Ensalada de Nopales
This Mexican ensalada de nopales is one of my favorite fresh salad recipes. This salad is so versatile and can be served in many different ways. You can have it as a side dish with your favorite Mexican dishes, topping or filling for tacos, tostadas or really just eat it alone.
Ingredients
- 8 paddles nopales (diced)
- 3 roma tomatoes (chopped)
- ½ cup red onion (diced)
- ⅓ cup cilantro (chopped)
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt*
Topping
- 1 lime
- ⅓ cup crumbled cotija or queso fresco
Instructions
- Clean and diced the nopales - remove the thorns from both sides and rinse really well before slicing and dicing. *
- Cook the nopales - Fill a medium saucepan with water and add diced nopales with 1 teaspoon of salt, and bring to a boil. Lower the heat and simmer for 25 minutes. Remove from the heat, drain and cool down.
- Step 2: Combine all ingredients - Add all the ingredients in a large bowl, ½ teaspoon of salt and combine. Serve with crumbled cotija cheese and juice of a lime wedge.
Notes
Most Mexican/hispanic grocery stores sell fresh paddles of nopales clean without the spines. Some grocery stores will sell bags of clean chopped nopales.
You can add minced jalapeño peppers to make it spicy and serve with sliced or chopped avocado.
You can use garlic salt instead of kosher salt for that added garlic taste.
Can't find fresh nopales? You can use the jarred nopales - just rinse and diced and mix with all ingredients
Look at blog post for different serving suggestions
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