Southwest Salad comes with a warning, it’s highly addictive. The first time I ate this salad, I took leftovers home from a family party and ate it several days in a row. My sister in law, Sheri, gave me the recipe years ago, and it’s been a favorite in our home since.
You won’t find any meat or chips in this salad, just veggies and cheese. And dressing. Which is quite possibly the best dressing ever. Fresh, tart, sweet, a little spice. It’s life changing. Ok, so it may not really be life changing, but it’s a change from the usual cilantro-lime dressing. The honey gives it a sweet twist that hooked me from the first bite. It will hook you too, I promise!
- lettuce
- black beans
- corn
- peppers
- green onion
- avocado
- tomatoes
- grated cheese
Then mix up the dressing by whisking all of the ingredients (except cilantro) together in a bowl. Then add the chopped cilantro. Taste to see if you need to add any more honey, lime, or cayenne. Keep in a container until you’re ready to serve! Toss all ingredients together just before eating/serving. If Im making this early in the day, I layer using the instructions above. If I need to make it the day beforehand, Place the lettuce in a bowl, but place all of the rest of ingredients in separate containers or Ziplocks. Wait to peel and cut the avocado until right before serving.
This southwest salad is one of my very favorite recipes. I love it’s gorgeous color and delicious flavors. I hope you enjoy it too!
Southwest Salad with Cilantro Honey Lime Dressing
Southwest Salad is the perfect salad for any occasion. Filled with lettuce, black beans, cheese, veggies and topped with a fresh cilantro honey lime dressing.
Ingredients
Salad:
- 1 1/2 large heads Romain lettuce (about 15-18 cups) washed and dried
- 1 small bag frozen corn white or yellow, or fresh, 3-4 large cooked and cut off cob
- 1 can black beans washed and drained
- 2 avocados chopped (not too soft) choose avocados that are fairly firm
- 1 bunch green onions sliced
- 4-5 Roma tomatoes chopped, or about 3 cups of cherry or grape tomatoes, cut in half
- 1 red pepper chopped
- 1 1/2 cup Pepper Jack Cheese grated
- 1 1/2 cups Colby cheese grated
Dressing:
- 1 cup cilantro rinsed, remove stems
- 1 cup mayonnaise
- 4-6 tablespoons fresh lime juice
- lime zest from one lime
- 2 tablespoons honey
- sea salt
- pepper
- 1/8 to 1/4 teaspoon cayenne
For Salad:
- Chop lettuce into bite size pieces. Place lettuce in large serving bowl.
If not using immediately, layer in the following order:
- Lettuce
- black beans
- corn
- peppers
- green onion
- avocado
- tomatoes
- grated cheeses
Instructions
-
For Dressing: Chop cilantro. Whisk together in bowl rest of ingredients, add fresh cilantro. Add more lime, honey or cayenne to taste.
-
Toss salad with dressing just before serving, or serve dressing on the side of salad. If serving on side, double dressing.
Recipe Notes
- Use Romaine full heads, not Romaine hearts (Costco) You will be happier with the dark green color.
- Important to drain veggies well and spin salad until dry. If you take the time to do this, the salad will last for up to three days if not tossed with dressing.
- Layering in the order given will insure that the cheese won’t get soggy, and the avocados will stay fresh(er) with the tomatoes layered on top. Romas, or grape tomatoes are best for this salad.
- I like the look when hand chopping part of the Cilantro for the salad. You can throw all of the ingredients into a blender or use an immersion blender to make the dressing, then chop a few tablespoons by hand to get the larger leaf look in the dressing.
- If you want more of a Taco-style salad, add some chopped cooked chicken and tortilla or corn chips.
- If you want to make this a main dish salad, cook chicken breast halves, cool and chop when completely cooled. Add to salad with veggies.
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Bascially I am IN LOVE with this salad. Loved it at the farewell, loved it a few days after the farewell. It was absolutely delicious!!!
WOW….i truly believe you when say life changing! looks delicious!
your photography skills are tops! and that salad doesn't look to shabby either!
This looks so good, I've been craving a salad lately and now I have a new one to make. Thanks
Beautiful photos. I love Southwest salad. I am going to have to try this one. I haven't had time to cook much lately but this looks do-able.
Suggestions for mayo substitute? Would Greek yogurt work? Not a fan of mayo.
Yes, Anna, greek yogurt would be a great substitute for mayo. Thanks for asking!
xo
Si
Glad I looked through the comments. This was my question!
This looks amazing. Have you ever added chicken?
Hi Annie, this salad goes perfectly with chicken! It makes a great main dish salad that’s more on the healthy side. Thanks for asking and for reading ABK,
xo
Si
I made this the other night and it was soo yummy!! I made it for dinner with ABK cheese and garlic twisted breadsticks. Will definitely be making all of it again. Thanks for the yummy recipes!
I love that idea of making it with the breadsticks, Brynn. That is the perfect combo! Thanks for sharing and for reading ABK,
xo
Si
This salad is so, so good! The dressing is my favorite part–I could probably just chug the dressing! I have never tried Colby cheese by itself before, but it’s delicious. I did find, though, that I couldn’t really taste the cheese in the salad, so the second time I made this, I left the cheese out to reduce some of the fat, and I never missed it. Overall, this is an amazing salad and combination of flavors!
This is a great salad! I served it for a extended family lunch with your chicken enchilada recipe!
I want to make this for 120 girls at camp for lunch, adding chopped seasoned chicken for a main dish, and maybe leaving out the avocados. Any ideas on amounts for the ingredients?
Hi Suzi,
I have made this for Girl’s Camp and it was a huge hit. The avocados are essential in my opinion! I’m not sure what else you are serving, but one way to calculate how much you need is to make a test batch at home before hand. Then, portion out servings as you would at camp. If you are serving this as a main dish and are serving say, 1.5 cups per person, then plate it out and see if the portion is adequate. Then count how many servings you get per single recipe. You should be able to figure out quantity of ingredients you need accordingly. Hope this helps! Also, make sure to take a look at the Girls Camp post on ABK if you haven’t already. Good luck and Thanks for reading ABK,
xo
Si
I made this for our family reunion while camping. It was delicious. I made the dressing ahead of time at home and did half mayo half plain yogurt. Very tasty. Easy and delicious.
Sooooooo good! I added some shredded chicken to make it a dinner for me and my husband and we both love it! I’m definitely recommend it to all my friends and family! Thank you.
This is my go to salad recipe! Always turns out amazing and is so yummy! I have received so many compliments on it! Even my husband who is not a salad fan asks for this one!
Just made this for dinner and it was delicious! My 7-year-old had two bowls and my husband said this is his new favorite dressing. Thank you!
So Good!! I made this for a party and had everyone asking for the recipe.