A Taco salad is a hearty meal. It’s filling, satisfying and a great way to get non-salad eaters to eat salad.

To make four servings you will need salad fixings (video) - I'm using:

• 4 cups of shredded lettuce
• 1 cup of tomatoes - diced
• 1 cup of shredded cheddar cheese
• 1/2 small purple onion - thinly sliced

For the Taco part of the salad you will need:

• 1 pound of ground beef
• 1 eight-ounce bottle of Catalina salad dressing
• 1 packet of Taco seasoning mix

Catalina salad dressing is a sweet, tomato based dressing that has a beautiful bright red color.

Start by browning the beef in a large frying pan over medium-high heat. (Check out my video on Browning Ground Beef!)

Then drain off and discard the excess fat.

Return the beef to the pan and sprinkle on the Taco Seasoning mix.

Add the dressing

Fill the empty dressing bottle half full with water, and then add that to the pan as well. Mix everything together.

Bring everything to a boil, and then reduce the heat to simmer.

Simmer for 20-25 minutes.

After 20 minutes it will look like this:

While the beef is simmering, prepare the salad fixings (video):

You can prepare the green salad with whatever salad fixings you like. I like green-leaf lettuce. It’s a beautiful bright green color and does not have a really strong flavor. Click here if you are unsure how to wash lettuce. Once washed, chop the lettuce into bite sized pieces.

You can chop up one large tomato or slice in half some grape or cherry tomatoes.

Pile the salad onto individual serving plates. (Do not add extra dressing to the salad. You won’t need it once the beef and cheese are added!) The warm beef slightly wilts the salad and the cheese gets slightly melted from the warm taco mixture as well. (I added crunchy cucumbers and some sliced purple onion as well!)

Enjoy!

You can view and print this recipe here.

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