This article explores how to create a delicious and nutritious taco salad, perfect for a quick dinner or meal-prep lunch. We'll cover everything from the base ingredients to variations and tips for making it vegan or lower in calories.
Why Taco Salad?
Some people think salads are boring, but they don’t have to be! Taco salad takes many forms-and some are quite tasty. Taco salad can absolutely be a healthy meal, especially when made with wholesome, fresh ingredients. This salad is endlessly versatile, making it easy to customize based on your dietary needs and flavor preferences.
Core Ingredients
To make a great taco salad, you need a mix of textures and tastes - something creamy, something zesty, something crunchy, something tangy, and something crisp - all over lots of greens.
- Ground Beef: There’s a lot of flavor in fat, but you don’t want so much that the salad becomes greasy. It is recommended to use a lean blend of ground sirloin; either 85/15 or 90/10. Feel free to use leaner ground beef depending on what you like. High quality meat, such as ButcherBox Ground Beef, which delivers grass fed and grass finished beef, can also be used.
- Romaine Lettuce: It’s all about those crispy leafy greens in this healthy taco salad. If you aren’t a fan of romaine, you could try spinach, kale or other lettuce of choice.
- Taco Seasoning: Making your own homemade taco seasoning is easy to make and lower in salt.
- Salsa: You can swap out traditional salsa for pico de Gallo when fresh tomatoes are in season, or use a different flavor.
Optional, but Recommended, Ingredients
- Colorful Veggies: Cherry tomatoes, red bell pepper, corn, black olives, green onions, and more can be added. Get creative with the taco salad veggies toppings. Blue/purple foods provide vitamins A, C, and K. Try kale, cauliflower or eggplant in your healthy taco salad for these amazing benefits. Green foods are packed with cancer-fighting phyto-chemicals. Orange/yellow foods are loaded with beta-carotene and potassium. Red foods are excellent sources of iron. White/light green foods provide potassium, magnesium, and vitamin E.
- Dressing: The dressing/sauce is optional on this recipe but it’s really delicious! A Healthy Avocado Ranch Dressing can be used instead or buy a chipotle ranch dressing.
Making the Taco Meat
Ground Beef Version
- Heat a medium skillet over medium high heat. Add olive oil and heat for one minute.
- Add ground meat and cook for 12-15 minutes until browned, breaking up the ground beef as it cooks. This tool can be used for breaking up ground meat.
- Once the meat has cooked, stir in your taco seasoning and water. Stir to coat the meat in seasonings.
Vegan Walnut Taco Meat Version
- Soak walnuts in water for at least 20 minutes, then drain and rinse well.
- Place the walnuts, tamari, and spices into a food processor.
- Pulse until the walnuts are chopped and look like ground (minced) meat. Taste and add more spices if desired.
- Stir the vegan taco meat mixture and cook gently until heated through and the nuts are lightly browned. Be careful not to let it burn.
Assembling the Salad
- Chop romaine and vegetables.
- Evenly divide the toppings across salads.
- Top the salads with cooked taco meat and dressing.
Recipe Variations
- Vegetarian / Vegan: To make a meatless meal, you can use cooked lentils or a ground beef substitute. You’ll need to adjust your cooking time. Use walnut taco meat, chickpeas, black beans, jackfruit, or tofu for a delicious non-meat option. You can swap out cheese + sour cream for guacamole and cashew cream.
- Lower Calorie: Skip the avocado, cheese, and olives to reduce the calories and fat in the ground beef salad.
- Add more creaminess: Elevate the richness of your healthy taco salad with smooth and tangy vegan avocado crema. It’s like a saucy version of guacamole that adds richness and a burst of flavor without the dairy.
- Swap tortilla chips: If you’re avoiding grains, ditch the corn tostadas or tortilla chips and opt for crisp cabbage or lettuce leaves as a fresh and crunchy base. Alternatively, make your own tortilla strips by toasting corn tortillas in the oven to control how crispy they get and how much oil you use.
- Add more protein: Use spiced lentils or beans.
- Make it fruity! Add some sweet mangos, diced pineapple, or this Peach Salsa.
Dressing Variations
- Any of the 3 versions of cilantro lime dressing would work here.
- Omit the avocado and serve it as a vinaigrette, or use Greek yogurt instead of the avocado to make it creamy.
- Try the ranch from this buffalo chicken salad or this cilantro lime dressing.
Meal Prep Tips
- If you prep the meat, veggies, and tortilla strip ahead of time and store them separately in the refrigerator, this recipe is a great choice for a make-ahead lunch. Just toss ingredients and add toppings before eating.
- Taco meat is one of those things that I always double and freeze! It takes almost no extra time to do this, and it’s great to have prepared taco meat for whenever you need a quick dinner or lunch or a yummy taco salad!
- I highly recommend using mason jars! By layering the taco meat (and condiments) at the bottom of the jar and the romaine lettuce at the top, your lettuce will remain crisp for up to 4 days! Important: skip the avocado (or cut it fresh) and add the tortilla chips just before serving. For this salad I recommend quart-sized jars (4 cup/2 pint). Go big!
- You can eat it right out of the jar (give it a good shake up first), or you can bring a bowl and shake it all out into the bow.
Is Taco Salad Healthy?
Yes, taco salads are not unhealthy. They can be super healthy yet still delicious by using fresh ingredients, protein powered vegan meat or real meat and dressing that is made with whole ingredients. Taco salads can be high in calories because they are a whole-meal-in-one dish. You’ve got your protein, starch, veggies, and fats altogether in one filling dish. Know that not all calories are the same, and if yours is full of fresh, whole foods, then you’ve got nothing to worry about except that next bite of flavor-filled goodness.
Storing Leftovers
If at all possible, enjoy every bit of your meal on the day you make it, because leftover salad just doesn’t taste as good. This being said, you can keep any leftover taco salad in an airtight container in the fridge for about 3 days. You can freeze cooked taco meat for up to 3 months in an airtight container.
Read also: Healthy food access with Highmark Wholecare explained.
Recipe
Healthy Taco Salad
Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 10 minutes
Total Time: 25 minutes
Serves: 2 to 3
This fresh, easy taco salad recipe makes a filling lunch or fun dinner. Prep components ahead of time and store them separately for quick assembly! Gluten-free and vegan.
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Ingredients:
- 2 corn tortillas, sliced into strips
- Extra-virgin olive oil, for drizzling
- 1 medium head romaine lettuce, chopped
- 1 cup shredded red cabbage
- ½ cup cooked black beans, drained and rinsed
- 2 red radishes, thinly sliced
- ½ cup sliced cherry tomatoes and/or pico de gallo
- 1 avocado, sliced
- Jalapeno slices, optional
- Cilantro Lime Dressing, the creamy avocado variation
- Sea salt
- Lime wedges, for serving
Shiitake Taco “Meat”:
- 1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
- 8 ounces shiitake mushrooms, stemmed and diced
- 1 cup crushed walnuts
- 1 tablespoon tamari
- 1 teaspoon chili powder
- ½ teaspoon balsamic vinegar
- Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
Instructions:
- Preheat the oven to 350°F and cut the corn tortillas into strips. Spray with olive oil spray and sprinkle with salt. Bake for about 10-15 minutes.
- Make the Shiitake Taco “Meat”: In a medium skillet, heat the olive oil over medium heat. Add the mushrooms and cook, stirring only occasionally, until they begin to brown and soften, 3 to 4 minutes. Stir in the walnuts and lightly toast for 1 to 2 minutes. Stir in the tamari and the chili powder. Add the balsamic vinegar and stir again. Remove from the heat and season with salt and pepper to taste.
- Assemble the salad with the romaine lettuce, cabbage, black beans, taco meat, radishes, tomatoes, avocado, jalapenos, if using, and generous dollops of cilantro lime avocado dressing. Drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with sea salt.
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