Doritos Taco Salad is a delectable combination of iceberg lettuce, tomatoes, green peppers, black beans, corn, black olives, seasoned ground beef, shredded cheddar jack cheese, and crunchy Doritos in a homemade tangy sweet Catalina dressing. This is one of my favorite salads for potlucks and family reunions.
What’s In This Post
Customizable Doritos Taco Salad
This amazing salad is one the whole family enjoys. It comes together quickly and can be changed easily! Maybe you would rather sub-fresh sliced avocados for the green peppers. Perhaps you don’t like black olives and would rather have red onions. As I always say, customize it to suit your taste.
The homemade Catalina salad dressing comes together in mere minutes with ingredients you may already have on hand. It tastes much better than store-bought, with plenty of fresh zing and no artificial colors or preservatives.
Ingredients Needed
For the Catalina dressing
- Vinegar: red wine is best
- Olive oil: extra virgin
- Ketchup
- Honey: for a little sweetness
- Seasonings: paprika, onion powder, and garlic powder
For the salad
- Ground beef: or ground turkey
- Taco seasoning: homemade is best
- Vegetables: Iceberg lettuce, green bell pepper, and corn
- Fruit: black olives and tomatoes
- Beans: canned black beans
- Cheese: cheddar or Monterey Jack
- Doritos: nacho cheese or cool ranch
Recipe Tips
- Let the taco meat cool a bit before adding it. You don’t want it to wilt your lettuce!
- For an added flavor, blacken your corn!
- This salad is equally delicious with French dressing or ranch dressing.
- You can substitute cool ranch Doritos for nacho cheese Doritos.
Favorite Toppings To Add
- Fresh avocado
- Pico de gallo
- Salsa
- Pinto Beans
- Guacamole
- Green onions
- Jalapeno
- Sour cream
- Hot sauce
- Fresh veggies
- Blackened chicken
- Red kidney beans
So, if you are hankering for a downright awesome salad, this Doritos Taco Salad is right up your alley. It comes together quickly, looks beautiful, and tastes oh-so-good. Your loved ones will sing your praises, and you can feel good about the nutritious food you are feeding them.
Frequently Asked Questions
The salad dressing can be mixed up to 2 days in advance. You can prepare the taco salad ahead of time, but don’t add the dressing or the chips until you are ready to toss and serve!
Leftovers can be stored in an airtight container in the fridge for up to a day. However, the chips and lettuce will begin to break down fairly quickly. For best results, enjoy the salad shortly after it is tossed.
More Tasty Salad Recipes
Easy Doritos Taco Salad
Ingredients
Catalina Salad Dressing
- 1/2 cup red wine vinegar
- 1/2 cup olive oil
- 1/2 cup ketchup
- 2-3 tablespoons honey
- 1 teaspoon Worcestershire Sauce
- 1 teaspoon paprika
- 1/2 teaspoon onion powder
- 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
Doritos Taco Salad
- 1 pound ground beef or ground turkey
- 3 tablespoons taco seasoning or a packet of taco seasoning
- 3/4 cup water
- 1 large head of iceberg lettuce or romaine lettuce chopped
- 1/2 green bell pepper chopped
- 1/2 cup chopped black olives
- 1 cup halved grape or cherry tomatoes
- 1 can 15.25 ounce corn drained
- 1 can 15 ounce black beans drained and rinsed
- 1 cup shredded cheddar cheese or Monterey Jack cheese
- 2 cups crushed nacho cheese Doritos
Instructions
- In a mason jar, combine red wine vinegar, olive oil, ketchup, honey, Worcestershire Sauce, paprika, onion powder, and garlic powder. Shake well to combine. Cover and refrigerate.
- In a large skillet over medium-high heat, brown the ground beef. Drain any excess grease. Stir in the taco seasoning and water. Simmer the mixture for 5-7 minutes. Let the meat mixture cool for 10-15 minutes before adding it to the salad.
- In a large bowl, add iceberg lettuce. Top with green pepper, black olives, tomatoes, corn, black beans, cheddar jack cheese, and seasoned cooked beef.
- Right before serving, add crushed Doritos and desired amount of dressing. Toss to coat.
Notes
- Let the taco meat cool a bit before adding it. You don’t want it to wilt your lettuce!
- For an added flavor, blacken your corn!
- This salad is equally delicious with French dressing or ranch dressing.
- You can substitute cool ranch Doritos for nacho cheese Doritos.
Nutrition
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Jennifer Prince
This was so delicious (and possibly addicting, ha!). Even my kids liked it. Thanks for the great recipe.
Stephanie
Doritos in a salad?! That’s just awesome! My family really enjoyed this and I was able to convince my kids to eat it since there are chips in there!
Beth Pierce
That is awesome. Sometimes kids are kind of hard to please.
cindi
Yummy. Easy to make and loved by everyone in the home. Will definitely make again.
Beth Pierce
Thanks Cindi! So happy that everyone liked it!
Amy
This is an excellent recipe! My grandma made something similar, and I this is a VERY GOOD substitute for her version. My kids and husband gobbled it up!
Beth Pierce
Thanks Amy. Glad that everyone liked it.
Valentina
Dorita taco salad is one of my favorite salads! I love how easy and flavorful this recipe is!
Betsy
VERY similar to the taco salad my mom used to make when I was growing up. The slight sweetness in the salad dressing really gives the salad a nice kick! Nice and easy and so wonderfully hearty!
Trang
You had me at Doritos! I will eat anything with Doritos… especially in taco form. This was so delicious and easy to make!
katerina
We love this salad! Its incredibly delicious!!
Kara
The homemade dressing took this up a level! I’ve also never added corn to taco salad before, but my family loved it!
Natalie
We love dorito salad!! When I am not quite sure what to make, I turn to this! It’s simple, I always have the ingredients, & my kids love it.
Pam
This salad is the perfect weekend lunch. My whole family loves it!
Jess
My kids LOVE this salad! We have loved making it during the summertime!
Linda
I absolutely love this salad! I’ve made this same salad often for lunch to use up leftovers from Taco Tuesday but never tried it with Catalina dressing. What a nice refreshing change!
Maria
This is a great way of changing Doritos from junk food into healthy meal! I love Tacos its so flavorful, your catalina dressing sounds yummy, I can just imagine! I’m trying your recipe.
veenaazmanov
Perfect salad combination for a healthy light Dinner. A meal in itself
Heather Gray
This is wonderful so good! Was a hit!
Beth Pierce
Thanks Heather! So glad that you liked it!