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Welp it's the dead of winter and here I am dreaming of warmer weather and sunny days...apparently there's apolar vortex headed this way. But you know what? Let's ignore that and cook up some steak fajita salad with cilantro avocado dressing like summer never ended!
I love a good steak salad. Whip up a quick dressing in the blender, marinate the steak and then chill for a bit. Once the steak is ready, cook it up in less than 10 minutes, toss together with greens and voila! A wonderfully (gluten free) flavored, easy peezy dinner salad.
Side note: my sister, who is the family steak connoisseur, LOVED this recipe! Said the marinade was, and I quote, "on point". So you know, you should probs try it out 😎.
Ready for summer in February? Recipe coming up in 3...2...1!
Steak Fajita Salad with Cilantro Avocado Dressing
- Total Time: 1 hour 10 minutes
- Yield: Serves 4
Description
Craving fajitas but want to skip the tortillas? Try this deliciously marinated steak on a bed of crunchy greens mixed with sautéed veggies and drizzled with a quick and easy homemade dressing (prep time includes marinating). Gluten free!
Ingredients
For the Steak
- 1 lb skirt steak (flank steak works well as an alternative)
- 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
- Juice of 1 lime
- 2 garlic cloves, minced
- ¼ cup cilantro leaves and stems, minced
- ½ teaspoon ground cumin
- ½ teaspoon red chili powder
- ¼ teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
- ¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper
- 1 teaspoon coarse salt
- ½ teaspoon ground black pepper
For the Salad
- ½ red onion, thinly sliced
- 1 red bell pepper, thinly sliced
- 1 green bell pepper, thinly sliced
- 1 cup cherry tomatoes, halved
- 3 - 4 cups romain lettuce, roughly chopped
- 3 -4 cups mixed spring greens
- Fresh cilantro, roughly chopped and lime slices for garnish
- Extra virgin olive oil, for sautéing
For the Dressing
- 1 cup fresh cilantro leaves and steams
- ¼ cup plain yogurt
- 1 ripe avocado
- 1 ½ tablespoons lime juice
- 1 teaspoon white wine vinegar
- 1 teaspoon garlic, minced (1 clove is fine)
- ¼ teaspoon salt (more as desired)
- Pinch of fresh ground black pepper
- ¼ cup water
Instructions
Marinate the Steak
- Combine the skirt steak and all the ingredients for the marinade in a gallon sized Ziploc bag. Shake vigorously to coat the meat.
- Chill for at least 1 hour and up to 4 hours (make to marinate flank steak at least 2 hours as it is a tougher meat than skirt steak).
Cook Steak and Veggies
- Heat 2 tablespoons olive oil in a large skillet over medium high heat. Add the marinated steak and cook for 4 minutes on each side for medium rare or until desired doneness (if using flank steak, cook an extra minute or 2 on each side as it is usually thicker than skirt steak). If steak is burning, turn heat down to medium. Remove from heat and rest for 10 minutes underneath a foil tent.
- While steak is resting, scrape off and remove any burned bits on the bottom of the pan. Add another tablespoon of olive oil if necessary and cook sliced bell pepper and onion over medium high heat for 6-8 minutes, until somewhat softened. Remove from heat and set aside in a warm place.
- When the steak is done resting, thinly slice it against the grain for optimum tenderness.
Assemble the salad
- Combine all ingredients for the salad dressing in a food processor or blender and pulse until smooth. Add more water as desired to thin out the dressing. Make sure to taste test after adding water and adjust seasonings to taste!
- Toss together half of the dressing, mixed greens, romaine lettuce, tomatoes, cooked bell pepper and onion in a large bowl.
- Lay sliced steak on top of salad. Drizzle steak and salad with remaining dressing and garnish with fresh cilantro desired. Serve immediately.
- Prep Time: 1 hour
- Cook Time: 10 minutes
Julie says
Do you know the total caolries for 1 serving of the salad?
Esther says
I have made this twice now. My family loves it. I would likr to have nutritional information available for this. Maybe it's posted and I'm not seeing it.
Anika says
AMAZING!! Everything about this recipe was delicious.
Aberdeen says
Thank you so much!!
Shannon says
Can you use ranch dressing instead? My husband hates avacado.
Jill says
Tasty salad! I loved the fajita marinade