Southwest Salad
on Jan 09, 2023, Updated Jul 13, 2024
This Southwest Salad recipe is absolutely delicious! Chopped romaine and fresh crunchy veggies are topped with a delicious homemade chipotle ranch dressing.
My absolute favorite kind of salad is a southwest salad! Loaded with fresh veggies and crunchy tortilla strips, it’s not only flavorful but has great texture in every bite. It’s topped with the most delicious homemade creamy chipotle ranch dressing that ties it all together.
The chipotle ranch dressing is made with sour cream, mayonnaise, chipotle peppers in adobo sauce, lime juice, garlic powder, onion powder, dill, and salt. It’s quick and easy to make and all you need is either a blender or a food processor!
Ingredients Needed
- romaine lettuce
- cherry tomatoes
- black beans
- bell pepper
- red onion
- fresh corn
- tortilla strips
- chipotle ranch salad dressing
How to make southwest salad
Step 1: Prepare your vegetables. Chop up the romaine lettuce. Cut up the bell pepper, onion, corn, and cherry tomatoes.
Step 2: Drain and rinse the black beans. If you plan to make this recipe as a meal prep option, simply store all of your vegetables besides the tomatoes in their own bags or containers in the fridge.
The tomatoes I would not recommend cutting up in advance, but everything else will store well in the fridge for several days.
Step 3: Assemble the southwest salad. Add the red onion, corn, cherry tomatoes, bell pepper, black beans, and tortilla strips over a bed of romaine lettuce. Add the avocado slices if desired.
Step 4: Top the salad with homemade chipotle ranch dressing to taste. This dressing is so flavorful, just the right amount of heat, and made in 5 minutes or less in a food processor!
This salad is crunchy, creamy, spicy, and so fresh. Make it your own by adding more veggies, using what you have on hand, or topping with more protein of choice. If you are looking for a new salad recipe to try, this is it!
How to Store
If you do not plan to eat the whole salad, you can place the individual ingredients into airtight bags or containers in the fridge and store leftovers to enjoy the next day.
The salad dressing will keep well in a mason jar with an airtight lid for up to a week and you can add it to taste as you enjoy your leftover salad. This is a great recipe to meal prep ahead and toss it together when you are ready to eat!
Joy’s tips
If you’re planning to eat this salad over the course of several days, you can easily prep most of it and store it in the fridge until ready to eat. The black beans, corn, red onion, lettuce and bell pepper can be prepped then stored in individual bags until ready to assemble.
Store the chipotle ranch in a mason jar or container and add to taste. Then just add cherry tomatoes and toppings when you are ready to eat!
More Salad Recipes
Love chipotle ranch? Be sure to try this southwest pasta salad too!
Southwest Salad with Chipotle Ranch
Ingredients
- 15 oz can of black beans, drained and rinsed
- 10 oz cherry tomatoes, halved
- ½ red onion, thinly sliced
- 2 ears of corn, kernels cut from the cob
- 3 hearts of romaine, sliced
- 1 bell pepper, chopped into large chunks
For Serving
- Avocado slices
- Tortilla strips
For The Chipotle Ranch Dressing
- 8 oz sour cream
- ¾ cup mayo
- 3 chipotle peppers in adobo sauce
- 1 ½ teaspoons garlic powder
- 1 teaspoon onion powder
- 1 teaspoon dill
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 1 ½ tablespoons lime juice
Instructions
- Chop up the romaine lettuce and place in a bowl
- Chop up the corn, red onion, cherry tomatoes, and bell pepper and add them to the romaine lettuce
- Drain and rinse the black beans and add them to the salad
- Make the chipotle ranch dressing by combining all of the ingredients together in a blender or food processor until smooth.
- Pour the chipotle ranch dressing to taste
- Serve the salad topped with tortilla strips, avocado slices, or other toppings of choice
Hellooo 🙂 Can you pls tell me how many gramm of beans you take? Because when I calculate it from OZ into gramm it says 400?? That seems to be a lot for me.
According to a quick google search I think that is right, but unfortunately I’m not very familiar with grams! This amount is for the whole salad though, so it would be split into 4-6 servings.
This was absolutely delicious and the perfect Spring Salad when the weather is hot! My son was visiting and loved the dressing! Thank you, debbie
delicious – dressing is amazing. New favorite 🙂
Please add the recipe for making the chipotle ranch dressing.
It’s linked in the recipe card!