Mexican Salad with Creamy Cumin Lime Dressing

A fresh romaine salad with tomatoes, avocado, and crispy tortilla strips.

4 from 11 votes

Mexican Salad with Creamy Cumin Lime Dressing

This easy and summer salad is loaded with Mexican flavors! I've kept things simple, and topped crunchy romaine with juicy tomatoes, creamy avocados, and crunchy pepitas and tortilla strips. Sure to become a new family favorite!

Prep Time10

Cook Time12

Total Time22

Course: Salad

Cuisine: Mexican

Servings: people

Calories: 324kcal

Author: Michelle Miller

Ingredients

Mexican Caesar Salad

2 heads romaine lettuce chopped
1 1/2 cups cherry tomatoes halved
1 large avocado
1/2 cup cilantro chopped
1/2 cup pepitas toasted
5 corn tortillas cut into strips
olive oil for spraying
sea salt to taste

Cumin Lime Dressing

1/3 cup cashew butter
1/3 cup water
6 tablespoons lime juice
3 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
1/2 tablespoon capers with brine
1 clove garlic minced
1/2 teaspoon dijon mustard
1/2 teaspoon cumin
1/4 teaspoon sea salt

US Customary - Metric

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350º F. Slice the corn tortillas in half and then in 1/4 inch wide strips. Add the tortilla strips to a baking sheet. Drizzle with olive oil and a little sea salt, and toss to coat.
Bake the tortilla strips for 15 minutes. Flip the tortilla strips over, and then continue to bake for about 5 minutes. Turn the oven off but leave the baking sheet in the oven so the tortillas crisp up. Remove from the oven when they are cooled.
Add all the dressing ingredients into a blender.
Process until smooth and creamy. Add extra salt or cumin to adjust the seasonings to taste.
Add the romaine lettuce to a large salad bowl and drizzle with the dressing. Toss to coat. I use about half of the dressing on the lettuce and then serve the additional dressing on the side for people to use as desired.
Add the tomatoes, avocado slices and cilantro to the salad and mix in. Top with more tomatoes and avocado, plus the crispy tortilla strips and pepitas. Serve immediately. See notes for prepping the salad ahead of time.

Notes

*The nutrition facts for this recipe include using all of the dressing. I find the salad only needs about half of the dressing.

How to Store or Meal Prep a Mexican Salad

This salad is best made fresh and served right away. Romaine lettuce will get soggy once it has dressing on it within a couple hours.

However, the salad can be prepped by:

Blending together the salad dressing and refrigerating in a jar until ready to serve the salad.
Prep the lettuce, tomatoes, avocado and cilantro. Place the fresh salad ingredients in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 3 days (I prefer slicing the avocado right when serving the salad).
Make the crispy tortilla strips and store at room temperature in an airtight container.
When ready to serve the salad, toss the vegetables with the dressing, and top with the tortilla strips and pepitas.

Variations & Tips

Make it Vegan: To keep this salad vegan, use the dressing recipe provided rather than a store bought version.

Make it Paleo/Whole30: This can easily be a Whole30 Caesar Salad just be omitting the tortilla strips. Add extra pepitas to add extra crunch! Be sure to check dijon mustard for added sugars.

Nutrition