This colorful Southwestern Salad with Creamy Avocado dressing is healthy, crunchy and loaded with tons of veggies and bursts of flavor in every bite!
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.
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?!
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!
Southwestern Salad with Creamy Avocado Dressing
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
- To make the salad, toss the romaine lettuce, tomatoes, black beans, corn, avocado and onions together in a large bowl.
- 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.
- 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
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Do you have any non dairy substitute suggestions for the yogurt? I am allergic to milk and this sounds so good?
You could try full-fat coconut cream or silken tofu! 🙂
Such a healthy dish! Totally love this so much!
Hi Kelly,
Okay, this is the kind of salad I could get behind. Anything becomes more tempting to me when it includes the word “avocado.” I’ll definitely try this out.
Thanks,
Dennis
I love these kind of salads! <3
check out this delicious and HEALTHY! recipe! 🙂 it would mean the world to me! <3 https://enjoybypaula.com/2016/09/23/recipe-healthy-spiced-biscuits/
This looks amazing! Love avocados and I’ve been wanting to find ways to have creamy dressing without all of the calories. Thanks for sharing!
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This is totally my kind of salad. Love corn, black beans, tomato and avocado together and that dressing! Yum!
Mine too Jessica! 🙂
I’ve been obsessed with a similar salad, but I mix barbecue sauce and ranch together for the dressing. I’ll also top it with some tortilla strips for some crunch. So freaking good!
Mmm that sounds delicious Rachel! 🙂
It looks absolutely delicious! I would like to try and make this one day, or something similar. The presentation is great as well. x
This salad looks amazing! all your recipes have been winners so far so I can’t wait to try this one!
Thank you! Hope you enjoy this! 🙂
Oh my word this looks incredible! I love that creamy avocado dressing and everything else about this salad!
Thanks Laura! 🙂