Dorito Taco Salad is a delicious salad we’ve been serving at potlucks for as long as I can remember!
Everyone loves a great taco salad recipe and this version is a definitely a crowd favorite!
Seasoned ground beef, fresh lettuce, pinto beans, veggies and of course Doritos all sauced up with a zingy dressing make this an exciting change to your daily menu!
I truly love salads, but sometimes they can become a bit boring. This Dorito Taco Salad definitely spices up the ‘same old salad’ slump that we tend to get into. Not only is is easy to make, but it is delicious too!
I absolutely love anything that is taco inspired from pasta to casseroles… and especially salads!
Something about that beautiful blend of spices found in taco seasoning (especially my DIY taco seasoning mix) paired with crisp fresh lettuce just tastes SO good! Of all of the taco inspired dishes I make, this one definitely tops the list because everyone always raves about it!
How to Make Taco Salad
If you happen to have leftover taco beef from a prior recipe, it’s perfect in this taco salad recipe. In fact, I often make a double batch of taco meat to store in my freezer for extra quick meals on busy weeknights.
It takes me just seconds to defrost it for quick tacos, taco salads or even for a tray of Loaded Tater Tot Nachos!
The remaining ingredients are simple and easy to keep on hand. Pinto beans and sliced black olives in the canned variety are always staples in my pantry. Lettuce, tomatoes, onions, cheese, peppers and sour cream are items I always have on hand.
And OF COURSE you can’t forget the Doritos, we love the Nacho Cheese Flavor in this taco salad but you can use your favorite flavor!
How to Make Taco Salad Ahead of Time
This meal can be prepared ahead of time! The secret is to assemble everything in layers and simply toss before serving. Using the layered method keeps ingredients from becoming soggy.
- Your bottom layer will be the cooked and seasoned ground beef topped with the dressing.
- Next layer the pinto beans and sliced olives.
- Follow this with the peppers and tomatoes.
- Next layer is the lettuce and the onion.
- Add the cheese on top.
- Leave out the Doritos until just before serving.
Using the layering method above, you can assemble this Dorito salad and refrigerate for a quick and easy meal at the end of a busy day or to take along to a backyard BBQ party or potluck. Simply toss to coat everything just before serving and wait for the compliments to pour in!
What Goes In a Taco Salad
You can modify this recipe however you’d like or based on what you have on hand! I have used diced chicken breast in place of ground beef (or ground turkey), I also use different types of peppers and I like to kick up the heat a notch using spicy Doritos!
Use the veggies you love (corn is great in this recipe too) and make it your own masterpiece! It is just so easy to prepare and to top it off it tastes fantastic!
6 Taco Inspired Dishes You MUST Try
Love Taco Inspired Dishes? Me too… and here are some of my absolute favorites!
1. Taco Stuffed Pasta Shells Tender pasta shells stuffed with deliciously seasoned beef, salsa and cheese baked until bubbly.
2. Taco Pasta Salad Pasta salad with a taco twist, fresh veggies and our favorite Doritos! Must try!
3. Taco Tater Tot Casserole This casserole features seasoned beef and loads of vegetables topped with a yummy tater tot crust and baked until golden.
4. Taco Casserole with a Surprise Crust Taco night just got a whole lot more delicious… spoiler alert: if you like Doritos, you’ll love this one!
5. French Bread Tacos French Bread Tacos combine all the taco flavors you love with the delicious, crusty bread you can’t get enough of!
6. Layered Dorito Casserole Layered Doritos Casserole has layers of seasoned beef in a rich and zesty sauce topped with loads of cheese.
While assembling the ingredients is super easy to begin with, to make it even easier I love to use my favorite chopping tool! It makes chopping a breeze and you are guaranteed consistent bite sized pieces every time!
I use a whole 10 oz bag of Doritos in this recipe because I love the flavor they add. You can certainly use as much or as little as you’d like! Don’t get stuck making the same old salads this summer. Add Dorito Taco Salad to your menu and delight your family and friends!
Equipment
Ingredients
- 1 pound lean ground beef
- 1 ounce taco seasoning 1 packet, or 2 tablespoons homemade taco seasoning
- ⅔ cup water
- 1 head iceberg lettuce chopped into bite sized pieces
- 1 red bell pepper chopped
- 1 green bell pepper chopped
- ½ cup sliced black olives
- 15 ounces canned pinto beans rinsed and drained, 1 can
- 1 cup diced fresh tomatoes
- ¼ cup sliced green onions
- 1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
- 10 ounces Doritos Nacho flavored
- 16 ounces Catalina salad dressing
- sour cream for garnish, optional
Instructions
- Brown the ground beef until no pink remains. Drain any fat.
- Stir in the taco seasoning packet and water. Simmer until thickened, about 5 minutes. Set aside to cool.
- In a large bowl, combine the lettuce, peppers, black olives, pinto beans, tomatoes, cheddar and green onions.
- Top with the seasoned and cooled ground beef.
- Slightly crush the Doritos and sprinkle on top. Drizzle with catalina dressing and toss to coat evenly.
- Garnish with sour cream and additional green onions is desired.
- Serve immediately.
Video
Notes
Nutrition Information
Nutrition information provided is an estimate and will vary based on cooking methods and brands of ingredients used.
Course Salad
Cuisine Mexican© SpendWithPennies.com. Content and photographs are copyright protected. Sharing of this recipe is both encouraged and appreciated. Copying and/or pasting full recipes to any social media is strictly prohibited. Please view my photo use policy here.
I’ve made this when my kids were younger, but used mayo & ketchup in place of dressing. Always had them on hand. Been years since I’ve had this.
Yummy dressing idea, I bet it has a flavor similar to a thousand island dressing! Thank you for sharing Phylis!
i like tacos as much as anyone but all these taco dishes i have tried in the past lose there flavor after the first 1 or 2 reheats does anybody have any ideas to make reheats taste better other then dumping a condiment on it
With a large family, we have alot of reheats. I try to pair some left overs with something new. (An example would be brats (the new food), with left over chicken curry & left over vegetables. If you don’t have enough of ______, reheat similar sides[ vegetables would be a good example of that.]
You can do the same with taco dishes.
One night have tacos, and a couple days later, use that left over taco meat for a taco salad!
Hope this helps.
I like my taco salad with plain white corn tortillas chips and French dressing.
My favorite go to food. Romaine lettuce has more nutrition and sweet onion chopped and friend with the hamburger is another step I take.
Thanks for sharing your recipe. It was the first I ever tried. I love Taco Salad!!!
I’m glad to hear you love the taco salad Katie!
I’ve always used French dressing also (yes the orange one ). My daughter and I have made this for years. So yummy !!
So simple and so tasty…..also so easy to adjust to individual family tastes. Couple of adjustments I made were for my family preferences:
* no beans
* added 1/2 can of corn, drained
* 1/2 head of iceberg lettuce and 1 stalk of romaine
*instead of pure catalina for the dressing – made a mix of 1/2 catalina + 1/4 salsa + 1/4 sour cream – tempered the tartness of the catalina, but still very much retained the taste
Love your dressing idea!! Thanks for sharing!
We loved this so much I have been eating it for a week. I switched up a few times and used shredded chicken. LOVE this and it’s so tasty and easy
I’m so glad you loved it, shredded chicken is such a great idea!
If you order a garden salad from Papa Murphy’s pizza it will have almost everything already in it for this salad. It’s perfect for feeding a smaller group you just have to adjust the rest of the recipes ingredients :)
Great shortcut! Thanks for sharing.
what is that thing you’re using to dice the peppers? I have pretty bad RA in my hands and that thing looks like a godsend
That’s my favorite kitchen gadget. You can find more info about it here: https://www.spendwithpennies.com/favorite-onion-chopper/
Blades cut my finger while i was cleaning it left a deep cut and i threw it out.
So sorry to hear that Ter! I hope you are okay!
That’s my favorite gadget. Use it most every day. I have one for fruit and one for vegetables so my fruit does get a bit of onion flavor.
I used I bottle hidden valley mix with jar a jar of salsa for dressing was awesome
Sounds great!
So good! It says about 524 calories, just wondering for how big of a serving?
The recipe makes 8 servings Lynda. Enjoy!
I mix up everything except dressing, doritoes, tomatoes and lettuce…..I use sweet onions instead of green, 1/2 cup, because of my husbands ulcer. Then I can serve it once, skip a night and serve it again adding the dressing, tomatoes and lettuce and serving it ON the doritoes…..works great for two people and is fresh. This is a very good recipe for gatherings or for a home meal.
Great way to turn it into a make ahead meal, thank you for sharing!
Where is the green/ red pepper chopper from that cuts it all so fast?? I need one!!thanks
It’s literally my favorite ever! It’s called the Vidalia Chop Wizard and you can get it here on Amazon!
Please read your ingredient list and make correction. It reads “1 o oz Doritos”. I now know you mean 10 oz but it looks confusing using letter o instead of number 0 and space between 1 and 0. Thanks! BTW salad is delicious.
A typo fixed! Thanks Beverly Ann. Glad you love the salad!
Thanks Beverly Ann, I did just double check the back end of the recipe and it is in fact entered as 10 oz. I’m not sure why it’s showing a little space in there.
Great salad. However, it would be nice to click on the link to the recipe and actually see the recipe instead of someone’s opinions and yapping for 2 pages before you even get to what you clicked on the link for.
So glad you enjoyed the salad! This is my blog so you will definitely see me yapping before hand on every post :) . I do try to keep it to useful information to ensure success for readers (as well as share my opinions about a particular recipe). We do have people of all different levels of skills with all different dietary needs so I answer as many questions as possible in each post.
Yummmmmmmm!!!!!!!! Only thing extra i added was avocado…….
Great addition Helen!
I clicked on the print button above the recipe and it still will not print out a copy. Just wanted to let you know.
I am able to print when I click this Beverly. Do you have pop ups blocked? It opens a print friendly version in a new window for you.
How did you keep avocado from turning dark?
We love this salad and eat it a lot during the summer. I let people assemble it themselves by putting the ingredients in separate bowls or containers and pass them starting with the lettuce. Leftovers keep better that way. If my hubby doesn’t have any for lunch the next day he’s disappointed. My dressing is Catalina + sour cream + ortega taco sauce — proportioned to taste and mixed together with a whisk. Always a hit.
That is such a great idea Terrie. Thank you for sharing! So glad to hear it’s such a hit!
I’ve been making this recipe since 1987 I guess Word of Mouth spreads very quick
I made this on Mother’s Day, the only change was to use the whole can of olives. LOVED by all. Delicious!!
So glad you guys loved it Donna!
I have been making this taco salad for over 30 years! Only I put in black beans instead of pinto beans and I put in about equal parts of French dressing and medium taco sauce. The taco sauce gives that extra little zing to the salad.
That sounds delicious Donna!
Amazing!!!!!!!! I put it all to side. Peeps could choose that way!! I put it all together as recipe called for….. AMAZING!!!!!!!!!
So glad you loved it Paula! And great idea!!
Use seasoned diced chicken, add drained + rinsed black beans and a can of drained whole kernel corn. Also I liked it with a little mild salsa.
Sounds great Donna!