If you’re looking to shed some weight or incorporate a nutritious element into your diet, it’s always a wise choice to include ensalada (salad) in your meal plan.
Latin American pronunciation
European pronunciation
Ensalada is a feminine noun that takes the following definite and indefinite articles:
- la ensalada = the salad
- una ensalada = a salad
- las ensaladas = the salads
- unas ensaladas = some salads
¿Vamos a cenar una ensalada grande esta noche?
Shall we have a big salad tonight?
Many people don’t enjoy plain salad, so they will prepare a salad dressing to improve the flavour. In Spanish, there are numerous ways to describe salad dressing depending on where you live. In Spain, you are more likely to hear aliño whereas in Mexico, the term aderezo is more common. You may also hear salsa (sauce / salsa), vinagreta (vinaigrette) and even the English dressing!
There are many kinds of ensalada, but some of the most popular include:
- ensalada César = Caesar salad
- ensalada de frutas = fruit salad
- ensalada de pollo = chicken salad
- ensalada rusa = Olivier salad
- ensalada de patatas = potato salad
- ensalada de repollo/col = coleslaw
- ensalada de pasta = pasta salad
- ensalada griega = Greek salad
- ensalada verde = garden salad
- ensalada de huevo = egg salad
Me gustaría comer una ensalada griega en el restaurante.
I would like to eat a Greek salad at the restaurant.
A small salad that is meant to be eaten as a side dish is known as an ensalada pequeña (side salad).
In addition to its literal meaning, ensalada can also be used figuratively to refer to a hotchpotch, mixture, or mishmash of things or people.
Tengo una ensalada de ideas en la cabeza.
I have a mishmash of ideas in my head.
What’s more, in colloquial Spanish, it can denote a physical or mental mix-up or mess. For example, the phrase mi hice una ensalada (literally “I made myself a salad”) equates to the English expression “I got very mixed up.”
Finally we have the expression ensalada de tiros which is the Spanish for a wild shootout or hail of bullets.
