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 a homemade tangy sweet Catalina dressing. This is one of my favorite salads for potlucks and family reunions.
It is a hearty meal in itself but I love to serve it with my Classic Bloody Mary Cocktails or Raspberry Margaritas.
Spring has finally arrived and with it come lots of amazing salads. Doritos Taco salad is no exception to that rule. This amazing salad is one the whole family enjoys. It comes together quickly and can be changed up so easily! Maybe you would rather sub fresh sliced avocados for the green peppers. Perhaps you don’t like black olives and you 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 so much better than store bought with plenty of good fresh zing and no artificial colors or preservatives.
Tips for making Doritos Taco Salad
- Let the taco seasoned beef cool a bit before adding it. You don’t want it to wilt your lettuce!
- 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!
- For an added twist blacken your corn!
- If you don’t like a particular ingredient swap it out for another. As I always say don’t throw the baby out with the bath water.
- The salad dressing can be mixed up to 2 days in advance. This salad is equally delicious with ranch dressing.
- You can substitute cool ranch Doritos for the nacho cheese Doritos.
Other ingredients you can add to Doritos Taco Salad
- 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 having a hankering for a downright awesome salad than this Doritos Taco Salad is right up your alley. It comes together quickly, looks beautiful and tastes oh so good. Your loved ones will be singing your praises and you can feel good about the nutritious food your feeding them.
More tasty salad recipes you will love!
Doritos Taco Salad
A fun and easy taco salad with seasoned ground beef, black olives, tomatoes, corn, black beans, a healthy helping of cheese and Doritos Tortilla Chips all tossed in a homemade Catalina Salad Dressing.
- Prep Time: 20 minutes
- Cook Time: 15
- Total Time: 35 minutes
- Yield: 6 servings 1x
- Category: salad
- Method: stovetop
- Cuisine: Southwestern
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 iceberg lettuce or romaine lettuce chopped
- 1/2 green 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 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 beef cool 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 seasoned beef cool a bit before adding it as you don’t want it to wilt your lettuce
- Don’t add the dressing or the chips until you are ready to toss and serve.
- For added flavor blacken your corn.
- If you don’t like a particular ingredient swap it out for another. As I always say don’t throw the baby out with the bath water.
- The salad dressing can be mixed up to 2 days in advance.
Keywords: dorito salad, dorito taco salad recipe, catalina dressing, taco salad
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This post was originally published April 15, 2018 and was republished April 19, 2020 with new pictures, revised recipe and new content.
https://www.smalltownwoman.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/Beth-1.pdf
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.
★★★★★
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 @ diethood.com
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!
Dannii
Now this is my kind of salad. Adding doritos to anything makes it instantly better, right?!
★★★★★
Amanda Wren-Grimwood
This is a great new salad to try. My family will love these flavours and they love Doritos too!
★★★★★
Anjali
Love the idea of adding doritos to taco salad!! Genius!! Made this recipe for dinner tonight – it was a super easy weeknight meal that everyone loved!
★★★★★
Lubna
This looks like a great salad. My friends will surely love it…will share this recipe with them…
Irina
This salad sounds amazingly delicious, and I just dream of making and serving it outside. We just need a few more warm days… I know that I can make and serve it indoors, but something tells me to serve it for our outside dinner or lunch. I love your recipe!
★★★★★
Crystal
Great recipe for those nights when everyone eats at a different time, or with picky eaters. I did notice though that the description on the recipe card says something about a four ingredient dressing starting with ranch and the recipe itself does not have ranch in it. The Catalina dressing is great, but did you originally have a different dressing? Just curious.
Beth Pierce
Thanks for the heads up. Yes I revamped that recipe to a Catalina Dressing and missed that part on the recipe card. Everyone seems to really love Catalina on that salad. It was a spicy ranch. Let me know if you want the recipe for that dressing.
Alex
I want the ranch please!
Beth Pierce
Here is the ranch dressing that I used to have up for that salad.
1/2 cup ranch dressing (I use Marzetti Simply Ranch)
1/4 cup salsa
2 tablespoons mayonnaise
1 tablespoon adobo sauce
Lisalia
This is delicious! I LOVE a good taco salad. Doritos makes it even better.
★★★★★
Rachael Yerkes
this is so good! not your average taco salad. definitely fans of this
★★★★★
Toni Dash
Packed full of amazing flavors! My family loved it!
★★★★★
Katie
This is such a great family recipe! My kids love it!
★★★★★
wilhelmina
This is a total winner! Everyone who tries it raves about it!
★★★★★
Lindsay Cotter
This was such a fun take for a taco salad! It will definitely be on dinner repeat!
★★★★★
Toni
This has been one of the most requested taco recipe at my house!
★★★★★
Cathy
I make this for my family all the time…they absolutely love it.
★★★★★
Lauren Kelly
I’ve eaten this the past few days for lunch and it’s delicious! I love the crunch!
★★★★★
Cathy
This is one of my family’s favorites!!
Erin | Dinners,Dishes and Dessert
This Doritos Taco salad couldn’t look any more perfect!
★★★★★
Toni
I love this delicious twist to my favorite tacos! Yummy!
★★★★★
Catalina
All these delicious ingredients in one salad. A must try recipe!
★★★★★
Amanda
One of my kids favorite meals!! Reminds me I need to get this on our menu again 🙂
Jacque Hooper
What a great way to enjoy Doritos! My kids will love this fun twist to their favorite chips!
★★★★★
Suzy
We love it! It such a simple salad but it taste so good! Delicious!
★★★★★
Sara Welch
Always enjoy an extra crunchy salad! This will be perfect for lunch tomorrow; looks amazing!
★★★★★
Cathy
This was a total hit with the kids!
Erin | Dinners,Dishes and Dessert
This Doritos Taco Salad is looks absolutely delicious! Yummy!
★★★★★
Dorothy Reinhold
I had this at a potluck and LOVED it! I am so glad to have the recipe. This is full of flavor!
Kimberly
This looks like a winner! You just really can’t go wrong adding Doritos to a taco salad!
Jody Jorgensen
have a receipe simular, using Cantalina dressing, salsa mixed with ground beef. regular salad mix. and shredded cheese. but i like the additional ingredients. so will definitely try and share this receipe
Beth Pierce
Thanks so much Jody! I hope you enjoy it
Angie Schutz
Recipe say’s cook meat and drain, at what point do you add to salad?
Beth Pierce
So sorry. I fixed this earlier and forgot to tell you!
Brenda
Do u cook the corn or black beans
Beth Pierce
No I do not but keep in mind the corn is canned so it has been cooked. If using straight off the kernel you will need to cook it.
Felicia Gallagher
What’s the serving size and how many people does this recipe feed. I want to see how Weight Watchers friendly it is.
Beth Pierce
The recipe serves eight. It has been a while since I have served this and I did not measure out each individual serving. Sorry!
Sara Jones
Let be your recipes!
Beth Pierce
Okay!