The latest salad in my big ass salad series is the Tex-Max Salad a beautiful and delicious sweet potato!
It’s one of my favorites in the series because it has some really interesting spices and flavors. It also has a lot of crunch between the strips of corn and crispy vegetables. Texture is the key to a good salad!
I kept this version vegetarian and used sweet potatoes as the star of the show. If you do not like this twist, you can use almost any protein as an addition to this salad. Roasted steak, thinly sliced or roasted chicken in chili will also work really well.
Dig into this Tex-Max salad and turn your next salad into a big ass salad!
How to roast the sweet potatoes
To save time, I recommend roasting the corn strips while roasting the sweet potatoes.
For the sweet potatoes, peel the potatoes and set into cubes of about 1/2 inch. Toss the sweet potatoes with olive oil and a good amount of chili powder with a little salt and pepper. Spread them on a baking sheet.
The sweet potato will need to roast for about 20 minutes.
They are made when they are very soft and brown around the edges.
Let these cool slightly before adding them to the salad so as not to wither the greens!
Prepare the crispy corn strips
Next Next is the Crispy Corn Strips! These are easy to make because you already have the oven, but if you can not be bothered, you can add some corn chips over and call it good.
Personally, I find these better than any corn chip.
Start by cutting the tortillas into strips and then tossing these strips with oil, chili powder, cumin, salt and pepper. These will also need to bake for about 20 minutes. Stir them once or twice while baking so that they cook evenly.
These corn strips will continue to be crispy as they cool.
Preparation of the sauce of the avocado farm
This salad definitely needs a cream sauce to tie it all together and this avocado farm is perfect. I start it off with a really ripe avocado, some sour cream, butter and lots of fresh herbs.
To make it really smooth I add to a food processor, but if not, you can mash the avocado and then devour everything together.
I went for a fairly thick mixture, but if you want it thinner, just add more milk to dilute it to the thickness you want.
Additional ingredients for toppings for this Tex-Mex salad
The sweet potatoes and crispy corn strips are definitely the stars of the program of this Tex-Mex salad, but do not skimp on the rest of the ingredients!
- vegetables. You need a lettuce base for this salad. I used a spring mix, but either baby spinach or baby kale would work great.
- Tomatoes. Halved cherry tomatoes are an amazing addition to such a Tex-Max salad.
- Sweet corn. If you can find good fresh sweet corn, use it anyway, but you can also use frozen.
- Red peppers. Good crunch and pepper taste!
My full recipe for Sweet Tex-Max sweet potato salad
Tex-Max sweet potato salad with avocado farm
By Nick
- presenter:
- 6 servings
- Preparation time:
- Cooking time:
- Total time:
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This huge salad has great flavors including chilli roasted sweet potatoes, crispy corn strips, sweet corn, tomatoes and a light avocado farm sauce! Say no to boring salads with this Tex-Max salad!
Component
5 ounces of green mixed
2 medium sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into 1/2 inch cubes
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 tablespoon fine chili powder
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1 cup sweet corn
1 red pepper, chopped
1 cup cherry tomatoes, cut into quarters
Quick tortilla strips:
8 small, sliced corn tortillas
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 teaspoon chili powder
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
Avocado Farm:
1 ripe avocado
1/4 cup sour cream
1/4 cup butter
1/2 lemon, juice
2 tablespoons dry or fresh chives
1 teaspoon dried onion
1 teaspoon dried parsley
salt and pepper
Instructions
For roasted sweet potatoes and crispy strips of corn:
- Preheat oven to 400˚ F.
- For sweet potatoes, peels and cubes into 1/2 inch cubes. Toss with olive oil, chili powder, salt and pepper. Lay out on a baking sheet. Bake the sweet potatoes for about 20 minutes until they are very soft and brown at the edges.
- For crispy strips, cut tortillas into strips and toss with oil, chili, cumin, salt and pepper. Spread evenly. Bake for 20 minutes, stirring twice while they bake to ensure even cooking.
For avocado farms:
- Add all the ingredients to a food processor and mix until smooth. If it is too thick, add more butter to dilute.
- If you do not have a food processor, mash the avocado well and mash the ingredients together.
Prepare the salad by adding mixed vegetables to a large bowl. Top with sweet potatoes, crispy strips of corn, corn, tomatoes, red peppers and drizzle over the sauce just before serving.
Salad leftovers will be well preserved if spread in the fridge for 3-4 days.
Save this Tex-Mex salad for later
As with so many of these great salads, the goal is to have plenty of leftovers for lunch or quick meals later in the week.
This Tex-Mex salad is quite well preserved, but it is better if a) stored it without the sauce. The sauce will make everything wither pretty quickly.
B) Keep the corn strips separately in an airtight container at room temperature. This will leave them crispy. If you add them to a salad in the fridge, they will get wet.
Do these things and the salad will keep great for 3-4 days.
