Mexican Nopales Salad | Easy Recipe
Learn how to make nopales salad, a traditional Mexican dish made of pickled cactus, tomatoes, onions, and chilies. Serve on top of tacos or any other antojito or enjoy as a side for grilled meats.
What Is Nopales Salad?
Nopales salad (ensalada de nopales in Spanish), is a refreshing and light Mexican salad made with a type of cactus called nopal, tomatoes, onions, and chilies.
This popular and traditional Mexican dish is served all over the country as a side or topping for tacos, tlacoyos, sopes, and tostadas.
But not only, nopales salad is also often offered at restaurants as a quick appetizer with tortilla chips along with other typical salsas like guacamole and pico de gallo.
Ensalada de nopales is healthy, nutritious, naturally vegan, and gluten-free. It features a tarty flavor and a chunky texture and is really easy to make at home.
Our recipe makes use of pickled cactus nopalitos, but in Mexico, this salad is traditionally made with fresh cactus that are previously cleaned and cooked.
What Are Nopales?
Nopales, sometimes also called nopalitos, are Mexican cactus widely used in Mexican gastronomy.
The nopal cactus is known in English as prickly pear cactus and besides being so delicious and versatile, they are also a superfood high in antioxidants, vitamins, and minerals.
Related article: Benefits of eating nopales cactus.
Nopales have a tart flavor with citrusy hints and features a crunchy, moist, and slightly slimy texture, a bit similar to okra.
In Mexico is very common to find those at the local markets, already cleaned, and whole or sliced. They are normally sold in bags ready to bring home.
Ingredients Needed
- Nopales cactus. You can use freshly cooked cactus or a jar of nopalitos, you can find the last on Amazon, in Mexican food stores, or in the international aisle in some local supermarkets.
- Tomatoes. Any type of fresh tomato works fine in this recipe.
- Onions. White, yellow, or red onions are ok.
- Chilies. You can use jalapeno, serrano, or any type of fresh chili peppers available to you.
- Cilantro. A bunch of fresh cilantro, nicely chopped. Leave out if you don’t like the taste or don’t have fresh cilantro available where you live.
- Limes. Lime or lemon juice, as much as you want.
- Salt. Make sure you add just a pinch and then adjust later, especially if you using jarred cactus as those have salt already.
Now let’s see how to make it!
How To Make Nopales Salad Recipe
Chop the onions, dice the tomatoes, and chop jalapeño or serrano peppers and cilantro.
If you use jarred nopales paddles, drain them and roughly chop them too. If you want to use freshly cooked nopales just make sure they’re cooled down before tossing with the other ingredients.
Add all vegetables to a bowl along with the nopalitos. Add the juice of half a lime and a pinch of salt.
Toss everything for a couple of minutes, taste, and add more lime juice and salt if you want.
Serve immediately or chill in the fridge until needed.
How do you cook raw nopales?
If you want to make this salad using fresh cactus paddles you will need to cook them first, here’s how:
- Place cleaned and diced nopales in a large pot and cover with about 2 inches of water.
- Add salt, 1 small onion cut into half, and 1 bay leaf. Bring the water to a boil.
- Reduce the heat to medium and simmer for about 20 minutes or until the cactus are tender.
- Drain well, discard the onion and the bay leaf and leave the nopalitos to cool down before using them in the recipe.
Useful Recipe Notes
- You can discard the seeds and core of tomatoes, but if you want your nopalitos salad to be more on the juicy side, just chop them and add them with everything.
- If you’re going to remove the seeds and veins from chilies, don’t forget to use gloves or wash your hands immediately after handling them, so you won’t end with some spiciness on your hands, or even worst, on your face.
- Add a splash of vinegar to the salad, not only gives a nice sour taste but it helps to preserve it longer.
- I am using here a 15 oz jar of Doña Maria brand nopalitos, I love making my salad with those because they’re already cooked and cut, making them the perfect shortcut for this recipe.
- Add a spin to this recipe with a pinch of oregano or minced garlic.
How To Serve Ensalada de Nopales
If you want to know how to serve this Mexican cactus salad, here are our recommendations:
- As an appetizer. Place the salad in a bowl and scoop it up with totopos chips.
- Stuffed. In quesadillas or make some tacos with queso fresco, frijoles de la olla, and molcajete salsa (see photo below).
- As a side. For grilled meats, or fried mojarra fish.
- As topping. For tacos, sopes, or try this tostaguac.
How To Store
Already prepared nopales salad can be stored in the refrigerator for up to 4 days. Freezing the salad is not recommended as tomatoes and onions will lose their fresh texture and flavor.
If you want this cactus salad to preserve best its flavor, use a glass container with a tight lid when you store it.
You can also chop all ingredients (besides cilantro) and store them in separate containers for a couple of days, then when ready to eat, just toss everything in a mixing bowl with salt, chopped cilantro, and lime juice.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can nopales be eaten raw?
Yes. In Mexico, they are normally blended in smoothies as they are a high source of fiber.
If you want to use raw nopales for salads, make sure they are light and bright green in color as those are tender and perfect to eat in salads.
Can nopales be frozen?
Yes. Raw or cooked, nopales can be frozen for up to 3 months. If they are cooked, drain them and place them in an airtight container. If raw, tightly wrap them with cling film then place them in a freezing bag and store them.
Mexican Nopales Salad (ensalada de nopales)
Ingredients
- 1-15 oz jar nopalitos (read notes)
- 3 medium tomatoes (diced)
- 1 medium onion (chopped)
- 2 jalapeño peppers (chopped)
- 1 bunch cilantro (chopped)
- 1 lime (juice)
- salt (to taste)
Instructions
- Add tomatoes, onions, jalapeño peppers and cilantro in a medium bowl.
- Drain nopales from the jar, chop them roughly and then add to the bowl.
- Mix and season with salt and lime juice to taste.
Notes
- Place 2 1/2 cups of fresh, cleaned, and diced nopales in a large pot and cover about 2 inches with water.
- Add salt, 1 small onion cut into half, and 1 bay leaf. Bring to a boil.
- Reduce the heat to medium and simmer for about 20 minutes or until nopales are tender.
- Drain well, discard the onion and the bay leaf and leave the nopalitos to cool down before using in the recipe.
Nutrition Information
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This was my first time trying Mexican Nopales Salad, but it was so good that it certainly will not be my last! I served it on top of tacos and it tasted amazing! Thanks for the recipe.
This was delicious – so much flavour. The perfect amount of spice too.
I have never heard of nopal before. This looks like a wonderful salad with full of goodness and flavour.
This is such a great way to use nopales!
This salad is so interesting. I have never had pickled cactus. Must source these ingredients soon to try this out. Thanks so much.