Decorate crisp romaine lettuce salad with crunchy heart-shape jicama cutouts, juicy pink grapefruit sections, and red grape tomatoes. Give it a drizzle of cumin lime dressing and you’ve got a heart-healthy valentine like no other!
Get out your cookie cutters we’re making healthy valentines–this romaine lettuce and jicama heart salad with cumin lime dressing!
What is Jicama?
- Jicama (HEE-kah-ma) is a crunchy vegetable with rough brown skin and crisp juicy sweet white flesh. One might say it looks like a large oval potato.
- Packed with important minerals and vitamins, jicama is an excellent source of Vitamin C and boasts a significant amount of fiber, including gut-healthy prebiotic fiber. It has about zero calories too. Jicama is a healthy food to include in our diets.
- White fleshed jicama is available year-round in supermarket produce sections. Avoid blemished or bruised jicama, and if the jicama flesh is yellow with brown spots, it is not going to be juicy crisp. Jicamas keep unpeeled in the refrigerator for more than a week.
Show underloved jicama some love by cutting it in heart shapes:
- Cut a slice off the bottom and top. Then slice off the brown skin and the woodier part following the jicama’s curves.
- Cut the peeled oval in half and place cut side down on the cutting board. Carefully slice into 1/8-inch thick slices.
- Use a 2-inch heart-shape cookie cutter to cut out hearts.
- Youโll have plenty of extra jicama from around the cutouts–munch on them now or later.
What to serve with your jicama heart salad with cumin lime dressing:
- This festive salad pairs wonderfully with chard-filled green enchiladas.
- A festive pink hibiscus margarita makes the perfect valentine toast.
More ideas for jicama:
- For Memorial Day and July 4th celebrations, decorate salads with star-shape jicama, blueberries and red bell pepper!
- Jicama adds crunch to this wild rice, arugula, and chickpea salad.
- Jicama adds delightful crunch to fruit salads, like this one with mango and pineapple.
- Jicama makes an awesome healthy dipper for hummus and guacamole.
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Romaine Lettuce Salad with Jicama Hearts and Cumin Lime Dressing
Ingredients
- 3 tablespoons fresh squeezed lime juice (see note)
- ยฝ teaspoon agave syrup or honey
- 1 clove garlic, minced
- 1 teaspoon sea salt
- ยฝ teaspoon Dijon-style mustard
- โ cup extra virgin olive oil
- ยฝ teaspoon ground cumin
- Pinch cayenne pepper
- 1 or 2 jicamas
- 1 pink grapefruit, sections removed (see note)
- Romaine lettuce, torn into pieces
- 1 pint grape or cherry tomatoes, halved
- 10 sprigs fresh cilantro, optional
Instructions
- In a medium bowl, whisk the lime juice, agave syrup or honey, garlic, salt and mustard. Continue whisking and slowly drizzle in the oil. Whisk in the cumin and cayenne.
- Remove the peel from the jicamas. Slice 1/8- to ยผ-inch thick. Cut out hearts with a small heart-shape cutter. Toss with some of the dressing and set aside to marinate.
- Arrange mounds of the lettuce onto individual chilled plates. Decorate with the jicama hearts, grapefruit and tomatoes. Drizzle more dressing over the salads. Garnish with the cilantro.
Letty I love to the image of you and Robbie down in Baja for two months-now that is retirement!!!
Good article.
Franklin · 7 February, 2014
Thanks Franklin!
Wait until you taste the hibiscus margaritas! · 7 February, 2014
2 months? how great! love the jicama hearts – that is something I would do! · 7 February, 2014
Beautiful · 8 February, 2014
I love those hearts! You are giving me a reason to buy jicama, something I rarely pick up. And I make a similar dressing with lemon, but the lime version sounds fantastic. A little Mexico inspired! Beautiful salad Letty <3 · 12 February, 2016
Thanks Natalie!! · 12 February, 2016
Those little hearts are so pretty! I love jicama. it adds such amazing texture. · 12 February, 2016
These are so pretty and such a great idea! What a wonderful list of ingredients as well! · 13 February, 2016
Love jicama and Love this idea. So festive and pretty. · 13 February, 2016
Such a great idea for a healthy Valentine’s dish ๐ those hearts are adorable and I love grapefruit in salads so this is definitely a must make! · 13 February, 2016
This is one of my favorite recipes. I add avocado and make matchstick jicama instead of hearts. · 1 May, 2018
Thank you Syd. One of my faves too. Always on a Mexican party menu! · 2 May, 2018