Easy Recipe for Taco Salad

The Ultimate Guide to Making Taco Salad at Home

Skip the takeout and make your own taco salad at home with this easy recipe. This ultimate guide has everything you need to know to make a delicious meal in no time.

A couple of weeks ago I was struggling to come up with a dinner idea... yes, it happens even to me.  The gal with hundreds of ideas for dinner was struggling.  I kept coming up blank.  I am usually a make it up on the fly kind of gal, but nothing was coming to mind when I looked at that darn ground turkey.

I kept searching my memory bank, and then I had a Eureka moment, and thought you are making this way too hard on yourself tonight.  Follow the K.I.S.S. method Cara, keep it simple silly.  I really do not like the other word or when people call others by that name, and since we are all about being nice around here, we will just stick with SILLY!  Plus I was feeling kind of silly that I had not thought of this easy recipe to make in the first place.

What did I come up with you ask?  Well, an easy taco salad recipe!  I used to make these all of the time in my single gal days, and you can make quite the meal at home similar to what you can order in a restaurant when making an easy taco salad.  In fact, I do not think I have ever shared a salad recipe here, but we we go!  YUM!

If you are craving a delicious taco salad but don't want to order takeout, look no further than this easy recipe that you can make at home. With simple ingredients and easy-to-follow instructions, you'll have a tasty meal in no time. Plus, this ultimate guide has everything you need to know to make the perfect taco salad.

Easy Recipe for Taco Salad

What you will need:

1. 1 lb ground turkey, thawed
2.  1 T Cumin
3. 1 T garlic powder
4. 1 t garlic salt
5. 1 t smoked paprika 
6. 1 t chili powder
7. Dash of cayenne (optional, but I love it!)
8. Washed and chopped lettuce, depends on your appetite and how many you are making dinner for, I used romaine lettuce.
9. Shredded cheese (I used Monterey Jack Cheese) 
10. Roma Tomatoes cut into four sections (they are my favorite for salads)
11. Chopped red onion, (oh my, red onion is my absolute favorite for salads!)

What you need to do:

• Place thawed ground turkey into skillet along with spices, cook until browned throughout
• Wash and chop vegetables of your choosing and place into serving bowl
• Plate individual vegetables to your liking
• Add meat to salad
• Enjoy!

Do you see what I mean when I said I was making dinner too difficult?  Now, you can have so many variations of this salad with a few quick changes, see below for more ideas.

What toppings can I add to my taco salad?

• I enjoy black beans or kidney beans in my taco salad meat mixture.  Since I wasted so much time trying to figure out dinner, I just went with meat and spices only.
• You can make an easy taco salad recipe with tortilla chips, they are so yummy on top that bed of greens, and if you are not following a low GI plan like I am, you can partake in their yummy crunchiness!  How I miss those darn things, but really I think it is just the crunch I miss.
• Did you know you can also add Doritos to your taco salad too?
• Lately, I love sunflower seeds on my salads so I get that crunch I so miss.
• Add Pico de Gallo, oh my goodness, I love this stuff, especially on my salads and all other Mexican inspired meals
• You can also add fresh cilantro to the top of your salad, I love the peppery bite of cilantro when it comes to Mexican cuisine 
• Add sour cream if dressing is not your thing, I often find myself doing this when I am tired of dressings, a small dollop goes a long way in your salad, plus it reminds me of nachos, and who doesn't love those?
• I love adding onions to the meat mixture, and again I would have, had I not been running so late on dinner prep
• I am also a huge fan of green pepper in my meat mixture, but I had to keep everything simple 
• Real bacon bits because everything is better with bacon?  Well, some of us think so anyway 😉

You can decide to use ground turkey like I did, OR you can choose ground beef, ground chicken, beef medallions.  You can really use any of your favorite meat on this salad.  I have used many different kinds when making this favorite salad of mine, and I am never disappointed.  We are just on a ground turkey kick these days.  

Tips:

• I keep lettuce cut up in a bowl so I do not always need to prep and chop lettuce every time I add salad to our dinner menu
• My lettuce lasts longer chopped when I cut it with a ceramic knife, the set I use is below.  It has been something I have been experimenting with the last few months, and I did find the ceramic cut lettuce lasted longer than the metal cut lettuce
• I keep our cut lettuce in a lock-n-lock.  These help produce last longer too.  If you keep unwashed produce in them, it also causes it to last much longer than if you just leave in the fridge uncovered.  My mother turned me on to them years ago, and I have never looked back since.

Ciao,

Cara

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