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Home » Recipes » Salads and Salad Dressings

Easy Low Carb Taco Salad

Published: May 16, 2016 Last Updated: Sep 2023 by Lindsay This post may contain affiliate links to products I use and enjoy. 3 Comments

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Wouldn't it have been so great if I had thought of this before Cinco De Mayo?  Like, if I could use my brain to make things on this blog relevant, current, and topical?  IMG_9683

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But, no, this came to me a week after the fact.  Sorry about that.  We are eating slightly fewer carbs recently, not really for any particular purpose but more so because it's the time of the year where produce is getting GREAT so we are eating a lot more fruits and veggies in general.  I love meat, and we can't have 4 veggies, meat, and a carb at every meal just due to the dishes never getting done, so carbs have been falling by the wayside on some meals.  I know that other people prefer to eat low carb lots of the time, so this is a perfect meal for anyone trying to do that OR just wanting to enjoy spring lettuces to their fullest.  

The beef is similar to my no-packet beef tacos without the addition of extra liquid before the beef goes on the salad.  The dressing is creamy the ingredients are crunchy, there is cheese....it's basically perfect.  

For the beef, I did the leanest my grocery store had to offer, a pound.  Then it's chili powder, cumin, hot paprika (or cayenne, just something spicy), seasoned salt, garlic powder, and onion powder.  IMG_9670

It's so simple, I'm the biggest fan of ground beef.  Drizzle some olive oil in a big skillet and add the beef with all the spices.  Heat is on medium-high.  IMG_9671

Then, as the pan heats up and the beef starts to sizzle, just break up the beef and let it cook with the spices for 10 minutes or so.  You can use any kind of ground beef you want, just drain off the fat if you use a higher fat blend.  I usually break up the beef for about a minute, let it sit in the skillet to brown, stir, break up some more, repeat - until all the beef is toasty and brown and cooked through.  Taste it, and ad more seasoned salt if you'd like.  It should have FLAVOR.  IMG_9672

Now, for the dressing it's just lime juice, salsa, and sour cream.  Easy!IMG_9674

All the ingredients in a bowl.  IMG_9675

Mix, taste, pinch of salt if needed.  What kind of salsa you use depends on how spicy this will be, so use anything you like!  If you prefer a tangier dressing, you can use the whole lime too.  IMG_9676

Last, prep the salad veggies!  I have lettuce from my grandparents' house, chopped tomato, sliced spring onion (they're purple!  how lovely!), sliced radishes, grated raw gouda, cilantro leaves, and lime wedges.  Make this salad with anything you like, though, I think that sliced jalapeno would be great (I used the pickled kind, but fresh is so good!), avocado or guacamole, cucumber, spinach leaves....anything could add even more fun to this salad.  wp-1463397884740.jpg

Then we just build.  I love salads on big plates because you can see all the ingredients.  Just layer the veggies with the cheese.  IMG_9678

Then spoon some ground beef right over everything.  IMG_9681

Drizzle the salad with the dressing and add some lime and pickled jalapenos if you're into that sort of thing.  Easy, healthy, delicious, done.  IMG_9684

The dressing is great for me, I like sour cream, salsa, and lime wedges with nachos (or any Mexican meal, really), so why not add them to a dressing for a salad?  Done and done.  See also:  radishes + cilantro + raw onion are traditional toppings for Mexican street tacos.  LOVE this combo of ingredients.  IMG_9687

Make this asap, especially if you're an "I hate myself I ate funnel cake all weekend and now need salad for Monday" kind of person.  This will soften the blow, and one should never feel hate relating to funnel cake.  Enjoy!  

Recipe

Easy Low Carb Taco Salad

Lindsay Howerton-Hastings
No ratings yet
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Prep Time 15 minutes mins
Cook Time 10 minutes mins

Ingredients
  

  • SEASONED GROUND BEEF
  • 1 pound lean ground beef
  • 2 teaspoons chili powder
  • 1 teaspoon cumin
  • ½ teaspoon hot paprika
  • 1 teaspoon seasoned salt
  • 1 teaspoon garlic powder
  • 1 teaspoon onion powder
  • SOUR CREAM LIME DRESSING
  • ½ cup sour cream
  • ½ cup prepared salsa any kind you like
  • ½ lime juiced, plus the other half if you'd like
  • SALAD
  • torn lettuce leaves
  • diced tomato
  • sliced green onion
  • sliced radishes
  • cilantro leaves
  • lime wedges
  • grated cheese
  • pickled jalapenos

Instructions
 

  • Prepare the ground beef. In a skillet over medium-high heat, drizzle some olive oil and add the beef with all the spices. Cook the beef for 7-10 minutes, breaking it up as you go, until browned on all sides and cooked through. Taste, and add more of any of the spices if you'd like.
  • Make the dressing. Combine the sour cream, salsa, and lime juice in a bowl until smooth. Taste, and add a pinch of salt or the rest of the lime juice if you'd like.
  • Layer all the veggies and cheese on wide salad plates. Top evenly with the ground beef and drizzle with the dressing. Squirt with lime juice and add pickled jalapenos on top of the salad if you'd like.
  • Enjoy!

Nutrition

Serving: 4g
Tried this recipe?Let me know how it was!

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Image of Lindsay Howerton-Hastings smiling sitting on dark gray couch wearing chambray blue shirt.

Hi! I'm Lindsay. I'm a maternal mental health therapist, a recipe developer, food writer, and taker of all kinds of pictures. Thank you so much for being here! This blog is about how to take care of yourself and your people without taking anything too seriously.

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