large head romaine lettuce or artisan salad greens, chopped
- 1 bell pepper orange or red, chopped
- ½ medium sweet onion halved and then sliced in to half-rings
- ½ small Jicama peeled and cut into match sticks
- 1 small zucchini small chopped
- 10 cherry tomatoes halved
- 1 cup sweet corn thawed from frozen, or cut off the cob.
- 1 cup canned black beans drained and rinsed
- 4 whole radish thin sliced
- 1 avocado chopped
- ¼ cup cilantro chopped
- Tortilla strips and Mexican crumbling cheese for garnish I purchase tortilla strips from the grocery store
Instructions
- For the dressing, combine lime juice, honey, cumin garlic powder, salt and olive oil in a large mason jar. Shake vigorously to combine ingredients. Set aside.
- Prep all vegetables by chopping and slicing. Save prepping avocado until ready to serve so it won't change colors.
- Add greens to a large salad bowl. Start sprinkling in the beans, corn and prepped veggies. I like to add sliced radish and jalapeno peppers to the edge of the bowl for presentation. No need to toss, or toss gently so the vegetables won't fall to the bottom. It's all about keeping those bright colors for presentation.
- Serve dressing on the side. Garnish with tortilla strips, crumbled cotija cheese, and chopped cilantro.
Notes
- Beans: Drain and rinse black beans well. And it’s even a good idea to pat the beans dry with a paper towel, while they’re still in the colander. Doing so will reduce the risk of a watery salad.
- Avocado: Wait until the last minute to slice or dice the avocado. Doing so too early will cause the avocado to become discolored.
- Lime Juice: Please use fresh lime juice rather than bottled.
- Jalapeno Peppers: Remove seeds and veins from the jalapeno peppers to reduce heat. Cut the top off the pepper and use a thin handle of a dinner fork or spoon. Scrape out the seeds and veins and then slice.
Nutrition
Southwestern Salad with Southwestern Vinaigrette Dressing … It’s Whats For A Mexican Side Dish
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This was delicious! The salad was hearty and lovely with so many veggies and other toppings added to it and the dressing was almost good enough to drink! We will make this often for sure.
I LOVE this salad! I made the first time when friends invited us to their home for a Mexican themed meal.
My husband commented when we got home that my salad (actually not mine but shhh) made the meal.
Made it again last night and again, rave reviews from everyone who shared it.
Love all the different textures and crunch.
Just wish I could find the thin tortilla strips like at the restaurant.
Thank you so much for your note Joyce! I’m so glad you tried and liked the salad. It’s a favorite in our house too.
Lea Ann, how did I miss this one before now?! This is exactly what I’m craving right now–will be picking up the ingredients today! But forget side dish–I’m going to make a meal of it!
I really like black beans, and they must be wonderful in this amazing looking salad. This is great! We eat salad for a main course a lot, and this would be perfect for us. Thanks!
A beautiful salad and you’re right, a great side for tacos, enchiladas and other southwestern cuisine. The jicama made me realize that I haven’t seen one in ages. When I see one, I buy it because I love jicama. Guess I need to take a trip to the supermercado. BTW – I love your simple lime vinaigrette. I could pour that over an avocado and be happy.
I love all of the ingredients in this salad, so I’ll have to make it. Thank you so much for posting it!
You are so welcome. I hope you give it a try. And if you do, please come back and post a review. Thanks for stopping in.
This sounds perfect with Mexican food. Actually this sounds perfect with any food! Or even just on its own!
Can this be made a day ahead with the dressing mixed in?
It can be made a day ahead of time, but don’t add the avocado or the dressing until ready to serve. The dressing will wilt the greens and the avocado will turn in color.
The salad was a perfect accompaniment for the enchiladas verde I made yesterday. It’s delicious, crunchy and colorful, and the dressing is just right! I didn’t have tortilla strips so topped it with pepitas.
Thanks for letting me know Susan and so glad you enjoyed the recipe. It’s popular around here, thats for sure. And I adore your idea for the pepita topping. I’ll be trying that soon. Happy Cooking!
Good looking salad chef and the dressing sounds southwestern. We had a black bean and corn salad for supper last night.
Beautiful and versatile! Sounds so delicious -especially that dressing.