This Taco Salad is bursting with color and flavor, packed with beautiful, healthy ingredients. Perfect for lunch or a Mexican-style dinner. Your family and friends are going to love it!
“The Best” Taco Salad Ingredients
When putting together a wonderful taco salad, remember to include vegetables with as many colors as you have available. It is visually attractive, but more importantly, it provides a variety of different nutrients. It is therefore important to eat a rainbow of colors every day.
- Romaine Lettuce: I like to start my taco salad with a generous amount of crispy lettuce. I prefer Romaine lettuce, but Iceberg lettuce will work as well. Both options provide a nice, crunchy base for the taco salad.
- Black Beans: Black beans add a beautiful savory quality to the salad, as well as adding excellent plant-based protein and fiber to the meal. They are also very low in fat. Black bean taco salad is such a delicious and nutritious meal. You can also use pinto beans or your favorite beans for this taco salad bowl.
- Meatless Crumbles: To give this taco salad recipe some meat-like texture, I would suggest my meatless crumble recipe—an excellent meat substitute made with only four ingredients. Meatless Crumbles are super simple to make and can quickly elevate this plant-based taco salad. It is, however, optional and can easily be omitted, but plant-based ground meat adds protein, crunch, and texture to our salad.
- Cherry Tomatoes: Cherry tomatoes add a pop of color to this vegan taco salad bowl, along with the fresh summer flavors of ripe sweet tomatoes. Tomatoes are high in nutritional value.
- Red Onion: Red onion adds a slight spicy bite to this dish, with lots of antioxidants and anti-inflammatory benefits. And let’s not forget the beautiful color.
- Red Cabbage: Red cabbage is another vegetable that provides a beautiful color, but it is not the only reason to include it in this taco salad recipe. It is very high in nutrients, antioxidants, and surprisingly low in calories. If shredded, red cabbage is an easy thing to add to any salad. I often keep a container with shredded cabbage in my fridge to add to salads and various dishes. It makes life easier.
- Fresh Cilantro: In my opinion, fresh cilantro is the finishing touch on this healthy and beautiful salad. A small amount delivers a huge flavor boost as well as vitamins and minerals. It is particularly high in vitamin A and K. It also delivers anti-inflammatory benefits. If you happen not to like cilantro, don’t worry, just omit this ingredient.
- Lime Juice: Lime adds such a wonderful touch to a vegetarian taco salad. It’s hard to imagine a Mexican dish without it. Its green color is also so amazing. You may want to garnish with sliced or quartered lime to add extra pizzazz to the plate.
- Avocado: Freshly sliced avocado is a great addition to this vegan taco salad dish. Avocados are creamy, delicious, and packed with nutrition and fiber—a great source of potassium and, yes, healthy fat. The creamy texture brings it all together. Try my Creamy Avocado Cilantro dressing to drizzle over the taco salad. It’s amazing.
Taco Salad with Creamy Oil-Free Avocado Cilantro Dressing
Ingredients: Meatless Crumbles
- 3/4 cup Vital Wheat Gluten
- 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
- 1tablespoon Bragg's Liquid Aminos
- 1/2 cup vegetable stock
Instructions
- In a large bowl, stir together vital wheat gluten and flour.
- Make a well in the center and add the vegetable stock and Bragg's Liquid Aminos. Stir to combine.
- Knead by hand for a couple of minutes.
- Spray a piece of cheesecloth with oil. Wrap the dough tightly into a roll, and tie the ends with a string. Set aside and let rest.
- In a large stockpot, add a steamer basket, and fill the pot with water until it reaches the steamer basket. Bring to a boil.
- Place the wrapped dough in the steamer basket, cover with the lid, and reduce the heat to a simmer. Let simmer for 45 minutes. Check midways to make sure there is water in the bottom of the pot.
- Remove from the basket and let cool before unwrapping.
- I like to crumble my substitute meat in a food processor; it takes less than a minute.
- Store covered in the fridge for a few days or in the freezer for several months. Before freezing, divide into the right-sized portions for your family, making it easy to add to the various dishes you may like to enhance.
Ingredients: Pica de Gallo
- 3 large tomatoes, finely chopped
- 1/4 cup red onion, finely chopped (or sweet onion)
- 1 jalapeño, deseeded and finely chopped (use only 1/2 jalapeño if you do not like your salsa spicy)
- 1/4 – 1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro
- 2 tablespoons lime juice (from 1 lime)
- 1/2 teaspoon salt or salt to taste
Instructions
Make sure all ingredients are finely chopped. Combine all the ingredients in a bowl.
Ingredients: Taco Salad
- 1 1/2 cups meatless crumbles
- Pica de Gallo (fresh salsa)
- 1 can (15.5 oz) black beans, drained & rinsed
- 1 Romaine Lettuce, sliced
- 1 red sweet bell pepper, chopped
- 1/4 red cabbage, shredded
- 1 avocado, sliced
Instructions
- Prepare the various components before assembling the salad. Season meatless crumbles with a little onion and garlic powder, red paprika, cayenne pepper, and salt.
- Prepare the Pico de Gallo and Creamy Avocado Cilantro Dressing (Recipe Below). Keep in fridge until ready to assemble.
- Drain and rinse the black beans.
- Wash the Romaine Lettuce, slice into manageable pieces; dice the red pepper; shred the cabbage; and slice the avocado.
- To assemble the taco salad, start by adding a generous layer of crispy lettuce to the bottom of the bowl. Next, add the following ingredients in piles to make the salad look attractive and appetizing: black beans, meatless crumbles, Pica de Gallo (fresh salsa), shredded red cabbage, sliced avocado, and diced red bell pepper. Garnish with fresh cilantro, lime slices, tomato, or jalapeño slices. Serve with creamy avocado cilantro dressing, corn or tortilla chips, plant-based shredded cheese, or plant-based sour cream.
Creamy Oil-Free Avocado Cilantro Dressing:
- 1/2 of an avocado
- 1/2 cup canned coconut milk
- 1/2 cup water
- 1/2 cup fresh cilantro
- 1 garlic clove
- Juice of 1 lime
- 1-2 slices of jalapeño (optional)
- Salt to taste
Start by adding half an avocado to a blender, along with coconut milk (or your favorite unsweetened plant-based milk) and water. Season with fresh garlic, salt, and fresh cilantro. If you like a bit of a kick, or feel extra daring, add a couple of slices of jalapeño and a pinch of crushed red pepper. Blend until smooth and chill in the fridge until ready to use.
Call to Action
The rainbow of colors in this Taco Salad reminds me of the rainbow promise that God gave Noah after our world was destroyed by the flood:
"I set My rainbow in the cloud, and it shall be for the sign of the covenant between Me and the earth. It shall be, when I bring a cloud over the earth, that the rainbow shall be seen in the cloud; and I will remember My covenant which is between Me and you and every living creature of all flesh; the waters shall never again become a flood to destroy all flesh" (Genesis 9:13-15).
It’s comforting to remember that one day God will make this earth new again, free from sin forever (Nahum 1:9). The colorful, vibrant beauty of the New Jerusalem will be more stunning than anything we can currently imagine, filling us with an eternal joy and peace.
"Now I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away. Also there was no more sea. Then I, John, saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from heaven saying, “Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people. God Himself will be with them and be their God. And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away” (Revelation 21:1-4).
Will you invite Jesus into your heart right now, and ask Him to be your Friend, Savior, and the Lord of your life?
All scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
