Mexican Green Salad with Jalapeño-Cilantro Dressing
This healthy Mexican green salad recipe is the perfect fresh side for your favorite Mexican meals! It's also a delicious, light meal on its own.
Updated by Kathryne Taylor on July 9, 2024
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Meet the next edition of my giant salad challenge! This “Mexican” green salad recipe is quite possibly the prettiest salad I’ve ever had the chance to photograph, too. Romaine lettuce and mixed spring greens, purple cabbage and cauliflower, cherry tomatoes, cucumber and red onion combine to create one stunning and delicious salad.
The idea behind the salad challenge is that I’m challenging you (and myself) to make an enormous green salad and some homemade dressing to go with it. If you store the salad and dressing separately in the refrigerator, you’ll have salad to last you all week long. I find that I eat a lot more greens and veggies this way, and I’m more likely to grab salad as a snack than a regrettable handful of chips.
I’ve enjoyed quite a few renditions of this salad over the past few months. It was inspired by a local restaurant called Taco Republic’s “Al Verde” salad, which includes Tuscan kale, roasted golden beets, and mayo-based dressing. I always get their salad to balance out the queso and chips I inevitably-but-not-regrettably order beforehand.
I ultimately decided on some ingredients that are a little easier to find at a regular grocery store and prepare for my salad. Freshly toasted pepitas offer a savory, nutty crunch, and creamy feta and avocado make this salad irresistible. This salad isn’t the quickest salad you’ll ever make, but it pays off in sheer quantity and flavor.
I also made my dressing lighter, although it’s still deliciously creamy, thanks to an olive oil and lime juice emulsion plus a tablespoon of tahini (which is optional). The dressing is based on the jalapeño-lime dressing in my cookbook (page 53).
In the book, I offered four of my favorite make-ahead salad dressings, plus a simple five-step guide to creating an epic salad. You might want a copy (wink).
I’m calling this salad “Mexican” since it seems to offer the best broad description of the ingredients and flavors inside. I can’t say I tried a salad like this when I was in Mexico six weeks ago, but it’s a huge country with a diverse and delicious cuisine.
I might have to travel through all the regions until I find something similar. I’m up for the challenge!
For more giant salad recipes, check out my Italian chopped salad, colorful chopped salad with carrot-ginger dressing and fattoush salad with mint dressing.
I’ll be back with another giant salad soon, and be sure to check out my full salad archives in the meantime.
Mexican Green Salad with Jalapeño-Cilantro Dressing
This healthy Mexican green salad recipe is the perfect fresh side for your favorite Mexican meals! It’s also a delicious, light meal on its own. Recipe yields 4 large salad servings, 6 medium or 8 side salads.
Ingredients
- ⅔ cup pepitas (green pumpkin seeds)
- ½ teaspoon olive oil
- ½ teaspoon chili powder
- Pinch of salt
- 5 ounces baby spring mix
- 6 ounces romaine lettuce, chopped
- 2 cups grated cauliflower (about ½ small cauliflower—you can grate it on the holes of a large box grater or finely slice it on a mandoline, then roughly chop)
- 2 cups finely chopped purple cabbage (about ½ small cabbage)
- 1 pint (2 cups) cherry tomatoes, quartered
- 1 small cucumber, halved, seeded and thinly sliced (no need to peel)
- 1 small red onion, chopped
- ⅔ cup crumbled feta cheese
- 2 ripe avocados (thinly slice just before serving)
Jalapeño-Cilantro Dressing
- ½ cup extra-virgin olive oil
- ½ cup lime juice (from about 4 limes)
- ½ cup lightly packed cilantro (mostly leaves)
- 1 small jalapeño, seeds and ribs removed, and roughly chopped
- 1 tablespoon tahini (optional, for a more creamy dressing)
- 1 tablespoon honey or maple syrup
- 1 teaspoon ground cumin
- ½ teaspoon Dijon mustard
- 1 clove garlic, roughly chopped
- ¼ teaspoon fine sea salt
- Pinch of red pepper flakes (optional, for extra heat)
Instructions
- First, toast the pepitas: combine the pepitas, olive oil, chili powder and a pinch of salt in a medium skillet over medium heat. Toast the pepitas, stirring frequently (don’t let them burn), until they are turning golden on the edges and making little popping noises, about 4 to 7 minutes. Set the skillet aside to cool.
- In a large salad bowl, combine the spring mix, chopped romaine, cauliflower, cabbage, cherry tomatoes, cucumber, onion, feta cheese, and toasted pepitas. Gently toss, then set aside.
- To make the dressing: Combine all of the ingredients but the red pepper flakes in a blender. Blend until smooth. Taste, and add extra salt if it needs some extra oomph, and or a pinch of red pepper flakes if you’d like more heat. Blend again, then transfer to a small jar with a spout, for serving.
- Divide the salad into individual bowls, top with slices of avocado, and drizzle dressing just before serving. If you intend to have leftovers, store the salad separately from the dressing, and toss individual servings with dressing just before serving. The salad will keep well this way for about 4 to 5 days.
Notes
Make it dairy free: Omit the feta cheese. You might want to add a dollop of cashew sour cream (see page 217 of my cookbook) in its place.
Make it vegan: See dairy-free instructions above, and use maple syrup instead of honey.
Change it up: Hate cilantro? Omit it! For a lighter salad, choose either the feta or avocado, instead of both. To make it extra crunchy and savory, add skillet-toasted tortilla strips or a small handful of crushed tortilla chips.
Recommended equipment: I used this mandoline to shred the cabbage and cauliflower. Mandolines are dangerous; watch your fingers at all times! (That’s an affiliate link.)
Nutrition
The information shown is an estimate provided by an online nutrition calculator. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice. See our full nutrition disclosure here.
This was a very tasty and well-received salad. The lime juice equal ratio was a little overwhelming. I didn’t add red flake pepper and the heat was just right for me. A little zing. I added the honey and the maple syrup. The consistency was a little watery, so I added a half avocado to the blended ingredients in the dressing. This served 7 side salads with plenty leftover. Lots of ingredients, more time to prep than 30 minutes.
This was delicious. I never thought to add cauliflower to a salad like this. The whole salad was delicious and we loved the dressing! Have plenty for leftovers. I had to grill a chicken breast, too – husband needs meat.
I’m glad you loved it, Sarah!
This is the 3rd salad of yours I’ve made this week. My wife says, “Keep them coming.”
That’s great to hear, Shupac! Thank you for your review.
This salad is crazy delicious. I make the dressing and pepitas as specified, but almost anything tastes good in the salad. I’ve used broccoli instead of cauliflower, and I’ve found that carrots and celery are good additions.
Great to hear, Alf!
This salad was a total winner and I did not see it coming. I picked it because it was so pretty and colorful and I wanted a Mexican-ish veggie side for taco night. I wasn’t sure how the winter veg and summer veg would hang together but I trusted Kate, her flavor and texture combinations are usually excellent – and it was worth it! The veggies were great together, and the dressing united it into one crunchy, singing, multi-layered, delicious salad. My husband especially loved the dressing. The whole thing is definitely more than the sum of its parts. Only downside is there are a lot of components to both salad and dressing, so it took a while to put together. Worth it! Just best for a night you have some breathing room for dinner prep. Thanks, Kate!
You’re welcome, Marta! I appreciate your review.
It was time to try a C&K recipe I hadn’t made and this one proved, like all your recipes to be a delicious winner