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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Debbie
This recipe was amazing. Doritos Taco Salad is one of my husband’s favorites. I am looking forward to making it again for him! Thanks for sharing.
Whitney Stewart
I’m always open to get a little adventurous with my cooking. Especially since I love Doritos! Thanks so much for sharing! This’ll be the perfect quick meal when I don’t have a lot of time for a huge meal!
Joan
One of my favorites. Friends love it too whenever they are around.
Ebony
I made this for our new year’s party and it was a hit! OMG this recipe is so good! I can’t wait to make it again!
Beth Pierce
Thanks, Ebony! So glad that everyone enjoyed it!
Fransic verso
I’ve tried this but never made it at home. So, it would be interesting if we can get the ingredients. Thank you for sharing!
Rosey
Using Doritos is such a flavorful idea. I love this salad!
Whitney Stewart
I can never have just a plain salad with just dressing. It needs to have a mess load of meat, crush and a bunch of other elements or I flat refuse to eat it. This looks amazing though and doesn’t take anytime at all to put together! Thank you so much for sharing!
Beth Pierce
Thanks, Whitney! Enjoy!
Abida
Doritos Taco Salad is new to me. But I am always open to new and awesome recipes!
Kat
Wow! I never knew this recipe would be so simple. Everybody fell in love with this Taco Salad. It has officially been added in our recipe book!
Beth Pierce
Thanks Kat. I am so happy that everyone liked it.
Subarna
Wow this was so yummy and the main part is it is so easy to make. A great snacks for all. Thanks for sharing!!
Beth Pierce
The pleasure is all mine Subarna!
Cinny
We do love a good taco salad! This version seems extra delicious.
Rosey
I agree that homemade dressing is way better than store bought. This a delicious taco salad that I will make again and again!
Neely Moldovan
I haven’t had doritos in forever! This sounds yummy!
Melanie E
This has a great mix of ingredients that I love. Tacos and salad are always a great combination. Thanks for the great recipe.
Gervin Khan
Wow! This taco dish was absolutely yummy and somewhat very unique! I’ll definitely make this again for the family, perfect for a movie-time snack!
Bryan
Doritos are one of my favorite snack foods! I like cool ranch best, but the nacho cheese is good too and likely best for this recipe.