© Kaylee Murphy

Festive Berry Jicama Salad

Need a recipe for the Fourth? Look no further! Whether you’re hosting a party or need a dish to pass, this Berry Jicama Salad is the perfect festive dish for the Fourth of July. I absolutely love fresh salads in the summer and with all the juicy berries in season, you can’t go wrong with this colorful combination.

What’s Jicama

If you’ve never heard of jicama before, it’s a Mexican root vegetable that I think tastes like a cross between a water chestnut and an apple (and is also a great source of fiber).

Working with Jicama

Jicama can be intimidating if you’ve never worked with it before, but once you get the hang of it, it’s not so bad. The tan skin is pretty tough/fibrous and can be toxic if eaten, so you want to make sure you either use a strong vegetable peeler or knife to remove it. After the skin is removed, cutting the inner white part is a piece of cake. Most people eat it raw, either plain with a veggie dip of some sort or by slicing or grating it and throwing it into salads or slaws, but you can also cook it. One of my mom’s favorite recipes is my Strawberry Jicama Slaw, but I personally like my Garlic Jicama Fries! Either way, jicama is a great way to add a neutral crunch factor and will soak up any flavors you add to it.

Don’t Be Intimidated

So, if you’re new to jicama and you’re daring enough to give it a shot, I promise you that your dish will be the star of the party and everyone will be asking you what that “yummy, crunchy white stuff is,” haha! I added quinoa to this salad and brought it to share with my family for our Fourth of July party, and everyone loved it. They’re all hooked on jicama now!

*Side Note

I didn’t use proportions for this recipe (for the salad part) because it depends on how big you want to make your salad. I always just throw my ingredients together in a big bowl and adjust the amounts until I get a nice balance and it looks pretty 🙂 There’s usually plenty of dressing, but if I happen to run out because I’m making a really big salad, I just make another batch and save the rest for later.

The Recipe

Festive Berry Jicama Salad

 

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Festive, fun, and delicious, this salad is a great way to celebrate the Fourth, or to eat whenever! 🙂

Author: Kaylee

Recipe type: Lunch/Dinner

Ingredients

• Fresh spinach/mixed greens
• Strawberries
• Blueberries
• Jicama
• Dried cherries/cranberries
• Optional add ins: quinoa, nuts
• Strawberry Lime Poppyseed Dressing:
• ½ cup chopped strawberries
• The zest of one lime
• ¼ cup freshly squeezed lime juice (sometimes I like to add a tablespoon or two more for that extra tang, but you can adjust it to whatever tastes good to you)
• 2-3 tablespoons raw honey
• 2 tablespoons Chosen Foods Avocado Oil (or any other mild-tasting oil)
• 1 tablespoon strawberry balsamic vinegar (or regular balsamic vinegar)--I like this brand
• 1 tablespoon poppy seeds
• Sea salt to taste

Instructions

1. First, throw all the ingredients for the dressing, except for the poppy seeds, in a blender and blend until the mixture is smooth. Then, stir in the poppy seeds. Place the dressing in the refrigerator until you are ready to use it.
2. Next, combine all the ingredients for the salad in a large mixing bowl until you achieve a nice balance.
3. Finally, when you're ready to serve the salad, pour the dressing over the salad and toss until everything is coated.*
4. Enjoy!

Notes

*Sometimes I like to pour my dressing on 30-60 minutes prior to serving so that the flavors have a chance to marinate, but some people don't like it when the greens get too wet and wilted, so feel free to do it however you like 🙂

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This Tropical Mexican Quinoa Salad is also super tasty, fun, and a great dish to pass!