Taco Salad with Chipotle Ranch
Chopped romaine lettuce loaded with your favorite taco toppings and tossed in a homemade chipotle ranch dressing & crushed nacho cheese tortilla chips. Everything you love about tacos in a bowl!
Prep Time20 minutes mins
Total Time20 minutes mins
Course: Main Course, Salad
Cuisine: Mexican
Keyword: chipotle, ranch, salad, taco salad
Servings: 6 servings
Author: Ashley Leonard
- 1 # beef taco meat* see note below
- 6 cups romaine lettuce chopped
- 15 oz. can black beans drained & rinsed
- 1 cup grape tomatoes halved
- ⅓ cup red onion chopped
- ½ cup black olives sliced
- 1 cup cheddar cheese shredded
- 1 avocado diced
- 3 cups crushed nacho cheese tortilla chips
Chipotle Ranch
- 1 batch Homemade Ranch Dressing see note below
- 1-3 Chipotle peppers in adobo sauce depending on spice preference
- ¼ cup cilantro
- juice of 1 lime
Cook ground beef over medium-high heat until no longer pink, breaking into small pieces. Drain any excess grease.
Add the taco seasoning* and stir well. Remove from heat and allow to cool.
While the meat is cooling, add the lettuce and the rest of the salad ingredients to a large bowl.
When taco meat has cooled to room temperature, mix into the rest of the salad.
Chipotle Ranch Dressing
Combine the ingredients for Homemade Ranch Dressing (recipe link below) along with chipotle peppers, cilantro and lime juice in a food processor or blender. Blend until smooth.
Mix the dressing into the taco salad and toss to coat well.
Add crushed nacho cheese tortilla chips and mix well. Serve immediately.
Beef Taco Meat
- Using a packet of taco seasoning works great to make the taco meat for this salad. If you like to use your own, I love the Taco Seasoning recipe from Gimme Some Oven. I've used both options and they both work great.
- Ground turkey or even shredded chicken could be substituted for beef.
Chipotle Ranch Dressing
- The base for this dressing is my Homemade Ranch Dressing.
- The amount of chipotle peppers in adobo sauce added will depend on your spice preference. I would recommend adding them one at a time and tasting until you reach the perfect spice level. I'm not a huge fan of spicy and usually add 2.