Our Favorite Taco Salad Recipe

Need a quick and easy make-ahead lunch or a fantastic dish to bring to an upcoming potluck or dinner party? Try taco salad. It’s simple, delicious, made with ordinary ingredients, and easily adaptable based on what you already have in the house!

Lunches are my least-favorite meal of the day — both to prepare and to eat.

I have an organized plan for breakfasts and dinners, and I’m totally fine preparing those meals each day. But I’m less than enthused to pack lunches for my kids or prepare lunch for myself at home.

My goal is to have enough leftovers from dinner to eat for lunch the next day, but that doesn’t always happen.

On days when I don’t have leftovers, taco salad is my go-to meal of choice because I always keep taco meat in the freezer.

Surprisingly enough, our kids really like taco salad, so we sometimes have it as a full meal with chips and guacamole on the side.

Taco salad is also a great meal to take to potlucks or other group gatherings as everyone loves it.

It’s easy to make ahead (just add the chips and dressing when you’re ready to serve) and it lasts in the fridge for several days if you’re a “leftovers gal” like me!

It’s a winning recipe any time of year!

Ingredients for Taco Salad

• Romaine lettuce — 2 heads, roughly chopped
• Cooked taco meat — I like to add onions and use my homemade seasoning
• Black Beans — one 16 ounce can, drained and rinsed
• Shredded cheese — 1-2 cups, depending on your preference.
• Cherry tomatoes — halved
• Green onions — chopped
• Cilantro — chopped
• Catalina dressing — or dressing of your choice
• Doritos or Tortilla chips — crushed
• (Optional) salsa, guacamole, and sour cream for serving

Easy Ingredient Substitutions

There are SO many ways you can tweak this recipe based on what you already have in the house, your own family’s taste preferences, or even what’s on sale that week.

Here are a few ideas to get you thinking:

Lettuce — pretty much any type of head lettuce will work, including bagged lettuce. I would stay away from spinach or other “greens” as they have very different flavors that I personally don’t think work as well with the taco meat.

Taco Meat — I often keep containers of pre-cooked, pre-seasoned taco meat in the freezer for a quick meal… it’s perfect for taco salad too. Just let it defrost!

However, if you prefer chicken or ground turkey, those will work equally as well in this recipe — just make sure it’s fully cooked and seasoned before adding it to the salad.

You can easily alter the spiciness of this recipe by using spicier seasonings on your taco meat too.

Black Beans — I personally love black beans, but if you aren’t into beans, you can omit them (or use another type of bean.

Cheese — the best part! I love using a Mexican blend of shredded cheese, but whatever cheese you like and have in the house should be fine.

Additional Veggies — feel free to incorporate as many or as few extra veggies as you’d like. I almost always use green onions instead of white, yellow, or purple b/c the kids don’t notice them as much! We also like halved cherry tomatoes versus a diced tomato because the cherry tomatoes aren’t as juicy to “water down” the salad. Sometimes I add chopped peppers, chopped cucumbers, corn, or a variety of other veggies I have on hand.

Herbs — I love the taste of fresh cilantro, so this is a “must” for my taco salads. If you’re not a fan of cilantro, or would rather use a different spice or herb, feel free.

Dressing — We like Catalina (and it’s so easy), but I know others who use Ranch, or Ranch mixed with salsa. I’ve also seen recipes for “taco salad dressing” that have a few more ingredients but are relatively simple to make. This is totally a preference thing.

Also, I don’t always put dressing on the entire salad as our family prefers different dressing options. Plus, by serving the dressing on the side, the leftovers last longer.

Chips — any flavor of Dorito, Frito, or tortilla chip could work for this recipe, even those Tortilla Strip salad toppers. That said, if you don’t think you’ll eat the salad in one sitting, you might want to offer chips on the side so any leftovers don’t get soggy and gross.

How to Make Taco Salad

1. In a large bowl, layer lettuce, taco meat, beans, cheese, veggies, and herbs.

2. Pour enough dressing over to fully coat — mix well.

3. Serve with a variety of crushed chips, along with sour cream, salsa, and guacamole.

4. Refrigerate leftovers in a sealed food storage container for 3-5 days.

How to Make a Single-Serving of Taco Salad

As I mentioned above, taco salad is one of my favorite lunches… and super easy to whip up since I usually keep containers of taco meat in the freezer.

SIDE NOTE: When I make taco meat, I cook it with onions and black beans, so I don’t need to add them separately to my lunchtime salads.

When it’s time for lunch, I chop up whatever lettuce and veggies I have on hand, then add a bit of cheese and a few scoops of taco meat (I like it cold).

Sometimes I use dressing, other times I choose salsa or guacamole.

I top it off with a small handful of crushed chips.

Quick, easy, delicious, and fairly nutritious too!

What are your favorite salad recipes?

Check out ALL my yummy family-friendly salad recipes here!