- I have a recipe for you today that is perfect
for warmer days and busy weeknights, and that's taco salad.
It's loaded with crispy vegetables,
perfectly seasoned ground beef and classic taco toppings
such as avocado, salsa and cilantro.
It's all of the flavors of a taco in healthy salad form
and it's easily customizable
with all of your favorite ingredients.
So feel free to swap things up
and I'll give you a few ideas in the video as well.
But I think what makes this the best taco salad
is the homemade taco seasoning and the homemade salsa.
And I'll show you how to make both of those,
so let's dive in.
We'll start by making the homemade salsa first,
so that all of the flavors have a little extra time
to meld together.
And trust me, once you make salsa at home,
you'll never buy it from the store again
because it's incredibly easy and much more flavorful.
Just toss two cloves of garlic into your food processor
along with half of an onion.
And the food processor will do most of the work,
so I just chop the onion into large chunks.
Then, add one jalapeno or serrano pepper.
And depending on how spicy you like it,
you can remove the seeds for a more mild salsa
or keep some of the seeds for a spicier salsa.
And I just give this rough chop
before adding it to the food processor as well.
I also like to add the garlic, onion and jalapeno first
because being closer to the blades
means that they'll get thoroughly chopped
and you won't have any large chunks of them
in the final salsa.
Next up is cilantro,
and you'll need about half a cup of leaves,
though I rarely measure and just use
about half of a regular bunch.
When it comes to the tomatoes,
the debate between fresh tomatoes and canned tomatoes
can go on forever,
but in my opinion I think using canned tomatoes
is best for the perfect restaurant style salsa
because unlike Pico de Gallo,
which is a chunky salsa, this style of salsa
has a smoother consistency and texture.
And if you buy fire roasted tomatoes, which I do recommend,
you get much more layered depth of flavor
than you would from fresh tomatoes.
So drain two 14 ounce cans of tomatoes
as we don't want our salsa overly watery
and add those to the food processor.
To that you'll add one four ounce can of green chilis,
and you don't need to drain this, so just add it on top.
Then, squeeze half of a lime
for a little zing and tanginess.
And add half a teaspoon of salt.
Add the lid to your food processor
and pulse it in one to two second increments
until it reaches your desired texture.
I like mine to have a little bit of chunkiness
but if you like yours more liquidy, just blend it more.
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You'll get about four cups of salsa out of this recipe
and I stored in my Weck jars that are linked below
and on my website.
And also on my website,
you'll find storage tips for this salsa,
so make sure to check that out.
Of course I have to do a quick taste test
just to make sure it's perfect.
But let's move on to the homemade taco seasoning
because this is another recipe that I make all of the time
and then store in my glass spice jars.
It's just one tablespoon of chili powder,
one teaspoon of cumin, one teaspoon of garlic powder,
a half a teaspoon of paprika, a half a teaspoon of oregano,
a half a teaspoon of salt,
a half a teaspoon of black pepper,
and a little pinch of cayenne pepper.
Give that all a stir and you've got the best homemade
taco seasoning that's fresh
and doesn't have junky fillers
like those store bought options.
I've always got this spice blend on hand
because as you guys have seen,
I tend to make a lot of Mexican inspired recipes
like today's taco salad.
So now that our salsa and seasonings are made,
the rest comes together really fast.
Just add one pound of ground beef
to a pan on medium high heat
and use a spatula to break this up and brown the meat.
I'm using ground beef that's 10% fat today
so I don't have any excess fat to drain off
but if you do, just drain that off as it cooks.
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When the meat is about 80% done
and there's still some juices in the pan,
I'll add two tablespoons of the taco seasoning
and mix that together until it's fully cooked.
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The great thing about a taco salad
is that it's completely customizable,
so feel free to add your favorite taco ingredients.
I like black beans so I'll drain and rinse those today
but you could also use pinto beans
or swap the beans for more veggies like chopped bell pepper.
And the same applies to the cheese.
I do eat a little bit of dairy
and enjoy a small sprinkle of organic sharp cheddar
but if you're dairy-free you can leave this off.
For the base of our taco salad,
roughly chop up a large head of Romaine lettuce.
You could also use green leaf lettuce,
ice berg lettuce or really any type of lettuce.
And I've even used spinach in this recipe before.
Next, slice in half or quarters a cup or so
of grape tomatoes or cherry tomatoes.
Then, set those aside.
And then dice a red onion.
You only need about a quarter cup of diced red onion.
But when I've got half of an onion,
I tend to just dice the whole thing
so I only have to cry once.
And then use the leftover in other recipes
throughout the week.
And lastly dice up one avocado
because that creaminess I think is an essential ingredient
on anything that has taco in the name.
Then, all that's left to do is assemble.
So add a handful of Romaine lettuce to a bowl.
Top that with tomatoes and a few spoonfuls of black beans.
Add a portion of warm taco meat.
And you'll be able to smell all of the wonderful spices.
Sprinkle on a little cheese, if you so choose,
and red onion.
And of course, a small handful of diced avocado.
The finishing touches on this taco salad
are the fresh salsa, a dollop of sour cream
and a squeeze of lime juice.
Though a drizzle of my recent lime crema recipe
would also be delicious.
And if you're dairy-free,
check out my cashew sour cream recipe on my website.
A few leaves of cilantro top it off.
And if you'd like to keep it super healthy,
you can eat it just like this.
But if you'd like to add a few corn
or cassava flour tortilla chips, you can do that as well.
This taco salad recipe is perfect for summer.
The whole family will love it.
And you can set up a buffet-style taco bar
for even more fun.
I hope you guys enjoyed this recipe.
And if you did, hit that thumbs up.
Share the recipe with your family and friends.
And I will see you again in the next video.
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