Southwestern Chopped Salad with Cilantro Dressing
2013 – Gluten Free Living
Southwestern Chopped Salad with Cilantro Dressing is spectacular! I LOVED, LOVED, LOVED this salad! I posted a Creamy Cilantro Lime Dressing earlier today that goes with this salad. The salad dressing is what makes this salad so special. Even though the salad has a little zip due to the green onions, it is one of our favorites.
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Southwestern Chopped Salad with Cilantro Dressing uses romaine lettuce, black beans, corn, green onions and orange bell pepper. It also has two kinds of tomatoes: cherub grape tomatoes, and sunburst cherry tomatoes. It’s really quick and easy to make up. The dressing only takes about ten minutes as well. So in about 20 minutes you can have a wonderful main dish or side dish salad ready to go.
We served this amazing salad for a company dinner a couple of weeks ago. I served it with Chicken Parmesan Casserole, a Caramelized Onion, Zucchini, Tomato and Mushroom Tart, and a wonderful Parmesan Pine Nut Bread. Southwestern Chopped Salad with Cilantro Dressing was a big hit with everyone. I loved the refreshing Creamy Cilantro Lime Dressing and can’t rave enough over it. However, I did sweeten my dressing recipe with a few tablespoonfuls of honey.
I happened to see the recipe on Pinterest and knew it was one I wanted to try right away! I am so glad I did. This healthy, low calorie, gluten free salad and salad dressing is marvelous and great for whatever ails ya! The combination of flavors was amazing.
This salad is so hearty you can also serve it for Meatless Mondays as a main dish if you desire. It’s a great salad to eat on hot summer nights when you don’t want to cook. But the ingredients are easy enough to get anytime of the year. Serve this with a loaf of hot homemade bread, or a bowl of my Loaded Baked Potato Soup and you’ll be one happy camper!
If you’re looking for a great Tex-Mex salad than you’ve come to the right place! Try Southwestern Chopped Salad with a batch of Creamy Cilantro Lime Dressing and your tastebuds will be bursting with delectable flavors for some time. Yum.
I initially published this recipe in October 2013. Unfortunately, I didn’t take any pictures of the salad before the dressing was poured over top. I recently remade this recipe (June 2019) for our church’s College group Bible study. They loved the salad. And I snapped a few new pictures. Enjoy.
Southwestern Chopped Salad with Cilantro Dressing is a great recipe for Meatless Mondays.
Here’s a serving of the salad with the dressing poured over top.
Look at all the gorgeous veggies in this fabulous salad. Doesn’t Southwestern Chopped Salad with Cilantro Dressing look marvelous? It sure tastes marvelous! I poured the Creamy Cilantro Lime Dressing over top. It’s a very festive salad.
Here’s what I did.
Place romaine lettuce in a salad bowl.
Rinse, drain and pat dry the black beans. Add black beans on top of the lettuce. Add drained corn or you can use thawed, frozen corn, or fresh corn, diced orange bell pepper, sliced green onions and tomatoes.
To make the Creamy Cilantro Lime Dressing see my earlier post here.
To serve: Toss salad and serve on salad plates. Add dressing as desired.
Here’s the Creamy Cilantro Lime Dressing. Our guests really enjoyed this salad, too. I added a few tablespoons of honey to the dressing, but if you like a really sweet dressing add a few more tablespoons.
Here’s the recipe.
SOUTHWESTERN CHOPPED SALAD WITH CILANTRO DRESSING
(Recipe adapted from The Garden Grazer)
Southwestern Chopped Salad with Cilantro Dressing
Equipment
- 1 large salad bowl
- 1 set salad tongs
- 1 sharp knife to cut vegetables
- measuring cups
- 1 blender
- measuring spoons
Ingredients
SALAD:
- 15 oz. Romaine lettuce 3 5-ounce bags
- 15 oz. can black beans rinsed and drained
- 1 large orange bell pepper diced
- 1/3 pint yellow sunburst cherry tomatoes halved
- 1/2 pint cherry tomatoes halved
- 1/2 pint cherub grape tomatoes halved
- 2 cups canned corn or use frozen, thawed corn
- 5 green onions diced
- Creamy Cilantro-Lime Dressing or other dressing of choice
CREAMY CILANTRO-LIME DRESSING:
- 1 bunch cilantro washed
- 1/2 cup plain Greek yogurt or Icelandic yogurt
- 3 tbsp. honey or more, if desired
- 1 lime juice only
- 2 large cloves garlic minced
- 1/4 cup olive oil
- 1 1/2 tsp. white vinegar
- 1/2 tsp. salt
Instructions
SALAD:
- Finely chop romaine, bell pepper, tomatoes, and green onions.
- Place all ingredients in a large bowl and mix with corn and black beans to combine.
- Toss with desired dressing.
CREAMY CILANTRO LIME DRESSING:
- Puree all ingredients in a blender or food processor until smooth.
- Taste and adjust seasonings if necessary.
- Makes about 1 ½ cups salad dressing.
- Serve over top of Southwestern Chopped Salad.
Notes
Recipe adapted from the Garden Grazer.
© Can’t Stay Out of the Kitchen
Nutrition
- 3 10-oz. bags of romaine
- 15 oz. can black beans, rinsed and drained
- 1 large orange bell pepper
- 1/3 pint yellow sunburst cherry tomatoes, halved
- ½ pint cherry tomatoes, halved
- ½ pint cherub grape tomatoes, halved
- 2 cups corn (I used frozen, thawed)
- 5 green onions
- Creamy Cilantro-Lime Dressing or other dressing of choice
- Finely chop romaine, bell pepper, tomatoes, and green onions.
- Place all ingredients in a large bowl and mix to combine.
- Toss with desired dressing.
- 1 bunch cilantro, washed, stems removed, bad pieces discarded, and roughly chopped
- ½ cup [url href=”http://www.chobani.com/home/” target=”_blank” title=”chobani”]Chobani[/url] vanilla Greek yogurt
- 2-3 tbsp. honey
- juice of one fresh lime juice
- 2 large garlic cloves, minced
- 1/4 cup olive oil
- 1 ½ tsp. white vinegar
- ½ tsp. salt
- Puree all ingredients in a blender or food processor until smooth.
- Taste and adjust seasonings if necessary.
- Makes about 1 ½ cups salad dressing.
- Serve over top of Southwestern Chopped Salad.
Southwestern Chopped Salad with Cilantro Dressing is yum, yum good!
If you enjoy Tex-Mex style salads, you will LOVE this great salad.
You may also enjoy these delicious recipes!
Southwestern Chopped Salad with Cilantro Dressing
Equipment
- 1 large salad bowl
- 1 set salad tongs
- 1 sharp knife to cut vegetables
- measuring cups
- 1 blender
- measuring spoons
Ingredients
SALAD:
- 15 oz. Romaine lettuce 3 5-ounce bags
- 15 oz. can black beans rinsed and drained
- 1 large orange bell pepper diced
- 1/3 pint yellow sunburst cherry tomatoes halved
- 1/2 pint cherry tomatoes halved
- 1/2 pint cherub grape tomatoes halved
- 2 cups canned corn or use frozen, thawed corn
- 5 green onions diced
- Creamy Cilantro-Lime Dressing or other dressing of choice
CREAMY CILANTRO-LIME DRESSING:
- 1 bunch cilantro washed
- 1/2 cup plain Greek yogurt or Icelandic yogurt
- 3 tbsp. honey or more, if desired
- 1 lime juice only
- 2 large cloves garlic minced
- 1/4 cup olive oil
- 1 1/2 tsp. white vinegar
- 1/2 tsp. salt
Instructions
SALAD:
- Finely chop romaine, bell pepper, tomatoes, and green onions.
- Place all ingredients in a large bowl and mix with corn and black beans to combine.
- Toss with desired dressing.
CREAMY CILANTRO LIME DRESSING:
- Puree all ingredients in a blender or food processor until smooth.
- Taste and adjust seasonings if necessary.
- Makes about 1 ½ cups salad dressing.
- Serve over top of Southwestern Chopped Salad.