Chef Lupita
Ensalada de Nochebuena
Central Mexico's Christmas Eve centerpiece, layered not tossed. Beet, jicama, orange, apple, tejocote, and Spanish peanuts over romaine, crowned with pomegranate arils and a whisper of canela.
Recipe Archive
Salads
Salads here are treated as complete dishes, from bright greens and grain bowls to composed plates where dressing, texture, and balance carry the recipe.
502 recipes
Culinary Explorer
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Recipes
Chef Lupita
Ensalada de Nopales
The highland salad of the central plateau, nopales asados on a comal with tomato, white onion, cilantro, and serrano, dressed in lime and crowned with queso panela. The salad Mexico eats when the rest of the world eats lettuce.
Chef Lupita
Ensalada de Papa de Fonda
The cold potato salad that sits in a glass bowl on every fonda counter in central Mexico, dressed in crema, mayonnaise, and the brine from a can of pickled jalapeños. The plate next to the milanesa.
Chef Lupita
Ensalada de Papa Jalisciense
Jalisco's cold fiesta potato salad, folded with crema, mayonnaise, peas, carrot, and chile jalapeno en escabeche, the bowl that sits beside barbacoa and disappears before the tortillas run out.
Chef Lupita
Ensalada de Papas Menonita
Cuauhtemoc, Chihuahua's Mennonite potato salad: cold-folded with sweet pickles, mustard, mayo, and crema. The German-heritage sweet-tang you will not find anywhere else in Mexico.
Chef Lupita
Ensalada de Pollo
The chilango chicken salad of every fonda lunch counter in Ciudad de México: shredded poached chicken, potato, carrot, and peas bound in crema and mayonnaise, sharpened with the brine from a can of pickled jalapeños.
Chef Lupita
Ensalada de Pollo Yucateca
Yucatán's birthday-table chicken salad: poached pollo with papa, zanahoria, chícharo, manzana, pasitas, and nuez de Castilla, bound in mayonesa brightened with naranja agria and mustaza. Served cold from the courtyard table.
Chef Lupita
Ensalada de Remolacha Yucateca
Yucatán's cantina beet salad, cubed betabel folded with cebolla morada macerated in naranja agria, fresh habanero, cilantro, and oregano yucateco. The pink dish that arrives with the cold beer.
Chef Lupita
Ensalada de Repollo Sinaloense
Sinaloa's mandatory cabbage slaw for fish and shrimp tacos. White vinegar, lime, and oregano del norte. Sharp, crisp, no mayonnaise, and ready in less time than it takes to batter the fish.
Chef Isabel
Ensalada de San Isidro Madrileña
Ensalada de San Isidro is Madrid's fair-day salad: crisp romaine, tuna, hard egg, olives, and a sharp aliño that uses the yolk to coat every leaf.
Chef Lupita
Ensalada de Siete Leguminosas
The seven-legume salad of the central highlands fondas, dressed in white vinegar and Mexican oregano, the comida corrida side dish that feeds a family on a budget and tastes better the next day.
Chef Lupita
Ensalada de Verdolagas Tarahumara
The Sierra Tarahumara's Raramuri salad of wild purslane, dressed with lime, salt, chiltepin, and tomato. Pre-Hispanic cooking that needs nothing else and tolerates no improvement.
Chef Isabel
Ensalada Ilustrada Aragonesa
Ensalada Ilustrada is Aragón's dressed-up green salad: crisp leaves covered with tuna, egg, white asparagus, roasted pepper, and black olives, then dressed simply so every good conserva tastes like itself.
Chef Isabel
Ensalada Malagueña
Ensalada Malagueña is Andalucía by way of Málaga: boiled potato, sweet winter orange, desalted salt cod, egg, green olives, and good olive oil, a cold salad where the balance does the cooking.
Chef Isabel
Ensalada Murciana (Moje Murciano)
Ensalada Murciana is Murcia's cold tomato salad, made with preserved tomato, tuna, hard egg, sweet onion, and cuquillo olives. Use tinned tomato on purpose, not as a fallback.
Chef Lupita
Ensalada Rusa de Camarón Sinaloense
Sinaloa's coastal ensalada rusa: cold diced potato, carrot, and peas folded with tiny Pacific shrimp and lime mayonnaise, mounted on a crisp tostada with avocado and a stripe of Salsa Huichol.
Chef Lupita
Ensalada Rusa Mexicana
Central Mexico's Christmas Eve potato salad, diced potato and carrot and peas folded into crema and mayonnaise with a little apple, the cold dish that anchors every cena navideña table from Ciudad de México to Querétaro.
Chef Lupita
Ensalada Rusa Yucateca
Yucatán's pink rusa, cubed papa, zanahoria, chícharo, and betabel bound in mayonesa con limón and naranja agria. The mandatory cold side that sits beside the cochinita and the relleno negro at every family table from Mérida to Tizimín.
Chef Isabel
Ensalada Valenciana
Ensalada Valenciana is the Levante's plain summer table salad: lettuce, ripe tomato, tuna, hard-boiled egg, olives, oil and vinegar, with the tomato leading and nothing dressed too early.
Chef Lupita
Ensalada Victor (Tijuana Caesar of the Working Class)
Tijuana's working-class Caesar, born in the peso crisis of the 1970s, with garlic-infused corn oil, crumbled queso cotija, and torn bolillo croutons. The same backbone as Caesar Cardini's, built for a baja Californian budget.
Chef Isabel
Ensaladilla Rusa Andaluza
Ensaladilla rusa, in its Andalusian bar-counter form, is potato, carrot, peas, tuna, egg, and mayonnaise served cold, creamy but not mashed. Boil the potatoes whole. That is the step that saves it.
Chef Elsa
Erdäpfel-Vogerlsalat mit Speck
Warm broth-soaked potatoes and crispy Speck over tender Vogerlsalat, finished with a drizzle of dark Steirisches Kürbiskernöl and a soft-boiled egg that ties the whole bowl together.
Chef Isabel
Escalivada Catalana
Escalivada is Catalan: peppers, aubergine, onion, and sometimes tomato roasted whole until the skins blacken, then peeled warm and torn into strips. The smoke and soft flesh are the dish.
Chef Ally
Escarole with Anchovy and Garlic
Sturdy, slightly bitter escarole leaves dressed in a bold vinaigrette where anchovy melts into garlic and good olive oil. A salad with backbone, meant to stand alone or follow a rich meal.
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