Chopped Southwestern Salad – shredded green cabbage, black beans, corn, green onion, tomatoes, cilantro, tortilla strips, and the best cilantro lime dressing. Full of flavor and easy to prepare in less than 20 minutes; get ready to devour my favorite summer salad.
I love those chopped salads, you know the ones I am talking about in the produce section at the grocery store? They are typically cabbage based, some with kale and come with dressings and garnishes. They are a quick easy meal when the kids and I head to the pool. The only downside is that they usually are only enough for Jake and I. Nothing for the kiddos, so we pack them up sandwiches or something else. When our boys were into baseball, these salads were also a huge hit for the night time games, making an easy & delicious picnic.
The only other thing about these bagged salads are the dressings. Not all of them are good? So there is really only one salad that we use the dressing and that’s the Chopped Asian Salad, the rest of the salads, we usually will make our own dressing or just not have any dressing at all, which is obviously a desperate move.
This summer I decided to make my own homemade versions of these salads and they have been a huge hit. My Chopped Asian Salad has been one of my most popular summer recipes. But this Chopped Southwestern Salad is my favorite and it is all because of the dressing. It is simply divine.
I love adding tortilla strips to this salad, along with some diced avocado. But if I am taking this somewhere, I leave those two ingredients out as the chips get soggy and well the avocado turns brown.
My one tip when making this salad is to not add the dressing until you are going to eat it. If you want to have leftovers, only add the dressing to your serving, not the whole salad. Otherwise the next day you will have a soggy salad and no one wants that, right?
I would love to know what your summer to-go-to meals are, share them below in the comments. But looking for some other summer salad inspirations check these out: Easy Almond Apple Quinoa Salad, Simple Salami Salad, Simple Cucumber Salad and Traditional Greek Salad. Enjoy! XOXO San
How do you make Southwestern Salad?
- Cut up chicken into cubes.
- I grilled mine, but a store-bought rotisserie chicken works well too.
- Cut up all the vegetables.
- In a large mixing bowl add coleslaw mix, chicken, black beans, corn, green onions, tomatoes, and cilantro.
- Make the dressing.
- Finely chopped 1/2 jalapeno pepper, garlic clove, cilantro, and ginger; add to a small mason jar.
- Add in the lime juice, honey, balsamic vinegar, and salt.
- Twist on lid to mason jar and vigorously shake until well combined.
- And shake up again right before serving.
- Drizzle dressing over the salad and toss to combine.
- Add tortillas strips and toss again.
- Serve immediately.
Don’t forget to pin this to your favorite Pinterest board for later.
Chopped Southwestern Salad
Ingredients
- 8 cups coleslaw
- 4 cups cooked chicken chopped
- 5 green onions chopped
- 1 cup cilantro roughly chopped
- 1 cup quartered cherry tomatoes
- 1 1/2 cups sweet corn cooked
- 14 ounce can black beans rinsed and drained
Cilantro Lime Dressing
- 1/2 jalapeno pepper seeded and coarsely chopped
- 2 teaspoons minced garlic
- 3/4 teaspoon minced fresh ginger root
- 1/4 cup lime juice
- 1/3 cup honey
- 2 teaspoons balsamic vinegar
- 1/2 teaspoon salt or to taste
- 1/4 cup packed cilantro leaves
Instructions
- Cut up chicken, into cubes. I grilled mine, but a store-bought rotisserie chicken works well too.
- Cut up all the vegetables.
- In a large mixing bowl add coleslaw mix, chicken, black beans, corn, green onions, tomatoes, and cilantro.
- Make the dressing.
Cilantro Lime Dressing
- Finely chop 1/2 jalapeno pepper, garlic clove, cilantro, and ginger, add to a small mason jar. Add in the lime juice, honey, balsamic vinegar, and salt. Twist on lid to mason jar and vigorously shake until well combined. Shake up again right before serving.
- Drizzle dressing over the salad and toss to combine. Add tortilla strips and toss again. Serve immediately.
- If you're not serving immediately - you can add everything in a large bowl except the tortilla strips and dressing and then add those right before you are to serve. This is a great salad to make ahead.
Nutrition
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I know right now it’s time for breakfast, but I want this so bad I don’t want to wait until lunch/dinner! This looks soooooooooooooo good!
Wait is this really 2041 calories per serving?
My boys gave this recipe a 13 out of 10! We ate it as a side with chicken tortilla soup, so omitted the chicken from the salad. They asked me to keep this recipe, so that means it’s a keeper in our home.
This is our absolute favorite recipe this year. I’ve given out the recipe three times this week!! Thank you!!