Home Meal Type Salad Recipes Healthy Taco Salad

Healthy Taco Salad

By Brittany Mullins

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Published Jan 27, 2021, Updated Feb 27, 2023

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GFGluten-Free

This healthy taco salad is made with turkey taco meat instead of beef, packed with veggies and topped with a creamy southwest dressing.

Do you participate in Taco Tuesday regularly?

One way to streamline meal planning is to have theme nights for each day of the week, like Meatless Monday, Taco Tuesday and/or Pizza Friday. Obviously these are just some ideas!

If you do start embracing a Taco Tuesday theme night, you’ll know you’re having tacos in some form every Tuesday and meal planning gets a whole lot easier!

And don’t worry… it doesn’t mean you have to eat regular ol’ tacos every Tuesday. There are sooo many different taco recipes…  just on my site I have a bunch of taco ideas: fish tacos, spaghetti squash taco bake, taco zucchini boats, Asian tofu tacos and this healthy taco salad.

Healthy Taco Salad Ingredients

• ground turkey – a leaner protein option than beef!
• vegetables – mini bell peppers, romaine lettuce, grape or cherry tomatoes, frozen sweet corn, jalapeño pepper and avocado.
• shredded Mexican cheese – I like adding a little cheese, but you can omit if you’re dairy-free.
• fresh salsa – choose your preferred spice level!
• taco seasoning – use store-bought or make your own taco seasoning!
• olive oil
• tortilla chips
• chopped cilantro and hot sauce – optional, but recommended

Creamy Southwest Dressing

If you’ve been following me for a bit, you know I love salads. One key factor for creating a delicious salad is the salad dressing! A good dressing ties the whole salad together and really takes it to the next level. For this healthy taco salad, I paired it with a creamy southwest dressing that is SO good! Here’s what you need:

• plain Greek yogurt – you can use traditional Greek yogurt or dairy-free if needed.
• lime juice
• spices – cumin, chili powder, garlic powder, salt and pepper.
• fresh salsa
• fresh cilantro

How to Make Healthy Taco Salad

This taco salad is packed with flavor from the turkey taco meat, which includes roasted peppers, taco seasoning and salsa. The roasted peppers seriously take it to the next level and the prep work to make them is pretty minimal!

Roast peppers: Preheat oven to 400°F. Place peppers on a baking sheet, spray with olive or avocado oil cooking spray, sprinkle on a little salt and pepper and place in the oven to roast for 20-30 minutes, or until peppers are soft. Let peppers cool, remove stems and any large seeds and then dice into small pieces. The diced up peppers should measure out to be about 1/3 cup.

Make dressing: Add all ingredients for the dressing into a blender and blend until fully combined and smooth. You can also use an immersion blender for this.

Cook turkey: Add oil to a skillet over medium heat. Once hot, add turkey. Break the meat into small pieces using a spatula or meat chopper as it cooks. Cook for about 6-8 minutes or until the turkey is no longer pink. Add taco seasoning, salsa and roasted peppers to the pan and toss to combine. Set aside.

Prep salads: While the turkey it cooking start to prep your salad ingredients. To build salads, start with a base of romaine lettuce in each bowl and add the toppings — turkey taco meat, tomatoes, corn, cheese, jalapeño, avocado and chips. Drizzle dressing over each salad and serve with a sprinkle on chopped cilantro. Add some fresh salsa and a few drops of hot sauce if using. Another option is to place all the salad ingredients into a large salad bowl and toss with dressing, then portion into three bowls.

Meal Prepping Taco Salad

This recipe is so great for meal prep! I recommend prepping the turkey and dressing ahead of time and then when you’re ready to enjoy, quickly chop the fresh salad ingredients, assemble the salads and enjoy!

More Mexican-Inspired Recipes

• Green Pea Guacamole
• Mexican Quinoa Casserole
• Tempeh Tacos with Tempeh Taco “Meat”
• Easy Black Bean Dip
• Mexican Sweet Potato Chicken Soup
• Chicken Burrito Bowl
• Guacamole
• Healthy Chicken Tacos

More Salad Recipes

• Mexican Street Corn Kale Salad
• Roasted Sweet Potato Salad
• Guacamole Salad
• Tempeh Taco Salad Meal Prep Bowls
• Fuji Apple Salad

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4.10 from 41 votes

Healthy Taco Salad

By: Brittany Mullins

This healthy taco salad is made with ground turkey taco meat instead of beef and is packed with veggies. It comes together quickly making it perfect for a weeknight meal.

Prep Time: 25 minutes minutes

Cook Time: 30 minutes minutes

Total Time: 55 minutes minutes

Servings: 3

Ingredients  

1x2x3x

Turkey Taco Meat

• ▢ 12 mini bell peppers
• ▢ olive or avocado oil spray
• ▢ 1/2 Tablespoon olive oil
• ▢ 1 lb ground turkey
• ▢ 2 Tablespoons taco seasoning
• ▢ 2 Tablespoons fresh salsa

Salad

• ▢ 1 large head romaine lettuce, washed, rinsed, dried and chopped
• ▢ 1/2 cup grape or cherry tomatoes, chopped
• ▢ 1/2 cup thawed frozen sweet corn
• ▢ 1/4 cup shredded Mexican cheese + more to taste
• ▢ 1/2 jalapeño pepper, de-seeded and chopped (optional)
• ▢ 1 avocado, chopped into chunks
• ▢ 1/4 cup tortilla chips, broken into pieces
• ▢ chopped cilantro, for garnish
• ▢ hot sauce, to taste (optional)
• ▢ fresh salsa, to taste

Creamy Southwest Dressing

• ▢ 4 ounces plain Greek yogurt
• ▢ 1 teaspoons lime juice
• ▢ 1/8 teaspoon cumin
• ▢ 1/4 teaspoon chili powder
• ▢ 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
• ▢ 1/4 teaspoon salt
• ▢ 1/4 teaspoon pepper
• ▢ 1/4 cup fresh salsa
• ▢ 2 Tablespoons fresh cilantro

Instructions 

• Roast peppers: Preheat oven to 400°F. Place peppers on a baking sheet, spray with olive or avocado oil cooking spray, sprinkle on a little salt and pepper and place in the oven to roast for 20-30 minutes, or until peppers are soft. Let peppers cool, remove stems and any large seeds and then dice into small pieces. The diced up peppers should measure out to be about 1/3 cup.
• Make dressing: Add all ingredients for the dressing into a blender and blend until fully combined and smooth. You can also use an immersion blender for this.
• Cook turkey: Add oil to a skillet over medium heat. Once hot, add turkey. Break meat into small pieces using a spatula or meat chopper as it cooks. Cook for about 6-8 minutes or until the turkey is no longer pink. Add taco seasoning, salsa and roasted peppers to the pan and toss to combine. Set aside.
• Prep salads: While the turkey it cooking start to prep your salad ingredients. To build salads, start with a base of romaine lettuce in each bowl and add the toppings — turkey taco meat, tomatoes, corn, cheese, jalapeño, avocado and chips.
• Serve: Drizzle a little dressing over each salad and serve with chopped cilantro and extra dressing. Add some fresh salsa and a few drops of hot sauce if using. Another option is to place all the salad ingredients into a large salad bowl and toss with dressing, then portion into two-four bowls for serving.

Nutrition

Serving: 1salad | Calories: 526kcal | Carbohydrates: 34g | Protein: 41g | Fat: 25g | Saturated Fat: 6g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 15g | Cholesterol: 113mg | Sodium: 573mg | Fiber: 10g | Sugar: 15g

Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.

Additional Info

Course: Salad

Cuisine: Mexican

Keyword: turkey taco salad

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