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Pouring creamy jalapaño avocado dressing on a Mexican caesar salad

Mexican Caesar Salad

The easiest crowd-pleasing side salad to pair with all things Mexican.  Make a big one, (tossed and all!), and you can weigh and log your own portion if you're a macro counter. No need to build your own bowl in the corner this time.
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5 from 14 votes
Author Lillie
Course Salad
Cuisine Fresh, Mexican
Prep Time 20 minutes
Servings 3 -4
Calories 158 kcal

Ingredients

  • For the Family Sized Mexican Caesar
  • 4-5 cups of chopped romaine lettuce (590 g)
  • About 3/4 cup Jalapeño Avocado Caesar dressing 180 g *Recipe Below
  • 1 oz 30 g roasted pepitas
  • 1 oz 28 g cotija cheese
  • Cilantro

For the Jalapeño Avocado Dressing: Macros for 1/4 cup or 60 g: 41 calories/2.4c/2.4f/3.3p

  • ½ cup greek yogurt
  • ½ cup reduced fat buttermilk
  • Half an avocado 40 g
  • 1 oz 28 g cotija cheese
  • ½ tsp onion powder
  • 2 frozen garlic cubes or 2 minced cloves
  • ¾ tsp salt
  • ¼ tsp pepper
  • 2 tbs fresh lemon juice 30 g
  • 1/2 -1 fresh jalapeño 30 g
  • Handful of cilantro 20 g- If you hate cilantro, sub parsley- still good!
  • 2 green onions 10 g

Instructions

  • Blend all dressing ingredients until smooth. Refrigerate until you're ready to use.
  • Toss romaine in big bowl with dressing, pepitas, and extra cotija cheese (in addition to what's already in the dressing.)  Garnish with some extra cilantro.

Notes

  1. I love how simple this salad is because it's quick and so easy to throw on the side of any Mexican (ish) meal. BUT it's wonderful with additions like avocado, cherry tomatoes, pico, roasted corn, and mango. 
  2. The dressing is my new FAVORITE. And is so good on any salad, bowl, or taco! The avocado and cotija are KEY, and the avocado does NOT make it go brown quickly... I've used mine out of my fridge for at least 3-5 days. I haven't tried freezing it yet, just because we keep eating it all! But I bet it freezes great!
  3. Cotija is a delicious, sharp, crumbly cheese that makes Mexican foods taste HOW THEY SHOULD. In my humble opinion. If you can't find it, sub feta or parmesan. 
  4. The nutrition below is for the designated portion of dressed "Lillie Eats and Tells Mexican Caesar Salad" (you can find that in MFP), because I love to be able to toss one big salad for the family and log a portion from it! But you can find the dressing in My Fitness Pal alone as well, so you can log as much as you like on all of your meals forever and every thereafter.  Ha.  Just search "Lillie Eats and Tells Jalapeño Avocado Dressing."
  5. This recipe only makes 3 servings of this 270 g size, but I'm saying that it makes 3-4 servings since some of my kids will only take a little etc. Although I probably prefer to eat about 300-350 grams topped with a protein!

Nutrition

Serving: 270gSodium: 169mgSugar: 4.2gFiber: 5.7gCalories: 158kcalSaturated Fat: 2.4gFat: 8.4gProtein: 10.8gCarbohydrates: 9.7g
Keywords avocado, Caesar, cotija, jalapeño, mexican, salad

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