Perfect Low-Carb Taco Salad (for Weekend Food Prep)

This Perfect Low-Carb Taco Salad is something I never get tired of, and it’s ideal to prep on the weekend and eat all week for take-to-work lunches or quick dinners. Use Salad Recipes for more tasty salads like this one.

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Even though I’m always adding recipes to the Weekend Food Prep category, recently I realized that this Perfect Low-Carb Taco Salad is the thing I prep most often on the weekend to eat during the coming week, and I didn’t really have it posted anywhere, even though there are a few variations of Taco Salad on the blog. And of course, everyone has their own preferences about what makes a perfect Taco Salad, but lately this is the one I eat over and over!

I’m a long time fan of taco salad, and back in my South Beach Diet Days I would have called Kalyn’s Beef and Black Bean Taco Salad the perfect combination for Taco Salad. When I had to take a lunch to school that was one of the stand-by lunches that I’d always enjoy, even if I ate it several times in the same week. Now I’m watching my carbs more and I prefer taco meat without black beans, although I still like the spicy ground beef.

Usually I cook the beef for Perfect Low-Carb Taco Salad in a frying pan, then add spices and some hot sauce and water and let the meat simmer while I prep the other ingredients. But if I want to make a larger amount of meat I’ll make easy Slow Cooker Spicy Ground Beef Taco Meat and use it for this salad. That Slow Cooker Spicy Ground Beef recipe makes extra meat to go in the freezer, and the meat browns right in the slow cooker so you can do other things while it cooks.

The other things that make this a perfect taco salad for me are using a mixture of Iceberg and Romaine lettuce, using a generous amount of Ranch Dressing, and topping the salad with black olives, Mexican three cheese blend, and diced avocado. I usually skip tomatoes to avoid the added carbs, but you can add them if you’d like. If you have other ingredients that would make this salad even more perfect for you, share them in the comments!

Preparing the Meat for Perfect Low-Carb Taco Salad:

1. Heat some oil in the frying pan, then crumble in the ground beef and cook until it’s well-browned.
2. Add the Spike Seasoning, Kalyn’s Taco Seasoning, Cholula Hot Sauce, and 2 cups of water and let it simmer until the water has mostly evaporated.
3. If you prefer (and want slightly more meat) you can make Slow Cooker Spicy Ground Beef Taco Meat to use in this recipe.
4. When the water is mostly evaporated, season meat with a little salt and fresh-ground black pepper and transfer the meat you’re not using right away to the size container you prefer and let it cool to go in the fridge or freezer.

Preparing Lettuce for Perfect Low-Carb Taco Salad:

1. I’m emphatic about using a Salad Spinner to prepare the lettuce for Taco Salad. (You can find them all the time in thrift stores if you don’t want to spend much money on one.)
2. I like a mixture of Romaine Lettuce and Iceberg Lettuce for Taco Salad.
3. Tear the Romaine Lettuce apart with your fingers into small pieces, then soak in ICE COLD water in the salad spinner for a few minutes. Then remove the water and spin so it’s as dry as you can get it. Transfer to a bowl.
4. Repeat the same process with the iceberg lettuce. Combine the two lettuce types in the bowl.
5. I use a large plastic storage container with a snap-tight lid to store the extra lettuce in the fridge. If you spin your lettuce quite dry it will stay crisp for at least a week.

Assembling Perfect Low-Carb Taco Salad:

1. When it’s time to assemble the Taco Salad, I am quite picky about how I do it.
2. Start by putting the lettuce mixture in a bowl (2 large handfuls lettuce mixture for each salad you’re making.) Toss the lettuce with desired amount of salad dressing. (For me it would always be Ranch Dressing, and I confess I use the version you make with buttermilk and a package mix most of the time, but see below for some other dressings that would be good on this salad.)
3. Then add desired amount of spicy beef (one cup per salad you’re making.) Toss the beef with the dressed lettuce until it’s well combined.
4. Sliced olives (which I buy in a can already sliced), Three Cheese Mexican Blend, and diced avocado are my three must-have toppings for my idea of perfect Taco Salad, but use any toppings you prefer.  Put salad in a bowl, add toppings of your choice, and enjoy.
5. Store extra toppings separately in the fridge to use on salads during the week.

This is literally a low-carb lunch or dinner option that I can eat over and over and never get tired of!

Salad Dressing Ideas for Perfect Low-Carb Taco Salad:

Cafe Rio Style Creamy Tomatillo Salad Dressing
Chipotle Ranch Dressing
Chile-Lime Dressing

Print Recipe

Perfect Low-Carb Taco Salad (for Weekend Food Prep)

Yield: 6 large salads

Total Time: 35 minutes

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Cook Time: 20 minutes

This Perfect Low-Carb Taco Salad is something I never get tired of, and it’s one of my favorite things to make for Weekend Food Prep.

Ingredients:

• 2 lbs. ground beef, thawed if frozen
• 2 tsp. olive oil (more or less, depending on your pan)
• 1 tsp. other all-purpose seasoning blend (see notes)
• 1/4 cup Taco Seasoning (see notes)
• 2 T hot sauce (or more, to taste. See notes.)
• 2 cups water
• salt and fresh-ground black pepper to taste
• 2 large heads Romaine Lettuce
• 1 large head Iceberg Lettuce
• 1 can (3.8 oz.) sliced olives, drained
• grated cheese (I use Three Cheese Mexican Blend from Costco)
• diced avocado
• dressing of your choice (I usually use Ranch Dressing)

Directions:

1. Heat the olive oil in a large frying pan over medium-high heat, then add the ground beef, breaking it apart with your fingers as you add it to the pan. Cook ground beef until it’s nicely browned, breaking apart with the turner as it cooks.
2. Add the Spike Seasoning, Kalyn’s Taco Seasoning, and Cholula Hot sauce with 2 cups water, stir, reduce the meat to medium low, and let the meat simmer until the water is almost all evaporated.
3. While the meat simmers, prepare the lettuce. Tear Romaine Lettuce into small pieces with your hands, put in a Salad Spinner with ICE COLD water, and let the lettuce sit for a couple of minutes. Then remove water and spin the salad until it’s as dry as you can get it.
4. Remove Romaine Lettuce to a large bowl and repeat the tearing/soaking/spinning process with the Iceberg Lettuce. Combine the two types of lettuce in the bowl.
5. Prepare salad dressing, drain olives, get grated cheese, and dice the avocado.
6. When the liquid in the meat is all evaporated, season meat with salt and fresh-ground black pepper to taste and assemble the salad. Use about 2 big handfuls lettuce and 1 cup meat for each salad.
7. Put desired amount of lettuce into a bowl and toss with 2-3 T dressing.
8. Add desired amount of meat for how many salads you’re making and toss again, until meat is well-combined with the lettuce.
9. Put lettuce-meat mixture into a serving bowl and top with grated cheese, sliced olives, and diced avocado.
10. For Weekend Food Prep, store the taco meat into containers in the fridge or freezer. Store the lettuce in a large plastic container with a snap-tight lid. Store olives and cheese separately, and don’t dice the avocado until right before you’re going to eat the salad.

Notes:

I use Spike Seasoning, Kalyn’s Taco Seasoning, and Cholula Hot Sauce and  for this recipe.

If you prefer (and want slightly more meat) you can make Slow Cooker Spicy Ground Beef Taco Meat to use in this recipe. You’ll need 3 lbs. ground beef for that recipe.

Recipe perfected by Kalyn after years and years of making Taco Salad!

All images and text ©Kalyn Denny for Kalyn's Kitchen.

Low-Carb Diet / Low-Glycemic Diet / South Beach Diet Suggestions:
Perfect Low-Carb Taco Salad is a great dish for low-carb diet plans, and for any phase of the South Beach Diet. South Beach would recommend lean ground beef and reduced-fat cheese, and other low-carb diets would prefer higher-fat ingredients.

Find More Recipes Like This One:
Use the Recipes by Diet Type photo index pages to find more recipes suitable for a specific eating plan. You might also like to Follow Kalyn’s Kitchen on Pinterest to see all the good recipes I’m sharing there.

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