Chopped Mexican Salad with Pepitas has a Honey-Chipotle Dressing and it's a delicious, hearty festival of fresh Mexican flavors. It's perfect for a summer picnic, on a buffet table, or alongside tacos or burritos.
This Mexican salad with pepitas is beautiful, festive and full of sweet and spicy flavors and soft and crunchy textures. It's amazing as a main course salad and an awesome side, too.
With food, little details can make a big difference, and it's often a matter of preference.
Chopping salad ingredients, all approximately the same size, makes for a very different salad. A little bit of every single ingredient on your fork at once -- that's the beauty of it.
How to Make it
This salad has three components: Spiced Pepitas, Honey-Chipotle Dressing and the produce with cheese.
The Spiced Pepitas (pumpkin seeds). Mix the pepitas with honey, a little oil and spices, and then roast for just a few minutes.
The Honey-Chipotle Dressing. Blend the lime juice, chipotles in adobo sauce, honey, spices and oil together.
The produce and cheese. Chop all of the produce, grate the cheese, and toss everything together with the pepitas and dressing.
(More detailed instructions are below.)
Can you make Chopped Mexican Salad ahead?
Yes! Well, most of it.
- I make the pepitas a day or two ahead of time. They should be stored in a tightly sealed container, at room temperature.
- I make the dressing up to a week in advance. It should be stored in a tightly sealed jar, at room temperature or refrigerated. (If it's refrigerated, take it out a couple hours ahead of time.)
- Except for the avocados, I chop all of the produce the day before. It should be stored in a tightly sealed container in the refrigerator.
- About 15 minutes before you'd like to serve the salad, cut the avocados and mix everything together.
Recipe Tips
- The dressing recipe may make a bit more than you'll need -- dress the salad to your taste.
- My favorite way to make salad dressing is in a jar. Simply add all of the ingredients at once, put the lid on, and shake!
- The pepitas are great mixed in, but I also save a small handful to sprinkle on top. They're nice just to have on hand, too -- they make a delicious snack!
This salad is so good as a part of a buffet of Latin flavors. Here are a few other recipes that would be great with it:
This is one of those salads you'll gobble up like it's your favorite flavor of ice cream. Know what I mean?
Enjoy every last bite of this scrumptious Mexican salad with Pepitas!
Chopped Mexican Salad with Pepitas and Honey-Chipotle Dressing
Ingredients
For the spiced pepitas:
- ½ cup raw pepitas (pumpkin seeds), hulled
- 2 teaspoons olive oil
- 1 ½ teaspoons honey
- 1 teaspoon ground cumin
- 1 to 2 pinches cayenne
- ¼ teaspoon salt
For the dressing:
- ⅓ cup fresh lime juice (about 3 limes)
- 2 teaspoons chipotles in adobo sauce, finely minced
- 1 tablespoon honey
- 1 teaspoon ground cumin
- ½ teaspoon sea salt
- ½ cup extra virgin olive oil
For the salad (everything "chopped," should be cut into about ¼ to ½-inch dice):
- 4 cups packed arugula or mixed baby greens (or a combination of both), roughly chopped
- ½ cup cilantro, washed and dried, finely chopped
- 1 ½ cups jicama, chopped
- 1 ½ cups tomato, seeds removed, chopped
- 1 ½ cups avocado, chopped
- 1 cup roasted poblano peppers (click here for how to roast them here), peeled, seeded, chopped
- ½ cup red onion, chopped
- ½ cup Manchego cheese, grated
Instructions
For the pepitas
- Preheat the oven to 375°F and line a baking sheet with foil. In a small mixing bowl, combine the pepitas with the oil and honey. Once they are well-coated, add the spices and salt and stir to blend. Spread the pepitas on the foil-lined baking sheet and roast them in the preheated oven until they begin to brown and are very aromatic, about 5 to 7 minutes. Set aside.
For the dressing
- In a small mixing bowl, combine the lime juice with the chiptoles, honey, cumin, and salt. Gradually whisk in the oil and set aside.
For the salad
- In a large serving bowl, combine all of the ingredients except the cheese. Just before serving, add the cheese, spiced pepitas and the dressing. Toss to combine.
NUTRITION
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sippitysup
It's a chopped salad sort of day. LA times featured one today. I had one for lunch and now this. I guess this is what they mean by "salad days". GREG
valentina
love it, greg!
Billy
Please allow me to join in the horn tooting...EVERYTHING you make is FANTASTIC!!! and I'm looking forward to this chopped masterpiece for the party!!!
Andy
The dressing is amazing. I ended up almost doubling everything. I added mango to the salad, and it was great. I was trying to recreate a salad I had once at Frontera Grill. This wasn't it, exactly, but it was really tasty!
valentina
Andy, that's awesome! Love that you added mango -- they are so delicious right now! Cheers! 🙂
Marissa
Love all of the flavors and textures in this chopped salad, Valentina! I'd enjoy having those pepitas around all the time to top EVERYTHING!
valentina
Thank you, Marissa! I actually love them on their own for snacking on. 😀 Enjoy! ~Valentina
Ron
You’re making me crave Tex-Mex with your salad. I love the beauty of the precise prep work.
My son (who’s a chef) says the first thing he makes a new chef do is cut six veggies all the same size. It’s a pass or fail with him. You would pass with flying colors. Me on the other hand, well let’s just say that I might fail his test.
valentina
Sounds like the apple doesn't fall far from the tree. Two chefs in one family. Happy to hear I'd pass your son's test. I remember having to do a lot of precise cutting and chopping in culinary school. 😀 Thanks so much for visiting, Ron! ~Valentina
angiesrecipes
How delicious! I must try those spiced pepitas for my salad :-))
valentina
Thanks, Angie. They're great even just to snack on. 🙂 ~Valentina
Eha
Thank you so much for the spiced pepita and honey-chipotle dressing recipes, both of which will be added to my file not over abundant in Tex-Mex recipes . . . can cut very fine and even but prefer my salads more au naturel . . . to each, etc et all . . .
valentina
Thank you, Eha. A Tex-Mex recipe file sounds super delicious! 🙂 Enjoy!
David @ Spiced
We used to keep roasted pepitas around as an afternoon snack, but somehow we got away from that. I'm going to start doing it again! And pepitas in a salad is an amazing addition. The slight crunch and bit of nutty flavors adds so much. This salad sounds perfect for all sorts of summer grilling adventures! I hope you have a great weekend ahead, Valentina!
valentina
Thanks, David. Get back to snacking! 😉 Hope you all have a great weekend, too! ~Valentina
David Scott Allen
I think I would love every bite of this! The flavor and texture combinations are absolutely perfect, Valentina! Have a fun weekend… XO
valentina
Thank you, David! Hope you have a delightful weekend! ~Valentina
Deb|EastofEdenCooking
The make ahead options in the recipe are so appealing. The bright, strong flavors make this salad a strong contender for dinner too. Add protein, and everybody is happy!
valentina
Totally agree. Sometimes I mix chicken in and it's a super hearty meal. Thank you for checking it out. Have a fantastic weekend, Deb. ~Valentina
Dawn - Girl Heart Food
Yes! You bet I could gobble up this delicious salad! There's not one thing I don't like! Jam packed with flavour and textures, I know I'm going to LOVE this one. Definitely gotta try soon 🙂 I'm sure it'll be on repeat!
2pots2cook
Perfect to take leftovers (if any ) to work the other day ! Thank you so much !
valentina
Ah, that's a great idea! 😀 Thanks! ~Valentina
Kim Lange
Looks super amazing all fresh, crunchy, sweet and sour in this salad! YUM! Pinning! xo
valentina
Thanks so much, Kim! 🙂 ~Valentina
Kathryn
What a delight for the eyes...and so healthy and tasty... just lovely!
valentina
Thanks so much, Kathryn! 🙂
Kathy @ Beyond the Chicken Coop
This is the kind of salad I love! This would be perfect for lunch and would make great leftovers too!
valentina
Hi Kathy! Thanks so much, and yes, the leftovers are delicious. 🙂 ~Valentina
John / Kitchen Riffs
Chopped salads are so good! Love the dressing that you used on this one. We're eating tons -- I mean TONS -- of salad at the moment, so this is a really welcome recipe. Thanks!
valentina
We can't seem to get enough salads these days, too. Thanks so much, John!
mimi rippee
Fabulous. I love all of the components. I would put jicama in every salad if it would work. And lots of times it does! Great dressing also.
valentina
Thanks, Mimi. Jimaca is definitely an ingredient that I don't use enough. I need to keep it on my radar. 🙂 ~Valentina
valentina
Enjoy Liz. Thanks so much! 🙂 ~Valentina