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Beef taco salad is a delicious and simple family favorite, perfect for summer evenings! Packed with your favorite taco essentials like beans, corn, avocado, and fresh cilantro, it’s bursting with flavor and sure to become a staple dish!
Love easy summer salads? Try Mouthwatering Strawberry Spinach Salad, Honey Lime Poppy Seed Fruit Salad, Best Ever Creamy Pea Salad with Bacon, BLT Tortellini Pasta Salad, or this Classic Potato Salad Recipe.
Why You Will Love This Recipe
Beef taco salad hits the sweet spot with its mix of convenience, mouthwatering flavor, and good-for-you ingredients!
- Easy to make: This recipe comes together quickly and easily, making it perfect for busy weeknights!
- Fresh flavor: This recipe appeals to both young and old with its seasoned beef, veggies, and delicious toppings like avocado, salsa, and cheese.
- Nutritious: This is not only a crowd-pleaser but also a well-balanced meal that provides protein, fiber, veggies, and healthy fats!
Ground Beef Taco Salad Ingredients
Don’t let the long list of ingredients worry you. This recipe really does come together so quickly! Check the recipe card at the bottom of the post for exact measurements.
Ground Beef
- Olive Oil: Provides richness and helps distribute the heat while cooking.
- Red Onion: Adds a kick of fresh flavor.
- Lean Ground Beef: Acts as the protein for the taco salad.
- Garlic: Enhances the overall flavor of the beef.
- Water: Helps incorporate the seasoning throughout the beef.
- Taco Seasoning: Gives the beef mixture all the delicious taco flavoring.
Salad
- Lettuce: Provides a fresh base for the salad and a crisp texture.
- Red Onion: Adds a bright, sharp flavor that enhances the overall flavor profile.
- Tomatoes: Gives the salad a pop of color and a burst of sweet acidic flavor.
- Corn: Complements the other ingredients with its sweet flavor.
- Black Beans: Provide protein, fiber, and a hearty texture.
- Avocado: Adds a creamy, buttery texture and provides healthy fats. It also helps to cool down the heat if you’ve added hot sauce or if you used spicy taco seasoning.
- Fresh Cilantro: Offers a bright herbal note that complements the other flavors in the beef taco salad.
- Tortilla Strips: Gives the salad a nice crunchy texture.
- Salt & Pepper: Enhances all of the other flavors in the salad.
Taco Salad Dressing
- Sour Cream: Provides the base of the sauce. It gives it a creamy, tangy flavor.
- Milk: Helps to thin out the sour cream, making it smoother and easier to stir into the salad.
- Minced Cilantro: Gives the dressing a bright, citrusy flavor.
- Lime Juice: Adds a zest and acidity that balances out the creaminess of the sour cream.
- Taco Seasoning: Provides an infusion of spices and flavors.
- Salt & Pepper: Enhances the flavor of all the other ingredients.
How to Make This Easy Taco Salad Recipe
I love how this beef taco salad recipe lets me multitask in the kitchen. While the onions are sizzling away, I can chop up my veggies; and as the meat cools, I whip up the dressing. It all comes together so smoothly that by the time everything’s prepped and cooked, I’m already looking forward to enjoying it!
- Saute: Heat the olive oil over medium-high heat in a large skillet, and saute the onion until translucent. Add the ground beef and cook until mostly browned. Add the garlic and saute for another minute.
- Season the meat: Add the water and taco seasoning to the pan and coat the beef evenly with the seasoning. Cook until the water has evaporated and all the beef is coated in seasoning and cooked through. Remove from heat and allow the beef to cool a bit.
- Make the salad: While the beef is cooling, add the salad ingredients to a large bowl and then make the taco salad dressing.
- Whisk: In a small bowl, whisk together the sour cream, milk, cilantro, lime juice, taco seasoning, and salt and pepper.
- Dress and serve: Once the beef has cooled, top the salad with the beef and dressing, toss to coat everything evenly, and serve fresh!
Tips and Topping Variations For Taco Salad
This beef taco salad is easy to make and incredibly versatile! Here are some tips to ensure it turns out just the way you like, along with some ideas for different toppings to customize it to your taste.
- Main or side dish: This salad Serves 4+ as a main dish and can serve even more as a side.
- Spicy: Want to make the beef spicy? Add in 1/2 teaspoon of cayenne pepper.
- Dressing: If the dressing needs to be thinned, simply add more milk. Conversely, if it needs to be thickened, add more sour cream.
- Topping ideas: You can easily customize the toppings on this salad to suit your taste. Try using cheddar cheese, black olives, green onions, or tortilla chips instead of strips. For a bit of heat, add some minced jalapeño!
- Protein Variations: For a healthier alternative to ground beef, try using ground chicken or ground turkey.
- Taco seasoning: Instead of using a packet of taco seasoning, you could use 2 Tablespoons of homemade taco seasoning.
How to Store Leftovers
- Refrigerate: Leftovers can be stored in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 2 days. However, if you plan to save leftovers, it’s best not to dress the entire salad. This way, the salad stays fresh and crisp until you’re ready to enjoy it again.
- Dressing: Store the salad and dressing separately for fresh leftover results, then toss them together when serving.
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Beef Taco Salad
Beef taco salad is a delicious and simple family favorite, perfect for summer evenings! Packed with your favorite taco essentials like beans, corn, avocado, and fresh cilantro, it's bursting with flavor and sure to become a staple dish!
Ingredients
Beef
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- ½ red onion, diced
- 1 pound lean ground beef
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- ¼ cup water
- 2 tablespoons taco seasoning
Salad
- 1 head romaine lettuce, shredded
- ½ red onion, chopped
- 2 tomatoes, diced
- 1 cup corn, frozen or from a can
- 1 cup black beans, drained and rinsed
- 1 avocado, diced
- ½ cup fresh cilantro, chopped
- tortilla strips
- salt and pepper, to taste
Dressing
- 1 cup sour cream
- ¼ cup milk
- 2 teaspoons cilantro, minced
- 2 tablespoons lime juice
- 2 tablespoons taco seasoning
- salt and pepper, to taste
Instructions
- Heat the olive oil over medium-high heat in a large skillet, and saute the onion until translucent. Add the ground beef and cook until mostly browned. Add the garlic and saute for another minute.
- Add the water and taco seasoning to the pan and coat the beef evenly with the seasoning. Cook until the water has evaporated and all the beef is coated in seasoning and cooked through. Remove from heat and allow the beef to cool a bit.
- While the beef is cooling, add the salad ingredients to a large bowl and then make the taco salad dressing.
- In a small bowl whisk together the sour cream, milk, cilantro, lime juice, taco seasoning, and salt and pepper.
- Once the beef has cooled, top the salad with the beef and dressing, toss to coat everything evenly, and serve fresh!
Video
Notes
Originally posted May 27, 2019
Updated July 12, 2024
Nutrition
Calories: 361kcalCarbohydrates: 26gProtein: 23gFat: 20gSaturated Fat: 7gPolyunsaturated Fat: 2gMonounsaturated Fat: 9gTrans Fat: 0.3gCholesterol: 71mgSodium: 216mgPotassium: 1.044mgFiber: 9gSugar: 7gVitamin A: 10.054IUVitamin C: 19mgCalcium: 117mgIron: 4mg
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
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What would you use instead of cilantro? If you don’t have any .
You could just leave the cilantro out if you don’t have any on hand!
Thanks for this. Delicious and we will be adding this to our favourite recipes list.
Yummy salad and easy to make! Thanks!
Great idea to change up regular tacos.
Super easy to make!! Thank you for the delicious recipe.
Iam never disappointed in any recipe from your collection
This was delicious and easy
Thank you
Looks delicious! Can I make this the night before and eat it for lunch the next day? If yes, do I need to heat up the beef or do I eat it cold?
Yes, this is great salad to make ahead of time. It is best to keep the salad fixings separated and then add them together into the salad. The beef is best warmed up but it can be eaten cold.
What flavor of Doritos did you use?
Just the regular nacho flavor. You are welcome to use any type of Dorito you prefer though.
Looks great! Putting it on the menu. We’ve had three days of amazing sunshine here (in late February?!?!) and with this recipe I’m going to pretend it is summer (and hope the weatherman’s winter storm prediction is wrong for late this week…)
What kind of salsa did you use? It looks delicious
Hi Faith! I used Newman’s Own Salsa 🙂
Nice receipy. Thanks for sharing it with us.
love all of these things, I usually have them in a taco shell, but am trying to skip those, so this is much better, that is as a salad, thank you