Taco Salad

Print Recipe

No ratings yet

A delicious alternative to Taco Tuesday in a big salad with lots of healthy veggies and toppings.

Prep Time20

Cook Time10

Total Time30

Course: Lunch, Main Course, Salad

Cuisine: Mexican, Tex Mex

Keyword: healthy taco salad, homemade taco salad, how to make a taco salad, low carb taco salad, make your own taco salad, taco salad

Servings:

Calories: 852kcal

Ingredients

Meat Mixture

1 lb ground beef lean is best
1 small onion, minced
2 cloves garlic, finely minced
½ can 540 ml black beans, rinsed and drained 540 ml or 18 oz can - use only half
1 jar taco sauce 215 ml or 7 oz, hot or mild

Taco Seasoning

2 tsp chili powder
1 tsp cumin
½ tsp garlic powder
½ tsp onion powder
pinch cayenne pepper optional, use more for more heat
½ tsp salt
¼ tsp pepper

Salad

warm taco or tortilla chips
2 heads Romaine lettuce
1 carrot, julienned or shredded
½ cucumber, sliced
½ sweet red pepper, sliced
2 cups shredded sharp cheddar cheese

Toppings - use as many as you like

cherry tomatoes, halved
sliced black or Kalamata olives
green onion, minced
red onion, thinly sliced
avocado slices
fresh cilantro
pickled jalapeno peppers

Taco Salad Dressing

½ cup sour cream
½ cup salsa hot or mild
1 lime, quartered

Instructions

Chop onion. Brown ground beef, breaking up larger pieces as it cooks. Add onion while cooking beef to use fat from beef instead of adding extra oil. Mince garlic and add to beef for the last few minutes.
Add chili powder, cumin, garlic powder, onion powder, cayenne pepper (if using) and salt and pepper to the meat. Cook for a minute or so to ensure spices release their best flavours.
Rinse and drain black beans. Add to meat mixture and heat through. Add taco sauce and stir to combine and heat meat mixture.
Arrange taco or tortilla chips on a baking sheet and warm in oven at 350 degrees for 5 minutes if desired.
Prepare salad by shredding or cutting lettuce, carrots, cucumber and sweet red peppers. Prepare other desired toppings and arrange on a platter.
To assemble salad, place a layer of chips on a large plate, add lettuce mixture and top with warm beef mixture. Add shredded cheese and desired toppings. Drop sour cream and salsa by spoonfuls over salad. Squeeze fresh lime over top.

Notes

The nutritional value is based on a large dinner sized salad with lean ground beef, 12 large restaurant style Tostitos and regular full fat sour cream and cheese.

Due to the variations in nutrition facts of the optional toppings, I have not included these in the calculations.

For a healthier version, use less beef, low fat cheese and sour cream and skip or reduce the amount of chips.

Nutrition