Dorito Taco Salad

Why you will love making Taco Salad

There is a reason taco salads are one of the most commonly created side dish options for gatherings. They are easy to make, can be altered with many different favorite ingredients, and are just flat-out delicious. The first thing I do when hitting a line at a potluck is to bee-line right to the taco salad. I do NOT want it to run out before I get my plate full! Plus, as someone that wont go through a week without some Mexican food, this recipe is a menu must to mix up what you offer up to the fam weekly.

Ingredients

• Taco Meat – We highly suggest ground beef or ground sirloin (lean ground beef is fine) for taco salad. It soaks up seasoning well, and the meat mixture keeps the dish easy to load up on.
• Seasoning: Packet of taco seasoning and additional chili powder for more taco flavor. I am partial to the Taco Bell brand if you can find it.
• Filling: Rinsed off black beans, tomatoes (or sliced cherry tomatoes), chopped onion, and shredded Iceberg lettuce.
• Cheese – The most commonly used cheese for a taco salad is cheddar cheese, Monterey Jack, or Colby jack cheese. There are also specific Mexican blends that work great. 
• Nacho Cheese Doritos – This easy taco salad has the best crunch and flavor from Doritos! Doritos has a variety of flavors from Cool Ranch, Spicy Nacho Cheese, Regular Doritos, and Spicy Sweet Chili, and whatever your favorite chip, you can substitute in!
• Toppings: sour cream, hot jalapeno slices, fresh pico, drained can of corn, sliced black olives

How to make Dorito Taco Salad

1. Brown seasoned beef, drain, and set aside.
2. Combine all ingredients except chips in a large taco salad bowl with the cooked beef.
3. Add Dorito’s right before serving to keep chips crunchy.
4. Pour on dressing (homemade or bottled) and serve!

Detailed Instructions

In a large skillet, add uncooked ground beef. Brown meat until no longer pink and sop up any excess grease with a paper towel. I like to use tongs and move the paper towel around the pan to get it all.

To the meat, add taco seasoning packet, chili powder, and water and mix well. Heat the seasoned meat over medium heat until bubbly. Remove from heat and let cool.

Drain and rinse black beans. Then in a large mixing bowl, add beans, drained Rotel tomatoes, chopped up onions, and jalapenos. Add beef mixture and lettuce and mix again. Stir in shredded cheese.

Right before serving add Doritos. Drizzle with dressing – our version of a spicy homemade taco salad dressing recipe is below or use premade Catalina. Mix it all up well so dressing is on all the good parts.

Serve taco salad with a toppings bar! To customize this to everyone’s taste buds, add sour cream, jalapeno peppers, guacamole, olives or any other of your taco topping favorites right next to the bowl for self serve.

Make Homemade Spicy Taco Dressing

I am a fan of just straight-up adding CATALINA DRESSING. It’s a favorite family dressing for this dish.

Add it right before serving, stir well, and serve. However, this spicy homemade dressing works well if you want to bring on some of the heat. Please test it out in a bowl and see which version you prefer.

• vegetable oil
• hot taco seasoning packet
• jalapenos
• Worcestershire sauce

1. Add vegetable oil, taco seasoning, jalapeno juice, and Worcestershire sauce in a bowl. Whisk well to combine.

How to Prep Ahead for Potluck

As taco salad is a really common side dish for potlucks, I understand you may want to know how to travel best with this recipe. The key is to prep all ingredients, keep them in baggies separately, and then assemble them with dressing at the arrival point.

This keeps the sauce from sogging out the corn chips/Doritos and the lettuce from getting soggy or brown. 

Frequently Asked Questions

Variations

Other alternative ingredients for taco salad would be chopped avocado, chopped green onion, lime juice, pinto beans, kidney beans, bell pepper, fresh cilantro leaves, additional spices like onion powder, garlic powder, or black pepper, and a bit of sour cream and salsa to round it out.