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    Home » Blog » Whole Food Recipes » Easy Salads

    September 12, 2017 | By Jami

    Tex-Mex Salad with Ranch-Style Beans & Homemade Dressing

    Jump to Recipe

    Make this Tex-Mex salad with your choice of homemade or canned ranch style beans for a quick, flavorful, and healthy lunch, side dish, or light meatless dinner. Take a look at the Quick Heathy Recipes page for more ideas!

    Tex-Mex Salad with Ranch Style Beans in bowl above

    How about an "appetite pleasing" salad recipe that's so good you just may start planning your lunches out as well as your dinners?

    After revisiting my healthier American "French" dressing recipe and remembering the salad I learned about in my college years, I realized the salad I mentioned there needed to be a recipe of it's own! I mean, something I still thought about from that long ago has to be worth it, right?

    Tex-Mex Salad with Beans, Tomatoes & Chips

    Mixing Tex-Mex Salad with beans

    With lettuce tomatoes, onions, olives, cheese, and chips it has the basis of many a good Tex-Mex salad. What sets this apart, in my opinion, are the type of beans added and the incredibly flavorful homemade salad dressing. While you may want to short cut and use a bottled dressing, the experience will not be the same. Trust me on this (plus the dressing takes 5 minutes to make - really).

    But of course I had to change the salad from my college days up a bit to make it healthier and easier. First was coming up with a less sugary and oily dressing. Then I only use organic chips to avoid GMOs (why can't Fritos be made with organic corn? Sigh). Less cheese was next. And finally, I addressed the beans:

    Ranch style beans can

    I've always just bought these special cans solely to make this salad (see? It really is that good.). I have to admit I didn't look at the ingredients until recently - I know, shocking. But there are some things that are special treats that fall into the 20% of the 80-20, you know?

    Anyway, when I looked, they aren't so bad:

    Water, Pinto Beans, Tomato Puree, Blend of Vegetable Oils and Animal Fat(Partially Hydrogenated Soybean Oil and/or Partially Hydrogenated Cottonseed Oil and Rendered Beef Fat), Contains Less than 2% of: Salt, Chili Peppers, Sugar, Paprika, Vinegar, Spices, Onion Powder, Garlic Powder, Natural Flavorings, Soy Lecithin.

    But the partially hydrogenated oils, natural flavorings (that I've discovered aren't all that natural!), and soy lecithin gave me pause enough to see if I could make my own version. But still make it easy because lets face it, who's going to spend a lot of time on lunch?

    Plus it would be nice to be able to make this salad whenever I wanted no matter if I had the special beans on hand or not.

    Canned vs homemade Ranch Style Beans

    Using the ingredient list, a couple recipes I found online , and a can of pinto beans I did create a version I liked. You can see in the photo above that my version on the left is darker and a bit thicker, but the flavor in the salad was really similar.

    As far as easy, it's a matter of dumping all the ingredients (things most people have in pantries: beans, tomato paste, water, seasonings) in a pot, bringing them to a boil and then letting them cool while you make the salad. It adds just a few minutes, really.

    Ingredients for Tex-Mex Salad with Ranch Style Beans

    Once the salad base is ready, you mix in the beans, chips, and dressing right before eating to keep everything crunchy and fresh.

    I think this would make a great mason jar salad with the beans and dressing on the bottom and the chips in a separate baggie. Dump them all in a bowl where ever you are (or mix in the jar if there's room) and you have lunch!


    Salad with beans and chips on plate above

    Do you have to make your own ranch style beans? No - go ahead and stock up on the cans if you care. But for those who don't - or want to ability to have this fun Tex-Mex salad whenever you want - the 5 minute homemade version is a great option.

    But you do have to make the wonderful dressing - it makes the recipe. The bonus is you'll have a great homemade dressing to use on other salads, too.

    This may take a few more steps than a more basic salad, but it's definitely worth it - and worthy of it's own spot on AOC!

    Tex-Mex Salad | Make this Tex-Mex salad with your choice of homemade or canned ranch style beans for a quick, flavorful, and healthy lunch, side dish, or light meatless dinner.
    Print Recipe Pin Recipe
    5 from 2 votes

    Tex-Mex Salad with Ranch-Style Beans & Homemade Dressing

    Make this Tex-Mex salad with your choice of homemade or canned ranch style beans for a quick, flavorful, and healthy lunch, side dish, or light meatless dinner.
    Prep Time20 mins
    If Making Homemade Beans10 mins
    Total Time30 mins
    Course: Salads
    Cuisine: Mexican
    Yield: 4 servings
    Author: Jami Boys

    Ingredients

    For Homemade Ranch Style Beans:

    • 1 can pinto beans
    • 2 tablespoons tomato paste*
    • 4 to 5 tablespoons water or to desired consistency
    • 1½ teaspoons salt or to taste
    • 1½ teaspoons beef bullion
    • 1/2 teaspoon onion powder
    • 1/2 teaspoon oregano
    • 1/2 teaspoon paprika
    • 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
    • 1/4 teaspoon cumin
    • 1/4 teaspoon vinegar

    For Salad:

    • 1 head romaine lettuce chopped
    • 2 to 3 plum tomatoes chopped (slicing tomatoes work, too)
    • 1/2 large sweet onion sliced
    • 1/3 cup shredded cheddar cheese
    • 1/2 can olives sliced (optional)
    • 1 cup crushed tortilla chips**
    • 1 can Ranch Style Beans with sauce or homemade version included here
    • Homemade American-French Dressing or your favorite tomato-based dressing

    Instructions

    Homemade Ranch Style Beans:

    • If making homemade beans, combine all the bean ingredients in a small saucepan and bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Remove from heat and let cool while making salad.

    Salad:

    • Add lettuce, tomatoes, onion, cheese, and olives if using to a large serving bowl.
    • Make homemade American French Dressing in a blender.
    • Right before serving, mix the salad base with the dressing, beans, and chips. Divide into 4 servings and garnish with more chips if desired.

    Notes

    *You can freeze the rest of the can in small portions (an old ice cube tray works great to make 1 tablespoon portions) and then you'll have the right amounts to make these again because I'm sure you'll want to!
    **Any tortilla chips will work, but my favorite are Frito chips. However, I don't buy them anymore since I stick to organic corn to stay away from GMOs. Instead I use Trader Joe's Organic Corn Chip Dippers which are just like dipping Fritos.

    Nutrition

    Calories: 203kcal | Carbohydrates: 24g | Protein: 6g | Fat: 10g | Saturated Fat: 3g | Cholesterol: 10mg | Sodium: 1308mg | Potassium: 263mg | Fiber: 3g | Sugar: 3g | Vitamin A: 1207IU | Vitamin C: 7mg | Calcium: 131mg | Iron: 1mg
    Did you make this recipe?Mention @anoregoncottage or tag #anoregoncottage!

    More easy salads you may like:

    Classic Caesar Salad Dressing recipe

    Classic Caesar Salad with Homemade Dressing and Croutons

     

    Quick and Easy Chopped Salad

    Easy Chopped Salad

     

    Greek-Tuna-and-Tomato Salad

    Greek Tuna and Tomato Salad

     

     

     

     

     

    Disclosure: affiliate links in this post will earn commission based on sales, but it doesn't change your price. Click here to read my full disclaimer and advertising disclosure.

     

    About Jami

    Since 2009 Jami Boys has been helping readers live a simple homemade life through whole food recipes, doable gardening, and easy DIY projects on An Oregon Cottage. From baking bread, to creating a floor from paper, to growing and preserving food, Jami shares the easiest ways to get things done. She's been featured in Cottages and Bungalows, Old House Journal, and First for Women magazines as well as numerous sites like Good Housekeeping, Huffington Post, and Apartment Therapy.

    Reader Interactions

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      Recipe Rating




    1. chris says

      February 21, 2020 at 9:13 pm

      5 stars
      Thanks for posting. I used to eat this salad many years ago & forgot what went into it. It is so tasty.

      Reply
      • Jami says

        February 28, 2020 at 12:51 pm

        So glad you found it - I agree, simple and yummy. 🙂

        Reply
    2. MaryAnn Coy says

      July 13, 2018 at 4:38 am

      Jamie we don't have any kind of Pinto Tex-Mex Beans here in Beantown. It's all about Molasses & Steamed Brown Bread ala B&M or Bush's but none of their barbecued beans sound even close. Have you ever written out that Tex-Mex Pinto bean recipe you cooked up? Like what seasonings & how much, I have to be careful with those sort of ok ingredients & sodium. Plus I grew up on homemade baked beans every Saturday night. So cannned beans maybe OK in Hubs Book ( city boy) but I really like homemade beans. I have a recipe for Texas Honey Beans that uses Pinto Beans (I plan to check out yours too & your retried Beans, store brands make me ill! But would love to try that salad. I will need to adapt a bit allergic to cow dairy, so maybe Vegan cheddar. But hearty salads that Hubs will consider a real meal take a lot of searching. Regards from Boston,MA from MA❤️🙃❤️

      Reply
      • Jami says

        July 16, 2018 at 11:51 am

        I guess I'm confused - I have the recipe for a homemade version of the beans listed along with the salad - did you click on the arrows to view the entire recipe? I think you'll find what you're looking for there. I'm totally with you on enjoying homemade beans. 🙂

        Reply
    3. Novie says

      September 21, 2017 at 4:32 am

      This looks tasty! Must try this over BBQ weekends. Thanks for sharing!

      Reply
    4. Brit says

      September 16, 2017 at 8:39 am

      Ooh, thanks Jami that looks great! I'm so glad you have a recipe for ranch style beans, they are hard to find!

      Reply
      • Jami says

        September 17, 2017 at 7:41 pm

        Oh, good - I hope you like it!

        Reply
    5. Gen says

      September 12, 2017 at 2:32 pm

      If you want to can your own Ranch Beans, here's a link: http://www.sbcanning.com/2013/10/canning-ranch-style-beans.html

      Reply
      • Jami says

        September 12, 2017 at 9:53 pm

        Wow, I didn't know this!

        Reply

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    Hi, I'm Jami and I'm so glad you're here! My desire is to help you live a simple homemade life through delicious whole food recipes, easy organic gardening and preserving your harvest.

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