Taco Salad

Taco salad is filled with ground beef, homemade taco seasoning and is the perfect pairing with tortilla chips. For a Mexican-themed dinner or Taco Tuesday, top it with tomatoes, avocados, onions, cheese, and cilantro. 

Easily add this dish to your menu for the week and meal prep at the beginning so you can have it ready to make a quick weeknight dinner. It’s one of those salads that you can whip up quickly if you aren’t prepared with dinner ideas. It’s easily adjustable to fit your tastes and preferences, so you can make changes wherever you want – mixing up the toppings, seasonings and meats (like chicken, ground turkey, steak or pork). 

There are only a few short steps to make this beef taco salad.

1. Combine seasonings – Add all the seasonings to a small bowl and mix to combine.
2. Brown ground beef – Sauté a pound of ground beef in a skillet and cook until browned.
3. Add the seasonings – Sprinkle the seasonings over the meat and pour in ¼ cup water. Simmer over low, medium heat until liquid has mostly evaporated.
4. Assemble the salad – To a large bowl, create a layer of lettuce, seasoned ground beef mixture, tomatoes, avocados, cheese, onions, and cilantro. Top with sour cream and salsa.

Key ingredients

Use these taco salad ingredients to make the best quick and easy meal.

• Seasonings – This taco seasoning recipe uses a variety of Mexican spices, including chili powder, cumin, paprika, garlic, onion, red pepper, cayenne, and oregano.
• Ground Beef – Use 80/20 ground beef for this taco meat recipe. You want a little fat but not too much since we’re simmering seasoned beef in liquid.
• Toppings – Use your favorite toppings, including lettuce, diced tomatoes, avocados, cheddar cheese, red onions, sliced olives, green onions, guacamole and cilantro.
• Sauces – Drizzle sour cream, pico de gallo and fresh salsa over the top for the dressing. Ranch dressing, guacamole and a squeeze of lime juice can be used as a salad dressing as well.