Tex Mex Salad with Ground Beefand honey-adobo dressing
A classic taco salad is one of our favorite back-pocket meals. This paleo-friendly version is made with ground beef, olives, avocados, and a sweet and spicy dressing. It's a great meal if you're cooking for one or two, but you can also set everything out like a taco bar, making it an easy meal to DIY if you've got a house full of people.
Smarts: Don't hesitate to customize this meal. Taco salad makes a great base for leftover vegetables, your favorite protein, and extra toppings.
Ingredients
- Vinegar, red wine - 1 1/2 Tbsp
- Adobo sauce - 1 Tbsp (usually found with canned chipotle peppers)
- Honey - 1 Tbsp
- Paprika, smoked - 1/2 tsp
- Oil, cooking - 3 Tbsp
- Cumin - 1 tsp
- Coriander, ground - 1 tsp
- Paprika, smoked - 1 tsp
- Garlic powder - 1/2 tsp
- Salt - 1/2 tsp
- Bell peppers, any color - 1, diced
- Beef, ground - 1 lb
- Lettuce, any crisp variety like iceberg or Boston leaf - 8 oz, shredded
- Tomatoes, Roma - 4, chopped
- Avocados - 1, diced
- Olives, black and sliced (4 oz / 113 g) - 1 can, drained and rinsed
- Oil, cooking - 1 Tbsp
- Pepitas / pumpkin seeds - 1/4 cup
Nutrition Facts
Prep
- Make honey-adobo dressing - Whisk together vinegar, adobo sauce, honey, paprika (portion for dressing), and oil (portion for dressing). (Can be done up to 5 days ahead)
- Make spice mix - Combine cumin, coriander, paprika (portion for salad), garlic powder, and salt. (Can be done up to 5 days ahead)
- Bell peppers - Dice bell peppers. (Can be done up to 5 days ahead)
- Season ground beef - Combine beef with spice mix. (Can be done 1 day ahead)
- Lettuce / Tomatoes / Avocados - Prep as directed.
- Olives - Drain and rinse.
Make
- Heat a skillet with oil (portion for taco salad) over medium-high heat. Add ground beef and saute until beef is cooked through, 6 to 8 minutes. Set aside and allow to cool slightly.
- Assemble salads by forming a bed of lettuce and topping it with bell peppers, tomatoes, avocados, and olives. Top with beef and pepitas.
- Dress salads with honey-adobo dressing. Enjoy!
Nutrition Facts
Reviews
This meal has 14 reviews
We love it! Going in the regular rotation.
I had extra meat so I doubled the spice mix and the dressing amount, which gave plenty of flavor to the dish. My husband, who usually is so-so on Mexican food, gave this high marks and by making extra portions I had an easy quick salad option for another meal.
I was skeptical about how filling this would be, but I was surprisingly full. I will definitely do this again and make a little more sauce.
Finally a vegetarian taco salad that my kids would eat. The flavors were great. Delicious. Great leftovers for work.
Really tasty. Easy and different!
Quick, easy and tasty. I loved the dressing. Some of my kids dressed the salad with ranch instead of the adobo dressing.