Oil Free Baja Salad! One of the easiest ways to eat lots wholesome veggies is salads, and this bold salad is all that and more.
Fresh, flavorful, and filling, this healthy Oil Free Baja Salad is brimming with veggies and seasoned with Southwestern flair! Romaine lettuce, green onions, tomatoes, corn, black beans, avocado, and pasta are all coated in a zesty dressing that is bright and full of flavor!
Whole Food Plant Based, Vegan, plant based, oil free, refined sugar free, no highly processed ingredients and gluten free.
Hi there, Ameera here!
We are a salad loving family! We eat A LOT of salads! We love to challenge ourselves to try to come up with just about every conceivable salad out there! Converting many traditional salads to WFPB is FUN!
This salad really hits all the high notes of a great salad. Full of fresh tasting salad ingredients, healthy, oil-free, hearty, and most importantly . . . delicious without sacrificing any flavor just because it is Whole Food Plant Based.
You gotta give this one a try!
Tips for Success:
- Flavor Profile: This salad has a Baja vibe to it. The flavors of the veggies are not weighed down and come through as a beautiful, healthy salad.
- Couscous: You can also use any very small cut Whole Food Plant Based pasta (gluten free or otherwise) in this recipe.
- Base Salad Ingredient Amounts: We suggest not using more than the indicated amounts or you could end up with a dry salad.
- Beans: You can pretty much use any bean you wish in this salad.
- Salad Greens: We used Romaine lettuce, feel free to use your favorite salad greens in this recipe.
- Romaine Chopping: This is a chopped salad, so we suggest slicing the Romaine into small bitesize pieces.
- Chopped Green Onions: Be sure to use a good portion of the green part of the green onions as well.
- Taste Testing Salad Dressings: There is an art to arriving at the salad dressing that perfectly suits your tastes. The best way to test salad dressings is to place a few leaves of lettuce (or other greens) in a tiny bowl, put a tiny bit of the salad dressing over top and mix really well, then taste test. Some salad dressings taste amazing before you dress the salad, then once dressed, they fall flat. That is because the salad dressing has to cover all the salad ingredients and it flattens the flavor.
- Dressing the Salad: We strongly suggest adding the dressing only to the portion of the salad that you plan to consume in one sitting as the salad ingredients tend to really soak up the dressing and mellow it out the flavor over time. The refrigerated leftovers flavor will not be as vibrant.
- Sea Salt: Please adjust the sea salt based upon your family’s sea salt preferences and/or based upon dietary needs.
Leftovers and Freezing:
Leftovers will generally keep for 4-5 days in the refrigerator, undressed. Store in a covered container.
This dish cannot be frozen.
Pantry Products Used:
- Couscous: We used Baron’s Whole Wheat Toasted Pasta Couscous.
- Miso: We used Miso Master Organic Mellow White Premium Lite Miso, Certified Gluten Free. Miso really lends itself to balancing flavors when you don’t use oil. You can also use chickpea miso for a soy free version.
- Regular Chili Powder: Feel free to use your favorite chili powder, just be sure to select a mild one and not one that has a lot of heat to it.
Kitchen Products Used:
- Whisk (or fork)
- Stock pot to cook the couscous
We certainly hope you give this deliciousness a try.
If you try this tasty salad, we would love to know if you enjoy it as much as we do! Please leave us a review! Post a picture on Facebook or Instagram and tag us! We would love to hear from you.
PrintOil Free Baja Salad
- Prep Time: 20 Minutes
- Total Time: 20 Minutes
- Yield: 2-4 Servings 1x
- Category: Salads
- Diet: Vegan
Description
Fresh, flavorful, and filling, this healthy Oil Free Baja Salad is brimming with veggies and seasoned with Southwestern flair!
Ingredients
Base Salad Ingredients:
- ¼ to ¾ cup uncooked pearl couscous *
- 8 to 9 cups chopped Romaine lettuce *
- 7 green onions, thinly sliced (+/-)
- 1 cup chopped tomatoes, small dice
- 1 – [ 15 oz. can ] black beans, drained and rinsed (+/-) *
- 1 – [ 15 oz. can ] corn, drained (+/-)
- ¼ cup black olives, sliced (optional)
Dressing Ingredients:
- 3 Tablespoons red wine vinegar
- 2 Tablespoons distilled white vinegar
- 1 Tablespoon ketchup
- 1 Tablespoon tahini
- 1 teaspoon lime juice
- 1 Tablespoon pure maple syrup (+/-)
- 1 Tablespoon white miso paste *
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 teaspoon onion powder
- 1 teaspoon smoked paprika
- 1 teaspoon regular chili powder *
- pinch to ½ teaspoon sea salt (+/-) *
Optional Ingredients:
- Sprinkle grated carrot
- Handful chopped cucumber
- Chopped avocado
Instructions
- Cook the couscous according to package directions, drain, rinse well with cold water, shake well to remove excess water, allow to drain, set aside.
- Place all the Salad Base Ingredients into a large bowl, mix well, set aside.
- Add the Dressing Ingredients into a bowl, whisk well until emulsified.
- Taste test the dressing for flavor, add more ingredients to reach the flavor you desire.
- Pour the dressing over the salad ingredients, mix well to completely coat the salad ingredients. Taste test and add more seasonings as needed.
- Serve and enjoy!
Notes
*Please reference the blog post for Tips for Success, Pantry Items Used, Storage and Freezing, and Kitchen Products Used.
*Sea Salt: Please adjust the sea salt based upon your family’s sea salt preferences and/or based upon dietary needs.
*Servings: 2 main or 4 sides
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Any problem if I omit the tahini in the Baja sauce??
Hi there LouAnn 🙂
Thank you so much for reaching out to us. Yes, you can leave the tahini out with the understanding that the flavor will change accordingly. The tahini adds some creaminess and tricks the brain into thinking the dressing is more decadent than it actually is.
-Ameera and Robin 🙂
The dressing is AMAZING! Just bumped it to the #1 spot on my dressing staples list 🙂 I could see it being good as a sandwich spread or drizzled on roasted veggies as well. Yum! Thanks again for another stellar flavor-full, healthy recipe, M&MKA!
Hi there Colleen 🙂
YAYYYY!!! We are thrilled that you enjoyed this recipe! Thank you so much for taking time to leave us an awesome review.
-Ameera and Robin
This dressing is incredible- I’ve been searching for something that’s vegan, creamy, free, savory (not sweet!), and delicious. THIS fits the bill. For sure my current go-to. Thank you thank you thank you!
Hi there Courtney,
WOOOO HOOOO!! We are thrilled that you gave this recipe a try and enjoyed it! Thank you so much for taking time to leave us a great review.
-Ameera and Robin
We had this salad yesterday, it was delicious!!! It made a complete meal on a very hot summer day! Thank you for this recipe! ❤️
Hi there Tanja,
YAYYYY!!! We are so happy that you gave this recipe a try and enjoyed it! Thank you so much for the awesome review.
-Ameera and Robin
Made this for our salad this evening. Dressing is restaurant quality. Really elevates the meal.
thank you
Hi there Diane,
WOOO HOOOO!!! We are thrilled that you enjoyed this salad and thought the dressing was restaurant quality. Thank you so much for the awesome review.
-Ameera and Robin