This taco salad recipe combines lettuce, seasoned ground beef and plenty of colourful, tasty toppings, such as crispy tortilla strips, black beans, diced avocado, cheddar cheese and corn. It’s a super hearty salad and such a fun way to mix up your next taco night.
One thing I do love is a hearty salad, and this taco salad recipe is just that. It has the familiar flavours of ground beef tacos, but in salad form.
It’s loaded with yummy ingredients, such as ground beef, avocado, corn, cheddar cheese, black beans, tomatoes and crispy tortilla strips. There’s all sorts of fabulous textures and flavours going on, which makes this taco salad a treat for the taste buds.
And what I particularly love about it is how customizable it is. You can totally tweak the toppings of your salad bowl to how you like it. Enjoy more avocado? Add extra. Not a big fan of corn? Use less or omit it. You get the picture. It’s such a fun and delicious meal, and who doesn’t love that?
Looking for a refreshing beverage to pair with this ground beef taco salad? How about these frozen strawberry mango margaritas or strawberry mocktails?
Ingredients
- Olive oil: Used for sautéing the ground beef. Feel free to substitute with another cooking oil, such as vegetable oil or avocado oil.
- Ground beef: I used lean ground beef. No matter the fat content, drain the beef of excess grease after cooking.
- Taco seasoning: I used homemade taco seasoning, but you can use a store-bought version if you like. The taco seasoning I used has salt. If you use a variety that doesn’t, you may want to add some salt.
- Lettuce: Use a nice, crisp green lettuce. The heartier it is, the more it will stand up to all the toppings. Use what variety you enjoy best.
- Flour tortilla: I used one large flour tortilla for the tortilla strips. If yours is smaller, no worries, just use a couple.
- Avocado: I used avocado, but you can substitute with guacamole.
- Cheese: I used shredded cheddar cheese, but crumbled Queso Cotija would be a yummy swap.
- Black beans: Canned black beans add some heftiness to the taco salad. You could try a dollop or two of refried beans instead.
- Corn: I used canned corn, but you could use freshly grilled corn.
- Tomatoes: I used grape tomatoes which I chopped. Roma tomatoes work great too.
- Green onion: For a vinegary, briny twist, try pickled red onion.
- Salsa: I used store-bought hot salsa. Use whatever variety you enjoy best.
- Sour cream: Don’t have sour cream? Try plain Greek yogurt. Truth be told, more often than not, I’ll use Greek yogurt because I usually always have that in the fridge.
- Lime wedges: When squeezed over each taco salad, it adds some freshness and flavour.
How To Make Taco Salad
Here is an overview of how to make taco salad (full details are in the recipe card below):
- Cut a tortilla into strips, then place them on a sheet pan. Spray them with cooking spray and sprinkle with taco seasoning.
- Bake the tortilla strips until crispy. Watch that they don’t burn because they can do so quickly.
- Heat some olive oil in a skillet, add the ground beef and season with taco seasoning.
- Cook the ground beef until cooked through. Drain any excess grease.
- Assemble the salads by placing some lettuce in each bowl.
- Layer on the remaining taco salad toppings (cooked ground beef, avocado, cheddar cheese, black beans, corn, tomatoes and green onion). Dollop each bowl with some salsa and sour cream and squeeze over a lime wedge. Devour!
Extra Hungry?
If you’re craving something else to go along with your salad, try serving it with a bowl of chicken taco soup.
Tips and Variations
- Tortilla strips: If you don’t want to make homemade tortilla strips, you can use a store-bought variety, or substitute with tortilla chips or corn chips.
- Protein: Try a different protein, such as ground chicken, ground turkey or veggie meat.
- Toppings: If you like more of a particular topping, feel free to add more.
- Make it saucy: If you want another pop of flavour on your taco salad, try chipotle ranch dressing instead of sour cream. It’s a delicious addition.
- Make it spicy: Drizzle over your favourite hot sauce for an extra kick of spice.
More Ground Beef Recipes
If you make this easy taco salad recipe, be sure to leave a comment below!
Taco Salad
Ingredients
Tortilla Strips
- 1 large flour tortilla, cut into strips, about ¼-inch wide
- ½ teaspoon taco seasoning
- Cooking spray, I used avocado oil cooking spray
Taco Salad
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1.5 pounds lean ground beef
- 2 tablespoons taco seasoning
- 6 to 7 ounces green lettuce, leaves torn into bite-sized pieces (about two to three large handfuls of lettuce per salad)
- 1 avocado, halved, pitted, peeled and diced (or use 1 cup of guacamole)
- 1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
- 1 cup canned black beans, drained well
- 1 cup canned corn, drained well
- 1 cup chopped tomatoes
- ¼ cup chopped green onion
- Salsa, to taste
- Sour cream, to taste
- 4 Lime wedges, for serving
Instructions
Tortilla strips
- Preheat the oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit.
- Place the tortilla strips on a sheet pan and spray with cooking spray. Sprinkle over taco seasoning. Bake until crisp, about 6 to 8 minutes. Watch carefully because they can burn quickly. It's best to check on them earlier, just to make sure they turn out perfectly. Once done, lay them to one side while you prepare the rest of the taco salad.
Taco Salad
- Heat the olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the ground beef. Season with the taco seasoning. Cook, breaking the ground beef into small pieces as it cooks and stirring occasionally, until it's fully cooked through, about 10 minutes. Drain excess grease.
- Divide the lettuce between four bowls. I like to use wide shallow bowls so I can fit all the toppings nicely.
- Divide the remaining ingredients between the four bowls, placing on top of the lettuce: the cooked ground beef, avocado, cheddar cheese, black beans, corn, tomatoes, green onion and crispy tortilla strips. Dollop each salad with salsa and sour cream to taste. Squeeze a lime wedge over each salad. Serve and enjoy!
A note on times provided: appliances vary, any prep and/or cook times provided are estimates only.
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Tried this recipe?
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