The Best From-Scratch Taco Salad

I never thought a salad could have it so good, but this homemade taco salad was amazingly delicious! The most exciting part, at least for me anyways, is that the entire salad can be made from scratch and it is totally a modern pioneer recipe! From the homemade taco seasoning to the homemade dressing, everything about this taco salad is bursting with flavor, texture, and deliciousness. It truly is the best from-scratch taco salad I have ever had!

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Modern Pioneer Recipe

Like I already mentioned, this taco salad is the perfect example of a modern pioneer recipe! The only thing that doesn’t make it a traditional pioneer recipe is the fact that the early pioneers didn’t have too many salads, at least that I have found records of! For one, fresh produce would have been hard to transport over the trail. Although, once settled, the pioneers did have to grow all of their vegetables. Also, the early pioneers probably did not make taco seasoning or dressings to add to their meals. That’s more of a modern pioneer thing to do.

With that being said though, all of those extras can be made from scratch (instead of store bought) and you can even grow a lot of your own ingredients to make the salad with! Or, if you’re like me and can’t grow fresh salad fixings all year round, then you can at least buy organic, locally grown produce to make your salads with.

Not only is this salad composed of ‘from-scratch’ ingredients, but the ingredients are also wholesome and nutritious for you! What more could you expect from a salad… obviously the name just rings with healthy vibes, but that’s not always the case for all salads.

For this taco salad though, it rings true! Healthy ingredients and from scratch toppings make this salad allergy-friendly and compliant with many anti-inflammatory, disease preventing diets! This from-scratch taco salad is…

• grain-free
• nut free
• gluten-free
• corn free
• egg free
• dairy-free
• soy free

I actually do enjoy a good salad, and taco salads are one of my favorites! However, another favorite salad of mine is grilled chicken salad, although it’s more of a summer meal.

Not Just the Salad

I’m sure you’re are tired of hearing me say everything about this salad can be made from scratch. However, I was just sooo excited to be able to successfully make a homemade taco seasoning that my whole family liked! I was also super pumped that my homemade Catalina dressing turned out amazingly delicious too!

You see, my family has special preferences on taco seasonings. My mom likes taco seasonings that are simple, not too spicy, and don’t contain extra ingredients like sugar or rice flour. My dad on the other hand, likes the spiciest taco seasoning you can find and likes taco seasonings that keeps the meat moist and makes it kind of bind together (often from added flour to the seasoning mix). So, I had to go somewhere in between with my homemade taco seasoning.

Thankfully, my homemade taco seasoning turned out perfectly! The perfect amount of flavor to appeal to both parents and it created the perfect consistency taco meat that everyone enjoys! The meat stayed moist and was slightly bound together thanks to the tapioca flour I included in the spice blend. It was perfect!

As for the Catalina dressing, Anna and I have never really had Catalina dressing. It’s not a staple on our salads, however, our dad always has Catalina dressing on his taco salad, so we wanted to give it a try. I figured, how hard can it be to make a salad dressing!?

In fact, it wasn’t that hard at all, and this Cataline dressing recipe uses simple, wholesome ingredients that I always have on hand in my pantry or fridge. It had the perfect amount of sweetness to it and wasn’t an overpowering flavor on the salad. I think Anna and I may be converted over to Catalina-on-taco-salad fans!

To get the Cataline dressing recipe, you can download it for free when you join our modern pioneer newsletter community!

Taco (Salad) Bar

I think one reason why taco salad is such a huge hit in my family is because each family member can customize their salad to their preferences. Taco salad nights often turn into taco salad bar nights, with all the ingredients spread out over the table. It’s great though, because everyone gets to fix a dinner salad that is both healthy and one that they will enjoy eating!

When it comes to taco salads, there are some classic toppings that you more than likely have to include. Then there’s on-occasion toppings that you can add if you have them on hand. Lastly, if you want to get crazy with your salad, you can add whatever makes your salad more appealing to you!

Here are some of my family’s favorite taco salad fillings, keep in mind we like to mix and match, so our salads don’t usually contain all these items!

• organic, romaine lettuce
• baby green spring salad mix
• baby spinach
• organic carrots
• dairy-free, nut free cheese shreds (Daiya brand)
• grated raw cheddar cheese
• organic bread and butter pickles (home-canned is even better!)
• homemade salsa
• Beanfield’s nacho chips
• plantain chips (my favorite!)
• Banza chickpea pasta
• homemade Catalina dressing
• Bragg’s vinaigrette dressing

For the meat, our classic meat choice is ground venison, since we always have a stash of that in our freezer! However, I have also used ground turkey or ground beef works too!

If leafy green salads aren’t your style, then you may want to check out these healthy quinoa bowls, such as this Gluten-free Quinoa Bowl or this Spiced Quinoa Bowl! Who said you can’t make a quinoa salad!?

Or maybe you’re all for taco Tuesday, just not the salad part… then these grain-free tacos are just what you’re looking for! Or maybe you are neither into the taco nor the salad, don’t worry I still have a recipe for you! Check out these delicious grain-free breakfast ‘tacos’!

Salad Prep

Another great thing about taco salad made from scratch is that it is super easy to make up ahead of time, store, and bring camping! It is a super easy meal to make for busy days, to take on day trips, or make as a camping meal.

There are several ways you can turn this into a make-ahead-of-time meal. Here are a few things that I like to do to make prepping taco salad quick and easy!

• cook and prep the taco meat, let it cool, then freeze it for later
• cook the taco meat, divide it into glass canning jars, add salad fixings and store in the fridge for a quick, dump-on-your-plate meal
• have all your lettuce washed up ahead of time and store the washed leaves in a plastic container with some paper towel to absorb the moisture
• cut up any veggies or toppings ahead of time
• have several meals worth of homemade taco seasoning all made up
• cook up the pasta ahead of time and mix it in with the cooked taco meat

Taco salad is always a go-to meal when my mom is menu planning for a camping trip or we are trying to think of an easy meal to pack on a day trip.

Another quick and easy travel to prep ahead of time is this grain-free, gluten-free venison pasta salad!

Recipe Tips

From-scratch taco salad is a super easy meal to make, and honestly, I don’t know how you could go wrong. Salads are kind of hard to give recipe tips on, but I will give you a few pointers for when you make the homemade taco seasoning or Catalina dressing.

• The taco seasoning recipe makes enough for one batch of mildly spicy taco meat (one pound of meat).
• If you want more spice in your taco meat, increase the cayenne pepper and chili powder in the seasoning blend.
• Venison is a very dry meat, so may need to cut back on the added water if you are using a different kind of ground meat.
• Make sure you shake the Catalina dressing super well before adding it to your salad to ensure all the ingredients are sufficiently blended together.
• As the Catalina dressing sets in the fridge, it will firm up a bit, but a good shake prior to using will get it back to a pourable state.
• Taco meat is delicious served warm or cold!
• When making the Banza pasta, be careful not to undercook or overcook it, otherwise it gets clumpy. At a roaring bowl, it only take about 9 minutes to cook.

Now I can’t wait to share this amazing from-scratch taco salad recipe with you! Made with simple, wholesome ingredients and flavored with a homemade seasoning blend and homemade dressing, this modern pioneer salad can easily become anyone’s favorite way to have salad!

Where to Find the Ingredients

• Simply Organic chili powder
• Simply Organic paprika
• Bob’s Red Mill tapioca flour
• Simply Organic onion powder
• Simply Organic garlic powder
• Woodstock bread and butter pickles
• Simply Organic cumin
• Simply Organic cayenne pepper
• Inka plantain chips
• Beanfield’s nacho chips
• Banza chickpea shells
• Nutiva coconut sugar
• Supplies: 9″ cast iron skillet, small saucepan, stainless steel spatula, stainless steel strainer

This taco salad recipe is truly the best from-scratch taco salad I have ever had! In fact, it may be a new favorite salad for me! Who can complain about having a salad when it is bursting with flavor and you can add some of your favorite healthy toppings like plantain chips, chickpea pasta, and newly adored homemade Catalina dressing!? I had so much fun coming up with homemade recipe for both taco seasoning blend and dressing for this taco salad. I hope you give all the recipes a try!

For more from-scratch cooking and baking tips, make sure you’re a part of our weekly modern pioneer newsletter! We love sharing our allergy-friendly, from-scratch recipes with other modern pioneers!

by Alexa