This easy Cornbread Salad has all of your favorite summertime flavors, like tomatoes, corn, pinto beans, and the star of the show, cornbread! Topped with a rich and creamy homemade ranch dressing, it's a perfect potluck dish.
This salad includes my easy homemade cornbread recipe as one of the ingredients. It is seriously the BEST cornbread you will ever try!
What Is Cornbread Salad?
The first thing you think of when you hear "cornbread" probably isn't salad. You'd probably think of grilling out or a big bowl of chili, or maybe a cool, fall day watching football with your favorite comfort foods being served up. But let me tell you, this cornbread salad is a game changer (and it doesn't even have to be served on game day!).
Packed with colorful veggies, pinto beans, shredded cheddar cheese, and crumbly, sweet cornbread, it comes together beautifully with a creamy homemade ranch dressing to top it off. All these fresh and big flavors combine to make a decadent and rich salad that the word "salad" doesn't do justice to.
It's a big batch, and it doesn't save all that well because the cornbread gets soggy overnight, so bring this to the next party you attend or just make a half batch for home. Either way, you'll be sure to impress!
Ingredients:
- 1 Batch of my famous cornbread: this is the unique aspect to the salad! This recipe for cornbread is sweet and sturdy and is so amazing mixed with all of these other ingredients
- Romaine Lettuce: true to the name, this salad does have some lettuce
- Pinto Beans: these give the salad some body, you can use just about any beans that you like or have on hand
- Cheese: I love a good sharp cheddar in this, I think a pepper Jack would be amazing too
- Veggies: tomatoes, bell pepper, green onions, and corn
- Dressing ingredients: mayo, sour cream, ranch dressing mix, and milk are all mixed together to make one amazing homemade ranch dressing to dress this salad
How to Make Cornbread Salad:
- Make the cornbread first. This can be done ahead of time too or you can use leftover cornbread (if that's such a thing). Let the cornbread cool completely before using.
- Chop up all of your veggies and add them to a large bowl.
- Add the cornbread, beans, and cheese.
- Mix up the ranch dressing and pour it over the top.
- Toss and serve right away.
Frequently Asked Questions:
I love layering up this salad in a glass bowl so you can see all the different colors and textures for presentation. It is so beautiful and fun! To serve, top with a drizzle of the ranch dressing with more in a small bowl on the side so people can add as much more as they'd like.
You can -- to make it ahead of time, put all the veggies in a bowl, and keep the dressing, cornbread, and cheese separate so that nothing gets soggy or wilted. Add those three ingredients right before serving.
Cornbread salad is hugely customizable, so you can really add any vegetables you like or have on hand, or use a different type of beans or cheese. For this version, I used romaine lettuce, corn, tomatoes, green onions, green bell pepper, pinto beans, shredded cheddar cheese, my famous cornbread, and a simple creamy ranch dressing using easy homemade seasoning. This is also a great dish to make when you have leftover cornbread you need to use up!
More great salads for a party:
- Deli-Style Broccoli Salad
- Classic Potato Salad Recipe
- Chicken Bacon Ranch Pasta Salad
- Mediterranean Cucumber Salad
If you’ve tried this easy cornbread salad recipe or any other recipe on Bless this Mess, then don’t forget to rate the recipe and leave me a comment below! I would love to hear about your experience making it. And if you snapped some pictures of it, share it with me on Instagram so I can repost on my stories.
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Cornbread Salad
- Total Time: 1 hour
- Yield: 8 1x
Description
This easy Cornbread Salad recipe has all of your favorite summertime flavors, like tomatoes, corn, pinto beans, and the star of the show, cornbread! Topped with a rich and creamy homemade ranch dressing, it's a perfect potluck dish.
Ingredients
- 1 batch of my famous cornbread, baked and cooled
- 6 cups shredded romaine lettuce, about 2 romaine hearts
- 1 can pinto beans, rinsed and drained
- 4-6 green onions, chopped
- 1 cup sharp cheddar cheese, grated
- 1 large tomato, diced (or 3 roma tomatoes)
- 1 green bell pepper, diced
- 1 can corn, drained (or 1.5 cups frozen corn, thawed)
- ½ cup mayonnaise
- ½ cup sour cream
- 1 heaping tablespoon ranch dressing mix
- 1-2 tablespoons milk
Instructions
- When the cornbread is cool, remove it from the pan and cut into 1- to 1.5-inch cubes.
- Add the lettuce to a large bowl, and top with the cornbread, pinto beans, green onion, cheese, tomato, bell pepper, and corn.
- In another bowl, add the mayonnaise, sour cream, and ranch mix. Stir to combine. Add enough milk to make a dressing that is pourable, but still on the thick side.
- When you are ready to serve, toss the salad well and drizzle with half the dressing. Serve right away with the other half of the dressing on the side so that people can add more as they like.
Notes
- This recipe is beautiful layered in a glass bowl or trifle! If I'm taking it to a party, I always layer it up because it's so pretty.
- The cornbread falls apart and crumbles, but it's so good! The texture and sweetness do something magical to this salad.
- This salad is super customizable -- add what you have or like, and leave out what you don't like or have. I love chopped jalapeno in it, and sometimes I'll grill a few ears of corn instead of using frozen.
- Add some grilled chicken to make this a main dish salad.
- This recipe makes a lot of salad, and it's not great leftover (the cornbread gets too soggy), so take it to a party or make a half batch.
- If you'd like to make this ahead of time, assemble the salad but leave the dressing and cornbread separate from everything else. Toss it all together right before serving.
- This is a great recipe to use with leftover cornbread.
- Prep Time: 1 hour
- Cook Time: 0 minutes
- Category: Sides
- Method: Assemble
- Cuisine: American
Keywords: cornbread salad, easy cornbread salad, best cornbread salad, easy potluck dish, easy salad recipe
For more yummy salad ideas, check out these recipes:
- Classic Tuna Pasta Salad
- Spinach Bacon Pasta Salad
- Easy Apple Spinach Salad with an Apple Vinaigrette
- Instant Pot Potato Salad
- Classic Macaroni Salad Recipe
- Midwestern Creamy Cucumber and Vinegar Salad
- Very Veggie Asian Pasta Salad
- Creamy Taco Pasta Salad
- Mediterranean Salad with Roasted Chickpeas
Next time you are headed to a pot-luck I hope you'll bring this along, or make it a meal for your family. Cornbread salad just hits the spot all summer long.
Charlotte
Your buttermilk cornbread recipe is amazing! I'm loving all your recipes and look forward to making some delicious meals.
Thank you!
Melissa
I love that! Thank you!