Don’t Skimp On Your Knifework
If you’re adding red onions, tomatoes, or avocado to your taco salad, you want to make sure that they’re evenly diced and sliced. Ditto for any other vegetable. Usually, cutting vegetables evenly is important because it helps them cook at the same rate. Even though these are going in raw, it makes for a better eating experience when the elements are of roughly similar size, so you don’t get a bite that’s all avocado or all tomato.
Diy Fiesta Taco Salad Recipe
First, you’ll cook the beef and add the seasoning packet and water. Then, mix in your beans, cheese and sour cream. Lastly, top with the fresh veggies and dressing.
The great thing about this salad is you can really customize your toppings to jazz it up. If you’re a fan of spice, add some chopped jalapeños or chipotle peppers. If you miss the crunch of the Taco Bell Strips, add some tortilla chips to the top.
We like serving this up with a side of fresh guacamole and pico de Gallo. If you’re not eating this salad to be healthy, you could even serve it in a tostada bowl to get the full Fiesta Taco Salad vibe. If you’re able to snag some Taco Bell hot sauce, you just might trick yourself into thinking you ordered it in the drive-thru.
Get the recipe here.
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Crunchy Bubbly Taco Shell Bowls
The best thing about eating a taco salad at a restaurant is the crunchy tortilla bowl. Am I right?
The golden color and crisp airy bubbles are so alluring, its hard not to break off a big chunk of bowl before ever picking up your fork!
At restaurants, taco salad bowls are made by deep-frying extra-large flour tortillas in a specially-shaped frying basket.
However, most of us dont have deep fryers at home. And if you try to just bake tortilla bowls, they come out crisp, but not puffy and bubbly.
So today Im going to teach you a quick trick to making crispy taco salad bowls at home, without a deep fryer!
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Why Its The Best
I know that term gets thrown around a lot but heres why I think this Mexican salad dressing is the absolute best for your next taco salad or any salad for that matter.
Fresh and vibrant. Fresh-squeezed Meyer lemon juice, blood orange juice, and lime juice make this ultra fragrant and full of bright sparkling flavors. Its like capturing sunshine in a bottle.
Super versatile. Dont have access to Meyer lemons or blood oranges? No problem. Feel free to use regular lemons and navel oranges or tangerines or grapefruit. Just keep the ratios the same, so 3/4 cup lemon juice and 1/4 cup orange .
Makes a ton. This makes enough dressing for at least two main course salads which is awesome because you can mix it up on Sunday and have yummy, homemade salad dressing to top every salad for a week!
More To Explore
How Do You Make Taco Salad
- Heat olive oil in a 12-inch non-stick skillet over medium-high heat.
- Crumble in beef in chunks. Let sear until browned on bottom, about 3 minutes then turn and break up beef and continue to cookie until cooked through.
- Drain fat from beef then stir in salsa, chili powder and cumin. Season with salt and pepper to taste and heat through, about 1 minute.*
- Layer lettuce among individual plates. Top with chips, beef mixture, cheese, tomatoes, avocado and sour cream. Serve immediately.
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Easy Taco Salad Recipe
A healthy Taco Salad, loaded with juicy ground beef, served over a bed of crisp lettuce and all of the best taco salad toppings.
We love tacos, from our famous Fish Tacos to our Carne Asada Street Tacos and even Taco Soup Tacos are a fun menu item to make and tastes just as good as going out for tacos .
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Taco Salad Done Right
Maybe youre thinking, taco salad? Meh. Id rather have tacos.
I get it, tortillas are tough to beat. But Im telling you, when you use the right ingredients and commit to making your own dressing, you will have a change of heart. You will go from thinking of taco salad as a second class healthy substitute to real tacos, to thinking mid-salad-chomp, Dang. This is legit amazing. And suddenly salad is no longer substandard.
Here are my secrets to get yourself to the BEST taco salad situation:
- you must make a dressing, even if its an easy one
- avocados are required, either fresh or in guac form
- Taco meat must be beef. Sorry turkey, but no, you are not the best.
- Mix herbs in with your lettuce. Chop your lettuce into small easy-to-bite pieces.
- Dont skimp on the cheese! Cheese is everything!
- You must use Juanitas or Fritos. The end. Forever and ever amen.
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How To Make Taco Salad:
PrepToppings: chop lettuce and tomatoes, shred cheese.
Cook Taco Meat: Brown the ground beef in a skillet. Remove grease and add taco seasoning. Stir in the black beans and corn.
Assemble:Place each tortilla bowl on a plate or in a shallow bowl add a handful of romaine lettuce add meat mixture add veggies sprinkle with cheese add a dollop each of sour cream, salsa, guacamole and a sprinkle of cilantro.
Serve taco salad with horchata, or an ice cold lemonade! For dessert, try my sopaipillas or fresas con Crema !
The Ultimate Taco Salad Recipe
The ULTIMATE Taco Salad recipe! My recipe makes an easy dinner in under 30 minutes! Loaded with all of your favorite taco ingredients as well as a simple, three-ingredient dressing. This recipe is great for customizing with your favorite taco add-ins!
One of the greatest strains on my marriage is Zachs complete and utter lack of respect for Taco Tuesday.
Theyre too much work, he complained the first few Tuesdays of our marriage, revealing the heart of a man who clearly prefers his dinner assembled before it reaches the table.
So Taco Tuesday in our house is now more of a Taco-every-third-Tuesday thing, and even though we just celebrated 12 years together, sometimes Im not even sure how we made it this far with priorities so clearly misaligned.
Fortunately, there is one saving grace that we can both agree on, and thats Taco Salad.
Even though I dont mind the chance to assemble my own tacos, I do have to admit that theres something really nice about just throwing everything together in a bowl and chowing down, no additional assembly required.
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Is Taco Salad Unhealthy
My taco salad recipe contains 572 calories, 51 grams of carbs, and 29 grams of fat.
There are several ways to make this recipe healthier, however:
- Omit the tortilla chips and corn, and youll have a keto friendly meal.
- Use a leaner pack of ground beef to reduce the fat content, or swap the beef out for turkey.
- Replace the sour cream with Greek yogurt for more protein and less fat.
Whats The Best Dressing For Taco Salad
You were going to put sour cream and salsa on your salad anyway, right? So heres the very best dressing you can make for taco salad: a mixture of sour cream, salsa, lime juice, and a dash of taco seasoning. It makes for a thick and creamy dressing thats best tossed with the salad just before serving.
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Recipe Variations And Substitutions
- You can easily substitute chicken or turkey for ground beef.
- Substitute Cool Ranch Doritos for Nacho Cheese.
- If you do not have Catalina Dressing, you can use Ranch Dressing instead.
- This salad is so versatile, you can add in your favorite taco toppings and almost any variety of beans like pinto beans, garbanzo beans, red kidney beans, etc.
Can I Use A Store
Store-bought taco seasonings are great but sometimes they have added thickeners like cornstarch and that wont be needed here. Plus the bottled salsa steps in with onion and garlic so those few flavors found in taco seasoning are already added.
For this recipe I prefer to use just chili powder and cumin to keep it quick and simple but you could add more spices like coriander, paprika and cayenne if youd like or try it with different types of chili powder like Ancho, New Mexico, California etc.
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Homemade Baked Tortilla Bowls:
Tips For The Best Taco Salad
Use Lean Ground Beef Ground beef with a higher fat content will release more fat. Tilt the pan for the fat to pool at the corn of the pan then spoon off the excess fat. If you dont skim it off, the fat will solidify on the meat when it cools and you dont want that.
Assemble just before serving Mixed taco salad does not keep well as the salt in the pico and taco seasoning will wilt the lettuce over time. If you want to make this in advance, see the meal prep option below.
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Can You Make Mini Taco Bowls For Events
Of course! If you dont need to fit a whole dinner-size portion of salad in the bowl, you can make them with any size of flour tortilla you like.
Find smaller oven-safe bowls to shape the tortillas. Fry and bake for the same amount of time as with the large bowls.
Check the recipe card below for the nutrient information including calories and other daily values.
Did You Make This Recipe
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Ingredients For Nacho Taco Salad
Nacho Ingredients:
- 1 head of Iceberg Lettuce
- 1 cup of Cherry Tomatoes
- 1 Red Pepper
- 1 bunch of Green Onions
- 1 Avocado
- 6 ounces of Gruyere Cheese
- 8 ounces of Sharp Cheddar
- 1 cup of Sour Cream
- 1 ½ tablespoon of Taco Seasoning
- 9 ounce bag of Zacks Mighty Organic Tortilla Chips
Dressing Ingredients:
- 1/3 cup of Olive Oil
- 1/2 teaspoon of Salt
- 1 tablespoon of Rice Vinegar
- 1 clove of minced Garlic
Easy Dorito Taco Salad Recipe
This post may contain affiliate links. Please see disclosure for more information. Published: Apr 26, 2022 by Dee
Easy Dorito Taco Salad recipe with Catalina Dressing and seasoned taco meat is a delicious salad and an easy meal your whole family will love. Perfect for a potluck dinner, family gatherings or a quick weeknight meal!
Kick up your usual taco salad recipe and serve this taco salad with Doritos and Catalina dressing instead! This delicious taco salad has been around for awhile, and it’s definitely a keeper!
We love tacos, and I like to change up taco night now and then, especially in the summer. Even my picky eaters love this salad recipe because it has crunchy Doritos and tangy Catalina dressing in it!
Plus, this easy meal comes together quickly, and has plenty of garden fresh veggies for the veggie lovers! By the way, if you love Doritos, you’ll want to try my Dorito Casserole!
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How To Make Your Nacho Taco Salad
*Pro Tip: If you are bringing this to a Super Bowl Party, set the dressing aside in a mason jar. Pour over top right before serving!
What Goes With Taco Salad
Taco salad is so full of protein and veggies, its a pretty complete meal all on its ownyet another thing to love about taco salad! But you can definitely round it out into a full Tex-Mex meal! Because our taco salad recipe is not served in a taco shell bowl, its definitely a good idea to serve some chips on the side for those whod like them and margaritas are always a good idea. Heres our dream menu for taco salad night:
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The Topping Ingredients For Taco Salad
First things first, we need some lettuce. I prefer Romaine its the perfect blend of leafy green and CRUNCH. Green or red leaf is fine, or iceberg will do in a pinch. Chop your lettuce into nice easy bite size pieces we arent feeding dinosaurs. And for heavens sake, get yourself a salad spinner. One of the best kitchen purchases you will ever make! It simplifies the salad-making experience so much. Here is the exact salad spinner I have.
One of my best taco salad tips is to mix your herbs in with your greens. And by herbs in this case, I mean cilantro and green onions. I toss both of these ingredients in with my romaine, right in the salad spinner, and give it a whirl. It helps distribute them properly so that you get ultimate flavor in every bite of salad. Chopped cilantro tends to clump up and stay in little bits. This is a good way to spread the cilantro love. If you arent a cilantro lover, GET OUT OF HERE. Im just kidding. Kind of. Try to change your ways. I know, I know, its a gene and not your fault. Maybe )
Here is my ultimate ingredient list for the best taco salad:
- lettuce
- tomatoes, either cherry tomatoes or chopped roma, red vine, etc.
- sliced radishes
Ingredients To Make This Taco Salad Dressing Recipe
Because the meat mixture in most taco salads has a kind of Tex Mex thing going on, were going to use those same spices in the dressing. If you have a favorite taco seasoning, you can use that instead or try the Magic Spice Mix recipe in my cookbook, Plant Powered Mexican. Heres a run down of the ingredients:
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What Ingredients Go Into Taco Salad
- Olive oil for sautéing
- Lean ground beef I like to use 85% lean Angus beef.
- Roasted salsa I prefer the lightly charred depth of fire roasted salsa here but just about any bottled salsa will work .
- Chili powder and cumin these standard Mexican spices add lots of flavor.
- Salt and pepper what would food be without it?
- Cilantro the cilantro gives the filling the perfect fresh finish.
- Lettuce I think romaine is the best lettuce for taco salad but iceberg, green leaf or even spinach will work too.
- Tortilla chips, Mexican cheese, tomatoes, avocado, sour cream all these toppings together create the perfect blend of textures and flavors to compliment the beef.
The Ingredients Needed To Make Taco Salad:
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