This chopped taco salad is packed with flavor and fresh ingredients for a delicious meal. The easy homemade avocado ranch is the perfect dressing to complement this salad!
Why Youโll Love This Recipe
- It is easily customizable to your favorite taco toppings. Try it with our favorite homemade guacamole recipe (without tomato).
- It's a great recipe for meal prep and stores well to eat again the next day.
- It's a great variation to throw in the rotation for taco Tuesday.
- This chopped taco salad is an easy main dish that gets to the dinner table quickly, even with the homemade taco seasoning and dressing.
Looking for other great salad recipes? Try our chicken caesar pasta salad, Chick-fil-a cobb salad copycat recipe, slow cooker BBQ chicken ranch salad, and cashew crunch salad.
Ingredient Notes
- Ground beef or ground turkey - choose your preferred ground meat for this recipe, we recommend ground turkey or ground beef (for a ground beef taco salad). You can even use ground chicken if preferred.
- Black beans - can swap with pinto beans.
- Corn kernels - frozen, canned, or fresh corn all work.
- Romaine lettuce - we recommend romaine lettuce for this recipe but you can swap it for iceberg lettuce in a pinch.
- Grape tomatoes - can swap for cherry tomatoes.
See the recipe card below for a complete list of ingredients and measurements.
Recipe Tips & Variations
- Other topping ideas include black olives, green onions, shredded cheddar cheese or pepper jack cheese, pico de gallo, a dollop of sour cream, or Doritos for a Dorito taco salad.
- You can serve with our cilantro lime ranch instead of the avocado ranch or buy a store bought ranch dressing to save on time.
How to Make This Great Taco Salad
For the full recipe instructions, scroll down to the recipe card at the bottom of the page.
Step 1: Heat the olive or avocado oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the ground meat to the pan and break it up into small pieces as it cooks. Cook for 5-6 minutes, or until the meat is fully cooked and no longer pink. Add the chili powder, cumin, garlic powder, and kosher salt to the meat and stir until the meat is evenly coated. Remove from the heat and set aside to cool.
Step 2: Next, make the dressing. Add all ingredients to a food processor or blender and mix until smooth.
Step 3: Chop the lettuce. Drain and rinse the black beans (and corn if using canned). Cut the bell pepper, tomatoes, and red onion. Prepare any other desired toppings.
For serving, add the lettuce, then ground meat, toppings, and dressing. You can serve in one large bowl or as individual servings. Enjoy!
Chopped Taco Salad FAQs
We recommend storing the taco meat, lettuce and toppings, and dressing all in a separate container and in the refrigerator. Consume within 3-4 days.ย
This recipe is gluten-free. It can be dairy-free with the use of dairy-free ranch dressing and the omission of cheese from the toppings. It is not vegan or vegetarian, but can be by swapping the taco meat for beans and seasoning them instead.ย
Other Recipes Inspired by Mexican Food
If you make this easy taco salad recipe, please let us know how it turns out in the comments below and/or rate the recipe! Donโt forget to tag us on Instagram to show us your finished productโit makes our day every time we see you trying the recipes we love!
Chopped Taco Salad With Homemade Avocado Ranch Dressing
Ingredients
For the taco meat:
- 2 teaspoons olive oil or avocado oil
- 1 pound lean ground turkey or beef
- 1 teaspoon chili powder
- 1 teaspoon cumin
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- ยพ teaspoon Kosher salt
For the salad:
- 1, 14.5 ounce can of black beans, drained and rinsed
- 1 cup corn kernels (fresh, canned, or frozen and thawed)
- 8 cups chopped romaine lettuce
- 1 bell pepper, small diced
- 1 cup grape tomatoes, halved
- โ cup diced red onion
- Optional for serving: shredded cheese, tortilla chips or tortilla strips, chopped fresh cilantro, fresh lime
For the avocado ranch dressing: (or use your favorite store-bought)
- 1 medium avocado
- โ cup water
- ยฝ cup ranch dressing (we recommend Bolthouse Farms or Primal Kitchen)
- ยผ cup lime juice
- ยผ teaspoon Kosher salt + more to taste
- ยฝ of a small jalapeรฑo, more or less according to spice preference
Instructions
- Heat the olive or avocado oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the ground meat to the pan and break it up into small pieces as it cooks. Cook for 5-6 minutes, or until the meat is fully cooked and no longer pink. Add the chili powder, cumin, garlic powder, and kosher salt to the meat and stir until the meat is evenly coated. Remove from the heat and set aside to cool.
- Chop the lettuce. Drain and rinse the black beans (and corn if using canned). Cut the bell pepper, tomatoes, and red onion. Prepare any other desired toppings.
- Next, make the dressing. Add all ingredients to a food processor or blender and mix until smooth.
- For serving, add the lettuce, then ground meat, toppings, and dressing. You can serve in one large bowl or as individual servings. Enjoy!
Notes
- Save Time:
- Use pre-chopped lettuce.ย
- Use your favorite store-bought ranch dressing.ย
- Prep Ahead
- You can prepare the meat ahead of time and store in the refrigerator for 2-3 days prior to using. You can also freeze the meat for 3-4 months.ย
- You can prepare the avocado ranch dressing ahead of time and store in the fridge for 2-3 days prior to using (although we recommend using it day of for best results).
- Prepare the toppings ahead of time and store in the refrigerator until serving the salad.
- We recommend storing the taco meat, lettuce and toppings, and dressing all in a separate container and in the refrigerator. Consume within 3-4 days.
- This recipe is gluten-free. It can be dairy-free with the use of dairy-free ranch dressing and the omission of cheese from the toppings. It is not vegan or vegetarian, but can be by swapping the taco meat for beans and seasoning them instead.ย
- The recipe can be found on My Fitness Pal by searching "BWB Chopped Taco Salad." The nutrition is calculated using Bolthouse Farms Ranch. The nutrition content provided for each recipe is an estimate created through the My Fitness Pal database. Please be aware that the nutritional content of each recipe may vary based on the products you use, the precision of your measurements, and the source you use to obtain nutrition data. While we try to provide accurate information, we give no guarantee regarding the accuracy of the nutritional information provided.
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