20 Of The Most AMAZING Ensalada Chilena (Chilean Salad) Recipes
As an Amazon Associate, Eat Wine Blog earns from qualifying purchases. We get commissions for purchases made through links in this post.
Chilean salad is a gorgeously refreshing dish that contains tomato, onion, coriander, and olive oil. Sometimes there might be chili peppers added in to give it a fiery kick, and the onion boiled in saltwater to reduce its sharpness.
While simple, this salad is perfect for a hot summer’s day when you don’t want to spend hours cooking over a hot stove. Instead, give this new salad a try and see how it quickly becomes a fan favorite in your house.
Ensalada chilena is a popular dish in Chile as it is so simple to make in hot weather. This recipe calls for one large onion and tomato, with oil and cilantro to taste.
Adding a splash of lime juice to your salad pairs with the sweetness of the tomato and adds a fresh new layer of taste.
This recipe calls for three times as many tomatoes as it does sweet onion, so choosing this recipe is going to leave you with a much more refreshing salad.
Instead of having a split balance of tomato and onion, the ratio is much more desirable for those who are not as accustomed to eating bitter raw onion.
This recipe calls for the onion to be soaked in boiled water for a few minutes before it is introduced to the tomato and other ingredients. This removes some of the sharpness of the flavor.
You could also pickle the onion in vinegar for a while before preparing the salad. This will give your salad the vinegary taste of a traditional dressing, as Chileans do not add vinegar to their salads.
There are not that many different ways to prepare Ensalada chilena, so this recipe’s unique plating makes me very intrigued.
Instead of mixing the tomato and onion together in a bowl, this recipe calls for them to be cut into small slices and layered together, seasoned with cilantro and salt and pepper.
Use this recipe if you enjoy lots of seasoning and dressing on your salad. Traditionally, there is not much dressing added to Ensalada chilena, but this recipe calls for more than the usual.
Along with olive oil and cilantro, you’ll season your tomato and onion with salt or sugar, red wine vinegar, and black pepper for additional flavor.
This is a recipe that calls for almost double the ingredients that some of the other recipes I’ve looked at, with additional ingredients including lemon juice, parsley, and jalapeno peppers.
The tomato and onion are still the main ingredients, laid out on a serving platter with all of the ingredients sprinkled over the top of the sliced vegetables.
Another simple Ensalada chilena recipe, Pepe’s Chile only calls for five ingredients. This recipe strips the salad back to its most basic form, without any of the bells and whistles that many people add to the dish to add more flavor.
Simply take all of these ingredients, toss them in a bowl, and serve – simple!
What could be easier than chopping tomatoes into a bowl, layering them up with julienne onion, with parsley on top?
That is the extent of this salad! Julienne onion is the process of cutting the vegetable into thin strips, allowing the natural layers of the onion to separate on their own into thin pieces.
This gives you the perfect amount of onion so that it isn’t overpowering your salad with every bite.
This recipe calls for only one yellow onion compared to five tomatoes, giving you much more tomato than onion.
You’ll also be adding garlic into this recipe to add another powerful flavor, along with pepper for that spicy kick. Choose between a yellow Thai chili or sweet banana pepper. For the dressing, combine salt, pepper, oil, and wine vinegar.
Chilean salad is a healthy dish in itself, so there’s not much you can do to make it even healthier. Any of these recipes would probably be healthy enough to be called a Weight Watchers recipe!
This recipe includes only 87 calories, 6 grams carbohydrates, and 7 grams fat. However, out of this fat content, only 1 gram is saturated fat, making it a super healthy meal.
Add five tomatoes to two onions, throw a teaspoon of salt on with 2 tablespoons of oil, toss it all together, and season with a quarter cup of cilantro. It’s as easy as that!
This recipe offers a great tip for sweetening your onion – run it under cold water for several minutes before squeezing it with clean hands. This will remove a lot of the strong taste, leaving it sweeter than your average onion.
So, if you’re worried about eating raw onion in a salad, this process is bound to offer you a unique flavor never experienced before.
With a total cooking time of 15 minutes, this recipe is perfect for people with busy schedules, young children, or who simply want to get outside for a few more hours of sunbathing.
It also serves six, making it ideal for summer parties in the backyard with close friends and family. Choose your favorite herb between cilantro, parsley, or basil – whichever flavor you enjoy the most.
This recipe also utilizes lemon juice for a refreshingly tart taste to counteract the sharp onions and sweet tomatoes.
Balance your tomatoes and onions with a 3:1 ratio and you have yourself a winner! Other than these ingredients, all you’ll need are two limes and 6 tablespoons of sea salt.
While this sounds like a lot of salt, it is only really used for reducing the sharpness of the onions. Once this is done, slice them and sprinkle them over the tomatoes before squeezing the lime juice all over.
There is one major difference between this Chilean salad and all of the others I have looked at today, and that is the introduction of Boston lettuce.
These are used to dress the plate before adding the tomatoes and onions, as well as the lemon juice, oil, and cilantro. Lettuce doesn’t add much to the dish but also doesn’t take away, and can leave you with another vegetable to enjoy in the heat.
Lettuce goes great in every salad imaginable, so why not give it a try?
Throw together two heirloom tomatoes, half a white onion, and season with lime juice, olive oil, cilantro, and salt.
It shouldn’t take longer than ten minutes in total, and the recipe states that this should feed four to six people. I might double up the ingredients to feed the same number of people, but it depends on how hungry you all are!
This salad is both refreshing and cooling, making it ideal for either a side dish or a starting dish. With a preparation time of only 20 minutes, this is a stress-free salad to make for a number of reasons.
If you are using it as a side dish, it won’t be more hassle than the main to make, which is a plus!
Yellow chiles are fruity and refreshing, while also offering a medium to hot spiciness. It shouldn’t leave your mouth burning, so it is perfect to liven up a summertime salad.
Cube the chili into small pieces so that it isn’t overpowering every bite and sprinkle onto your Chilean salad.
