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This light and delicious ground beef taco salad is perfect for evenings entertaining guests or busy weeknights at home with the family! If you’re looking for a quick and easy dinner option after a long busy day, this is it. Add my cheap and easy homemade taco seasoning and you can’t go wrong!
Taco Salad
Every bite of this Mexican-inspired meal is packed full of different textures and flavours! The juicy beef, creamy avocado, juicy tomatoes, and crispy romaine lettuce make it a real hit with the taste buds (and the family!). Of course, every family has a few “picky” eaters, so what’s great about this recipe is that you can mix and match your ingredients depending on what everyone likes.
This is a super way for your family and friends to enjoy Mexican-inspired cuisine. The protein-rich beef, alongside tons of veggies and good fats, makes it a very filling meal. You might want seconds, but it won’t be because you’re still hungry… it’ll be because it’s just too yummy to leave sitting there!
How To Make Ground Beef Taco Salad
- Start by frying up around a pound of ground beef (lean) until it turns that nice brown color. Make sure it’s cooked through, and then drain the fat and add 2 tbsp of my cheap and easy homemade taco seasoning.
- If you used cornstarch in your seasoning you’ll need to add an extra quarter cup of water to the mix too.
- Continue to cook until the seasoning has mixed right through the beef and it’s all thickened up nicely.
- Take off the heat, place it in a bowl and start getting the taco salad ready.
- When you’re making the taco salad you can either mix all of the ingredients in a bowl and serve OR you can simply serve the ingredients on a platter “as is”. The second option looks great presentation-wise but the first option is faster when you’re stuck for time.
Tips And Tricks For Ground Beef Taco Salad
- If you’re serving a small number of people you can easily cut down on the ingredients accordingly. The taco beef will cook faster this way too, so that’s a plus! Or if you like, you can just make the full batch and freeze it to use as leftovers another time.
- This dish requires a beef that’s a bit on the lean side, but not extremely lean. A fat content of around 90% lean meat is perfect. But don’t worry if you’re using beef that’s a bit fattier because you can just drain off the excess fat when it’s in the pan (remember to do this before you add the tomatoes).
- This meal is so quick and easy that I don’t tend to make batches ahead of time, but you can definitely make the ground beef mix and the salsa in advance if you like – just make sure to store them in an airtight container and place them in the fridge. They’ll stay good in the fridge for about 5 days.
- If you’re not a big fan of beef, you can totally use ground turkey instead! Just avoid turkey that’s super lean.
- If you’re tight on time you can always use salsa and guacamole from the grocery store; it rarely contains many extra ingredients but double-check just in case. It’s handy to have a big bag of pre-cut lettuce on hand too if you’re in a rush!
More Delicious Salad Recipes
Believe it or not, I LOVE a good salad, but nothing is worse than a boring salad, so here are some GREAT recipes that are reader faves!
- Simple Mexican Coleslaw
- Copycat Earl’s Santa Fe Salad
- Mediterranean Chickpea Salad
- Avocado Egg Salad
Enjoy!!! This is honestly my favorite salad to whip up – Mike and I can eat it without the carbs and then we get the kids hard and soft taco shells. It is a meal that our whole family loves, which is a miracle some days!
Love,
Karlynn
Light and Delicious Ground Beef Taco Salad
- Prep Time
- 20 minutes
- Cook Time
- 15 minutes
- Course
- Main Course
- Cuisine
- Mexican
- Servings
- 4
- Calories
- 526
- Author
- Karlynn Johnston
Ingredients
- 1 pound lean ground beef
- 2-3 tablespoons homemade taco seasoning
- 10 cups romaine lettuce washed well and chopped
- 3 large roma tomatoes halved
- 1 cup sharp cheddar cheese shredded
- 2 avocados sliced
- 1/2 cup tomato salsa
- 1/2 cup sour cream
- ranch dressing to top optional but I LOVE IT!
- Fritos to top optional
- green onions to top optional
Instructions
Cooking the Taco Beef
- Fry up the 1 lb of lean ground beef until browned and cooked throughout.
- Drain the fat and mix in 2 tbsp of the taco seasoning mix. If you added cornstarch to your homemade taco seasoning,, add in 1/4 cup of water to the mix.
- Cook until the taco seasoning is all mixed throughout the beef and thickened up.
- Remove from the heat and place in a bowl.
Taco Salad
- You have two options to make this taco salad:
- One, place all of the ingredients into a bowl and mix, then serve.
- Two, place the ingredients on a platter and then serve.
- Both options work, the first is fast and easy, the second looks amazing in presentation. It's up to you!
Recipe Notes
Nutrition Information
All calories and info are based on a third party calculator and are only an estimate. Actual nutritional info will vary with brands used, your measuring methods, portion sizes and more.
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Mary Ann says
In your first method, Do you mix the salsa and sour cream with the other ingredients or serve on the side?