Salipicon de Res is a Mexican shredded beef salad made with lettuce, tomatoes, avocadoes, radishes, and often olives and pickled chili peppers. It’s tossed with a simple Salpicon dressing made of vinegar, oil, and oregano.
There’s nothing I love more than a big salad for dinner, one that’s loaded with protein, crunchy vegetables, and tons of flavor. Salpicon de Res is the best kind of big salad meal. It’s a Mexican shredded beef and vegetable salad with a tangy dressing piled on top of crispy tostada shells made from corn tortillas. So good!
Mexican Salpicon de res is essentially a tossed salad made with simple ingredients like fresh vegetables, shredded meat, and olives or pickled chili peppers in a simple oil-and-vinegar dressing. This mixture is often served on top of corn tostadas.
There are lots of different salpicon recipes that can include different kinds of meat, seafood, and vegetables. In addition to this common beef salpicon de res recipe, you’ll find many different variations: Salpicon de mariscos (seafood salpicon), crab salpicon, pork salpicon, crab salpicon, tuna salpicon, and more.
What is Salpicón de Res?
You’ll also find salpicon in different parts of Latin America — Nicaragua, Guatemala, Mexico, and other cuisines of Central America all have versions of salpicón.
This particular Salpicón receta Mexicana includes Mexican shredded beef, shredded romaine lettuce, sliced radishes, cilantro, diced tomatoes, pimiento-stuffed olives, pickled jalapeno slices, and a simple dressing made from apple cider vinegar, vegetable oil, and dried oregano.
After cooking the meat, shredding it, and tossing it with the salad ingredients, the mixture is piled on top of crispy tostada shells made from corn tortillas.
It’s a great dish because you can prep all the parts and cook the meat a day ahead of time. Then you can toss it all together just before serving.
What ingredients do you need?
The centerpiece of Salpicon de Res is shredded beef and fresh vegetables in a tart vinaigrette. The salad itself can include any ingredients you like. If you only have lettuce, that’s fine. Or you can throw in your favorite veggies like radishes, scallions, avocado, tomatoes, etc.
- Chuck roast, brisket, or flank steak
- Lime juice
- Kosher salt
- Dried oregano
- Onion
- Garlic
- Bay leaves
- Vegetable oil
- Romaine lettuce
- Tomato
- Radishes
- Cilantro
- Pimiento-stuffed olives (optional)
- Pickled sliced jalapenos (optional)
- Apple cider vinegar (or white vinegar or wine vinegar)
- Tostada shells or small corn tortillas
How do you make it?
First, you start by cooking the meat along with some seasonings. The traditional way to make this Mexican shredded beef is in a stockpot or Dutch oven on the stovetop. You can also make it in a slow cooker or crock pot or in an Instant Pot or pressure cooker. For this recipe, I used a Dutch oven.
- Squeeze the lime juice over the meat.
- Season the meat with salt and oregano.
- Heat the vegetable oil in a stockpot or Dutch oven. Add the meat and sear it on all sides.
- Add water or broth, a roughly chopped onion, garlic, and bay leaves and bring to a boil, reduce heat, cover and braise until the meat is very tender.
- Remove the meat from the pot and let it rest on a cutting board. Once it is cool, shred it using 2 forks.
- Meanwhile, cut the vegetables for the salad and mix the dressing ingredients together.
- When the meat is at room temperature, toss it with the vegetables and dressing in a large mixing bowl.
- Serve it on tostada shells.
What to serve with salpicon tostadas
With loads of vegetables and savory shredded beef and a base of crispy, crunchy tostada shells, this is a full meal in one easy dish. Of course, you can always offer a salsa for people dollop on top at the table. I love this Mango Habanero Salsa or Roasted Tomatillo Salsa.
An ice-cold Mexican beer wouldn’t be out of place, either!
more great mexican recipes you’ll love
Salpicon de Res
Ingredients
- 1 lime
- 2 pounds chuck roast
- 2 teaspoons kosher salt divided
- 1 ½ teaspoons dried oregano divided
- 1 onion quartered
- 2 garlic cloves peeled and smashed
- 1 cup water
- 6 tablespoons vegetable oil divided
- ½ cup water
- 4 cups shredded Romaine lettuce
- 1 tomato diced
- 6 radishes cut into matchsticks
- 1 avocado diced
- ½ cup pimiento-stuffed olives optional
- ½ cup sliced pickled jalapeno peppers optional
- ¼ cup cilantro leaves
- ¼ cup apple cider vinegar
- 10 to 12 mini tostada shells or use 4 to 6 regular size tostada shells
Instructions
- Squeeze the lime juice over the meat.
- Season the meat with 1 ½ teaspoons of the salt and 1 teaspoon of the oregano.
- Put the meat in a Dutch oven or stockpot, along with 3 tablespoons of the vegetable oil, the onion, and the garlic. Add the water.
- Bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Cover the pot, reduce the heat to low, and simmer until the meat is very tender, about 2 to
2 ½ hours. Add additional water if needed to keep the pot from running dry. - Remove the meat from the pot and discard the onion, garlic, and liquid. Let the meat rest for 5 to 10 minutes and then place it in
a bowl and shred it using two forks. - To make the salad, combine the lettuce, tomato, radishes, avocado, olives, if using, jalapeno slices, if using, and the cilantro in a large mixing bowl. And toss to combine.
- In a small bowl or jar, combine the vinegar with
the remaining ½ teaspoon of salt, the remaining ½ teaspoon of oregano, and the remaining 3 tablespoons of vegetable oil and whisk or shake to combine well. - Add the shredded meat and the dressing to the bowl with the vegetable mixture and toss to mix and coat well.
- Arrange the tostada shells on a serving platter or baking sheet and pile the salad mixture on top.
- Serve immediately.
