Santa Fe Salad

About the Recipe

Fresh, healthy and packed with flavour, this Santa Fe salad with black beans, corn and cilantro lime vinaigrette is sure to be a new favourite!

You’ll love the delicious combinations of crisp vegetables, seasoned crispy tofu and tangy lime dressing. It’s also a great option for those trying to include more plant-based meals in their diet without sacrificing taste.

This recipe is also an excellent source of plant-based protein and dietary fiber with 26 and 17 grams per serving, respectively.

Read on for how to make this flavourful dish.

We’ll cover what you’ll need, a quick step-by-step visual overview of how to make it, tips and variations and of course, the full recipe for when you’re ready to make it.

Santa Fe Salad Ingredients

• Tofu: You can use firm or extra firm tofu.
• Oil: You can use any cooking oil for the tofu.
• Tamari: Tamari or soy sauce is suitable for the tofu.
• Spices: You’ll need cumin, chili powder, smoked paprika and garlic powder. If you want some heat, you can add up to 1/2 tsp cayenne pepper.
• Romaine Lettuce: The salad calls for romaine lettuce for the greens but you could also use mixed salad greens, arugula or spinach.
• Tomato: You can use any fresh tomato but cherry tomatoes or grape tomato work well.
• Red Onion: You can use raw red onion or make quick pickled red onion.
• Avocado: Avocado adds a nice, cooling creaminess to the salad so I’d recommend using it though you can leave it off if needed.
• Black Beans: Canned black beans work great but you can always cook your own from scratch. You’ll need about 1/2 cup beans per salad. Pinto beans or kidney beans can be substituted.
• Corn: You can use fresh, frozen or canned corn kernels.
• Tortilla Chips: Optional but delicious to crumble over your salad for crunch.

Cilantro Lime Vinaigrette Ingredients

• Olive Oil: Use a good quality olive oil for the salad dressing.
• Maple Syrup: You’ll need just a little maple syrup to balance the acidity in the dressing. You could substitute honey or agave syrup.
• Garlic: 1 clove of garlic, suggested to grate it so it’s smooth in the dressing. You can use a citrus planer or fine grater for this.
• Seasoning: Use ground cumin, dried oregano, salt and pepper.
• Lime: You’ll need 1 fresh lime to make the juice and zest.
• Cilantro: You’ll need fresh cilantro.

Step 2: Prepare the Dressing

Add all of the dressing ingredients to a bowl or measuring cup and whisk until combined, seasoning with salt and pepper to taste.

Step 4: Assemble the Salad

You can either add the lettuce, tomatoes and 1/2 of the dressing to a large bowl and toss to coat, or divide everything between 3 serving bowls.

Mixing the lettuce, tomato and half of the dressing separately helps get a good coating of dressing on the lettuce but either way is fine.

If you mixed up the lettuce and dressing separately, divide that between 3 bowls, then add the beans, corn, avocado and tofu to each, drizzling the remaining dressing over top.

Variations

• Make this creamy Southwest dressing instead of the vinaigrette.
• Make this cashew chipotle sauce as an alternative dressing or in addition to the cilantro lime dressing.
• Add any colour of diced bell pepper or roasted poblano peppers.
• Sprinkle with feta cheese.
• Add 1/2 cup cooked quinoa or brown rice per bowl for a heartier salad.
• Serve with a dollop of sour cream and/or salsa.
• Add 1 cup diced mango.
• Top with thinly sliced jalapeno.
• For extra flavour, char the corn according to this tempeh bowl recipe.
• Add a scoop of cilantro cabbage slaw.

Storing & Making Ahead

• The dressing can be made 1-2 days in advance and stored in the fridge.
• The tofu could be made 1-2 days ahead of time but I think it’s best when fresh from the oven.
• Assembled salads will keep for 2-3 days in the fridge. I would recommend storing the dressing separately and leaving the avocado off until serving.