Taco Salad

Taco salad is a quick, and healthy salad recipe perfect for summer! It’s loaded with crisp vegetables, seasoned ground beef, and taco classics such as homemade salsa, cilantro and avocado. Enjoy classic Mexican flavors in a lighter, veggie-heavy meal.

While you all know I love my tacos, you also know I love my greens. That’s why this taco salad recipe can’t be beat, it’s truly the best of both worlds.

All you need to do is add classic taco ingredients onto a bed of chopped lettuce – that’s it! Just make sure to prep everything ahead of time so it makes the assembly quick and easy.

What Goes Into A Taco Salad?

Protein options can include shrimp, pulled pork, carnitas and carne asada. But today, we’re keeping it simple using ingredients from a classic ground beef taco. Below I’ve listed out the essentials, as well as ways to make this a smidge more fancy.

Start with a green base

Since you’ll be adding a heap of toppings, a sturdy and crunchy base is ideal. Romaine or iceberg lettuce are my go-to’s. But other hearty greens such as radicchio or green leaf lettuce work as well.

Then comes the meat

A pound of ground beef tossed in my homemade taco seasoning results in that spiced flavor we all love. If you want something a bit lighter, ground chicken or turkey is just as good.

Finish with fresh toppings

It’s not a taco salad without tomatoes, black beans, avocado, homemade salsa, and shredded cheese. While those are the classics, feel free to improvise here.

Top your salad with corn, radishes, jalapeños, bell peppers or crumbled tortilla chips. And to add a bit of creaminess, dollop sour cream (vegan cashew sour cream) or drizzle lime crema.

How To Make A Taco Salad

Now that you have your ingredients prepped, the rest comes easy.

1. First, cook the meat. In a pan over medium-high heat, add in the ground beef. Break it up into small bits and sauté for about 8-10 minutes until it’s mostly browned. Then drain the fat.
2. Season the meat. Add in the taco seasoning and mix everything together for another minute or two.
3. Assemble the salad. Add the chopped lettuce at the bottom of the bowl. Then layer the ground beef, beans, tomatoes, cheese, red onion, and avocado on top. And for the final touches, dollop the homemade salsa, sour cream, a squirt of lime juice and a few leaves of fresh cilantro.

Customize Your Own Taco Salad Recipe

Like all salad recipes, you can customize it to your liking. I’ve mentioned a few tasty additions above. But if you have dietary needs, just swap or exclude a few ingredients.

• Paleo: Simply remove the beans and add in more vegetables such as bell peppers or radishes.
• Vegan: Instead of ground beef, create your own:
  • Mushroom walnut taco meat– Just sauté diced mushrooms and walnuts in a pan for 4-6 minutes. Then stir in some tamari and taco seasoning. This will give it a savory and smoky flavor.
  • Lentil taco meat– First, cook 2 cups of lentils. Sauté diced onion in a pan and add the lentils in with a bit of water. Toss everything in taco seasoning until it’s all well coated. Add in a bit more water if the lentils start to dry out.
• Keto: Lucky for you, this recipe is pretty much keto. Just remove the tortilla chips.
• Whole30: Keep this Whole30 by leaving off the chips, and cheese. Then, swap sour cream for cashew sour cream.

Can I Prep This In Advance?

Absolutely! You can prep many of the ingredients in advance and create a buffet-style salad bar as well. Ingredients you can prep ahead of time include the beef, salsa, taco seasoning, diced red onion, and beans.

Those items can be stored in the fridge for 4-5 days in separate containers. The rest can be pulled straight out of the fridge and prepped in under 10 minutes.

Taco Salad Recipe Video

Want to see how I make all the components of this salad and assemble it? Watch the video below!

More Summer Salad Recipes

Taco salads are just one way to introduce summer. Here’s a few other salads to enjoy the warmer days ahead.

• Ultimate Chicken Salad
• Broccoli Salad
• Caprese Salad
• Israeli Salad
• Berry Spinach Salad
• Greek Salad
• Smoked Salmon, Avocado, And Arugula Salad

Taco Salad Recipe (Easy & Healthy!)

5 from 21 votes

Prep Time: 15 minutes mins

Cook Time: 10 minutes mins

Total Time: 25 minutes mins

Servings: 4 servings

Author: Lisa Bryan

Print Pin Review

Taco salad is a quick, and healthy salad recipe perfect for summer. This recipe is a family favorite and perfect for Taco Tuesday. Watch the video above to see how easy it is to make!

Recipe Video

Ingredients

1x2x3x

US CustomaryMetric

For The Beef

• ▢ 1 pound ground beef
• ▢ 2 tablespoons taco seasoning
• ▢ salt and pepper, to taste

For The Salad

• ▢ 1 head romaine lettuce or iceberg lettuce, chopped
• ▢ 1 cup grape tomatoes, chopped
• ▢ 1 cup black beans, drained and rinsed
• ▢ 1 avocado, diced
• ▢ 1/2 cup shredded cheese, optional
• ▢ 1/2 cup salsa
• ▢ 1/4 cup red onion, diced
• ▢ 1/4 cup freshly chopped cilantro
• ▢ 1 lime

Instructions 

• In a pan over medium-high heat, add the ground beef and break it into small pieces with your spatula. Cook for about 8 minutes or until it starts to brown. Then drain the fat from the beef.
• Add in the taco seasoning, give everything a stir and cook for another minute or two.
• In a large salad bowl, layer the chopped lettuce with browned beef, black beans, tomatoes, avocado, red onion, and cheese.
  
• Dollop some salsa, sour cream, a squeeze of lime juice and cilantro leaves on top.
  

Lisa's Tips

• The nutrition info above is for four large and hearty portions. But you could easily get six smaller salads out of this recipe. 

Nutrition

Calories: 433kcal, Carbohydrates: 27g, Protein: 34g, Fat: 23g, Saturated Fat: 8g, Cholesterol: 85mg, Sodium: 512mg, Potassium: 1370mg, Fiber: 12g, Sugar: 6g, Vitamin A: 14450IU, Vitamin C: 23mg, Calcium: 173mg, Iron: 6mg

Course: Salad

Cuisine: Mexican

Keyword: Taco Salad, Taco Salad Recipe

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