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Home Recipe Index Sides & Salads Salads

Fiesta Chopped Salad (Gluten-Free, Dairy-Free)

★★★★★ 5 /5 Updated: 5/24/22
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This post may contain affiliate or sponsored links. Please read our disclosure policy.

This fresh, delicious, and super healthy Fiesta Chopped Salad works as a light lunch, side dish, appetizer, or snack anytime. Eat on it throughout the week on its own or scoop it with tortilla chips or crackers.

chopped salad in a white bowl with serving spoons

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What I Love About Fiesta Chopped Salad

We already have a similar recipe called Texas Cowboy Caviar, which you should definitely check out. But, for this salad, I wanted the lime flavor to be front and center, plus I wanted to use all kinds of colorful vegetables to make it pop visually. I also needed some black-eyed peas in there for our friend’s New Year’s Eve party that I was taking it to.

beans, corn, and chopped peppers, herbs, and tomatoes in a white serving bowl

What I ended up with was a mild salsa-salad–filled with multi-colored peppers, beans, fresh herbs and tomatoes. And it only got better the next day! The rainbow of colors make this gluten-free, dairy-free salad gorgeous!

beans, corn, and chopped peppers, herbs, and tomatoes in a white serving bowl

How to Make Fiesta Chopped Salad

Check out our 1 minute tutorial to see how easier this salad comes together!

Tip for Making the Chopping Easier

This isn’t a difficult recipe to make, but be prepared to chop, chop, chop. I got a new chef’s knife for Christmas that I’ve been waiting my whole life for (I didn’t know I was, but I was). It makes chopping vegetable after vegetable a delightful task as it quickly slices and dices anything in its way.

chef knife

America’s Test Kitchen, my go-to source for unbiased ratings and reviews of cookware and kitchen equipment, highly recommends this particular knife. The best news is that it’s very affordable on Amazon! I tell everyone to get it.

Buy My Favorite Chef’s Knife Here

How to Serve Fiesta Chopped Salad

Serve this salad with your favorite tortilla chips or some sturdy crackers. I actually discovered some very additive, gluten free crackers at Walmart of all places called CrunchMaster Multi-Seed Crackers that pair perfectly!

chopped salad in a white bowl with tortilla chips on the side

I’d recommend making this big batch on the weekend and then having it handy for healthy snacks and lunches during the week. The flavors get better as they hang out longer.

chopped salad in a white bowl with hand dipping in with a chip

Other Salads You’ll Love

If you like this salad, you may want to try a few of other favorites…

Autumn Chopped Salad with Apple Cider Vinaigrette

Strawberry Avocado Salad with Honey Balsamic Vinaigrette

My Favorite Cobb Salad

cobb salad on a white plate with yellow napkin and dressing on the side

Did you make this? Snap a photo and tag us on Instagram at @thrivinghome so we can see your creations and cheer you on!

chopped salad in a white bowl with serving spoons
★★★★★ 5 from 8 reviews

Fiesta Chopped Salad

This fresh, delicious, and super healthy salad (or is it salsa?) works as a light lunch, side dish, appetizer, or snack anytime. Make this on the weekend and eat on it throughout the week. Eat on its own or scoop it with tortilla chips or crackers.

Yield: 10–12 servings 1x
Prep: 15 minutesCook: 30 minutesTotal: 45 minutes
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Scale:

Ingredients

Salad:

  • 1 green bell pepper, seeded and diced
  • 1 red or orange bell pepper, seeded and diced
  • 1 jalapeno pepper, seeded and minced
  • 1/2 red onion, minced
  • 1 pint cherry tomatoes, quartered
  • 1 can corn, drained (or use 1 cup of fresh corn cut off the cob)
  • 1 can black beans, drained and rinsed
  • 1 can black-eyed peas, drained and rinsed
  • 1/2 bunch cilantro, minced (sub: fresh parsley)

Dressing:

  • zest of 1 lime
  • juice of 2 limes
  • 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil (sub: avocado oil)
  • 3 cloves garlic, minced
  • 1 teaspoon honey
  • 1 teaspoon sea salt, plus more to taste
  • 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper, plus more to taste
  • 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper

Optional Add-Ins:

  • hot sauce, to taste (optional)
  • 1–2 avocados, diced (optional)

Before You Begin! If you make this, please leave a review and rating letting us know how you liked this recipe! This helps our business thrive & continue providing free recipes.

Instructions

  1. Stir together the the peppers, onion, tomatoes, corn, beans, and cilantro in a large serving bowl.
  2. In a mason jar with a lid, add the lime zest, lime juice, oil, garlic, honey, salt, pepper, and cayenne. Shake until combined.
  3. Pour 3/4th of the dressing over the salad and stir, reserving the rest for later if needed. Cover the salad and extra dressing and store in the fridge until ready to use, up to a day in advance. Let the chopped salad marinate for at least 20-30 minutes ahead of time before serving to give the flavors a chance to marry together.
  4. Right before serving, stir in the avocado (so it doesn’t get brown and mushy ahead of time). Taste and season with more salt, pepper, hot sauce, and dressing as needed.

Notes/Tips

  • Cover and store in the fridge for about 3 days or so.
  • Serve with tortilla chips or sturdy crackers.
© Author: Thriving Home
Cuisine: Tex-Mex Method: Mixing

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beans, corn, and chopped peppers, herbs, and tomatoes in a white serving bowl
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Rachel Tiemeyer

Rachel Tiemeyer

As co-founder of Thriving Home, Rachel dreams about creating recipes (literally) and uses her husband, her 3 kids, and even the neighbors as guinea pigs several nights a week. She believes that good food has the power to bring families and friends closer together and continues to wake up excited about her job each day, even after 10+ years!

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  1. AvatarSusan Flavin says

    Posted on 7/10/22 at 11:26 pm

    Absolutely LOVED this salad
    I made it for family who have gluten, corn, dairy, onion & sugar allergies!! No kidding! I substituted the corn for a yellow pepper and no onion, of course. Refrigerated for about 5 hrs then added avocado and more cilantro on top. It looked amazing with all the colour and smelt and tasted delicious. It was eaten up! No better compliment to the chef!! Thank you for this

    ★★★★★

    Reply
    • Rachel TiemeyerRachel Tiemeyer says

      Posted on 7/11/22 at 8:24 am

      Wow, thank you so much for this feedback, Susan. And I’m so happy to hear you could easily sub out to avoid food allergies!

      Reply
  2. AvatarJennifer Dierking says

    Posted on 6/17/22 at 1:30 pm

    Amazing recipe! So fresh and full of flavor. I used it on the delicious Crockpot Mexican Chicken recipe, but have also snacked on it by itself. Yum!

    ★★★★★

    Reply
    • Rachel TiemeyerRachel Tiemeyer says

      Posted on 6/18/22 at 8:52 am

      What a good idea to serve it with the Crockpot Mexican Chicken. Glad you liked it, Jennifer. Good to hear from you!

      Reply
  3. AvatarConnie says

    Posted on 6/8/22 at 8:07 am

    Love this salad. Cool ,refreshing Nourishing all in one – love it as a side just a pic on when I’m hungry what could be better thank you

    ★★★★★

    Reply
    • Rachel TiemeyerRachel Tiemeyer says

      Posted on 6/8/22 at 1:46 pm

      That’s so great, Connie. I’ve found it’s a good one to prep ahead and eat on all week for lunch, too.

      Reply
  4. AvatarSusan says

    Posted on 6/1/22 at 9:11 am

    I made this for our family gathering and it was a great hit! The fresh squeezed lime juice in the dressing was so very tasty! I loved that it was WW friendly for their point system, too. Thank you for your great menu plans and recipe ideas that are so easy to follow.

    ★★★★★

    Reply
    • Rachel TiemeyerRachel Tiemeyer says

      Posted on 6/1/22 at 5:19 pm

      Wonderful to hear, Susan. There’s just something about fresh lime juice. I’m happy to hear it fits well in your WW lifestyle, too. Thanks for taking the time to leave this comment. Means so much to us.

      Reply
  5. AvatarLesa says

    Posted on 5/31/22 at 4:19 pm

    Loved the flavors!

    ★★★★★

    Reply
    • Polly ConnerPolly Conner says

      Posted on 6/1/22 at 5:09 am

      The veggies are the star of the show. If you have quality produce this recipe is amazing.

      Reply
  6. AvatarDiane says

    Posted on 5/24/22 at 5:27 am

    Delicious! I made this for Cinco de Mayo for a fun treat for the day. My husband and I loved it. Served it with Lime chips. Snacked on it for a couple of days.

    ★★★★★

    Reply
    • Rachel TiemeyerRachel Tiemeyer says

      Posted on 5/24/22 at 7:35 am

      What a great idea to serve with Lime Tortilla Chips. Yum! Thanks for taking the time to leave a review, Diane. We really appreciate it!

      Reply
    • AvatarStacie says

      Posted on 6/30/22 at 11:33 am

      Served this at two potlucks and took none home! Was asked for recipe at both. For myself, I cut the recipe in half, using full can of corn and black beans, omitting the black eyed peas. My husband eats it plain. I eat it with Tostitos, like a salsa. So healthy, no guilt (except the chips)

      ★★★★★

      Reply
      • Rachel TiemeyerRachel Tiemeyer says

        Posted on 6/30/22 at 1:11 pm

        Love this so much! Thanks for the review, Stacie.

        Reply
    • AvatarPenny says

      Posted on 12/18/22 at 10:32 pm

      Can you add quinoa to this?

      Reply
      • Carla from Thriving HomeCarla from Thriving Home says

        Posted on 12/19/22 at 10:11 am

        Hi Penny! We have not tried it that way, but I don’t see why not. Please let us know how it turns out if you do try it.

        Reply
  7. AvatarMargarita says

    Posted on 3/4/22 at 1:25 am

    Delicious!!! Everyone asked when I would make it again! So fresh and healthy, it only lasted a couple of days in our 4 adult household. Great for lunch or as a side dish. I could snack on it all day long with crackers.

    ★★★★★

    Reply
    • Rachel TiemeyerRachel Tiemeyer says

      Posted on 3/6/22 at 12:56 pm

      Nice! Glad you enjoyed it.

      Reply
  8. AvatarLouise says

    Posted on 1/23/20 at 8:19 pm

    I love this but it makes a lot can it be frozen

    Reply
    • Rachel TiemeyerRachel Tiemeyer says

      Posted on 1/24/20 at 8:41 am

      Unfortunately, this recipe cannot be frozen and retain a good texture. It will end up a mushy mess. Sorry!

      Reply
  9. AvatarKimW says

    Posted on 1/10/18 at 7:47 am

    This looks amazing and in addition to having it with chips or crackers, I bet it would be awesome on some baked chicken!!!

    Reply
    • RachelRachel says

      Posted on 1/12/18 at 6:12 am

      Love that idea and just shared it with our readers in this week’s e-newsletter. Thanks, Kim!

      Reply

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