Taco Salad With Cilantro Lime Dressing

This flavorful Taco Salad with Cilantro Lime Dressing is so versatile and is delicious any time of the year.

Learn how to make your own taco bowls, taco seasoning, and creamy Cilantro Lime Dressing and customize the taco salad with Fritos, Doritos, or your favorite toppings.

Whether served on a salad plate as a taco salad with Fritos or Doritos or in a homemade taco shell for a Taco Salad Bowl, Taco Salad is a favorite Main Dish Salad Recipe as well as a favorite Mexican Recipe.

With spicy ground beef or turkey, I have made this salad or a variation of it for decades. If you love taco salads from restaurants, then you’ll love this taco salad.

Jump to:

• Why You’ll Love This Taco Salad Recipe
• Why This Taco Salad Recipe Works
• How To Make Taco Seasoning
• How To Make Taco Salad Bowls
• Ingredients
• Cilantro Lime Dressing Ingredients
• Homemade Taco Salad Bowl Ingredients
• Taco Salad Ingredients
• Directions
• Variations Of Taco Salad
• Pro Recipe Tips
• How To Store Taco Salad
• How To Make Taco Salad Ahead Of Time
• How To Serve Taco Salad
• What To Serve With Taco Salad Bowls
• How Long Will Taco Salad Last
• More Recipes You’ll Love
• Recipe
• ⭐ Reviews

Why You’ll Love This Taco Salad Recipe

• Flavor. This salad is loaded with lots of delicious flavor, from the taco seasoned meat, to the creamy cilantro lime dressing, to the fresh vegetables!
• Texture. From the crispy, crunchy taco shell bowl, to the creamy cilantro lime dressing, this salad has lots of different textures to keep you happy.
• Easy it is to make. The only ingredient that needs to be cooked is the ground beef. You could use leftover taco meat for the salad if you like. The rest is just throwing all the wonderful ingredients into a bowl,
• Budget-Friendly. This is a type of recipe that can use a lot of leftovers, in addition to taco meat, you can use leftover beans, and corn, and the rest are fresh ingredients.
• Healthy. You can make this dish as healthy or unhealthy as you like depending on how you customize it. If you want to use ground turkey or ground chicken, that would work well in this recipe.

Why This Taco Salad Recipe Works

• Combination of flavors. The spicy taco meat is complimented by the cool, creamy cilantro lime dressing, and the crunch of the taco shell, or Fritos, or Doritos, if you choose.
• Easily Customizable. You can customize the ingredients and use what you have on hand, or leave out an ingredient if you prefer. It becomes your unique salad.

How To Make Taco Seasoning

You can either use store-bought taco seasoning or make your own. If you would like to make it, then check out my recipe for Homemade Taco Seasoning.

The homemade taco seasoning recipe uses several spices that you may already have on hand.

How To Make Taco Salad Bowls

Below I discuss the ingredients and possible substitutions in case you don’t have a specific ingredient. However, if you are looking for the specific measurements of each ingredient, be sure to scroll down to the bottom of this article, just above the comments, for the printable recipe card, which includes all the ingredients and the specific amounts of each one.

Ingredients

Cilantro Lime Dressing Ingredients

• Cilantro. I highly recommend using fresh cilantro leaves instead of dried cilantro.
• Sour Cream. Use either regular sour cream or light sour cream. Greek yogurt could work as well if you are trying to make it healthier.
• Olive oil. Extra virgin olive oil is what I prefer for the dressing.
• Minced garlic. You can chop up a couple of garlic cloves or just buy minced garlic in a jar.
• Ground coriander. While cilantro refers to the leaves of the coriander plant, this is ground coriander. If you don’t have this, you could use cumin instead.
• Salt more if needed
• Jalapeno. I like to add diced fresh jalapeños to the salad. However, this is completely optional if you don’t like spicy. You can use canned diced jalapeños or green diced chilies as well.
• Lime Juice. I like using freshly squeezed lime juice, if you have limes.

Homemade Taco Salad Bowl Ingredients

• Tortillas. Use 4 to 6 large flour tortillas.
• Vegetable oil. You could also use avocado oil or your favorite oil for cooking.
• 4-6 oven-safe bowls. You will need these to shape the Taco Salad shells for the Taco Salad Bowls.

Taco Salad Ingredients

• Ground Beef. Feel free to use ground turkey or chicken, if you prefer.
• Taco seasoning. Buy a packet of store-bought taco seasoning, or make a batch of my Homemade Taco Seasoning.
• Corn. You can use canned, frozen or fresh corn.
• Shredded lettuce. You’ll need about 2-3 heads of Romaine lettuce.
• Tomatoes. Dice up some fresh tomatoes or use cherry tomatoes and slice them in half.
• Black Olives. I like to add a can of sliced olives. This is optional. Therefore, if you don’t have any olives, feel free to leave them out.
• Black beans. I like to use black beans in the salad, but you can use red beans, or pinto beans, if you like.
• Sour cream. Use regular or light sour cream or Greek yogurt. If you prefer, you can leave it out.
• Avocado. I like to chop up an avocado or use 1 cup of my Homemade Guacamole in the salad.
• Cheese. This is one of those ingredients in which you can completely customize. Use shredded cheddar or Monterey Jack, or just buy some pre-shredded Mexican Blend cheese.
• Red Salsa. Add your favorite red salsa or salsa Rojas to the salad. Again, this is completely optional. So if you don’t like spicy, then leave this out.
• Onion. I like to dice up a red onion, but you can use a white onion, or chopped green onions instead, if you prefer.
• Lime. Slice up a lime for garnish.
• Corn Chips. Add some Doritos, Fritos or other corn chips or tortilla chips.
• 4-6 Taco Bowls. See ingredients above to make your own taco bowls.

Directions

How To Make Taco Bowls

• Preheat the oven to 350°.
• Preheat a large skillet and add a tablespoon of oil. Heat a tortilla till it starts to bubble, flip it over and let it get a couple of bubbles.

• Remove and place in a bowl, pressing down gently (make sure not to rip the tortilla), but keeping the sides up, or flip the bowl over and lay it over the bowl, making sure the sides are pressed down over the bowl.

• Place the bowls on a cookie sheet and place in the oven for 15 minutes.
• Tap the tortillas to make sure they are nice and crisp before removing. If the bottoms are not crisp enough, bake an additional minute or two, checking for doneness.

How To Make Cilantro Lime Dressing

• Place the cilantro, sour cream, olive oil, garlic, and coriander in a food processor and process until smooth.

• Add the lime juice and minced jalapeno and stir to combine.

How To Make A Taco Salad

• In a skillet, add the meat and taco seasoning.

• Cook till the meat is done, then add the corn and brown slightly.

• If using the taco bowls, add the lettuce, then layer tomatoes.

• Add the meat, olive, beans, cheese, avocado, onion, salsa, and sour cream. You can add a squeeze of fresh lime juice if you like.

• Top with the Cilantro Lime Dressing and serve.

• If using chips instead of taco bowls, layer the salad in a bowl, then serve each bowl with chips and dressing.

Variations Of Taco Salad

• Ground Chicken or Turkey. Instead of ground beef, try using ground chicken or ground turkey to lighten up the salad.
• Fajita Chicken. Try using some Skillet Fajita Chicken instead of the ground beef for a delicious variation.
• Picadillo Con Papas. For even more flavor, make a batch of Picadillo Con Papas instead of regular ground beef and taco seasoning.
• Ground Sausage. For additional flavor cook some ground Italian sausage for the protein.

Pro Recipe Tips

• For taco salad, the sky is the limit as far as customizations. You can add shredded carrots, celery, jicama, any other vegetables you want.
• While I like to use the Cilantro Lime Dressing, you can also use any dressing you prefer. Good options – ranch, vinaigrette, or just mix your favorite salsa with some sour cream or Greek yogurt.
• You can make this meatless, beans are a great source of protein.  You can use black, pinto, pork and beans.
• When making the taco bowl, you can either use a bowl and carefully press in the tortilla after you heat it in the oil, or you can lay it over the back of the bowl, making sure it is down over the bowl good so it will make a bowl.

How To Store Taco Salad

• Store the ingredients without the chips or tortilla bowl in an airtight container in the refrigerator. 
• Store ingredients separately when possible for best results.

How To Make Taco Salad Ahead Of Time

Certain ingredients you can make ahead of time, but don’t mix all the ingredients together until you are ready to serve.

• Ground Beef. Cook the ground beef up to 2 days ahead of time, or use leftover cooked ground beef.
• Taco Shell Bowl. You can make the taco shells a few hours or a day ahead of when you would like to serve.
• Dice Vegetables. Chop up your vegetables, such as lettuce and tomatoes. However, I recommend storing separately with each in their own airtight containers. Refrigerate until ready to serve.
• Cilantro Lime Dressing. Whip up a batch of dressing ahead of time and refrigerate separately. from the salad until ready to serve.

How To Serve Taco Salad

• Taco Bowl. Serve the salad in the crispy Taco Bowl Shell that you pre-baked.
• Corn Chips. If you prefer, skip the taco shell bowl, and serve the salad in a bowl with Doritos, Fritos, or Corn Tortilla Chips.
• Taco Salad Bar. If you have lots of people to serve, try setting up a “self-service” taco salad bar with separate bowls for each ingredient and let your guests customize the salad with the ingredients that they like.

What To Serve With Taco Salad Bowls

While the Taco Salad is pretty much a meal in itself, you may want to serve these along with the salad.

• Cilantro Lime Dressing
• Pico De Gallo Salsa
• Guacamole
• Tortilla Chips
• Margarita Fruit Salad

How Long Will Taco Salad Last

Taco Salad will last up to 3 days if the dressing is stored separately from the salad. However, as with any salad, the sooner you eat it, the better the taste and texture.

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• Mexican Rice
• Chicken Empanadas
• Instant Pot Cilantro Lime Rice