Homemade taco salad was among my favorite meals as a teenager. It was first shared at weeklong gatherings with the families of my dad’s three best friends from college. These camping and mountain trips included 17 people, or more as other friends joined the core group, so the original salad was built to feed a crowd.
When I became vegetarian, I insisted my mom keep making the same taco salad but without browned ground beef. It still featured kidney beans, so it stayed hearty. I claimed leftovers to pack for my school lunches, ideally bagging the chips and lettuce separately.
My version of the salad has evolved over the years. I started by replacing dressing ingredients I don’t keep in my kitchen, swapping homemade sour cream or yogurt for mayonnaise and home-canned tomato salsa for ketchup. You can leave out the Worcestershire sauce to keep the salad vegetarian, but it imparts enough unique sweet-and-sour flavor that I’d rather replace it with a vegan version or soy sauce and tamarind paste. It’s easy to overdress this salad, but with so many layers, I mix a little extra dressing in case I need a drizzle over the whole bowl.
For an easy, fresh-tasting cold salad, lightly season a can of unsalted kidney beans and use whatever greens you have at hand, from lettuce to spinach. The dressing, seasoned beans, lettuce and chips form the backbone of this salad, so drop other layers or adjust their amounts as desired. One bowl was prepared and passed when I was a kid, but these days the group would probably set up a taco salad bar for build-your-own bowls.
Meatless Taco Salad
Serves 4
1 15-ounce can or 2 cups cooked red kidney beans, drained
1 teaspoon smoked paprika
1-1/2 teaspoons fresh chopped or 1/2 teaspoon dried crumbled oregano
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
6 tablespoons sour cream or yogurt
6 tablespoons tomato salsa
1-1/2 teaspoons ground cumin
3/4 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce (optional)
3 cloves roasted garlic, lightly smashed
3/4 cup cooked corn kernels
1/4 cup sliced green olives
4 ounces extra-sharp cheddar cheese, grated
2-1/2 cups coarsely crushed tortilla chips, plus more for serving
2 cups torn spinach or lettuce
1-1/2 cups halved cherry tomatoes
1 avocado, peeled and chopped
1/2 cup sliced scallions or onion tops
1/4 cup chopped cilantro
Lime wedges for garnish
In a large bowl, toss the beans with the paprika, oregano, salt and pepper. In a medium liquid measuring cup or pint jar, stir together the sour cream or yogurt, salsa, cumin and Worcestershire sauce, if using. Let sit while you slice, grate and chop.
Squeeze the garlic into the seasoned beans, and then gently mix in the corn, olives and cheese. Fold in 1/2 cup of dressing, reserving the rest for serving.
In individual bowls, layer tortilla chips, lettuce and bean mixture. Top with cherry tomatoes, avocado, scallions and cilantro. Garnish with extra dressing as needed and lime wedges.
Julie Laing is a Bigfork-based cookbook author and food blogger at TwiceAsTasty.com.