- I have a recipe for
you today that is perfect for warmer days and busy
weeknights, and that's taco salad. It's loaded with crispy vegetables, perfectly seasoned ground
beef and classic taco toppings such as avocado, salsa and cilantro. It's all of the flavors of
a taco in healthy salad form and it's easily customizable with all of your favorite ingredients. So feel free to swap things up and I'll give you a few
ideas in the video as well. But I think what makes
this the best taco salad is the homemade taco seasoning
and the homemade salsa. And I'll show you how
to make both of those, so let's dive in. We'll start by making
the homemade salsa first, so that all of the flavors
have a little extra time to meld together. And trust me, once you make salsa at home, you'll never buy it from the store again because it's incredibly easy
and much more flavorful. Just toss two cloves of garlic
into your food processor along with half of an onion. And the food processor
will do most of the work, so I just chop the
onion into large chunks. Then, add one jalapeno or serrano pepper. And depending on how spicy you like it, you can remove the seeds
for a more mild salsa or keep some of the seeds
for a spicier salsa. And I just give this rough chop before adding it to the
food processor as well. I also like to add the garlic,
onion and jalapeno first because being closer to the blades means that they'll get thoroughly chopped and you won't have any
large chunks of them in the final salsa. Next up is cilantro, and you'll need about
half a cup of leaves, though I rarely measure and just use about half of a regular bunch. When it comes to the tomatoes, the debate between fresh
tomatoes and canned tomatoes can go on forever, but in my opinion I think
using canned tomatoes is best for the perfect
restaurant style salsa because unlike Pico de Gallo, which is a chunky salsa,
this style of salsa has a smoother consistency and texture. And if you buy fire roasted
tomatoes, which I do recommend, you get much more layered depth of flavor than you would from fresh tomatoes. So drain two 14 ounce cans of tomatoes as we don't want our salsa overly watery and add those to the food processor. To that you'll add one four
ounce can of green chilis, and you don't need to drain
this, so just add it on top. Then, squeeze half of a lime for a little zing and tanginess. And add half a teaspoon of salt. Add the lid to your food processor and pulse it in one to
two second increments until it reaches your desired texture. I like mine to have a
little bit of chunkiness but if you like yours more
liquidy, just blend it more. (upbeat music) You'll get about four cups
of salsa out of this recipe and I stored in my Weck
jars that are linked below and on my website. And also on my website, you'll find storage tips for this salsa, so make sure to check that out. Of course I have to do a quick taste test just to make sure it's perfect. But let's move on to the
homemade taco seasoning because this is another recipe
that I make all of the time and then store in my glass spice jars. It's just one tablespoon of chili powder, one teaspoon of cumin, one
teaspoon of garlic powder, a half a teaspoon of paprika,
a half a teaspoon of oregano, a half a teaspoon of salt, a half a teaspoon of black pepper, and a little pinch of cayenne pepper. Give that all a stir and
you've got the best homemade taco seasoning that's fresh and doesn't have junky fillers like those store bought options. I've always got this spice blend on hand because as you guys have seen, I tend to make a lot of
Mexican inspired recipes like today's taco salad. So now that our salsa
and seasonings are made, the rest comes together really fast. Just add one pound of ground beef to a pan on medium high heat and use a spatula to break
this up and brown the meat. I'm using ground beef that's 10% fat today so I don't have any
excess fat to drain off but if you do, just drain
that off as it cooks. (upbeat music) When the meat is about 80% done and there's still some juices in the pan, I'll add two tablespoons
of the taco seasoning and mix that together
until it's fully cooked. (upbeat music) The great thing about a taco salad is that it's completely customizable, so feel free to add your
favorite taco ingredients. I like black beans so I'll
drain and rinse those today but you could also use pinto beans or swap the beans for more
veggies like chopped bell pepper. And the same applies to the cheese. I do eat a little bit of dairy and enjoy a small sprinkle
of organic sharp cheddar but if you're dairy-free
you can leave this off. For the base of our taco salad, roughly chop up a large
head of Romaine lettuce. You could also use green leaf lettuce, ice berg lettuce or really
any type of lettuce. And I've even used spinach
in this recipe before. Next, slice in half or
quarters a cup or so of grape tomatoes or cherry tomatoes. Then, set those aside. And then dice a red onion. You only need about a quarter
cup of diced red onion. But when I've got half of an onion, I tend to just dice the whole thing so I only have to cry once. And then use the leftover in other recipes throughout the week. And lastly dice up one avocado because that creaminess I think
is an essential ingredient on anything that has taco in the name. Then, all that's left to do is assemble. So add a handful of
Romaine lettuce to a bowl. Top that with tomatoes and a
few spoonfuls of black beans. Add a portion of warm taco meat. And you'll be able to smell
all of the wonderful spices. Sprinkle on a little
cheese, if you so choose, and red onion. And of course, a small
handful of diced avocado. The finishing touches on this taco salad are the fresh salsa,
a dollop of sour cream and a squeeze of lime juice. Though a drizzle of my
recent lime crema recipe would also be delicious. And if you're dairy-free, check out my cashew sour
cream recipe on my website. A few leaves of cilantro top it off. And if you'd like to
keep it super healthy, you can eat it just like this. But if you'd like to add a few corn or cassava flour tortilla
chips, you can do that as well. This taco salad recipe
is perfect for summer. The whole family will love it. And you can set up a buffet-style taco bar for even more fun. I hope you guys enjoyed this recipe. And if you did, hit that thumbs up. Share the recipe with
your family and friends. And I will see you
again in the next video. (upbeat music)
