Salads · Tex-Mex
Taco Salad
Everything you love about tacos, piled on a plate and crunching on contact.
- Hands-on
- 30 min
- Total
- 30 min
- Makes
- 8 plates
- Serves
- 8
About 4 minutes softening the onion and 6-7 minutes browning the beef; you chop and make the dressing around that. Everything is hands-on.
- easy
- weeknight
- kid-friendly
- game-day
Verified against at least two trusted test kitchens or food-safety guides · Last checked · What this means
Scaling? Halves easily. Brown the beef in batches if you double it, so it browns instead of steaming in a crowded pan. Some items (like eggs) don’t halve neatly: beat them, then measure out half.
Ingredients
You need: large non-stick skillet (frying pan) · wooden spoon · instant-read thermometer · small bowl or jar for the dressing · 8 plates · cutting board and knife · grater or zester
Contains: milk
Method
Soften the onion
Heat 15 ml (1 tbsp) oil in a large non-stick skillet over medium-high heat. Add the chopped onion, 2 minced garlic cloves, 10 ml (2 tsp) Cajun spice, and 2 ml (1/2 tsp) each salt and pepper. Cook, stirring, for about 4 minutes.
Ready when: The onion is soft and see-through at the edges and the spices smell toasty, not burnt.
Brown the beef
Add 500 g (1 lb) ground beef and cook for 6 to 7 minutes, breaking it up with the back of the spoon. Drain off the fat and set the beef aside.
Ready when: Crumbly with no pink left anywhere, and a thermometer in a pile of the meat reads at least 71°C (160°F).
Otto tried this firstOtto calls it done while there's still pink in the middle of the pan. He keeps going until every bit has browned and the thermometer shows 71°C.Shake the dressing
Mix 125 ml (1/2 cup) olive oil, 50 ml (1/4 cup) lime juice, 30 ml (2 tbsp) salsa and 5 ml (1 tsp) lime zest in a small bowl or a jar with a lid.
Build the base
Divide 1 litre (4 cups) shredded lettuce among 8 plates. Scatter 500 ml (2 cups) crumbled corn chips, the drained can of kidney beans and the chopped tomato over the top, then drizzle with the dressing.
Top and serve
Spoon the beef over the salads. Finish each plate with some of the 250 ml (1 cup) Cheddar, the diced avocado, 50 ml (1/4 cup) sour cream and the sliced green onions. Serve right away.
Swaps
- Instead of Cajun spice, salt and pepper: one 28 g (1 oz) packet of taco seasoning mix, cooked with the beef as the packet directs Enough for 1 lb beef; skip the extra salt, the mix is already salted.
Make ahead, store & reheat
- Make ahead
- Chop the vegetables and mix the dressing ahead, but add the chips and dressing just before serving: once dressed, the salad goes soggy and doesn't keep.
- Storage
- Dressed salad doesn't keep. Leftover cooked beef, stored on its own, keeps 3 to 4 days in the fridge if refrigerated within 2 hours.
- Reheat
- Reheat leftover beef until steaming hot, 74°C (165°F).
Good to know
- Iceberg lettuce, sliced olives and a little Italian dressing also work; build it with whatever taco toppings your family likes.
Safety
- Ground beef must reach 71°C (160°F) all the way through; check with a thermometer and make sure no pink is left.
- Keep raw beef away from the salad ingredients: use a separate board, and wash hands and tools after handling raw meat.
- Hot fat can splash when you drain the pan. Tilt it away from you, and an adult should do the draining.
- Check labels: spice blends, salsa and corn chips can contain wheat or other allergens, and some are processed with them.