Loaded with roasted veggies, healthy grains, savory beans, and two delicious dressings, this Big Cuban Salad will be a crowd-pleasing favorite at home or at your next potluck!
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Why You Will Love this Salad
This is crowd-pleasing Big Cuban Salad is one of our favorite summer potluck and barbecue dishes.
The first time we took this Big Cuban Salad to a gathering, I wasn't sure how it would be received. People at parties tend to stick with what they know; often leaving new, unfamiliar foods on the buffet table.
As it turned out, I had no reason to stress. We left the party with an empty bowl: our Big Cuban Salad was a huge hit!
There are a lot of reasons to love this big Cuban salad:
- It's full of fresh, colorful, clean ingredients.
- All the components can be made well ahead of time.
- It travels well. (Wait until you arrive at the party to dress it.)
- It's delicious whether you serve it with warm ingredients or cold.
- The sauces (Spicy Maple-Lemon Cashew Sauce & Cilantro-Avocado Dressing) are delicious as stand-alone dressings for all kinds of veggies, salads, and bowls.
- It's vegetarian, and vegan-friendly. (You don't have to make it vegan if you don't want to; but if you do, it's super easy to do.)
- Did I mention? It's a great potluck dish!
What Goes into a Big Cuban Salad
The ingredients in this Cuban Salad are fresh, clean, and simple.
Ingredient Notes & Substitutions
★ Quinoa: We like to use tricolored quinoa instead of single-grain, mostly because we like the extra color. (I do believe it has a slightly crunchier texture than single-grain quinoa, but that might just be me.)
★ Vegetable broth: Chicken broth also works well.
★ Sweet potatoes: Use an orange-fleshed American yam (sweet potato) for this recipe.
Fun fact: True yams and sweet potatoes are two totally different tubers. Almost all yams sold in the US and Canada are technically sweet potatoes. The USDA even requires any label with “yam” to also include “sweet potato."
★ Black beans: Use canned or home-cooked black beans.
★ Red pepper: We used red pepper for this salad because we like the contrast, but a yellow or orange pepper will work just as well. Avoid using green peppers; they are essentially upripe peppers, and have a bitter component that may not work in this salad.
★ Sour cream: Use whole or reduced fat sour cream. To keep the whole thing vegan, use a good vegan sour cream.
★ Cilantro: You either love it or you hate it. Leave it out if you are in the latter group.
★ Maple syrup: Agave or honey will also work.
★ Lemon & lime juice: Fresh or bottled both work, although fresh lime juice is always preferred.
★ Cherry tomatoes: If yo udon't have cherry tomatoes, sub in chopped whole tomatoes.
How to Make this Recipe
This Big Cuban Salad is really just a humongous buddha bowl! (In fact, I used this Cuban Quinoa Bowl recipe as a jumping off point.)
We like to make all the components for this salad (e.g., seasoned quinoa, roast sweet potatoes, black beans, and dressings) the day before and chill them. Then, on the day of, the whole thing can be assembled in a matter of minutes.
Soak Cashews
Place one-third cup of the raw cashews in a small bowl and cover with very hot water.
Set cashews aside to soak while you make the quinoa, sweet potatoes, avocado-cilantro dressing, and black beans.
Seasoned Quinoa
Combine vegetable broth, cumin, minced garlic, and salt in a medium saucepan and bring to a simmer over medium-high heat.
Stir in quinoa and cover. Reduce heat and simmer for 20 minutes.
Remove from heat, but keep the lid on. Allow quinoa to sit for 15-20 minutes. Fluff with fork and stir in chopped green onions.
Roasted Sweet Potatoes
Preheat oven to 400°F | 205°C.
In a gallon-sized resealable bag (or large bowl) toss the cubed sweet potatoes with the cinnamon, ginger, and olive oil until evenly covered.
Pour sweet potatoes onto an unlined heavy metal sheet pan. Lightly sprinkle evenly with kosher salt.
Put in oven and roast sweet potatoes for about 10 minutes, then toss gently and return to oven for another 8-10 minutes, until fork tender.
Remove from oven and allow to cool.
Black Beans
While the sweet potatoes are roasting and the quinoa is finishing up, sauté finely chopped half-onion in olive oil until translucent.
Add minced garlic clove and chopped red pepper and continue to cook, stirring frequently, until onion begins to turn brown.
Add black beans, cumin and salt and cook for 5 more minutes, until beans are tender.
Set aside and allow to cook completely.
Cilantro-Avocado Dressing
Zest and juice the lime.
Combine zest and juice with the avocado, cilantro, sour cream ingredients and use a small beverage or immersion blender and blend until smooth. The dressing should be about the same thickness and consistency as a good milkshake.
If mixture is too thick, add a little extra water.
Spicy Maple-Lemon Cashew Sauce
Remember those cashews you started soaking at the beginning of all this?
Drain the soaked cashews, and throw them into a blender with the remaining Cashew Sauce ingredients. (i.e., garlic, red pepper flakes, olive oil, lemon juice, and maple syrup.)
Puree on high until smooth and season to taste.
Put It All Together
This salad can be served in individual portions, or as one big, potluck-worthy super-salad.
One Big, Potluck-worthy Super-Salad
For one big salad, evenly distribute greens in the bottom of very large, flat-bottom bowl. Mound Quinoa in the middle.
Arrange the following in concentric circles radiating from the middle; ½ black beans, roasted sweet potatoes, ½ black beans, tomato halves.
Drizzle liberally with Cilantro-Avocado Dressing, Spicy Maple-Lemon Cashew Sauce.
Garnish with chopped cilantro. Serve remaining Spicy Maple-Lemon Cashew Sauce on the side.
Individual Salads
For individual servings, this salad can be preassembled on individual plates; or offer each of the salad components in a separate bowl and let diners assemble their own salad.
FAQs & Expert Tips
All the components can be made a day (or more) ahead of time. When you are ready to eat, simply assemble and serve.
To make this big, beautiful salad, you need a big, beautiful vessel to put it in. (The bowl I use for this salad is one I painted years ago at one of those paint-it-yourself places.) You can use any large, shallow serving bowl.
A large pasta bowl, for example, with it's large, shallow bottom and lots of open bowl space, is perfect repurposed as a party-size salad bowl to showcase the color and beauty of all the ingredients.
If you have ever considered adding an heirloom-quality serving bowl to your collection, treat yourself with a beautiful handmade pasta bowl. (You can find some stunning, unique bowls made by amazing artists on Etsy.)
If this salad sounds tasty, you will love our recipes for Sweet & Spicy Black Beans, Calypso Chili, and of course, How to Make a Buddha Bowl.
Big Salad Recipes
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Potluck-Worthy Big Cuban Salad
Equipment
- 1 large serving bowl like a pasta bowl
- 1 Blender or immersion blender
- 1 medium saucepan
- 1 gallon-size resealable plastic bag
Ingredients
Quinoa
- ½ cup quinoa
- 1½ cups vegetable broth or chicken broth
- 1 teaspoons ground cumin
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt
- 3 whole green onions thinly sliced
Roasted Sweet Potatoes
- 1 large sweet potato 10-12 ounces, peeled and cut ½-inch cubes
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ¼ teaspoon ground ginger
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt
Black Beans
- 1 cup cooked black beans 1 can, rinsed & drained
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- ½ large onion about 1 cup, chopped fine
- ½ large red sweet pepper or orange or yellow
- 1 clove garlic minced
- ½ teaspoon ground cumin
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt
Cilantro-Avocado Dressing
- 1 large avocado
- 2-3 tablespoons sour cream regular or vegan
- ¼ cup chopped fresh cilantro
- ½ teaspoon lime zest
- juice of one lime
Spicy Maple-Lemon Cashew Sauce
- ⅓ cup cashews
- 1 cup very hot water
- 2 cloves garlic
- ⅛ teaspoon red pepper flakes
- 3 tablespoons olive oil
- 3 tablespoons lemon juice
- 2 tablespoons maple syrup
- pinch kosher salt
Additional Ingredients
- 6 cups salad greens
- 2 cups cherry tomatoes halved
Instructions
- Place ⅓ cup of the raw cashews in a small bowl and cover with very hot water. Set aside to soak while you make the sweet potatoes, quinoa, and black beans.
Seasoned Quinoa
- Combine vegetable broth, cumin, minced garlic, and salt in a medium saucepan and bring to a simmer over medium-high heat.
- Stir in quinoa and cover. Reduce heat and simmer for 20 minutes.
- Remove from heat, but keep the lid on. Allow quinoa to sit for 15-20 minutes. Fluff with fork and stir in chopped green onions.
Roasted Sweet Potatoes
- Preheat oven to 400°F | 205°C.
- In a gallon-sized resealable bag (or large bowl) toss the cubed sweet potatoes with the cinnamon, ginger, and olive oil until evenly covered.
- Pour sweet potatoes onto an unlined heavy metal sheet pan. Lightly sprinkle evenly with kosher salt.
- Put in oven and roast sweet potatoes for about 10 minutes, then toss gently and return to oven for another 8-10 minutes, until fork tender. Remove from oven and allow to cool.
Black Beans:
- While Sweet potatoes are roasting and the quinoa is finishing up, sauté finely chopped ½ onion in olive oil until translucent. Add minced garlic clove and chopped red pepper and continue to cook, stirring frequently, until onion begins to turn brown.
- Add black beans, cumin and salt and cook for 5 more minutes, until beans are tender.
- Set aside and allow to cook completely.
Cilantro-Avocado Dressing
- Combine all ingredients and blend with a small beverage or immersion blender until smooth. It should be about the same thickness and consistency as a good milkshake.
- If mixture is too thick, add a little extra water.
Spicy Maple-Lemon Cashew Sauce
- Remember those cashews you started soaking at the beginning of all this?Drain the soaked cashews and throw them into a blender with the remaining Cashew Sauce ingredients(i.e., garlic, red pepper flakes, olive oil, lemon juice and maple syrup).Puree on high until smooth. Season to taste.
Assemble Salad
- Evenly distribute greens in the bottom of very large, flat-bottom bowl.
- Mound the prepared Quinoa in the middle.
- Arrange the following in concentric circles radiating from the middle; ½ black beans, roasted sweet potatoes, ½ black beans, tomato halves.
- Drizzle liberally with Cilantro-Avocado Dressing, Spicy Maple-Lemon Cashew Sauce.
- Garnish with chopped cilantro. Serve remaining Spicy Maple-Lemon Cashew Sauce on the side.
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Notes
Nutrition
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Heidi Hinck says
I was looking for a different potluck salad for our last summer band concert and this did the trick. Everyone seemed to like it and some took doubles. 🙂
I like the suggestion someone said about being able to substitute the cilantro-avocado dressing with a store lime cream dressing but I also like know how to make from scratch. I should've remembered to add some water to thin it down a bit so as not struggle so trying to squirt it around but it was still good. For all the various flavors, I think next time I will still add a bit more kick to the salad and then I'll love it. 🙂
Renée says
Thanks for the great feedback!
Sarah Dudley says
This looks absolutely delicious! Will definitely be trying 🙂
Cindy says
Mmmmm this looks so good! I love trying different things and this is perfect. I can’t wait to make it.
Sarah says
Wow, the colors and presentation are just stunning! It sounds so easy to make too! Positively an all around potluck win!
Christa says
This looks absolutely delicious! I can’t wait to make it for myself. Maybe a slightly smaller portion though. ?
Renée ♥ says
It does make a lot of cornbread! Cutting the recipe in half is totally fine - just make it in a smaller skillet, or make a thinner cornbread in the larger skillet. Either way, remember to reduce the time accordingly.
Brittany Limberakis says
Oh wow! So many yummy foods all in one salad! I know my family would love this.