The Best Quick Low-Carb Mexican Coleslaw (Lime Dressing)

Prepare for a flavourful fiesta with this delicious recipe for Low-Carb Mexican Coleslaw! Served with a zesty lime dressing and lime wedges.

When it’s Mexican night at your house, you can enjoy this coleslaw with Mexican burgers, burrito bowls, or keto tortillas.

Is coleslaw keto?

Coleslaw can be keto as long as you avoid high-carb vegetables and store-bought dressings that have added sugar. Always read the nutrition labels.

Coleslaw is usually made with shredded white cabbage, green cabbage, purple cabbage, and occasionally shredded carrots. However, if you are on a low-carb diet or keto diet, you will want to avoid the carrots to make sure your coleslaw is as low carb as it can be.

Just a little carrot is in the recipe as an optional extra. I like to add a few to make it a colourful salad. it depends on how strict you have to be with your carb restriction on your low-carb diet or keto diet.

Keto Mexican Coleslaw

Coleslaw has always been eaten as a side dish for chicken, beef, pork, salmon, and other varieties of meats served at summer BBQs. In different countries across the world, people have taken this simple healthy shredded cabbage dish and made it unique to their tastes.

Now, you can make a bowl of shredded vegetable coleslaw extra special with my spicy Mexican twist! Onions and lime with some Mexican-inspired herbs.

It’s perfect to be served alongside a Mexican chicken burger, chicken burrito bowl, or as a side dish for copycat taco bell burritos.

Ingredients

All quantities, ingredients, and instructions are in the recipe card below.

This is the basic recipe for a low-carb Mexican coleslaw, but you can add your favourite vegetables to make it exactly how you prefer. However, you will need to recalculate the nutrition panel so you know exactly how many net g carbs, g protein, and g fat are in your homemade recipe.

• Shredded white cabbage
• Shredded red cabbage
• Carrot (optional)

Lime Dressing

• Lime juice – fresh lime zest and fresh lime juice are the best. If you can only find bottled lime juice, that will work but it won’t have the authentic lime taste.
• Ground cumin.
• Fresh coriander (fresh cilantro) – omit if you’re one of my readers who tell me cilantro tastes like soap!
• Olive oil – or avocado oil, macadamia oil, or extra virgin olive oil.
• Salt/pepper – add seasoning to taste
• Sliced red onions – or sliced green onions, spring onions.

Instructions

Mexican Coleslaw

In a large mixing bowl mix the onion (shown below is sliced red onion but you can use sliced green onion/spring onion to reduce the carbs.

Using a food processor and the shredding/grating blade, shred the cabbage and carrots (optional). Place in a large serving dish and mix.

Lime Dressing

Place all the delicious fresh ingredients for the lime dressing in a small mixing bowl as shown. Whisk with a fork and pour over the Mexican coleslaw. Gently stir to combine.

Allow the Mexican coleslaw to marinate in the lime dressing and fresh herbs for an hour in the fridge. This is not essential if you are short of time, but it does make the most wonderful zesty tasty delicious meal.

Serving

Coleslaw can seem a bit boring when you’ve only ever made it the traditional way. But with this recipe for Mexican salad, your family will look forward to having fresh crunchy coleslaw often in your meal plan and meal prep rotation.

It’s best to serve it as a keto veggie side dish with main dishes such as keto steak fajitas (sheet pan fajitas), Mexican chicken burgers, fat head nachos, and inside my keto tortillas.