Our quick and easy Taco Salad is a tex-mex dish that always hits the spot! Made with flavorful taco meat, crisp lettuce, fresh tomatoes, cheese, and, of course, Dorito’s chips. This Dorito taco salad is perfect for a quick weeknight dinner on taco night or serving a crowd on a hot summer day!
The Best Taco Salad
This tried-and-true taco salad with Doritos was a staple in my house as a kid and continues to be a family favorite recipe now that I have my own family! Especially during the warm summer months, the whole family requests that this easy recipe be on our meal plan almost every week. It’s our version of a traditional taco salad recipe that will will continue to make on repeat for years to come and hope that you love it too!
Looking for More Recipes Like This?
If you love taco salads too, you could also try our lighter, Healthy Taco Salad Recipe or our Tex Mex Salad!
What You Will Need
- ketchup – one of the three simple ingredients in the taco salad dressing.
- taco sauce – we tend to stick with a mild taco sauce (family-friendly). But feel free to use the heat level that you prefer.
- tomato sauce – half gets added to the salad dressing and half gets added to the meat mixture.
- ground beef – option to use 80/20 (as stated in the recipe card), a lean ground beef, ground turkey, or even ground chicken.
- taco seasoning mix – highly recommend our homemade taco seasoning. You can also buy a store-bought version at your local grocery store.
- lettuce – typically we stick with iceberg lettuce, but you can use romaine lettuce or other mixed greens.
- juicy tomatoes – always a perfect fresh ingredient to toss on top!
- chips – love the combination of Dorito’s Nacho Cheese Chips & Dorito’s Cool Ranch, but they can easily be swapped for standard tortilla chips or crunchy tortilla strips.
- shredded cheese – any variety of cheese will work, Colby Jack, Mexican cheese, or shredded cheddar cheese.
How To Make Taco Salad
The first steps to making this Dorito taco salad recipe are to mix together the basic ingredients of the taco salad dressing in a small bowl.
Then bring a large skillet to a medium heat and add the ground beef to brown. Once it is cooked through, add the 1/2 can of tomato sauce and taco seasoning. Mix to combine and keep warm.
Now it is time to build the salad. This can be done in one large bowl or individual serving bowls.
Next, add your cheese of choice and then the warm taco meat. Let it sit for just a couple minutes to allow the ground beef to melt the cheese a little bit.
Give it all a good toss and serve with the taco salad dressing!
What Goes With Taco Salad For Dinner
First and foremost, this easy taco salad recipe needs to be served with a generous amount of the homemade dressing on top! And then you can enjoy this main dish on its own, with a few side dishes, or create an epic taco bar. A few of our favorite side dishes to serve with this would be fresh guacamole or chips and salsa.
Recipe FAQs and Tips
- What is taco salad dressing made of? We love to keep it simple and mix together ketchup, taco sauce, and half a can of tomato sauce.
- Can I meal prep this salad? Absolutely! Just make sure you store the dressing, meat, chips, and fresh ingredients in their own airtight container. They need to be stored separately so they don’t get soggy.
- Taco Salad Ingredients: option to keep this salad as-is or add-in some other ingredients, like black beans, red onions, green onions, fresh cilantro, bell peppers, black olives, pico de gallo, dollop of sour cream, or lime wedges for a fresh squeeze of lime juice.
Made this delicious recipe and loved it?! We would love it if you would take a minute and leave a star rating and review – it is also helpful if you made any substitutions or changes to the recipe to share that as well. THANK YOU!
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Other Salad Recipes You Might Like
Taco Salad Recipe
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 15 minutes
- Total Time: 30 minutes
- Yield: 6 servings 1x
- Category: Dinner/Entree
- Method: Stove Top
- Cuisine: American
Description
An epic Taco Salad Recipe that includes Doritos and a homemade tomato-based dressing! Perfect for a hot summer day!
Ingredients
- 3 tablespoons ketchup
- 2 tablespoons mild taco sauce
- 15oz can tomato sauce, divided
- 1 lb ground beef 80/20
- 1oz packet of taco seasoning (or 1 batch homemade taco seasoning)
- 1 head iceberg lettuce, ripped into bite-sized pieces
- 2–3 roma tomatoes, diced
- 1 cup Dorito Nacho Cheese Chips, broken into pieces*
- 1/2 cup Dorito Ranch Chips, broken into pieces*
- 6oz colby jack cheese, shredded (more if desired)
Instructions
- Dressing: In a bowl combine the ketchup, mild taco sauce and approx. 1/2 the can of tomato sauce. Stir and then taste. Add additional taco sauce (or toss in some hot sauce if you want), as needed. Set aside.
- Ground Beef: Bring a large cast iron skillet to medium-high heat. Add ground beef and move around until cooked through. Drain excess grease. Add the remaining 1/2 can of tomato sauce and then taco seasoning. Stir to combine. You can add 1-2 tablespoons of water to thin a bit, if needed. Turn off heat but keep pan warm.
- Build Salad: While the ground beef is cooking, add your lettuce to a large salad bowl. Add the tomatoes on top of that and then the chips. Place the cheese on top of the chips and spread out evenly to cover.
- Add Beef: Place the warm beef on top of the cheese. Let sit for 2-4 minutes so the beef can melt the cheese. Toss to combine.
- Toss and Serve: Serve immediately with the dressing and enjoy! Feel free to serve with a pitcher of Margaritas or these Beer Margaritas!
Notes
- Dorito’s: if you don’t want to use the Dorito’s brand and are looking for something a little less processed, I highly recommend the Siete brand! This is just a nostalgic recipe and it brings back so many childhood memories. So I had to write it exactly how my Mom made this!
- Extra Protein: Sometimes I add another 1/2-1 lb ground beef and up the taco seasoning and cheese a bit, if I want to feed a few extra people.
- Leftovers: this is best eaten right away – as the chips sit they will get a bit soggy.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 6oz
- Calories: 371
- Sugar: 4.8 g
- Sodium: 587.8 mg
- Fat: 21.2 g
- Carbohydrates: 30.6 g
- Protein: 16 g
- Cholesterol: 50.8 mg
Stefanie T says
Quick, Delicious, Easy!! I whipped this up on my Blackstone after work. I wasn’t feeling like cooking.. this was soo good!! I added sour cream to the top of the bowl. Definitely will add to our taco Tuesday rotation.
Erin says
So glad to hear that, Stefanie!!