This easy Mexican Chopped Salad is the perfect salad to go with Mexican food. Hearty and healthy with a honey lime dressing and filled with yummy mix-ins!
As far as Mexican salad recipes go, this one is ideal for your next BBQ, potluck or busy weeknight dinner. Mix the homemade dressing, toss the salad ingredients, and dive into deliciousness!
Why You Will Love This Chopped Mexican Salad
- Guilt-Free Mexican Food – This flavorful Mexican salad is made with fresh ingredients and a light homemade dressing.
- Easy – After mixing the simple dressing ingredients, chop the veggies and toss all the salad components together for a quick and easy meal or side salad.
- Customizable – Swap the ingredients for the ones you like most and make this salad perfect for your taste or the guests you serve.
I enjoy giving precise details in my recipe posts to lead my readers through any questions. If you’re just here for the printable recipe, use the Jump to Recipe to head straight there!
If you are a fan of healthy, vibrant salads, try my Italian Chopped Salad with zesty Italian dressing; this Steakhouse Wedge Salad is made with romaine and topped with a chunky blue cheese dressing!
Simple Ingredients for Chopped Mexican Salad
- Lettuce | I used romaine lettuce for easy, leafy, and crunchy goodness.
- Veggies | Add one bell pepper of any color, a red onion, creamy avocado, crispy cucumber, corn, and juicy tomatoes (grape, cherry, or regular).
- Jicama | Jicama is a common root veggie found in Mexican cuisine. It tastes less sweet than an apple and feels like a potato, adding an interesting texture and nutrition to the salad.
- Beans | Add flavor and texture with drained and rinsed black beans.
- Cilantro | Mix in refreshing, finely chopped cilantro.
- Pepitas | Sprinkle the salad with toasted pepitas (or pumpkin seeds) for a nutty taste. I sprinkle in Tajin or chili powder when toasting the pepitas for this healthy Mexican salad recipe.
- Cotija cheese | Cotija cheese is a light, tangy, and creamy cheese used for many Hispanic dishes and found at almost any grocery store. Substitute this ingredient with crumbles of queso fresco or feta cheese if preferred.
- Optional toppings | If you’re craving more delicious ingredients, pack the salad with thin slices of radishes, zucchini, and crushed tortilla chips.
- Dressing | Check out this honey lime dressing made with fresh lime juice, avocado oil, rich honey, fresh cilantro, and additional seasonings. Add sour cream, mayonnaise, or Greek yogurt to make it a creamy dressing!
Get the full recipe in the recipe card below.
Jicama 101 (hee-ka-mah)
- I usually buy precut jicama to make life easier, but it will go bad fast.
- To prepare jicama: wash the root vegetable and peel it using a vegetable peeler, like a potato, then slice, dice, chop, and enjoy!
- Store jicama: Place cut jicama tightly wrapped in plastic wrap or in an airtight container and store in the refrigerator. Eat within a few days for the best taste and texture.
- Jicama has a crisp and refreshing texture, making it a perfect addition to salads, slaws, and crudité platters.
- Citrusy Marinades: Jicama can be marinated to enhance its flavor and tenderness. Prepare a citrus-based marinade and allow the strips or pieces to marinade for at least 30 minutes or overnight in the refrigerator. The marinade will infuse the jicama with a tangy and refreshing taste.
- Stir-Fries and Roasting: While jicama is often enjoyed raw, it can also be cooked. When cooked, jicama softens slightly and develops a sweeter flavor. Try adding jicama to stir-fries by slicing it into thin strips or cubes. It can also be roasted with other vegetables, tossed with olive oil, salt, and spices of your choice, and baked until tender and slightly caramelized. The roasting process enhances the natural sweetness of jicama.
How to Make Mexican Salad with Mexican Dressing
Mix the Mexican dressing ingredients in a small bowl or shake them in a jar with a tight-fitting lid. If preferred, whir the dressing ingredients in a blender for a second or two. Keep the dressing in the refrigerator until you’re ready to use it.
For the salad, start by prepping all the ingredients. Next, place all the healthy ingredients in a large salad bowl and gently toss to combine.
If you want a lovely presentation, place the chopped romaine in a salad bowl, adding sections of each veggie and sprinkling with cotija, cilantro and pepitas.
Then, just drizzle with cilantro lime dressing, toss to coat, and serve!
Fresh Tips
- This salad is excellent for meal prep! Divide the ingredients between meal prep containers with the dressing on the side. Adding avocado right before serving.
- If you use olive oil for the dressing, remember to remove the mixed dressing from the fridge about 30 minutes before using it. The oil will harden in the refrigerator.
- This Mexican dressing is even better the next day when the flavors have had time to develop.
- Keep the salad ingredients chilled before assembling and serving.
- Serve your homemade Mexican chopped salad on cold plates chilling in the freezer for about 20 minutes.
This healthy taco salad recipe is great as a main course when you add protein. However, it can also be a side salad to compliment another main dish, like Mexican Barbacoa Tacos with seasoned chuck roast and a healthy twist, sizzling hot Authentic Mexican Chicken Fajitas, or these tasty Mexican Corn Rice.
Variations & Substitutions
Low-Carb Taco Salad
Make this recipe Keto by replacing the honey in the dressing with Keto honey and removing the corn, black beans, and tortilla chips in the salad. Add Coconut Lime chicken or make my simple Sous Vide chicken breast with fresh lime juice.
Use Your Favorite Peppers: The recipe calls for bell peppers, but roasted red peppers, poblano, or shishito peppers are also delicious!
Protein Options and Alternatives: Garbanzo beans are an excellent replacement for meat if you’re serving a vegetarian taco salad. Otherwise, grilled chicken breast, ground beef and taco seasoning, pork carnitas, or air fryer steak bites also work!
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Optional protein | Just about any protein works with this salad, but my favorites are rotisserie chicken, leftover chicken, cooked ground turkey, or taco meat for a taco salad – YUM!
My Favorite Salad Tools
- Braided Salad Servers – I love these pretty and unique wooden salad servers. They make a great gift too!
- How about this beautiful salad bowl?
Frequently Asked Questions
The difference between these two types of salads is just how it sounds – One involves chopping all the ingredients to about the same size and tossing them all together. In contrast, a Mexican salad is a bed of lettuce with additional ingredients on top.
Yes! Omit the cheese or use a plant-based product. For the dressing, swap the honey for maple syrup, agave or monk fruit. EASY!
Chopped salad recipes are diverse, but they often contain many veggies and other ingredients, like green onions, romaine lettuce, or a mix of greens, bell peppers, cherry tomatoes, carrots, cold meat, and more.
Because chopped salads often include many nutritious veggies and ingredients, they are a great way to get valuable vitamins and minerals. Of course, if the salad is overloaded with cheese or a creamy dressing, it will have several more calories, but it still includes loads of nutrition!
Storage Tips
Refrigerate Leftovers – When stored in an airtight container, most salad ingredients will last a few days in the refrigerator. Keep the tomatoes, avocado, and dressing separate until ready to serve.
What to Serve with Healthy Mexican Chopped Salad
Besides a top-notch Margarita (this one only has four ingredients), and while this Mexican Chopped Salad is hearty enough to make a meal, salad and bread go hand in hand. Try these 2 ingredient Biscuits or maybe these Red Lobster Cheddar Bay Biscuits.
Best Drinks for Healthy Mexican Salad Recipes
Delicious Mexican salad is best paired with something tropical, like Skinny Grapefruit Paloma Spritzer Mocktail, or add your favorite spirit to make it a fun summer cocktail! Gorgeous Strawberry Gin Cocktail or try this low-calorie, no-sugar Watermelon Slush, spiked or kept clean so the little ones can enjoy it too!
Pink Lemonade Vodka Cocktail
Looking for a simple, homemade pink lemonade vodka cocktail? With a few simple ingredients this fresh and delicious all-natural pink lemonade vodka drink will become a summer favorite! This easy cocktail recipe can be made by the glass or by the pitcher!
Watermelon Slush
Juicy, ripe red watermelon, frozen and blended into this refreshing, delicious and healthy watermelon slush! With just 3 main ingredients, this all natural, no sugar slushie recipe is the essential cool summer drink!
Strawberry Refresher
The Strawberry Refresher is a light non-alcoholic drink made with summer fresh strawberry syrup, lime juice and your favorite mixer. Perfect for a warm spring or summer day, refreshing and delicious.
Best Desserts to Serve with Easy Mexican Salad Recipe
Stick with the Mexican flavors by serving Air Fried Ice Cream or my Award Winning Key Lime Pie. Or this Mexican Fruit Salad as a healthier dessert option. Or go decadent with this easy-to-make Oreo Dessert Pudding!
Best No Bake Oreo Pudding Dessert Recipe (No Cool Whip)
With 20 minutes of prep, you will have this No-Bake Oreo Pudding Dessert in the fridge. An Oreo crust, creamy filling, and a luscious chocolate pudding layer, and is garnished with homemade Cool Whip. It’s a delightful treat for Oreo lovers.
The Best Key Lime Pie
This is the BEST Key Lime Pie, so easy too! A traditional Key Lime pie recipe that is citrusy, sweet-tart — the perfect sweet-to-pucker ratio; light and bright with a crisp, not-to-sweet graham cracker crust! Award-winning!
Air Fryer Fried Ice Cream
A healthier and easy air fryer fried ice cream! No deep frying in hot oil! Crunchy and crispy on the outside, smooth creamy vanilla ice cream on the inside, the best fried ice cream recipe.
Mexican Fruit Salad
This Mexican fruit salad recipe is refreshing, and bursting with juicy and sweet fruits that will make your taste buds salsa dance! Tropical fruits paired with citrus, strawberries, and grapes in a light honey-lime Tajin dressing.
Prevent a soggy salad by storing the salad ingredients separate from the dressing.
More Fun and Flavorful Salad Recipes
- Steakhouse Wedge Salad
- Best Easy Italian Chopped Salad Recipe
- Best Chicken Bacon Ranch Pasta Salad Recipe
- Blackberry Grilled Chicken Salad with Fried Goat Cheese
- Green Goddess Salad with Chicken (Panera Copycat)
Our favorite Mexican recipes
- Easy Cheese Enchiladas
- Vegetarian Spanish Rice
- Chile Relleno casserole
- Colorado green chile
- Authentic Chicken Fajita recipe
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Best Healthy Mexican Chopped Salad with Lime Dressing
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Ingredients
Honey Lime Dressing
- 1 lime zested, use juice below
- ¼ cup fresh lime juice 2-4 limes
- 1-2 tablespoons honey agave, maple syrup or monk fruit (low carb)
- ½ teaspoon cumin
- 1-2 cloves garlic minced or pressed
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt
- ¼ cup avocado oil or your favorite oil, if using olive oil, remove from fridge 30 minutes before serving.
- ¼ cup cilantro minced
- freshly ground black pepper
Mexican Chopped Salad
- 1 large head romaine lettuce chopped, or 3 small romaine hearts
- 1 medium red bell pepper diced, any color
- ½ medium medium red onion diced small
- ½ medium jicama peeled and diced
- 1 large avocado diced (tossed in a little lemon juice if not serving for a bit)
- 1 medium English cucumber diced
- 1 cup tomatoes diced, or halve grape or cherry tomatoes
- 1-2 ears of corn shucked and corn cut off or substitute 1 ½ cups of sweet, white corn (frozen)
- 1 15- ounce black beans drained and rinsed
- ¼- ½ cup cilantro finely chopped
- 2-4 tablespoons Pepitas or pumpkin seeds, if desired toasted in with a little Tajin or chile powder
- 2-4 ounces cotija cheese crumbled
Instructions
- For the dressing, in a jar, combine all dressing ingredients, cover and shake to combine, or if preferred, whir for a second in a blender. *Note, if using olive oil for the dressing, remember to remove from the fridge about 30 minutes before using; the olive oil will harden in the fridge.
- If toasting pumpkin seeds (pepitas) heat a small skillet over medium heat, add pumpkin seeds and shake a little chile powder or Tajin on top, shake pan until they are warm and popping, cool before placing on salad.
- Place all ingredients for the salad in a large salad bowl, tossing to combine. Or, for presentation, place chopped romaine in a salad bowl, then add sections of each veggie, creating a colorful wheel. Add chopped avocados, and sliced radishes if desired and toss with cilantro and pepitas, and with honey lime dressing. Toss to coat.
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Notes
- Meal Prep: Divide salad ingredients between meal prep containers with dressing on the side (I like these dressing containers to go).
- Keto Taco Salad: In dressing, replace honey with a couple of teaspoons of Monk fruit sugar replacement or similar. Omit corn and black beans.
- Protein: Add a protein, Coconut Lime chicken with fresh lime juice or plain grilled chicken would be excellent for this keto salad’s protein., or just grilled chicken would be fabulous; sprinkle a little garlic powder, onion powder, cumin, and chili powder along with salt and pepper on the chicken before grilling. Chop and divide between meal prep containers after cooling completely.
- Variations: Roasted red peppers, bell peppers, or your favorite Mexican peppers, such as poblano, Shishito, etc.
Add garbanzo beans if desired for more protein.
Nutrition
Harriet Young
Not only did it taste gorgeous, it looked gorgeous too. What a beautiful rainbow of a salad! Will definitely be making again soon
Isn’t it though Harriet! Thank you so much!
Sky
Served this salad with dinner last night and it was so good! That dressing is sooo good!
So glad you loved it all!
Beth
This was such an unexpected treat for our Taco Tuesdays! I served this as a side with chicken fajitas. Oh, man, it was delicious.
Perfect with fajitas!!
TAYLER ROSS
I made this salad with dinner last night and it was perfect! So easy to whip up and full of flavor!
Thanks so much, Tayler!!
Justine
This was delicious – sooooo flavorful! We added a little greek yogurt to the dressing and it was perfect!
Sounds perfect, so glad you liked it, Justine!
Angela
This salad is so good! Made it last night and it was devoured by my family in minutes. Definitely a keeper!
Love hearing that, thank you!
Jess
Such a refreshing salad for a hot summer day!
So true, Jess! Thank you!
Suja md
Delicious yet simple recipe that the whole family loved.
So glad you loved it!
Savita
This is a complete dinner, absolutely loaded with flavors. It is going to be on my cook list very often.
Thank you, Savita!
Tasia
I love salad, but the honey lime dressing on this chopped salad takes it over the top! Another winner Kathleen!
Thank you, Tasia!! So appreciate you!