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Ground Beef Taco Salad

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All the ingredients before mixing

Meat and dressing before mixing together

Salsa and sour cream before mixing together

Salad, meat and dressing tossed together

Ground Beef Taco Salad

Taco salad has been a bit of a lifesaver for me over the years. When I first developed my Taco Seasoning Mix, it quickly became the foundation for all sorts of Tex-Mex inspired meals, but this salad is the one I come back to time and again. It’s fast, flexible, and feels like proper comfort food even though it couldn’t be simpler to throw together.

The beauty of this recipe is in the balance. Extra-lean ground beef (or chicken or turkey, if you prefer) gets a boost of flavour from the seasoning mix, and that becomes the star of the dish. From there, everything else is about convenience: a bag of garden salad mix for crunch, a generous dollop of fat-free sour cream, and a spoon or two of your favourite store-bought salsa to act as a dressing. That’s it — and about 20 minutes, you’ve got a meal that feels like it took much longer.

For On-Protocol weeks, this has become one of my go-to lunches. It’s loaded with protein, packed with vegetables, and very light on carbs and fat, which makes it fit perfectly within the plan without ever feeling like “diet food.” And the best part is that it scales beautifully. If you’re not strictly on-plan, you can make it more substantial with a handful of shredded cheese, a scoop of guacamole, some beans, or a few tortilla chips crumbled over top. Wrap it all up in a flour tortilla, and you’ve suddenly got yourself a hearty burrito.

It’s quick, it’s adaptable, and it always hits the spot — whether you’re keeping things lean and disciplined, or making taco night a little more indulgent. For me, it’s proof that healthy eating doesn’t need to be complicated, and that the right blend of flavours can make even the simplest meals worth looking forward to.

Ingredients

500 grams extra lean ground beef (substitute for ground chicken or turkey if you prefer)
1 recipe of Taco Seasoning Mix
1/4 cup fat free sour cream
1/4 cup store-bought salsa (see Notes)
500 grams store-bought garden salad mix (or equivalent prepared salad greens, etc.)

Optional Garnishes / Toppings:

  • Shredded cheese

  • Guacamole

  • Chopped fresh cilantro

  • Salsa fresca / pico de gallo

  • Beans (black or pinto)

  • Tortilla strips or chips

  • Hot sauce

Method

  1. Cook off ground meat with Taco Seasoning Mix according to the directions in that recipe

  2. In a large mixing bowl, combine sour cream, salsa and cooked, seasoned meat (it’s best to do this while the meat is still warm)

  3. Either toss salad mix thoroughly with mixture in the bowl, or portion the salad mix out and serve the meat and sauce mixture over top (I prefer it all tossed together).

  4. Garnish with any optional toppings you like, and enjoy!

Nutritional Info (makes 2 Large servings)

Note: this does NOT include any optional garnishes or toppings

Full Recipe

  • Calories: ~666 kcal

  • Protein: 89.2 g (~356.8 kcal, ~54% of total calories)

  • Fat: 19.8 g (~178.2 kcal, ~27% of total calories)

  • Total Carbohydrate: 30 g

    • Fiber: ~14 g

    • Net Carbohydrate: ~16 g (~64 kcal, ~10% of total calories)

Per Serving (½ Recipe)

  • Calories: ~333 kcal

  • Protein: 44.6 g (~178.4 kcal, ~54% of calories)

    • Palm‑Size Portions of Protein: ~1.5–2.5 palms

  • Fat: 9.9 g (~89 kcal, ~27% of calories)

    • Thumb‑Size Portions of Fat: ~0.5–1 thumbs

  • Total Carbohydrate: 15 g

    • Dietary Fibre: ~7 g (Women < 50: 25–28% | Men < 50: 21–23% | Women > 50: 32% | Men > 50: 25%)

    • Net Carbohydrate: 8 g (~32 kcal, ~10% of calories)

      • Cupped‑Palm Portions of Net Carbs: ~0.5 palms

  • Fist-Sized Portions of Non‑Starchy Vegetables: ~2.5 per serving

This nutritional analysis is an estimate only, based on available knowledge regarding the nutritional content of the individual ingredients. Nutritional content of foods is HIGHLY variable, so you should always base your dietary intake on whether it meets your needs and progresses you towards your goals rather than any theoretical numbers on paper.

Notes and Options

  • RE: store-bought salsas, this can be a jarred salsa like Herdez or Cholula, or fresh prepared salsa from your grocery store’s deli section. Either way, look for one without any added sugar, beans, corn, etc. to keep the calorie impact low. The nutritional info is based on Herdez Casera Salsa (medium).

  • While I almost always prefer my Tex-Mex Shredded Beef for actual tacos, burritos, etc., it doesn’t seem to work well with this recipe. I think this is likely because the flavour is either locked into the beef itself or contained in the liquid, whereas with the ground beef, the seasoning mix is present on the surface of the meat and transfers better to become part of the “dressing” with the sour cream and salsa.