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Ensalada Chilena (Chilean Tomato and Onion Salad)
Wedges of ripe tomato and paper-thin onion, soaked to tame its bite, dressed with oil and salt and scattered with cilantro, the salad beside every Chilean asado.
Chilean · easy · serves 4
prep 15 min · cook 2 min · plus 10 min hands-off time
~140 cal · 2g protein · 11g carbs · 10g fat · 3g fiber · 6g sugars · 1g sat fat (estimated, per serving)
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Ensalada chilena is as simple as a salad gets, and it is on the table beside almost everything Chileans eat: grilled meat and longaniza sausages at an asado, empanadas de pino, humitas, pastel de choclo, fried fish with mashed potato, and bowls of beans. It turns up at Sunday lunches and at the Fiestas Patrias in September alike, and it is best in summer, when tomatoes ripen properly on the vine.
There are only a handful of ingredients, and two small techniques make the difference. The onion is cut en pluma, in thin feathers along the grain, then soaked, in cold salted water or after a splash of hot water, so it keeps its crunch but loses its harsh bite. The tomatoes are cut into wedges, often peeled first, and salted so their juice runs.
Cilantro is the usual herb, oil and salt the only dressing. Some families add a finely chopped green chili or a little vinegar, and some prefer to olive oil. It is mixed just before serving so the onion stays crisp.
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Make it yours
✓ Naturally vegetarian, vegan and gluten-, dairy-, nut-, egg- and pork-free. No swaps needed.
Toggle a diet and the ingredients rewrite themselves with regional substitutes.
🥕 Vegetarian
🌱 Vegan
🌾 Gluten-Free
🥛 Dairy-Free
🥜 Nut-Free
🥚 Egg-Free
🐖 Pork-Free
Dietary labels are a cooking guide, not allergen-safety advice. We track dairy, egg, gluten, tree nuts and peanuts (we count coconut as a tree nut, following FDA labeling), fish, and shellfish; we do not screen for sesame, soy, mustard, celery, or sulphites. If you have a food allergy, read the label on every product you use, and note that a kitchen can cross-contaminate in ways a recipe cannot control.
Ingredients
US
Metric
Serves 4
- 1 large onion (yellow or white)
- 1 tbsp salt (for soaking the onion)
- 4 medium (about 700 g) ripe tomatoes
- 1/4 cup fresh cilantro, chopped
- 3 tbsp vegetable oil or olive oil
- to taste salt
- a pinch black pepper, optional
- 1 green chili (ají verde), seeded and finely chopped, optional
- 1 tsp red wine vinegar, optional
Instructions
- 1Halve the onion and cut it lengthwise, along the grain, into feathers as thin as you can. Put them in a bowl of cold water with the tablespoon of salt and leave for 10 minutes.✎ Chef’s noteSome Chilean cooks pour boiling water over the onion instead, drain it after a minute, then rinse it in cold water. Either way it stays crisp but loses its sting.
- 2Meanwhile peel the tomatoes if you like: score a cross in the base, dip them in boiling water for 20 to 30 seconds, then into cold water, and slip off the skins.
- 3Cut the tomatoes into wedges, like an orange, put them in a serving bowl and sprinkle with salt so the juice starts to run.
- 4Drain the onion, rinse it well under cold running water and squeeze it gently dry. Add it to the tomatoes with the cilantro, and the chili if using.
- 5Dress with the oil (and vinegar if you like), toss gently, check for salt and pepper and serve straight away beside grilled meat, empanadas or humitas.
Chilean home tradition.
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🌏 While it simmers, know your destination
📍
Central Valley. Chilean wine kept a secret in these vineyards for a century. In November 1994 a visiting French ampelographer looked at a Maipo plot labelled merlot and identified it instead as carmenere, a Bordeaux variety all but wiped out at home by phylloxera, which had been growing here unrecognised the whole time.
🗺️
Chile. Pastel de choclo has no pastry: a meat and onion filling under a lid of ground fresh corn, sugar sprinkled on top and browned in the oven, served in the clay dish it was baked in. Ceviche is eaten here too but it is shared with and argued over against Peru, so nobody on this coast gets to claim it outright.
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South America. South America's cooking follows its dramatic geography, potatoes and quinoa in the high Andes, cassava and river fish in the Amazon basin, and grass-fed beef on the pampas. Indigenous ingredients like maize, ají peppers, and cacao meet Spanish, Portuguese, African, Italian, and Japanese influences brought by five centuries of migration. Ceviche, feijoada, arepas, and the smoke of the asado are its most beloved icons.
The story behind this dish is up top, worth a read while the pot works.
More from Chile
Porotos GranadosSummer stew of fresh beans, corn, squash, and basil, Chile’s pre-Columbian trinity in one pot.
SopaipillasGolden pumpkin-dough fritters, soft and faintly sweet, fried up on cold Chilean mornings and eaten with pebre or chancaca syrup.
CompletoA hot dog buried under diced tomato, mashed avocado, sauerkraut, and mayonnaise, Chile's overloaded snack-lunch.
Browse all Chile recipes →
Good to know
Storing it: Best assembled just before serving. Prep the components ahead and dress at the last moment so it stays crisp.
Make it a Chile meal
Mote con HuesilloDrink
Leche AsadaDessert
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Cuisine
Diet
Frequently asked questions
What is Ensalada Chilena (Chilean Tomato and Onion Salad)?
Wedges of ripe tomato and paper-thin onion, soaked to tame its bite, dressed with oil and salt and scattered with cilantro, the salad beside every Chilean asado.
Where does Ensalada Chilena (Chilean Tomato and Onion Salad) come from?
Ensalada Chilena (Chilean Tomato and Onion Salad) is a Chilean dish from Central Valley, Chile.
Can Ensalada Chilena (Chilean Tomato and Onion Salad) be made vegan, gluten-free, or dairy-free?
This Ensalada Chilena (Chilean Tomato and Onion Salad) recipe includes substitution suggestions for vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free, dairy-free, nut-free, egg-free, and pork-free versions. Treat the substitutions as a starting guide rather than a guarantee, and see the allergen note below.
Is Ensalada Chilena (Chilean Tomato and Onion Salad) safe for people with food allergies?
Our dietary labels and substitutions are a cooking guide, not medical or allergen-safety advice. We track dairy, egg, gluten, tree nuts and peanuts (we still count coconut as a tree nut to be cautious, although the FDA stopped listing it as one in 2025), fish, and shellfish, but we do not screen for sesame, soy, mustard, celery, or sulphites. If you have a food allergy, always read the label on every product you use, and remember a home or commercial kitchen can cross-contaminate ingredients in ways a recipe cannot control.
How long does Ensalada Chilena (Chilean Tomato and Onion Salad) take to make?
About 27 min in all: 15 minutes prep and 2 minutes cooking, plus 10 min of hands-off waiting the method needs, serving 4.
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