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Truthfully, I’ve never had a taco I didn’t like.
Yet when it comes to taco salad– well, I am traumatized.
As a kid, I was forced to eat taco salad covered in thousand island dressing (don’t ask me why). I just remember gagging it down and vowing to stay away from taco salads. Then I started making my own recipes and it all changed.
This healthy taco salad recipe is not a childhood recipe. It used walnuts and cashew cream for protein and salsa for the dressing. It’s good, promise!
As I grew up, I learned that taco salad takes many forms— and some are quite tasty (while others are gag-worthy)! There’s just something so satisfying about a crisp corn shell (or chips) piled high with shredded lettuce and all of the other veggie-lovin’ fixings.
What’s unique about my Healthy Taco Salad is there’s no meat. Instead, I’ve substituted my heart-healthy vegan taco meat. It’s so good you’d almost never know it wasn’t meat.
Ingredients in Healthy Taco Salad
While there are a dozen reasons I love tacos and taco salads, here are my top three:
- Easy to make
- Versatile for everyone
- Favor changes every time
For real though; I’ve got a family of 4 and we all have different taste preferences. This healthy taco salad recipe is an easy dinner win because everyone can customize it their own way. Here’s what I set out for my version of a healthy salad:
- Vegan taco meat: no joke, everyone is shocked at how amazingly tasty this walnut ‘meat’ is. You’ve gotta try it!
- Tortilla chips: I like to get strips for this; try Siete’s cassava chips for a grain-free version
- Romaine lettuce: It’s all about those crispy leafy greens in this healthy taco salad. Feel free to swap in spinach, kale, or the leafy green of your choice.
- Black beans: I splurge on the organic version, or make my own recipe from Simple Green Meals
- Avocado or guacamole: Healthy fat is needed for our bodies to break down nutrients, and what better way than with a colorful avocado?!
- Colorful veggies: cherry tomatoes, red bell pepper, corn, black olives, green onions
Get creative with the veggie toppings. Red onion provides a pop of color, radishes are super crunchy, jalapeños really pop in flavor + spice… What are you fav veggies to add to a healthy taco salad?
Taco Salad toppings
Serve food that delights your tastebuds and nourishes your body at the same time. Choose a veggie or two from each of these 5 color groups and enjoy a variety of flavors as well as health benefits in your healthy taco salad.
Blue/purple foods provide vitamins A, C, and K. Green foods are rich in cancer fighting phyto-chemicals. Orange/yellow foods bring the beta-carotene and potassium. Red foods are good sources of iron. White/light green foods provide potassium, magnesium and vitamin E.
While this is just a glimpse into the incredible land of whole food, keep these tips in mind when choosing what colors join your plate for dinner.
What Makes Taco Salad Healthy?
Most taco salad recipes use ground beef, not this one. My walnut taco meat recipe is amazing. Now, I don’t often try to ‘mimic’ meat with plants, yet this recipe is pure genius on a plate. All you do is place walnuts in a bowl with water and a little lemon juice. Let sit for 8 hours or overnight to soften.
When ready, drain and rinse the soaked walnuts. Then add to a food processor with tamari (gluten-free soy sauce) and a few spices and grind it all up. You can turn up the spice on this ‘meat’ as much or as little as you want. If you have a fav taco seasoning, use that instead of my spice combo! This recipe made its debut in my our 21-Day Cleanse, and has been a fan fav ever since. Your salad just won’t be the same without it.
How to Incorporate Meat into Taco Salad
Plant-based eating doesn’t mean you have to be vegan. I’m not. If your family eats meat, try using half walnut taco meat and half ground beef. Your brain and body will thank you for providing it the rich benefits of walnuts, while you can also keep your meat-loving family members happy, too.
Healthy Taco Salad
Ingredients
- 1 cup Vegan Taco Meat
- 1 cup tortilla chips
- 2 cups romaine lettuce shredded
- ¾ cup black beans drained and rinsed
- ½ avocado diced
- ½ cup cherry tomatoes halved
- ½ red bell pepper diced
- ¼ cup corn thawed if frozen
- ¼ cup black olives sliced
- 2 tbsp green onions thinly sliced
- 2 tbsp cilantro for serving
- 1 tbsp dairy-free sour cream cashew cream
Instructions
- Prepare Vegan Taco Meat according to recipe (best if walnuts are soaked overnight. Yet in a pinch, you can "flash soak").
- Arrange romaine lettuce on plate and top with ingredients.
- Top with tortilla chips, followed by the taco meat, black beans, avocado, tomatoes, corn, olives, and green onions.
- Garnish with cilantro and sour cream.
Notes
- Vegan avocado crema would be really good on top instead of sour cream. It’s like a saucy version of guacamole.
- For a grain-free version, substitute corn tostadas with large cabbage or lettuce leaves, or simply omit.
- To heat taco meat, place a nonstick skillet over medium-high heat and lightly coat the bottom with olive oil, about 1-2 teaspoons. Add taco meat mixture and lightly saute until warmed through and nuts are lightly toasted. Be careful not to let it burn. Use immediately.
Nutrition
Taco Salad Frequently asked questions
No! They can be super healthy yet still delicious by using fresh ingredients, protein powered vegan meat or real meat and dressing that is made with whole ingredients.
Easy! Use walnut taco meat, chickpeas, black beans, jackfruit, or tofu for a delicious non-meat taco salad. Swap out cheese + sour cream for guacamole and cashew cream. You won’t even miss the dairy or meat.
Taco salads are kind of a whole-meal-in-one dish. You’ve got your protein, starch, veggies, and fats altogether in one filling dish. Know that not all calories are the same, and if your healthy taco salad is full of fresh, whole foods, then you’ve got nothing to worry about except that next bite of flavor-filled goodness.
I have always loved taco salad. I switched to green olives for extra flavor. The variety in this salad makes it fun and no one seems to get tired of it.
I doubted the meat-like walnut recipe but am willing to try just about anything – it is very good and a great meatless option I’d use often! Great salad recipe!
So excited your enjoyed it!
Day 2 yummo
Loved this! We were even able to convince our kids that it was taco meat they were eating. We followed the recipe for the cashew cream and it turned out amazing as well. Next time we plan to add the chipotle peppers.
Isn’t it surprising how closely the walnut taco “meat” resembles actual taco meat? Awesome that your kids also enjoyed it! And def give that chipotle cashew cream a shot next time. I think you’ll love it! 😉
So many great flavours in this recipe! This salad is not one I would normally make, but I will be making this one again!
I missed the note about heating the walnut meat until after it was assembled… it tasted amazing! Love the way this dish still tastes decadent but is incredibly healthy.
Excellent! I added salsa to the cashew cream for topping and some Chao Vegan Mexican blend cheese shreds. I was sure I had black beans in the pantry, but no. Substituted vegan refried beans.
Another keeper!!!!
Sounds super yummy!!
This Healthy TACO SALAD is SUPERB!
This one’s a keeper!
Love it!
Love this salad recipe!
Rawesome! Anything that resembles “tacos” is always a win for me!
I gotta ask, where did you find those tortilla strips? I’ve seen them at Chili’s but never in the grocery!
Love tacos!! Never heard of walnut taco meat but I am excited to give it a try.
So funny, I made the taco salad from the Spring 2019 recipes last night for dinner. It’s so tasty, and easy to make!
Yes, it is both! 🙂
Taco salad is our jam! And this taco meat amazes me every time I make it… seriously so good and filling.
It *is* so good! My meat-loving husband was amazed that he couldn’t tell it wasn’t ground beef. Win!
I’ve been jonesing for Mexican food for a week! I am making these asap and putting the recipe on my go-to easy dinners list. Delicious, healthy, and simple to make is the perfect recipe trifecta.
Couldn’t agree more! 😀
Liked this but thought it could use some spice. I stuck to the recipe but couldn’t find smoked paprika and used can corn and olives. I couldn’t get the cashew cream as creamy as I would like so will need to practice that a but more. I though the walnut meat was interesting. Next time I will probably add the spice via peppers, salsa, or maybe tobacco or Sriracha sauce.
Taco Salad is something I make monthly for my family. I usually just take all the scraps in the fridge and use those as toppings. I sometimes use your cashew cream (it’s amazing) or the avocado crema (that’s amazing too!).
What a great way to use leftovers so they don’t go to waste! Love it! 😀
Making for lunch for myself and husband not sure it’s going to make it to lunch time SOOOO GOOD. I did make some ground beef just incase husband need some extra (but won’t tell him!!!)
Will do this one again
Gotta have heat! Jalapenos!!
So true Maura! I’m all about the spice. I have my go-to salsa that I use to make it spicy, yet you can totally just chop up jalapenos and kick up the heat.
I agree! I put jalapeños in my homemade pico (probably similar to what Jen does) and it tastes amazing. 🙂
This was a very hearty salad!