This colorful Southwestern Salad with Creamy Avocado dressing is healthy, crunchy and loaded with tons of veggies and bursts of flavor in every bite!

This Southwestern Salad with Creamy Avocado dressing is healthy, crunchy and loaded with tons of veggies!

Ok so I’m totally that person that when I find a salad, or really any sort of meal that I like, I tend to make it all. the. freakin. time.  Call me a creature of habit, but hey I love what I love!  My main go-to salads have always been this sweet potato kale salad and this Asian chicken salad, but I’ve definitely found a new favorite with this recipe!

Seriously you guys this southwestern chopped salad is kind of amazing and don’t even get me started on the creamy avocado dressing!  It’s healthy, crunchy and loaded with tons of veggies.  I mean you literally get bursts of delicious flavor in every bite!

This salad is also an avocado-lovers DREAM so yeah there’s that too.

This Southwestern Salad with Creamy Avocado dressing is healthy, crunchy and loaded with tons of veggies!

GREAT FOR MEAL PREP!

This salad is really great for meal prep too!  Just pre-chop all your veggies and store them in a sealed airtight container along with your chopped romaine lettuce.  Separately store the avocado dressing in another container or jar – I personally used a mason jar with a screw top lid which makes it super easy to shake before using!  Then when you’re ready to eat just throw it all together, so eeeeeeeasy.

Feel free to add some chopped chicken or shrimp to this salad for some added protein and a super filling meal.  I personally love this shrimp recipe and this chicken marinade and think they would both go really well over top of this salad.  I mean how can you go wrong with these southwestern flavors?!

This Southwestern Salad with Creamy Avocado dressing is healthy, crunchy and loaded with tons of veggies!

HOW TO MAKE CREAMY AVOCADO DRESSING

I always seem to have a ton of cilantro on hand so this seemed like the perfect recipe to throw together.  The dressing is totally the hero of this dish and really makes the whole salad come together.  Feel free to make the dressing as thick or thin as you’d like.  When blending everything in your food processor, stream the water in from the top starting with just a 1/4th cup to see which consistency you prefer.  Then simply add more as-needed.  I didn’t want to oversaturate this dressing with a ton of olive oil and the water seemed to do the trick!

Another way to add a little more flavor to this salad would be a scoop of salsa!  My hubby added that to his and lemme tell you it tasted deeeelish.  Now let me give just a little disclaimer because I know I’m going to get comments about this, the high fat content in this recipe is from the avocados.  Don’t be afraid of the FAT guys!  Avocados are healthy fats that are great for your body and they provide a lot of fiber too!  I know a lot of you go straight to the nutritional information, but this salad is filled with great stuff.  If you are watching your fat content though, feel free to use only half of the dressing and save the half for another salad – simple solution!

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RECIPE

Southwestern Salad with Creamy Avocado Dressing

This colorful Southwestern Salad with Creamy Avocado dressing is healthy, crunchy and loaded with tons of veggies and bursts of flavor in every bite!

Yield: 4 Servings 1x
  • Prep Time: 5 mins
  • Total Time: 5 mins

Ingredients

  • 1 head romaine lettuce, chopped
  • 1 cup cherry tomatoes, halved
  • 1 cup canned black beans, drained and rinsed
  • 2 ears corn, kernels sliced from cobs
  • 1/2 avocado, chopped
  • 4 green onions, chopped

For the Dressing:

  • 1 avocado
  • 1 garlic clove
  • 1/4 cup cilantro leaves
  • 1/4 cup plain Greek yogurt
  • 3 Tbsp lime juice
  • 1/2 tsp. hot sauce (optional)
  • Salt and pepper, to taste
  • 2 Tbsp olive oil
  • 1/4 to 1/2 cup water (depending on consistency)

Instructions

  1. To make the salad, toss the romaine lettuce, tomatoes, black beans, corn, avocado and onions together in a large bowl.
  2. To make the dressing, combine the avocado, garlic, cilantro, yogurt, lime juice, hot sauce and salt/pepper in a food processor and pulse until combined. With the motor running, slowly add the olive oil and water until smooth and you have your desired consistency.
  3. Drizzle the dressing over top of the salad and toss until completely coated or cover and store the dressing and salad separately until ready to serve. Enjoy!

Nutrition Facts:

  • Serving Size: 1 1/2 cups
  • Calories: 310
  • Sugar: 13.2 g
  • Sodium: 411.4 mg
  • Fat: 19.4 g
  • Saturated Fat: 2.8 g
  • Carbohydrates: 33 g
  • Fiber: 13.2 g
  • Protein: 10.4 g

* Please note that all nutrition information are just estimates. Values will vary among brands, so we encourage you to calculate these on your own for most accurate results.

If you make this recipe, share a photo on Instagram and tag it #EatYourselfSkinny . I love seeing what you made!

This Southwestern Salad with Creamy Avocado dressing is healthy, crunchy and loaded with tons of veggies!

As a self-proclaimed foodie and fitness enthusiast, I have a passion for cooking and a huge desire to show that living a healthy lifestyle can actually be easy and fun!  Feel free to use the meal guide above to find your new favorite meal ideas or the dietary guides to the right to narrow things down even more!

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27 Comments

  1. Jordan Hubay says:

    Can I freeze this dressing?

  2. Gisele Briggs says:

    Can you give the update points on freestyle for this recipe?

    1. Kelly says:

      Yes I’m planning on updating all the recipes this week 🙂 Thanks for your patience!

  3. Annie says:

    Made this salad for dinner with some cumin and cayenne seasoned grilled chicken – delish! Subbed in quinoa as a base for the hubs to make his more filling. Two thumbs up, thanks for the recipe!

  4. Lynn says:

    Just found this wonderful looking salad and was wondering if you cook the corn first?? Not sure about eating raw corn! thanks

    1. Kelly says:

      Feel free to cook the corn beforehand if that’s what you prefer, but yes sometimes I’ll eat fresh corn on the cob raw because it’s super sweet and tender! 🙂

  5. Nicholas says:

    Hard to say how this particular dressing recipe was, because I used it as a base. Adding the following ingredients to meet my personal flavor profile.

    By way of background, I was dying for a southwestern themed salad with a creamy dressing and did not want to do a store purchase. I found this recipe and added

    *2 more cloves of garlic
    *1 shallot
    *2 tomatoes
    *1/2 teaspoon of chipotle chile powder
    *1 teaspoon kosher salt

    I was petrified to add water! In place of water, added the tomatoes. Thank you for the lead, with this as a base, the dressing was EVERYTHING I wanted it to be. I will definitely be making this again.

  6. Anne Marie says:

    Made your dressing tonight – light and extremely tasty . Great job.. thank you 👍👍

  7. Edwina at The Equipped Cook says:

    I love all those flavors in the dressing. The salad looks amazing too. So delicious and healthy. Yum!