A delicious, colorful taco salad recipe with ground beef and the most amazing citrus salad dressing! There is nothing better than a healthy weeknight meal that you can toss together!
This taco salad is one of our favorite go-to meals for the weekday and a wonderful dish to serve when entertaining.
Why Make this Taco Salad
Table of Contents
It’s colorful, filling and easy to toss together. We serve it with a bowl of our favorite chips and hibiscus margaritas and everyone is happy!
The dressing is also amazing and makes the salad extra delicious!
Romaine lettuce mixed with arugula is perfect for this salad. I love when the lettuce is crisp and cold and I also chop it because, for some reason, it just tastes better chopped!
Arugula adds a peppery flavor compliments the other flavors. Toss the greens together in a large bowl then layer on the toppings!
How to Make a Taco Salad
The best thing about making a taco salad is that you can customize it to what you like. Add black olives or more beans, green onions, tomatoes or maybe peppers… whatever you like on your taco you can add to the salad.
- Cook the Beef
- Prepare the Ingredients
- Make the Dressing
- Assemble
Taco Salad Toppings
For this taco salad recipe, we used purple onions, grilled corn, black beans, avocado, shredded cheddar cheese, cilantro, and seasoned ground beef. I seasoned the beef with garlic powder, cayenne, and Santa Maria seasoning.
Super easy! The beef can easily be substituted with ground turkey as it’s lower in saturated fat.
Citrus Taco Salad Dressing
The dressing is actually my favorite part of this recipe. It’s incredibly flavorful and has orange and lime juice, cumin, olive oil, honey, scallions, garlic and lots of salt and pepper!
Those flavors together are pure magic! It’s the easiest dressing to make too. Just add all of the ingredients in a small container with a spout and stir.
If you have a dressing container, it’s nice to be able to shake the ingredients together.
I like to wait to add the dressing to the salad until right before serving. Then you can mix it all up and serve right away.
How to Cook Ground Beef for a Taco Salad
In a skillet over
Sprinkle the ground beef with 1 tsp Santa Maria (this is my favorite seasoning and be purchased at most grocery stores in the meat section), 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder, and 1/8 teaspoon ground cayenne pepper, and pace in the skillet.
Break it up with a wooden spatula and cook until brown.
Serve with tortilla chips and margaritas or strawberry tequila sodas!
The salad can be served room temperature. The beef can be warm when mixed into the salad. It can also be served cold as well.
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Easy and Delicious Taco Salad
Ingredients
Salad
- 1 cup arugula, washed
- 15 ounces romaine, washed
- 1/2 red onion, chopped
- 15 ounce can black beans, drained
- 1 cup cilantro , chopped
- 2 ears corn, grilled and chopped (you can also buy already made at a salad bar or use canned)
- 8 ounces Mexican blend cheese, shredded
Meat
- 1 pound ground beef, organic, grass fed
- 1 tsp Santa Maria seasoning
- 1/4 tsp garlic powder
- 1/8 tsp ground cayenne
Salad Dressing
- 1/4 cup olive oil
- 2 tsp shallots , chopped
- 3 tbsp orange juice, fresh squeezed
- 3 tbsp lime juice , Add in extra teaspoon if needed
- 1 clove garlic , minced
- 1/2 tsp salt, sea salt is best
- 3/4 tsp cumin , ground
- 1/4 tsp pepper, ground
Instructions
- Heat 1 tablespoon olive oil in a medium skillet on low.
- Season the meat with ground cayenne, Santa Maria and garlic powder.
- Add the ground beef to the skillet and cook until fully brown.
- Place the prepared and washed lettuce in large salad bowl.
- Add all of the salad toppings in the bowl, including the cooked meat.
- Make the salad dressing by adding the scallions, orange juice, lime juice, minced garlic, salt and pepper in a salad dressing shaker.
- Shake to stir the dressing, then pour over the salad and stir.
Taco salad is always a hit at my house. You can make it to suit what you like. I also like that you can make it with healthier options too. So good!
I LOVE taco salad! This looks incredibly delicious! I can’t wait to try it!
Taco salad is always a good idea! Thank you for the recipe!
Thank you for sharing this!! I love taco salad! It is full of delicious flavors & a healthier option!