Mexican Salad with Cilantro-Lime Dressing

This Mexican salad is loaded with delicious ingredients for tons of flavor, like fresh corn, black beans, avocado, tomatoes, and more, all topped with a creamy cilantro-lime dressing the whole family will love. Great as a side dish or top with chicken, steak, or salmon for a main course!

🥗 What Makes This Salad So Good

• Mexican salad looks (and tastes) complex, but it couldn’t be easier to make! The whole recipe comes together in 20 minutes, give or take.
• There’s this amazing crunch from the tortilla strips and pepitas that adds a great complementary texture to the rest of the salad. Pair that with the crisp tomatoes and onion, the buttery avocado, and the meaty black beans, and every bite is exciting. Our popular cilantro-lime dressing is just the thing to tie it all together!
• It’s hearty and flavorful enough to enjoy all on its own, but it’s also a perfect side dish for salmon, chicken, and steak! Our 3-ingredient Crockpot Mexican chicken and our easy Instant Pot salsa chicken would both be great on top of this salad.

🌮 More Recipes for Mexican-Inspired Flavor

Cilantro Lime Cauliflower Rice

Blackened Fish Taco Bowls with Mango Salsa and Cilantro-Lime Rice

Refried Black Beans

Pork Rind Nachos

browse all of our mexican recipes

Chef’s Tips

• Let the cilantro-lime dressing chill in the fridge at least 30 minutes, though longer is better if you have the time. This gives all the flavors time to really develop!
• Careful not to burn your tortilla strips – they’ll fry quickly! If you don’t want to pan fry them, you can bake them or air fry them instead. Super handy if you’re prepping a lot of tortilla strips. To bake them, toss them in oil & salt and spread them out on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Bake 10 minutes at 400° Fahrenheit, then flip them and bake another 5 minutes until crisp. For air fryer tortilla strips, place the strips in the air fryer basket and spray lightly with oil. Add salt and toss to coat. Air fry at 375° Fahrenheit for 8-10 minutes, shaking the basket after 4-5 minutes.
• For the best flavors in your Mexican salad, use as many fresh ingredients as you can. If you need to save some time and energy, though, you can use salad mix, store-bought tortilla strips (or even crumbled tortilla chips – I won’t tell), and frozen corn, in addition to the canned black beans.

More Delicious Salad Recipes

• Spinach Salad with Hot Bacon Dressing
• Mediterranean Chickpea Salad
• Salmon Salad
• Whole30 Southern Fried Chicken Salad
• Big Mac Salad
• Cajun Chicken Salad with Cajun Ranch Dressing
• 7 Layer Salad
• Amish Broccoli Salad
• Fully Loaded Burger Bowl with “Special Sauce”
• Guacamole Salad

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Mexican Salad with Cilantro-Lime Dressing

Prep:15 minutes minutes

Cook:10 minutes minutes

Total:25 minutes minutes

Packed with delicious ingredients for tons of flavor and topped with a creamy cilantro-lime dressing the whole family will love. Great as a side dish or main course with your favorite protein!

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4 servings

Ingredients

For the Cilantro-Lime Dressing

• ▢ 1 medium jalapeño seeded & coarsely chopped, optional
• ▢ 2-3 cloves garlic
• ▢ ½ cup mayonnaise
• ▢ ½ cup plain yogurt or sour cream
• ▢ ¼ cup lime juice
• ▢ 2-3 tablespoons honey plus more to taste, see Notes
• ▢ ½-¾ teaspoons salt more or less to taste
• ▢ ½ packed cup cilantro leaves
• ▢ ½ cup olive oil

For the Tortilla Strips

• ▢ 3 6-inch corn tortillas sliced into ½-inch strips
• ▢ neutral-tasting oil for frying
• ▢ salt to taste

For the Salad

• ▢ 1 large head romaine lettuce chopped into roughly ½-inch-long pieces; approximately 8 cups total
• ▢ one quarter of one medium red onion diced, or halved then sliced thinly
• ▢ 1 cup halved grape tomatoes
• ▢ half of one large cucumber chopped, approximately 1 cup
• ▢ 2 ears corn see Notes
• ▢ 1 ½ cups canned black beans drained, rinsed
• ▢ 4-5 small radishes thinly sliced
• ▢ 1 medium avocado peeled, pitted, sliced thin
• ▢ ½ cup crumbled queso fresco or crumbled feta
• ▢ ¼ cup roasted salted pepitas
• ▢ finely chopped cilantro optional

Equipment

• Food processor or blender
• mason jar with lid or other airtight container, to store dressing
• Large skillet
• Tongs
• Large plate
• Paper towels
• Large salad bowl or individual serving bowls
• salad servers

Instructions 

For the Cilantro-Lime Dressing

• Add jalapeño and garlic to food processor or blender and pulse until finely chopped.
• Add mayonnaise, yogurt, lime juice, honey, salt, and cilantro leaves. Pulse several times until fully blended.
  
• With food processor running, slowly add in oil until fully incorporated. Taste, adding more salt if necessary.
  
• Transfer to jar with lid and chill until ready to serve.

For the Tortilla Strips

• Heat oil in large skillet over medium-high heat.
• When oil is hot, lay strips in skillet. Work in batches if needed.
• Fry tortilla strips 3-5 minutes. Stir or flip as needed to cook evenly, careful not to burn.
• Transfer fried tortilla strips to plate lined with paper towels. Sprinkle salt over strips to taste and let rest on paper towels until oil is drained.

Assemble the Salad

• Add lettuce, onion, tomatoes, cucumber, corn, black beans, and radishes to large salad bowl and toss to distribute all ingredients as evenly as possible.
• If serving entire salad immediately, add dressing to bowl and toss to coat. If serving individual portions or if you expect leftovers, skip this step and serve the dressing separately.
• Garnish with avocado, queso fresco, pepitas, tortilla strips, and cilantro if desired.
• Serve immediately.

Notes

• Honey: For a tangier dressing with a slight hint of sweetness, use just 2 tablespoons of honey. For a sweeter, smoother dressing use 3 tablespoons up to 4.
• Corn: Cut your corn right off the cob. Grill or broil it before using it in your salad, or use it raw. You can also substitute 1 ½ – 2 cups of frozen or canned corn. Be sure to drain and rinse the canned corn first.
• Dressing: You likely won’t use all of the dressing in your salad. Refrigerate any leftover dressing in an airtight container up to 5 days.
• Make it Vegan: For the dressing, use vegan mayo and plain, dairy-free yogurt. Use maple syrup instead of honey. For the salad, skip the queso fresco or try a vegan feta in its place.
• Make it Lower Carb: Skip the tortilla strips! They add a nice crunch but they’re not integral to the dish.

 

Recipe yields approximately 4 large salads or 6 smaller salads.

Nutrition Information

Serving Size: 1serving, Calories: 802kcal, Protein: 15g, Fat: 65g, Saturated Fat: 12g, Trans Fat: 0.2g, Cholesterol: 26mg, Sodium: 894mg, Potassium: 1203mg, Total Carbs: 47g, Fiber: 14g, Sugar: 16g, Net Carbs: 33g, Vitamin A: 14269IU, Vitamin C: 31mg, Calcium: 245mg, Iron: 4mg

Number of total servings shown is approximate. Actual number of servings will depend on your preferred portion sizes.

 

Nutritional values shown are general guidelines and reflect information for 1 serving using the ingredients listed, not including any optional ingredients. Actual macros may vary slightly depending on specific brands and types of ingredients used.

 

To determine the weight of one serving, prepare the recipe as instructed. Weigh the finished recipe, then divide the weight of the finished recipe (not including the weight of the container the food is in) by the desired number of servings. Result will be the weight of one serving.

© Author: Cheryl Malik