Real Recipes From Real Home Cooks ®

mom's taco salad

(5 ratings)
Blue Ribbon Recipe by
Debby DeRousse
Houston, TX

My mother made this for our rather large family in the hot summers back in the early 70's. I enjoyed it then as well as today.

Blue Ribbon Recipe

This taco salad has simple ingredients, but when you put everything together it creates a really tasty salad. We loved the crunch and flavor of the Fritos - it's a little different than the average tortilla chip. Traditionally taco salads have black beans and we loved the use of pinto beans instead. All the other ingredients are toppings you love on taco salad. This is a quick salad to throw together when you're not sure what to do for dinner. Your whole crew will love this, we did.

— The Test Kitchen @kitchencrew
(5 ratings)
yield 4 serving(s)
prep time 20 Min
method Stove Top

Ingredients For mom's taco salad

  • 1 lb
    ground beef
  • 1 pkg
    taco seasoning
  • 1
    head of lettuce, rinsed and torn into bite-size pieces
  • 1 can
    pinto beans, 15.5 oz.
  • 1
    small onion, chopped
  • 1
    tomato, chopped
  • 1 pkg
    Fritos
  • 1 jar
    taco sauce
  • shredded cheese for garnish
  • avocado
  • sour cream

How To Make mom's taco salad

  • Browning ground beef and adding taco seasoning.
    1
    Brown ground beef and add taco seasoning as per directions on package.
  • Setting aside ground beef.
    2
    Set aside.
  • Draining and rinsing pinto beans.
    3
    Drain and rinse can of pinto beans and set aside in a separate dish.
  • Prepping all the ingredients.
    4
    Prepare all other ingredients and set aside in separate dishes. This is a layering process, so I just have all the ingredients lined up buffet style, grab a plate and build your salad.
  • Putting lettuce on a plate.
    5
    Grab a handful of lettuce and place on your plate.
  • Adding a handful of Fritos.
    6
    Then a handful of Fritos.
  • Topping with ground beef.
    7
    Add a couple spoonfuls of ground beef mixture.
  • Adding pinto beans.
    8
    Add a couple spoonfuls of pinto beans.
  • Adding all ingredients to the salad.
    9
    Then tomatoes, onions, and ending with some shredded cheese. Pour the desired amount of taco sauce over your salad and enjoy.
  • Adding optional sour cream and avocado.
    10
    You can also add chopped avocados and a dollop of sour cream if you like. This can feed at least 4 people easily, depending on how big of a salad you desire.
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