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Taco Salad

5 from 1 vote
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posted: 05/16/20

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This post may contain affiliate links. Please read my disclosure policy

This Taco Salad is such an easy dinner that everyone will love! Customize it with different toppings to get the perfect recipe.

close up overhead view of taco salad with meat, corn, avocado, tomato, and a dollop of sour cream with wooden spoons for serving

As you may have guessed, I will take a taco in almost any form. From casseroles, to pizza and soup, to actual tacos, I love a good taco dinner.

But maybe at the top of that list is Taco Salad. It is easy to throw together and makes a filling and delicious lunch or dinner.

HOW TO MAKE TACO SALAD

This great salad recipe starts by making my taco meat recipe with my homemade taco seasoning. You will see that I am using ground beef in this recipe, but you could easily use ground turkey.

OTHER INGREDIENTS

The rest of the salad consists of simple ingredients

  • Chopped Romain Lettuce
  • Roma Tomatoes
  • Avocado
  • Corn
  • Black Beans
  • Olives
  • Green Onions
  • Sour Cream
  • Salsa
  • Tortilla Chips
taco salad in a large bowl with chips around the outer edge and sour cream in the middle

VARIATIONS AND SUBSTITUTIONS

One of the things I love about salads is how easy they are to change up. As mentioned above, I am using ground beef, but you could just as easily use ground turkey. Here are some other ways to mix this up:

  • Make it a vegetarian salad. Take out the black beans listed above, and replace the meat in the recipe with the filling from my black bean tacos.
  • Take out the turf and make it all surf. Instead of using ground meat, make the filling from my shrimp tacos.
  • Go with chicken instead. Finally, another great alternative to the beef is my crockpot taco chicken.
side view of a taco salad recipe with romain lettuce, chips, taco meat, tomatoes, avocado, olives, corn, black beans and a dollop of sour cream

TACO SALAD DRESSING

I opted in this recipe to skip the dressing. In my personal opinion the seasoning on the meat combined with the sour cream and salsa is plenty to coat this salad.

But, if you are itching for more, I would suggest my Ranch Dressing or the Jalapeño Ranch Dressing in this Southwestern Steak Salad recipe.

OTHER GREAT TOPPINGS

In addition to switching out the meat in this salad, you of course can change up the toppings. Feel free to skip any of the toppings listed above or add more of what you love. Additionally, here are some more great ideas:

If you make this amazing taco salad or any of my other recipes please leave me a comment and let me know what you think!

taco salad in a large bowl with chips around the outer edge and sour cream in the middle
5 from 1 vote

Taco Salad

Serves: 4 people
(tap # to scale)
Prep: 10 minutes
Cook: 10 minutes
Total: 20 minutes
This Taco Salad is such an easy dinner that everyone will love! Customize it with different toppings to get the perfect recipe.

Ingredients

Taco Meat

  • 1 tablespoon chili powder See note
  • 2 teaspoons paprika
  • 1 teaspoon kosher salt
  • 1 teaspoon onion powder
  • 1 teaspoon garlic powder
  • 1 teaspoon ground cumin
  • 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
  • 1 pound grounnd beef I used 80/20
  • 8 ounces tomato sauce

Salad Ingredients

  • 3 Romain Hearts chopped
  • 2 Roma tomatoes chopped
  • 1/2 cup black beans drained and rinsed
  • 1/4 cup corn
  • 1 avocado diced
  • 1/4 cup olives sliced
  • 2 green onions sliced
  • 1/4 cup sour cream for serving
  • salsa for serving
  • tortilla chips optional

Instructions

Taco Meat

  • In a small bowl, mix together the spices. (Or use three tablespoons of my homemade taco seasoning.) Set aside.
  • In a frying pan over medium heat, cook the ground beef, breaking it up as you cook.
  • When the beef is no longer pink, drain the fat.
  • Stir in the tomato sauce and the taco seasoning. Turn the heat to low and let simmer for five minutes.

For Salad

  • Allow the taco meat to cool just slightly.
  • Add the chopped Romain to a bowl. Top with taco meat and remaining ingredients.
  • Serve with chips, sour cream and salsa on the side, allowing individuals to top their own salads.

Notes

If you made a big batch of my Homemade Taco Seasoning Recipe, you can disregard the measurements for all the spices and uses 3 tablespoons homemade taco seasoning.
Serving: 3cups Calories: 503kcal (25%) Carbohydrates: 35g (12%) Protein: 33g (66%) Fat: 15g (23%) Saturated Fat: 5g (31%) Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g Monounsaturated Fat: 4g Cholesterol: 80mg (27%) Sodium: 1107mg (48%) Potassium: 1085mg (31%) Fiber: 11g (46%) Sugar: 8g (9%)
Author: Lisa Longley
Course: Main Course
Cuisine: Mexican
taco salad in a large bowl with chips around the outer edge and sour cream in the middle

did you make this

Taco Salad

I’d love to see what you made! Tag me @lisasimplejoy and hashtag it #simplejoyrecipes!

Hi! I'm Lisa Longley, and I am committed to giving you simple dinner ideas and recipes that are easy to make; recipes that will fill your home with joy. I am the owner and author of SimpleJoy.com and I'm so glad that you are here.

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  1. Jan says

    5 stars
    I haven’t prepared this dish yet but will certainly do so. Sounds so delicious and easy to make. Great for summer.

    • Lisa Longley says

      I hope you love it Jan!

  2. Carl Pirro says

    Lisa, making your taco salad for supper this evening. Once again thank you.

    • Lisa Longley says

      I hope you love it Carl!

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