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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.
Delicious! My husband loved it too and decided he didn’t need to be concerned about getting enough calories with this salad.
Yummy! I subbed chickpeas for the walnuts.
I don’t like nuts, so I substituted salsa crema. The salad was great and I would do it again and again.
I was previously allergic to tree nuts growing up; only recently have I figured out that I lost that allergy to most nuts now. This was my first foray into eating nuts like a meat replacement. Super tasty, I thought the salad was excellent!
There was a lot of prep work but the salad is yummy!!! Loving the walnut taco meat…a great alternative to ground beef or ground turkey. I was not able to make the cashew cream or find any at the Mom’s Organic grocery store near my house Subbed it with a white balsamic Vinaigrette. Did not have tortilla strips but some crushed tortilla chips with lime are a nice substitute. My salad not as pretty as your photos but still tasty!!
This salad was amazing. I used a spicy lime crema and sprinkled with some southwest seasoning but I will definitely make this one again.
I loved this one! The taco crisps were the perfect addition to the dish! The flavours blended perfectly. The walnut “meat” was filling! A very tasty and flavourful salad! Hubby loved it too!
I loved this salad, but I have to admit that I made a couple of omissions and modifications. I just couldn’t get behind the idea of walnut taco meat, so instead, I subbed tempeh (using all the same seasonings and it was delicious!). I also wasn’t proactive enough to soak my cashews, so I decided to forego the cashew cream (although I’m a little sad that I did–based on the reviews, I’m definitely making it next time!).
So flavorful and hearty. Loved the walnut taco meat and cashew cream. Different but so satisfying.
I love tacos and I love this taco salad! I’ve never used walnuts as ground beef, but it really works! Definitely have to soak over overnight but it was the perfect consistency. I will say that adding the cream really makes the dish, but I used a chipotle cream and that really topped it off. Would make this again, especially on a meatless Monday.
Made it with what was on hand, so it was a riff on the recipe. Fabulous flavor overall!
Another amazing salad! I was skeptical about the walnut “taco meat” but it turned out great – who knew! Also I made my own variation of the dressing using Greek yogurt and a Trader Joe’s Chili Lime seasoning.
Very filling salad. I don’t really like walnuts so I was skeptical of the “meat” but when it was all mixed together, it tasted great. It was well dressed and very flavorful. I made the homemade cashew cream and could it it with a spoon – it was so good. Highly recommend that extra step.
This is a hearty portion size, appropriate for dinner. I like it as-is except that romaine lettuce isn’t very nutrient-dense, so I substituted mixed baby greens. I love the walnut taco meat idea, though it makes for a meal that is way too high in fat and low in protein; I’d instead suggest a mix of lentils/beans with the walnuts (as I did).
This salad was sooo good! I make my own taco spice and added that to the walnut meat. I also added salsa as dressing in order to give the chips a more flavorful crunch. This was such a delicious lunch! The next I make this it may just be an overflowing taco!
I really like the addition of the cashew cream that is made for this salad!
It was okay. I would double the spices in the walnuts next time. I added cheese instead of chips. It just lacked a bit of spice.