• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
Free Instant Pot Recipe Guide! download now!

FREE 5 Instant Pot Meals in 5 Minutes E Course!


Thank you for subscribing!


Formerly Your Homebased Mom

  • About
  • Latest
  • Contact
NEW! Watch on youtube!

Your Homebased Mom

Leigh Anne Wilkes

  • Recipes
    • Course
      • Appetizers
      • Beverages
      • Bread
      • Breakfast and Brunch
      • Dessert
        • Bars and Brownies
        • Cake
        • Candy and Treats
        • Cookies
        • Ice Cream
        • Pie
      • Main Dishes
      • Salads
      • Sandwiches and Burgers
      • Sauces and Dressings
      • Side Dishes
      • Soup
    • Cooking Method
      • Crock Pot
      • Grilling
      • Instant Pot
      • One Pan
      • Oven
      • Quick and Easy
      • Recipes for Two
    • Ingredients
      • Beef
      • Eggs
      • Pasta
      • Pork
      • Poultry
        • Chicken
        • Turkey
      • Seafood
      • Vegetarian
      • Gluten Free
    • Cuisine
      • American
      • Asian
      • European
      • Indian
      • Italian
      • Mediterranean
      • Mexican
    • Holiday
      • New Year’s Eve
      • Valentine’s Day
      • St. Patrick’s Day
      • Easter
      • 4th of July
      • Halloween
      • Thanksgiving
      • Christmas
  • Travel
    • Europe
    • United States
      • New York City
      • Portland
    • What To Wear
  • Life
    • Home
    • Party Ideas
    • Empty Nesters
    • Church
      • Activity Day
      • Relief Society
    • Organizational Tips
    • Recommended Reads
  • New? Start Here
  • Subscribe for weekly recipes

    FREE 5 Instant Pot Meals in 5 Minutes E Course!


    Thank you for subscribing!


Recipe Finder

  • Course
    • Appetizers
    • Beverages
    • Bread
    • Breakfast and Brunch
    • Dessert
    • Main Dishes
    • Salads
    • Sandwiches and Burgers
    • Sauces and Dressings
    • Side Dishes
    • Soup
  • Cooking Method
    • Oven
    • Crock Pot
    • Grilling
    • Instant Pot
    • One Pan
    • Quick and Easy
  • Ingredients
    • Beef
    • Eggs
    • Pasta
    • Pork
    • Poultry
    • Seafood
    • Vegetarian
    • Gluten Free
  • Cuisine
    • American
    • Asian
    • European
    • Indian
    • Italian
    • Mediterranean
    • Mexican
  • Holiday
    • New Year’s Eve
    • Valentine’s Day
    • St. Patrick’s Day
    • Easter
    • 4th of July
    • Halloween
    • Thanksgiving
    • Christmas
Home / Latest Posts / Recipes / Cafe Rio Salad

Cafe Rio Salad

Jump to Recipe Print Share
Share on:
By: Leigh Anne WilkesPosted: 1/14/20Updated: 7/29/22

This post may contain affiliate links. Please see disclosure policy here.

OVERHEAD shot of cafe rio salad

Create a Cafe Rio Salad at home, just like they do at the restaurant complete with black beans, lime cilantro rice, sweet pork and their creamy cilantro ranch dressing. 

overhead shot of cafe rio salad

Cafe Rio Salad with creamy tomatillo ranch dressing is what I always order when I get a chance to eat at Cafe Rio.  I love, love, love it!  Since I don’t live near a Cafe Rio, I have found a way to recreate it at home.

side view of a cafe rio pork salad

What’s in A Cafe Rio Salad?

  • Sweet Pork
  • Lime Cilantro Rice
  • Black Beans
  • Tomatillo Ranch Dressing
  • Lettuce
  • Tomatoes
  • Guacamole
  • Tortilla Strips
  • Cilantro
  • Cheese

How to Make a Cafe Rio Sweet Pork Salad

  • Flour Tortilla. The base of the salad is a large flour tortilla. Place it on your plate or I like to serve it in disposable foil pans just like they do at the restaurant. If you don’t want to make your own tortillas I like the raw tortillas you can buy at the grocery store and then cook at home. My tortillas were smaller so I used two!
tortillas on a plate
  • Add a layer of lime cilantro rice and black beans.
  • Top with sweet pork or you can also used shredded chicken or barbacoa beef.
cafe rio sweet pork over rice
  • Add shredded lettuce, chopped tomato, a scoop of guacamole, some tortilla chips, a sprinkle of cotjia cheese and some fresh cilantro.
cafe rio salad with all the toppings
  • Finish it off with creamy tomatillo dressing.
drizzling dressing over salad

Where Do I Find the metal pans?

I buy them at the Dollar Store. They come in pack of three but you can also find them at the grocery store.

Cafe Rio Salad Dressing

Cafe Rio serves a tomatillo ranch dressing that is a yummy combination of buttermilk ranch, tomatillos, and cilantro.  Tomatillos can be found in the fresh produce section.  In my store they are near the peppers and jalepeños.  They look like a green tomato with a paper skin over them.  Be sure and remove the papery skin before using!

cafe rio salad dressing

How to Make Dressing

  • Combine ingredients in a blender.
  • Pulse to blend until smooth.
  • Store in the refrigerator
blended dressing

How Long Will Dressing Last?

Stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator the dressing will last up to 2 weeks.

jar of cafe rio dressing
=

So next time you get a Cafe Rio craving – make it yourself at home.  And if you won’t get a Cafe Rio craving because you’ve never had Cafe Rio before, make this salad anyway!

cafe rio salad in a metal tin

Other favorite main dish salads:

  • Cobb Salad
  • BLT Salad
  • BBQ Chicken Salad
  • Tri Tip Steak Salad
  • Oriental Chicken Salad
  • Harvest Bowl Salad

For all my other favorite kitchen products and tools visit my Amazon Store.

Did you know I wrote a cookbook?  Check out the Holiday Slow Cooker Cookbook for 100 delicious recipes. Be sure and follow  me over on You Tube for weekly cooking demos.

Cafe Rio Salad Recipe

5 from 2 votes
overhead shot of cafe rio salad

Cafe Rio Salad

Recipe From: Leigh Anne Wilkes
Create a Cafe Rio Salad at home, just like they do at the restaurant complete with black beans, lime cilantro rice, sweet pork and their creamy cilantro ranch dressing. 
serves: 12 servings
Prep:10 minutes
Cook:0 minutes
0 minutes
Total:10 minutes
Rate Recipe

Ingredients

Creamy Cilantro Dressing

  • 1 Hidden Valley Ranch Mix Traditional
  • 1 cup mayonnaise
  • 1 cup buttermilk
  • 2 tomatillos remove husk, diced
  • 1/2 bunch fresh cilantro
  • 1 clove garlic
  • juice of 1 lime
  • 1 jalapeno

Cafe Rio Salad

  • 1 large flour tortilla
  • 1/3 cup lime cilantro rice
  • 1/3 cup cafe rio black beans
  • 1/2 cup sweet pork
  • 2 cups romaine lettuce chopped
  • 1/4 cup tomato chopped or use pico de gallo
  • 1/4 cup guacamole
  • 1 Tbsp cotija cheese
  • tortilla strips for garnish
  • cilantro for garnish

Instructions

Creamy Cilantro Dressing

  • Put all ingredients together in the blender and blend.

Cafe Rio Salad

  • Place tortilla on bottom of plate or tin
  • Layer rice, beans and sweet pork on top of tortilla.
  • Top with lettuce, tomato, guacamole, tortilla, strips cheese
  • Garnish with cilantro
  • Drizzle with dressing.

Recommended Products

Blender
Measuring Cups
Measuring Spoons

Nutrition Facts:

Calories: 182kcal (9%) Carbohydrates: 8g (3%) Protein: 2g (4%) Fat: 16g (25%) Saturated Fat: 3g (19%) Polyunsaturated Fat: 9g Monounsaturated Fat: 4g Trans Fat: 1g Cholesterol: 11mg (4%) Sodium: 180mg (8%) Potassium: 113mg (3%) Fiber: 1g (4%) Sugar: 2g (2%) Vitamin A: 792IU (16%) Vitamin C: 3mg (4%) Calcium: 40mg (4%) Iron: 1mg (6%)
* Disclaimer: All nutrition information are estimates only. Read full disclosure here.
Course:Salad
Cuisine:Mexican
overhead shot of cafe rio salad
Did you make this?I love seeing what you made. Be sure to share a picture and tag @yourhomebasedmom on social media!
Tag on Insta! Leave a Rating
OVERHEAD shot of cafe rio salad
Previous Post
Crock Pot Shredded Beef Tacos
Next Post
Sour Cream Biscuits

Reader Interactions

Leave a Review Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Made this? Rate this recipe:




  1. Sarah says

    Posted on 11/13 at 11:30 am

    Hi there! I was wondering what recipe you use for the sweet pork? I tired all these recipes and they are all delicious! I found a recipe for the pork but wasn’t fond of it so thought I would see what recipe you have. Thanks!

    Reply
    • Leigh Anne says

      Posted on 11/14 at 3:58 pm

      I link to the recipe i use in the post

      Reply
  2. Michelle says

    Posted on 7/23 at 5:06 pm

    Hi! How many people does making all the recipes for the salad recipe yield? We are wanting to make it for a large amount of people so we are wanting to know if we need to triple or quadruple it! Thanks!! 🙂

    Reply
Older Comments

Primary Sidebar

Seasonal Posts

two strawberry tarts on a cooling rack

Strawberry Tart

overhead shot of raspberry tart

White Chocolate Raspberry Tart

heart shaped pavlova with fruit on it

Heart Shaped Pavlova

red velvet cupcake with cream cheese frosting

Red Velvet Cupcakes

Most Popular Posts

Crock Pot 5 ingredient Pork Roast sliced

Crock Pot Pork Roast

Herb Rice

baked riblets

Easy Oven Baked Riblets

chicken cooked in the microwave

How to Cook Chicken in the Microwave

Opens in a new window Opens an external site Opens an external site in a new window

Trending Now

overhead shot of cinnamon rolls

One Hour Cinnamon Rolls

plate of smashed potatoes and a fork

Crispy Smashed Potatoes

overhead shot of bowl of almond chicken

Almond Chicken

baked riblets

Easy Oven Baked Riblets

No knead bread in a pan

Instant Pot Bread

Tomato tart pieces

Easy Tomato Tart

spoon full of mac and cheese

Crock Pot Mac and Cheese

Almond Torte

  • Crock Pot
  • Instant Pot
  • Chicken
  • Breakfast
  • Appetizers
  • Bread
  • Salad
  • Dessert

Order my Cookbook, Holiday Slow Cooker!

Buy Now!
Back to Top
  • About
  • Privacy Policy
  • Disclosure
  • Contact
© 2013–2023 Leigh Anne Wilkes Site Credits Designed by Melissa Rose Design Developed by Once Coupled