When the weather gets too hot, we crave salads big time. We not only crave salads as part of a meal, either. Sometimes we crave them as a meal in and of themselves. Fortunately, there are so many salad options available that you could literally go weeks without having to repeat the same salad if you didn't want to. Oh, and if you are partial to salads with a Latin twist, there are plenty of those to choose from as well. We've gathered great salad recipes for you and your family to try. You can pick your favorites and put them on rotation.
More from MamásLatinas: Easy & delicious summer snacks for the whole family
Are you wondering what makes a salad Latin? Well, either its origin or the inclusion of ingredients that are used in Latin cuisine. At least that's the criteria we used when scouring the interwebs to bring you this bonanza of beautiful Latin salads to choose from. Feel free to add your own Latin twist to any of these recipes. Anything from jicama to papaya to pomegranate seeds goes.
Don't forget to bookmark or pin this post so you are never at a loss for salad options. And never be afraid to stray from the recipes. Trust your gut and create your own masterpieces inspired by these options. You know what you like and you know what your family likes, sometimes you just need a little inspiration to get you going.
A Mayan citrus and jicama salad that will delight your taste buds.
It's crunchy! It's spicy! It's refreshing! And it also happens to be dairy-free, gluten-free, and vegan-friendly. The best time to make it is when grapefruit and oranges are in season. If you are someone who loves sweet, sour, and spicy flavors mixed together, you have to try this salad.
Papaya, avocado, and tomato salad will make you smile with delight.
Toss arugula, avocados, papaya, and cherry tomatoes in a light vinaigrette for a fresh and fruity salad your family will gobble up. You can buy a pre-made vinaigrette dressing or make your own by mixing extra virgin olive oil, vinegar, salt, and pepper to taste. Again, don't be afraid to experiment.
Caesar salad was first made in Mexico.
The story goes that Caesar salad was first served up in Tijuana, Mexico, in 1924. Nice! It has since become a classic salad that is offered at many, many dining establishments. But you don't have to go out or get takeout to enjoy it. It's very easy to make at home.
Turn your Cesar salad into a meal by adding chicken.
Turn a basic Caesar salad into a meal by adding grilled chicken. You could even cheat and buy pre-grilled chicken strips to add to your salad. This is a great option for a quick lunch or dinner. The salad on its own might not fill you up, but the addition of the chicken makes it hearty.
Thinly sliced cucumbers are the perfect base for this salad.
It's light, tasty, and refreshing. Cucumbers don't get enough love in our opinion. Sometimes they get added as an ingredient to a salad, but they really shine when they are the main ingredient. Somehow, they manage to be crunchy and hydrating. They are also inexpensive and easy to find.
Guacamole and pasta salad go well together.
Guacamole as a dressing? Yes, please and muchas gracias. This filling salad is a great option as a main course or a side dish. Perfect in the summer or whenever the weather gets hot and you want to eat something that is cool. Play around with the type of pasta you use to make it until you find one that you think is perfect.
Avocado, shrimp, and mango salad with watercress is a winning combination!
Make a lot, because it's going to go so fast your head will spin. The addition of mango to this salad is a stroke of genius. It adds great texture and wonderful sweetness. It makes us want to add mango to more salads because it works! If mango isn't your thing, you could substitute with another fruit, like pear or apple.
Bring on the jicama, orange, and red onion salad.
It's hard to believe that something so simple can be so good. This salad has crunch. This salad has flavor. This salad will tickle your taste buds with sweetness, spice, and a bit of tartness. Excuse us while we wipe the Fcdrool off of our faces.
This mango, avocado, and garbanzo bean salad is a crowd-pleaser.
The chickpeas in this salad make it satisfying. You could make a batch of it ahead of time to eat for lunch the following day. It's also great for events. Bring this tropical chickpea salad to your next picnic and you might not have to pack much else because it's that satisfying on its own.
Say hello to quinoa salad in a jar.
For a minute there, salads prepped in a jar were a big thing. Well, trends may come and go, but for us this is more than a trend. Prepping this salad in jars is a great way to make sure you have something healthy to grab and go. Plus, who says a salad can't travel in style?
A classic and healthy Chilean tomato salad.
If you have never had the pleasure of enjoying a Chilean-style tomato salad, then you have really been missing out. It is amazing and we're shocked that it isn't a staple in more homes because WOW! This salad is so mouthwateringly good that your family will fight over who gets to have the caldito left behind on the serving dish.
Unite quinoa salad and avocado.
It's a salad that you serve in an avocado and it's brilliant. Why? Well, think about it, if you were to make the traditional Peruvian quinoa salad in this recipe and add chunks of avocado to it, the avocado would get all mushy. But when you serve the salad in the avocado, the avocado maintains its integrity.
Lima bean salad is so underrated.
Try our diet-friendly lima bean salad. It's delicious and rich in protein and fiber and so easy to make. Also, lima beans don't get enough love. They provide more protein that other beans and they also have a good amount of folate, which is very important, especially if you are pregnant.
Not one, not two, but three-bean salad.
It's healthy, it tastes great and it is beyond budget-friendly. You can also make this with whatever beans you like. They don't have to be the ones listed in the recipe. Pick your favorite beans or whatever beans you happen to have in your pantry and play around with combinations.
You can't go wrong with grilled corn and black bean salad.
This beauty is colorful and flavorful. Grilled corn is a summer favorite that always pleases. Black beans are hearty as well as being good for you. They are full of nutrients that help maintain healthy bones and that's not all. They could also help lower blood pressure because they are naturally low in sodium, which is crucial when trying to lower blood pressure, and they "contain potassium, calcium, and magnesium, all of which have been found to decrease blood pressure naturally."
Make enough garbanzo salad for the whole week.
Make this chickpea salad ahead of time and keep it in the fridge because the more it marinates, the better it tastes. Also, a lot of the time we make poor food choices because we don't plan ahead. If you make a batch of this and you find yourself hungry, you can scoop some into a bowl and know that you made a good choice.
Quinoa, walnut, and cranberries are magic in this salad.
You are going to love how easy this salad is to make. You're also going to love the flavor profile. It's like walnuts and quinoa are a match made in heaven and then cranberries come along to add just the right amount of sweetness to a sensible match. It's another option that you can make ahead of time.
Check out this Ecuadorian fruit salad.
This come y bebe fruit salad is good to the last drop. If you are a fan of two-for-one deals, then this salad is for you. Why? Because you get to grub on the fruit and then when you are done, you are left with a glass of yummy juice to slurp up. It's all good and you won't want to leave any behind.
This Cuban-style quinoa salad with mango avocado salsa is so delicious!
Sweet plantains in a salad? Amazing! Move over croutons because fried plantains are here to take your place, and we approve. This salad also had quinoa, which is great for people who are gluten-intolerant. And just 1 cup of quinoa had 8 grams of protein.
This tuna black bean chipotle salad will be your new fave.
This is not your average bland salad. Nope, this salad has kick. Chipotle gives this baby a nice depth and spice. Oh, and it's tossed with a cilantro avocado dressing. The tuna and black beans turn this into a main course that you can serve on its own.
Love shrimp? Try this shrimp, mango, and avocado salad.
Consider this a shrimp and mango lover's dream. You might not come up with this combination on your own, but once you try it, you'll be hooked. Every bite is so incredibly full of flavors that complement one another. Watch yourself while you are making it because it's too easy to keep sampling.
Guava glazed steak salad that's like, wow!
Can't decide whether to have steak or salad? Have both and have them both at the same time. Sure, you could have steak with a side of salad, but when you combine these two into one dish, they somehow end up tasting even better than they do individually. FYI, you're going to dig the guava glaze.
Watermelon and jicama salad is a summer stand-out.
Sweet, tangy, refreshing, and healthy coming right up. This is a wonderful summer salad that will help cool you down and keep you hydrated. Have it out for kids to munch on when they are swimming or playing outdoors. It will give them energy and keep them from getting dehydrated if they aren't into drinking water as often as they should.
Shrimp and kale salad that tastes like a taco.
Basically, this tastes like a taco bowl without the fried tortilla. We love that kale is used instead of a less nutritious lettuce option because it stays crunchy. The seasoning in the vinaigrette gives this salad a little extra sumthin' sumthin'.
This chopped salad with garlic crema dressing is to die for.
The Mexican crema and garlic dressing in this salad is all kinds of special. There's just something about a creamy dressing that makes a salad taste so decadent. You could use this dressing on other salads, too. Don't think that it's going steady with just this salad. No, this dressing likes to get around.
Tutti frutti jello salad that will make you all nostalgic.
Like those jello salads that abuela makes for the holidays, it's a party in your mouth. This can double as dessert. Of course, you have to make it in advance because the jello needs to set, so make sure you plan accordingly. You can also keep some on the fridge for the kids to snack on after school.
Serve ensalada de lomo de cerdo for lunch.
This pork loin and veggie salad makes the perfect topping for tostadas. Or, you could use it as a filling for tacos. But if you'd rather skip the tortilla, that's totally an option, too. If you like it spicy, don't forget to top it with some jalapeños.
Toss cherry tomatoes and panela cheese in a spicy dressing.
Panela cheese is a delicious fresh and smooth Mexican cheese. It tastes incredible with cherry tomatoes tossed in olive oil infused with chile de árbol. If you don't want to use an infused oil, that's OK because it tastes incredible tossed in regular extra virgin olive oil.
This Mexican mussel salad will knock you out.
Be careful! This salad packs a punch that will knock you out in a good way. You'll be combining the mussels with green onions, red pepper, corn, black beans, jalapeño, lime juice, olive oil, cumin, salt and pepper. It tastes best if you make it the night before and let in marinate in the fridge.
Ensalada de esquites, no street vendor required.
Mexican street corn salad is so good and super popular in Mexico, but not as easy to find in the US. No worries, because it tastes just as good if not better when you make it at home. All the ingredients are easy to find and tossing them together is easy peasy.
This Mexican fruit salad will make you feel bionic.
This Mexican fruit salad is called a bionico and is made with fresh fruit and sweetened crema. Toppings are up to you. It's very kid-friendly and who doesn't want to be bionic? You and your family will become the bionic family when you eat this. Not really, but you can pretend.
This ensalada de nopales is hearty and healthy.
This salad is one that you can keep in the fridge and snack on whenever. Aside from being tasty, the nopales in this salad may help lower cholesterol and blood sugar levels. Nopales are cactus pads that you can buy fresh, but if that isn't an option, you can get them in a jar or can.
Enjoy a bowl of pasta salad with cilantro dressing and longaniza.
The longaniza gives this pasta salad with only five ingredients just the right amount of kick. In case you aren't familiar with it, longaniza is similar to Mexican chorizo. It's flavorful and has a spiciness to it. If you don't like cilantro, you can use a different dressing.
A sweet and sour quinoa salad with a teriyaki twist.
It's the sauce that gives this salad a bit of sweet and a bit of sour. If you've never thought of adding some teriyaki sauce to your quinoa, this will be a pleasant surprise for you. Quinoa is really quite versatile and blends well with so many flavors.
Eggplant and garbanzos are just two of the star ingredients in this salad.
So many veggies in this salad! It has asparagus, yellow squash, zucchini,
peppers, and, of course, eggplant in it. It is a colorful and flavorful feast of goodness. This is a good Lenten recipe, too, because it's a meatless dish that is very filling.
Serve up a crispy battered fish fillet salad with creamy chipotle sauce.
You are going to flip for the creamy chipotle sauce on this salad. It has just the right amount of chipotle. And don't worry about having to make the fish from scratch. You can buy frozen battered fish to use in the recipe at just about any grocery store.
Make a beet salad better with queso fresco.
You cannot beat beets in a salad, but you can make a beet salad better by adding queso fresco. And trust us, you ain't lived until you've tried this queso fresco and beet salad. This recipe calls for fresh beets, but if you can't find any, you can always use canned.
Keep cucumber and jicama citrus salad on stand-by.
Crunchy, fresh, tart, and spicy all add up to yum! This salad is way to easy to gobble up. We've already mentioned that we are fans of cucumbers and we feel just as enthusiastic about jicama. As far as we are concerned, jicama is always welcome in our salads.
Create a colorful combination with pomegranate, avocado, and blackberries.
You don't really need a recipe for this salad. All you need to do to make this beauty is to toss mixed greens, pomegranate arils, avocado, cherry tomatoes, and blackberries in a vinaigrette. Pomegranates are believed to reduce inflammation and help with digestion. Not to mention that they are so dang pretty.
Swap out Taco Tuesdays for Taco Salad Tuesdays.
"Taco Salad Tuesdays" has a nice ring to it, don't you think? This particular taco salad is made with ground beef, chili beans, iceberg lettuce, and a French-style dressing. The taco crunch comes from crushed tortilla chips. You could easily swap the beef for chicken or use mixed greens instead of iceberg lettuce, if you prefer.
Yes, you can make taco bowl salads at home.
If you like to eat your taco salad in a bowl made out of a tortilla, this is the recipe for you. You don't even have to feel guilty about it because the taco bowls you will be making are baked, not fried. That not only saves you calories, it saves you clean-up time because you won't be left with a greasy mess on your stove. Nice!
Don't forget: Pin It!
Pin these fantastic Latin salads to one of your Pinterest boards so you never forget what ingredients make them so flavorful. Before you know it, you'll become known for your extraordinary salads. Everyone will start asking, "What's for salad?" instead of asking, "What's for dinner?"
