This salad has been on my mind for a while now, ever since I tried the Santa Fe Salad at Earl’s restaurant about two weeks ago. The salad was the ending to a busy but lovely evening of shopping with my children for birthday presents for Mr Magpie.
We went to THE MALL.
I’m sure every city has THE MALL, but here in Edmonton we are (or perhaps used to be?) famous for West Edmonton Mall.
We locals don’t usually shop there unless we need a plethora of stores to choose from. Which, in my language, meant that I had no idea what to get Mike for his birthday and I needed to wander a place that had a bazillion choices for me.
So off to THE MALL we went, right after school one Tuesday evening. By the time we had found comic t-shirts (he’s so easy to please) and new ear phones for his trip (which he *ahem* left at home during his trip to Amsterdam) and assorted other goodies, we were starving like feral wolverines.
We rarely eat at Earls seeing how there is no kids menu and my daughter is a picky eater. Actually,change the rarely to never. I haven’t eaten there in years.
The salad caught my eye right away, I love a good Sante Fe salad but this one, oh, this one had dates init. Immediately my sweet/savoury loving taste buds perked right up with interest and sealed the deal.
While this isn’t an exact copy – I changed the chicken to a Tex Mex spice instead of cajun and the dressing is less oily/garlicky- the base is there. I preferred my creamy avocado dressing to the peanut oil type one they have on it and I left out the tortilla chips. It was far less greasy this way, the one in the restaurant is almost too.. oily. KWIM?
You can change the chicken to Cajun spiced if you want, but I loved the Tex Mex.
I also left the goat cheese off of my salad as I wanted it completely dairy free, but Mike’s had the goat cheese and it’s a spectacular addition flavor-wise. This salad is so adaptable to your tastes!
Thanks for stopping in everyone!
Love you more than chocolate,
Karlynn
Copycat Earl’s Santa Fe Salad
Ingredients
- 1 cup black beans
- 1 cup corn
- 1/3 cup chopped dates
- 6 cups shredded romaine lettuce
- 5-6 tablespoons Honey Lime & Garlic Avocado Dressing
- 2 cooked chicken breasts seasoned with Tex Mex Seasoning
- 1 avocado chopped and divided into two
- 1/3 cup goat cheese
- 1 cup tortilla chip strips or broken tortillas optional I prefer without
Instructions
- Combine beans, corn, dates, lettuce and dressing in a large bowl. Divide onto two plates.
- Slice the chicken breast into strips and place on top of salad.
- Place avocado on top.
- Sprinkle goat cheese and tortilla strips on top.
- Serving with a little extra dressing drizzled over the chicken breast.
Nutrition
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Bruna Depole says
I love this salad and this dressing it’s definitely been a staple for a couple of years! Thanks for sharing! The dressing has the perfect balance of flavours!
Elle says
I too am glad I read the comments and found the actual dressing recipe from Eli, who worked at Earl’s. Thank you Eli, you’re the best!!
The author didn’t even provide the recipe for “Homemade Honey Lime & Garlic Avocado Dressing” so I am not too sure what the point of this post, ahem “recipe” is? It is certainly NOT a copycat recipe. Sorry, just keeping it real!
And if you would rather burn down your house than clean it, that is simply just disgusting and I would not want to eat anything from your kitchen.
Sherry says
Can you provide the salad dressing recipe? Sounds delish ?
momo says
I’m glad I read the comments to find info on how to make the actual dressing from someone who worked at Earl’s. I wouldn’t even remotely call this a copycat recipe, it was “inspired” by something you ate.
Eli says
I worked as the saucier for an earls for 4 years and I figured I’d help your copycat recipe out even further,I won’t to quantity as it’s for more then a 4 litre batch, but you can adjust to taste!
Unsalted peanuts
Garlic cloves (minimal)
Honey
Cumin
Lime juice
Cilantro(include stems)
Canola or other oil for emulsifying
For the recipe simply put peanuts,honey,cumin Half the lime juice and garlic in a food processor until combined and roughly chunky peanut butter consistency, add the remaining lime juice and cilantro and mix until just combined, finish by streaming in your oil until desired consistency, finish with salt and pepper to taste
And I’m sure if youve eaten it your aware but the original salad has crumbled feta cheese not goat cheese and the lettuce is actually a 50:50 mix of romaine and mixed greens
Eli says
Oh and I forgot to mention the sauce being to “oily” in the restaurant is defiantly due to whoever made t not doing it correctly!
Pam says
Your recipe is amazing, I made it and not only did it taste like Earls but it kinda tasted like something I’ve had at the Cheesecake Factory. It was amazing. Thank you for sharing 🙂
Mel says
I also worked at earls your spot on.
Mel says
To Eli
Rosie says
Eli could we get the amounts to put in for each ingredient please?
dairyfreedoll says
u think goat cheese is dairy??!!!…lol
Karlynn says
Goat ‘s milk protein is so similar to cow’s milk protein that a lot of people with a dairy intolerance still can’t eat it. Soooo I’m sure hoping you’re not pretending to be dairy free eating goats milk…or vegan hahahah! Hate to break it to you, it’s still mammal milk and it’s not vegan! Hahaha!!! That’s hilarious!! ?????
Sophie Amelia says
My favorite too!
Christine Syrota Doraty says
Trying this!
Diane Smitten says
Love this salad. Always Yum.
Kendyl Hudson says
It wasn’t bad, but I really need to invest in some type of blender/food processor. (Just moved into my own place, AGAIN). Was a pretty accurate copycat tho!
Karlynn Johnston says
How did it taste!!?? What did you think?
Kendyl Hudson says
My attempt!
Jane Dowdall Miska says
Looks so delish!!
Sheila Hintz says
Looks awesome!!!
Kristy Jahn-Smith says
That is literally my favorite salad. I’m an addict. Good post.
Holly Nicole says
How do you know me….. Kidding
The Kitchen Magpie says
Oh Lordy no one wants to be a middle aged woman who drinks too much hahaha! Wait…
Holly Nicole says
Tasted amazing!
Holly Nicole says
I’m trying to be you lol… My photos suck though.
Pamela Marriott says
lol
The Kitchen Magpie says
That looks fabulous! Gorgeous job on dinner!
The Kitchen Magpie says
A salad without meat is called “lettuce”, silly! 😉
Holly Nicole says
Crustless quiche and did a side salad … Yummy
Holly Nicole says
I couldn’t add your personal page … My dinner to night Karlynn… Thought you would be so proud of me \U0001f60b
Pamela Marriott says
Not sure if meat is included you can call it a salad…..lol but it looks yummy
Kendyl Hudson says
Love it, and thanks for the recipe! I always found the chicken over cooked at Earls, so now I can make it better!
Joy Vieira Velozo says
So jealous! I had 6 Hershey kisses for lunch… All I got was a sugar rush.
The Kitchen Magpie says
This is the date one!! Sooo good!
Kendyl Hudson says
Love their salad, especially the corn, black beans and dates (I think)
Librarian Lavender says
That salad looks delicious and healthy! I bet it tasted a lot better than the mall salad! I love salads and am glad summer’s almost here so I can eat plenty of them again.