Fiesta Chopped Salad (Gluten-Free, Dairy-Free)
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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.
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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.
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!
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.
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.
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!
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.
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
Did you make this? Snap a photo and tag us on Instagram at @thrivinghome so we can see your creations and cheer you on!
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.
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)
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Instructions
- Stir together the the peppers, onion, tomatoes, corn, beans, and cilantro in a large serving bowl.
- In a mason jar with a lid, add the lime zest, lime juice, oil, garlic, honey, salt, pepper, and cayenne. Shake until combined.
- 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.
- 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.
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
★★★★★
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!
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!
★★★★★
What a good idea to serve it with the Crockpot Mexican Chicken. Glad you liked it, Jennifer. Good to hear from you!
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
★★★★★
That’s so great, Connie. I’ve found it’s a good one to prep ahead and eat on all week for lunch, too.
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.
★★★★★
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.
Loved the flavors!
★★★★★
The veggies are the star of the show. If you have quality produce this recipe is amazing.
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.
★★★★★
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!
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)
★★★★★
Love this so much! Thanks for the review, Stacie.
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.
★★★★★
Nice! Glad you enjoyed it.
I love this but it makes a lot can it be frozen
Unfortunately, this recipe cannot be frozen and retain a good texture. It will end up a mushy mess. Sorry!
This looks amazing and in addition to having it with chips or crackers, I bet it would be awesome on some baked chicken!!!
Love that idea and just shared it with our readers in this week’s e-newsletter. Thanks, Kim!