Beef Taco Salad
Too hot to cook, but you still need to eat? Looking for a good pot luck recipe? Need to get dinner on the table in a hurry? Need more recipes to add to your Meal Prep Plans? Delicious tasting Main dish salads are the answer to all of these needs. And this Beef Taco Salad in a great addition to your Main dish Salads recipe collection.
Guaranteed to be a hit with everyone, it’s an excellent weeknight dinner option using ingredients you likely have on hand. It’s also easy to assemble quickly if you want to take it to a pot luck.
Toppings that can take it up a notch:
When I’m serving this as the main dish for dinner, I like to lay out some additional toppings for people to build their own salad. These are all also great toppings if you’ve decided to make some simple Cheese Quesadillas to round out your meal.
- Garlic Lime Crema
- Salsa
- Salsa Ranch Dressing
- Guacamole
Meal Prep tips:
While this Beef Taco Salad is very quick to prepare, you can cut down on assembly time even more on cooking day by have the ground beef already browned, and ready to go. Because the seasonings are a fairly basic tex mex combination, I highly recommend making a 5lb batch of Taco seasoned ground beef. Separate the cooked ground beef into 1 lb portions, label and freeze. Freezing in these small portions makes it faster to defrost and easier to meal prep. Win Win!
Hearty Beef Taco Salad
Ingredients
- 3-4 cloves garlic minced
- 1 lbs. lean ground beef
- 2 tsp ground cumin
- 1 tsp smoked paprika
- ½ tsp chili powder
- 1½ tsp chipotle powder divided
- ½ tsp onion powder
- Sea salt and black pepper to taste
- 4 large corn tortillas cut into thin strips
- 3 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil divided
- 1 cup black beans drained and rinsed
- 1/2 head iceberg lettuce finely chopped
- 1 large avocado chopped
- 2 cups cherry or grape tomatoes quartered
- 1/2 small red onion finely diced
- 1 cup frozen sweet corn warmed
- 2 Tablespoons fresh lime juice
- 3/4 cup Mexican blend cheese shredded
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400°F and line a rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper or a Silpat® baking mat. Set aside.
- Heat a large skillet over medium heat. Add the garlic and ground beef and season with ground cumin, smoked paprika, chili powder, one teaspoon chipotle powder, and onion powder. Season with salt and black pepper, to taste, and stir to combine.
- Cook, stirring occasionally, until the meat is browned, approximately 8-10 minutes. Break up the beef with a spatula into small chunks while it cooks.
- While the beef is browning, arrange the tortilla strips on the prepared baking sheet and brush lightly with one tablespoon olive oil. Place in the oven until slightly crispy, approximately 6-8 minutes.
- Stir the black beans into the skillet with the beef until thoroughly coated with the seasonings. Remove from heat and carefully drain excess fat from skillet and set aside.
- Combine the lettuce, avocado, tomatoes, red onion, and corn in a large salad bowl. Sprinkle with remaining olive oil, chipotle powder, and fresh lime juice. Generously season with salt and black pepper, to taste, and toss to combine.
- To serve, transfer salad to a decorative serving platter and top with the seasoned beef and black beans, Mexican cheese, and crispy tortilla strips, if desired. Enjoy!
If you enjoy Tex Mex and Southwestern foods as much as we do, you may want to check out these other popular recipes.
Tex Mex Chicken Baked Taquitos
