You can truly “eat the rainbow” with this delicious Southwestern Salad topped with a quick and easy homemade avocado dressing.
Jump to RecipeTypically, a salad for us is just a grilled chicken salad, or a large house or greek salad. But those can get boring after a while, so I always keep on the lookout for a new salad recipe to try. I recently downloaded the Tasty app and found this delicious-looking southwestern salad so decided to give it a try.
Now, anyone who knows me knows that I am not big on vegetables. But I am trying. I’ve noticed that a lot of them are an acquired taste, so I just keep forcing myself to eat them and have slowly gotten used to a few. Vegetables will never be something I love, but I can tolerate more and more as I get older. Although, I do still like to hide my vegetables sometime, such as in Zucchini Bread.
The southwestern salad is stocked full of vegetables. You definitely are “eating the rainbow” with this meal. And because there is so much goodness in it, the salad is filling enough to be a meal in itself.
Just look at those beautiful bell peppers! We used one of every color in our salad. And we are doing our part to lower our plastic consumption by using some mesh reusable produce bags at the store rather than the plastic ones they offer.
Southwestern Salad with an Avocado Dressing Step by Step
Ingredients
Avocado Dressing
- 1 avocado (halved and pitted)
- 1 clove garlic (minced)
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp pepper
- 1 tbsp cilantro
- 1/4 cup olive oil
- 1 lime (juiced)
Salad
- 1 green bell pepper
- 1 orange bell pepper
- 1 red bell pepper
- 1 yellow bell pepper
- 1 tbsp cilantro
- 15 oz black beans
- 1/2 cup onion (chopped)
- 15 oz corn
- 1/2 tomato (chopped)
- 1 green onion (chopped)
- 1 head lettuce
Preparation
To make the avocado dressing, add all of the ingredients in a blender and puree. I like to use the magic bullet since I am not making a huge amount and it’s easier to clean.
Cook the frozen corn and chop all of the vegetables.
Once you have all of the veggies chopped and the dressing made, the last thing to do is put it all together. Start by filling your bowl with lettuce, then add the peppers, tomato, onion, corn, and black beans.
Top with a bit of chopped green onion, and drizzle the avocado dressing over it all. Then toss the salad and serve!
Recipe
Originally Published On: January 6, 2018
Last Updated On: January 20, 2023
Southwestern Salad with an Avocado Dressing
Ingredients
- 1 avocado (halved and pitted)
- 1 clove garlic (minced)
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp pepper
- 1 tbsp cilantro
- 1/4 cup olive oil
- 1 lime (juiced)
- 1 green bell pepper
- 1 orange bell pepper
- 1 red bell pepper
- 1 yellow bell pepper
- 1 tbsp cilantro
- 15 oz black beans
- 1/2 cup onion (chopped)
- 15 oz corn
- 1/2 tomato (chopped)
- 1 green onion (chopped)
- 1 head lettuce
Recommended Equipment
Instructions
- Add all of the dressing ingredients into a blender or magic bullet and blend until it’s smooth
- Chop all of the vegetables and prepare the corn according to instructions
- Fill each bowl with some lettuce and top with peppers, cilantro, beans, onion, corn, and tomato
- Garnish with the green onion and drizzle with the avocado dressing
- Toss the salad to coat and serve
Notes
All nutritional information is based on third-party calculations and should be considered estimates. Actual nutrition content will vary based on brands used, measuring methods, portion sizes, and more.
I dont know if its because the air is more dry in the winter, but I have been craving salads so much! This looks awesome- PLUS, I have been obsessed with avocado dressing since I discovered it!
This was the first time I had an avocado dressing! It’s fun to experiment and make our own dressings sometimes.
You had me at avocado. This salad looks amazing. I love mixing all color peppers together. It makes me feel fancy 🙂
It really does! I love seeing all the colors together too, it looks so pretty!
We eat salads here often but I don’t usually make my own dressing. I think the salad my husband got last night he got avocado dressing on. So this may be worth trying out!
I’ve only tried to make a few dressings myself, and it’s fun for something a little different.
This recipe is so fresh and colorful. I eat avocado with everything, now I have your avocado dressing, it will be on everything.
Yes, I love the colors! I hope you like the dressing, it was so easy to make!
I’m so picky about vegetables, it makes me feel childish. That being said, the avocado dressing looks amazing and I want it on everything.
I am picky on my vegetables as well. I just started forcing myself to eat them in the last year. I figure it’s hypocritical to make my boys eat them when I don’t!
This looks and sounds so good! I really do need to eat more salads. I don’t very often, so when I do, it bothers my stomach. It’s probably saying what the heck is this healthy stuff?! Lol!
Haha, too funny! It could be the type of lettuce or dressing too. I can’t stand Caesar dressing because of the anchovies in it, they turn my stomach.
I love veggies but I have a had time making them interesting enough to eat, if that makes sense. This looks so good, definitely will have to try it!
It makes sense, I know exactly what you mean. I don’t like veggies on their own, they have to be seasoned or cooked into something, or covered in a dressing like this!
I love a good salad and this one looks so healthy and colorful. Yum!
April
That’s my favorite part, all the colors!
Looks Yummy!! I think I would add sliced steak to it
Oh I bet that would be delicious! I’ll have to try it next time, my husband would be all for that idea!!
This really does look delicious. I am sure I would love the good avocado dressing. Avocado does seem to make everything better.
The avocado dressing is what made this so yummy! I’ve been putting them on more and more lately.
This looks really good, I never thought about making something like this. I love everything you put in the mix, so I am going to definitely have to try this! It looks so easy to make to and sounds so delicious. Thanks for sharing!
It is so easy. The thing that took the longest was slicing up all the peppers!
Oh this salad sounds amazing. I lwould ove to try this out for my dinner tomorrow.
It’s a delicious salad, and full of so many wonderful vegetables!
This looks like a delicious salad… I just wish the weather in the UK would improve so I would feel like eating a salad – it’s like winter again here right now!!
Oh man, I hate the winter and I hate cold weather. We had a “cool front” here last week so it didn’t get into the 90s. When the weather warms up you should give this one a try.
What a colorful salad! The bell peppers make it look so vibrant. Plus, they are loaded with nutrients. I like the idea of avocado dressing. Will be surely trying this one out. Looks super healthy and delicious.
It’s a very healthy recipe. And all the colors made my boys give it a try!
Omg you had me at avocado!!!! So need to try this salad so I can make that delicious dressing!!! Yum!
The avocado made a very interesting dressing, but it worked well with the rest of the vegetables in this salad.
Oh yum! The avocado dressing is such a brilliant idea and an amazing way to use up those ripe avocados we got in our pantry! Definitely one to try out!
We had a few that were a bit overripe and they worked well in this. I’ve tried when they weren’t ripe enough and it made a chunky dressing since they wouldn’t blend. So definitely make sure they are fully ripe for this!
This looks so good!
Thank you!
I really love avocado in a salad. This looks very good and just perfect for our upcoming family gathering. Thanks for sharing!
I hadn’t tried avocado plain in a salad before, but the dressing works well with all of the vegetables.
What a colorful salad! I’ve been experimenting with my salad recipes lately and this comes in super handy! Your recipes are always spot on, Stephanie
I love all the colors. It makes the dish look so pretty and healthy with all the vegetables in there.
You had me at avocados! This looks so tasty- I can’t wait to whip this up at our next bbq!
Just make sure your avocados are ripe enough. When they are too hard the dressing doesn’t blend very well. Otherwise, this would be perfect for a bbq!