This is a simple and classic Taco Salad perfect for any lunch or dinner, featuring your favorite taco ingredients, perfectly seasoned ground beef, a simple dressing, and Doritos!
End your meal on a sweet note with these Churros – you will love them!
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When you love salad and also tacos, you make Taco Salad! There’s no struggling with those taco shells standing up straight, trying to fill them. It’s a no fuss, super easy recipe, perfect for busy weeknights. The only cooking involved is browning the ground beef.
Dorito Taco Salad – Why We Love It
- Quick and Easy: This salad comes together in 20 minutes.
- Common ingredients: Fresh, common ingredients you can find at any grocery store.
- Inexpensive: Everything needed is simple and very affordable.
- Customizable: It’s easy to let everyone build their own or choose their own toppings.
- Hearty and filling: Packed with ground beef, beans, cheese, lettuce, and vegetables, it’s so satisfying.
- Great introduction to salad! If you’ve got younger kids who don’t really love salad, but do love tacos, this is a great way to get them on board.
- It’s delicious: None of the things above matter if it doesn’t taste good, right? Not to worry – this salad is super delish.
Taco Salad Recipe
What goes in taco salad? You only need a handful of simple ingredients for this recipe, all which can be found at a common grocery store. Here is what’s included:
(Scroll below to the printable recipe card for exact measurements and details.)
- Olive oil: Used for sautéing.
- Lean ground beef: I usually use 80/20.
- Salsa: Our homemade restaurant-style salsa mixed into the cooked ground beef is so good, or any store-bought savory salsa would be fine. Use mild or hot, depending on your preference.
- Beans: I also like to add kidney beans into the meat mixture for extra protein. You could swap them out for pinto or black beans, or simply omit.
- Seasonings: Salt, pepper, and our homemade taco seasoning (or a store-bought packet.)
- Lettuce: Romaine is my favorite lettuce for this salad, but iceberg or green leaf are good, too.
- Toppings: Shredded cheese, cherry tomatoes, red onions, avocado, and sour cream are all perfect ingredients to top off your taco salad. (Other options include our homemade Pico de Gallo and Guacamole.)
- Doritos: It wouldn’t be a taco without a taco shell and since we’re making a taco salad, we include Doritos! Feel free to replace them with regular tortilla chips or even corn chips, if preferred. Also? Buy an extra bag of Doritos and make this Dorito Chicken Casserole!
- Finishing touch: A little drizzle of hot sauce and our homemade Ranch dressing adds another layer of flavor.
Taco Salad Bowl Variations
- Use ground turkey: Swap out the ground beef with ground turkey, or use cooked shredded chicken.
- Try a different cheese: Cheddar cheese, Mexican blend cheese, and Pepper Jack are all good.
- Add more veggies: Toss in some corn, diced bell pepper, sliced cucumbers, or radishes.
- Change the dressing: We drizzle a little Ranch Dressing on top, but French dressing is also a favorite.
- Tortilla Chips: Any flavor Dorito works, or use regular tortilla chips or corn chips.
- Make fresh Pico de Gallo and guacamole: Whip up these two condiments and use them instead of sliced avocado, cherry tomatoes, and red onions.
Make Ahead and Storage
- To Make ahead: The beef mixture can be made up to 2 days before using, stored in the fridge in an airtight container. Just rewarm in a skillet over low heat or reheat in the microwave, thin with a little broth if needed. The other ingredients can be prepped one day prior and kept stored in the refrigerator, in separate airtight containers (with the exception of the avocado, which should be prepped right before serving.)
- To save more time, you could also buy a large bag of pre-cut romaine lettuce. And instead of using our homemade restaurant-style salsa, taco seasoning, Pico de Gallo, and guacamole, you can easily buy all those items at the store (but the salad won’t be as flavorful, of course. There’s nothing like homemade!)
- Once assembled, this should be served and eaten right away. Leftovers don’t store well. However, you can enjoy this warm or cold.
How to Make Taco Salad
Making taco salad is essentially a deconstructed taco, with similar parts. You’ll prep the meat and all the fixin’s, then assemble. You can make all the individual salads the same and serve, or have the ingredients in separate bowls and allow everyone to build their own like a taco bar. Enjoy it warm or cold.
(Scroll below for the detailed printable recipe card.)
Other Leafy Salad Recipes We Love
I hope you love this delicious and easy recipe – be sure to give it a review below! Also don’t forget to follow Belly Full on Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, and YouTube!
Taco Salad
This is a simple and classic Taco Salad perfect for any lunch or dinner, featuring your favorite taco ingredients, perfectly seasoned ground beef, and Doritos!
Servings: 5
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 pound lean ground beef
- Salt and pepper , to taste
- 15 ounce can light red kidney beans , drained and rinsed
- 1 cup homemade salsa (or store-bought, mild or hot, depending on your preference)
- 1/4 cup water
- 2 tablespoons homemade taco seasoning (or 1 ounce packet store-bought)
- 1 head romaine lettuce , chopped into bite-size pieces
- 1 cup cherry tomatoes , halved
- 1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
- 1/2 cup sliced red onions
- 1 cup Doritos
- 1 ripe avocado , sliced
- 1/2 cup sour cream
- Ranch Dressing , for serving, optional
- Hot sauce , for serving, optional
Instructions
- Warm olive oil over in a large nonstick pan over medium high heat; add ground beef and cook, breaking it up with a wooden spoon into crumbles. Sauté until cooked through and no pink remains, about 5 minutes. Drain off grease and season with salt and pepper, to taste. Stir in the kidney beans, salsa, water, and taco seasoning; combine the mixture and let bubble for a minute until warmed through. Take off the heat and set aside.
- In individual bowls, lay a bed of romaine lettuce on the bottom and top with rows of tomatoes, cheese, red onions, Doritos, and avocado.
- Add a large scoop of meat mixture and sour cream to each salad.
- Drizzle thin streams of taco sauce and ranch dressing over the top, if desired.
- Mix it up and enjoy!
Nutrition
Calories: 593kcal | Carbohydrates: 43g | Protein: 35g | Fat: 33g | Saturated Fat: 12g | Trans Fat: 1g | Cholesterol: 92mg | Sodium: 897mg | Potassium: 1380mg | Fiber: 13g | Sugar: 8g | Vitamin A: 11823IU | Vitamin C: 19mg | Calcium: 330mg | Iron: 6mg
Other Notes
Tacos deconstructed in a bowl – what’s not to love?
We LOVE this salad!