classic taco salad with cilantro lime dressing

Taco Salad is loaded with crisp lettuce, taco-seasoned beef, fresh corn, bright cherry tomatoes, zippy red onions, avocado slices, black beans, and a little cheese and some tortilla strips to top it all off. And, for a ‘lil something extra – the cilantro lime dressing is a 2-minute dream to whip up!

this recipe

Why You’ll Love This Taco Salad recipe:

• Quick and Easy – This salad comes together in just 30 minutes! All the elements can be prepped ahead and the only cooking required is browning your meat.
• Light & Filling – Don’t get me wrong… I love classic tacos! But this veggie-riffic salad version satisfies the taco cravings without being quite so heavy.
• Cilantro Lime Dressing – Blend up a bold and tangy taco salad dressing in just a few minutes with simple ingredients. It’s perfect for this salad, and is seriously so delish you’ll want to drizzle it on practically ev-er-y-thing!
• Customizable – Swap out toppings with your favorites! Plus, it’s easily adaptable for anyone with a gluten or dairy restrictions (just leave the tortilla strips and cheese separate!).
• Great for a Crowd – You can serve this for taco night in a big bowl like I did (pictured) or you can set out all the ingredients in separate bowls and let people build their own taco salads! This style of serving works well with my BLT Pasta Salad, too!

Ingredient Overview:

As always, the full taco salad recipe with measurements & directions can be found in the recipe card at the bottom of this post. Use the table of contents (back at the top, below the first image, to navigate).

• Lettuce – Fresh, crisp greens are the base of our salad.
• Ground Beef – Seasoned with a flavorful blend of homemade taco seasoning spices like garlic powder and chili powder.
• Corn – I absolutely recommend fresh sweet corn when it’s in season, but canned or frozen corn work as well.
• Avocado – Avocado goes soo well with all the other components of this salad – you can also use guac for a fancier vibe!
• Black Beans – A must! If you’re not a huge fan of beans, you can leave these out or swap for another kind.
• Red Onion – Adds a little flavor punch, but again, this can be left out if you’re not an onion lover.
• Cherry Tomatoes – Use halved cherry tomatoes, or any other type of tomato you enjoy!
• Tortilla Strips – A little crunch is the perfect way to finish off this salad. This can be anything you like – doritos, fritos, tortilla strips, or a handful of crushed corn chips. Yum!
• Rice – Feel free to add cooked white rice or brown rice for an extra punch of carbs – it makes this salad extra filling!

Recipe Substitutions & Variations

• Dairy-free – Leave off the cheese or swap in a plant-based alternative.
• Protein – Sub ground beef with another ground meat – like leaner ground turkey or ground chicken. You could also use steak or chicken strips, if you like. Or make it a vegetarian or vegan taco salad recipe and use your favorite meatless crumbles!
• Gluten-free – Use a GF-friendly all-purpose flour sub, or use corn starch in half the quantity (it’s twice as strong of a thickener as flour!).
• Toppings – I use my favorite classic taco toppings, but feel free to mix things up however you like! Try swapping out or adding ingredients like pinto beans, sliced black olives (my fave since childhood!), crumbled cotija cheese, guacamole, sliced green onions and/or jalapenos, and crunchy pepitas. I also like to add a dash of hot sauce at the very end for a yummy kick of spicy heat!
• Dressing – The cilantro lime dressing really is the perfect dressing. But you can also try a different finishing touch like salsa, sour cream, ranch dressing, creamy avocado dressing, or whatever dressing you like.

How to Make this Healthy Taco Salad Recipe Step-By-Step:

Step 1: Prep. Chop and slice veggies, prep the corn, and drain the beans.

Step 2: Make the Cilantro Lime Dressing. This takes less than 5 minutes. Add a few handfuls of cilantro to a food processor, along with olive oil, salt + pepper, a clove of garlic, and a squeeze of lime juice. Blend it all up and voila – you have a bright, flavorful dressing to top your taco salad with.

Step 3: Season + Cook the Taco Meat. Mix together the taco seasonings. Add the ground beef to a skillet and cook on medium-high heat until the meat is browned through. Combine the water and flour in a small jar and shake until mixed together. Add this to the taco meat as it cooks. This will make the meat nice and saucy. Once the meat is done, remove from the heat, cool, and add to your salads!

Step 4: Assemble. Layer the greens first in the bowl, followed by heavier items (like meat and veggies), and lighter cheeses, tortilla strips, etc. Drizzle the dressing on last.

You can do this either in a big bowl to serve, or let people assemble their own by setting ingredients out buffet-style in separate containers.

Serving + Storing Taco Salad:

This easy taco salad recipe really makes for an entire meal-in-a-bowl. Veggies, meat, cheese and extra goodies… It’s everything you need in a satisfying Taco Tuesday lunch or dinner!

If you’d like a ‘lil something more on the side, consider serving with tortilla chips and classic Tex-Mex dips like salsa, pico de gallo, bean dip, or guacamole.

Store leftovers in individual containers and keep in the fridge. The cooked taco meat will keep well for 2-3 days, and veggies for about 3 days.

Expert Success Tips:

• Make Ahead – For best fresh-ness, I don’t recommend assembling + dressing the salad ahead of when you plan to serve it. You can certainly get all the components ready – like cooking your meat, making the dressing, chopping the veggies, etc. But, wait to assemble an dress your salad until just before serving.
• Meal Prepping – If you’re making this for more of a meal-prep type of situation to have for lunches + dinners throughout the week, I recommend keeping any components that you want to warm up in one container – for me, that’s the corn, beans, and beef. That way you don’t have to open 3 different containers when you want to warm those things up to add to the rest of your salad ingredients. The other veggies could be combined in a second container with chopped lettuce, and that way you just have to get out two containers to make your salads!
• Wash + Dry Veggies – Rinse the veggies to remove any dirt, and then pat dry thoroughly with a clean towel to remove any moisture. This is especially important for the fresh greens, because no one wants a salad with sad, soggy lettuce.
• Cool the Meat – Let the taco meat come to room temperature before adding to the cold salad.

FAQs:

More Easy Salad Recipes:

• Shaved Brussels Sprouts and Wild Rice Salad with White Wine Maple Vinaigrette
• Strawberry Cucumber Salad with Walnuts and Goat Cheese
• Grilled Lamb Salad Bowls with Zingy Lemon Dressing
• Peach Burrata Salad with Burrata and Basil
• Brussels Sprouts Salad with Maple Dressing
• Peach Nectarine Salad with Bacon, Corn, Feta, and Creamy Avocado Dressing

So, to recap – taco salad is a gift to humankind, and you should absolutely make yourself a batch of taco salad to enjoy all week long.

(Also, can we just chuckle at the fact that I forgot to add the black beans until the very end of this photoshoot, so only one photo of the salad has them, hah.)

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