TACO SALAD with Homemade Crispy Baked Tortilla Bowls, Taco Seasoning, & Salsa Ranch Dressing

hello there and welcome back to happily  home cooking today we are making one of   our family's favorite salads taco salad even  my kids love this because unlike most salads   our taco salads are loaded up with delicious  toppings and of course there are probably a   thousand different ways to make a good taco salad  but today i'm going to be showing you some of   our favorite toppings along with the homemade  taco seasoning i used to season our taco meat   a quick salsa ranch dressing and how we make  some homemade crispy baked tortilla shell bowls   they're just as good as the ones you'd  get at your favorite mexican restaurant   but with no frying oil they are healthier and even  easier so if you are ready for some new ideas on   how to maybe spice up your taco tuesday or taco  salad tuesday make sure you are subscribed to   our channel and then stay with me and i'm going  to show you how we make our homemade taco salads so we'll start off by preparing  our homemade taco seasoning   using some spices that you most  likely already have at home in a mason jar or just a plastic container is  fine we'll start with a half a cup of chili powder   three tablespoons of onion powder three  tablespoons instant minced onion two tablespoons   of sea salt two tablespoons of cumin one  tablespoon of garlic powder and one tablespoon of paprika pop on a lid and give it a good  shake to thoroughly combine all those   spices and that's all done and this recipe  will make more than you need for our taco   salads today so you'll have plenty left over  for the next time you want to make tacos too   i have also made this many many times without the  instant minced onion and it's also very very good   so if that's not something that  you have or like you can omit the   instruments onion and instead just add  one extra tablespoon of onion powder   so now the next thing that we'll prepare is  our salsa ranch dressing first we'll make   our ranch according to the hidden valley ranch  seasoning mix we're adding one cup of mayonnaise and one cup of milk along with three tablespoons of the ranch mix if you have never tried the ranch mix that you  mix together at home like this i'd highly highly   recommend it we really think that it just tastes  so so much better than the pre-mixed store-bought   stuff in a bottle definitely worth the  extra two minutes of time it takes you   so good once we've added those ingredients into  our bowl we're just going to give it a quick   whisk to combine them all together  until our ranch starts to thicken up and once it's nice and  thick transfer it into a jar   now we'll just add in a few tablespoons  of your favorite salsa and there you   have a salsa ranch dressing quick and easy but  definitely a great addition to our taco salad if you have a favorite recipe for either  homemade salsa or your own homemade ranch   dressing mix i would love it if you would leave  it in the comments i know i would love to try   it and i'm sure a lot of other people would as  well i have tried making my own ranch dressing   from scratch before and i just haven't found  the right recipe for me so for us this hidden   valley mix is still at the top of the charts but  i would love it if somebody has something homemade   this way certainly is quick  and easy and it definitely adds   great flavor to our homemade taco salads   so next we'll prepare our meat i'm going to be  using ground beef that's our go-to meat for tacos   and taco salads but of course you could do steak  or chicken whatever your favorite is we're just   going to cook up our meat real quick i'm going  to break this up as i brown it in a large skillet once it's all browned i'm going to drain off the  grease i do have this great little strainer that i   use a lot of the times but when it comes to taco  meat for some reason i like to be stubborn and   kind of play taco meat roulette trying to drain  off the grease without letting it fall into the   bowl is always a fun challenge all right so now  back on the stove we're going to add in our taco   seasoning to our meat that has now been drained we  like to add about two tablespoons of our homemade   taco seasoning per pound of meat and of course  you don't have to use a homemade taco seasoning   there is nothing wrong with buying a pre-mixed  seasoning no judgments here do whatever you like we're going to stir that together real  quick to disperse all of our seasoning and then we'll add in just a bit of water just  enough to make it moist but not soupy i usually   add somewhere around maybe a quarter to a third  of a cup you'll as you mix it around it will   kind of absorb into the meat and i look for just a  little bit of liquid left in the bottom of the pan i think i'm going to use a little  bit more today and that should do it once that water is all mixed into our meat  and seasonings i'm just going to turn this   heat down to low and let it simmer for about  10 minutes or so and then this is ready to go now for the fun part we're going to make our easy  taco shell bowls you don't need a special pan or   anything just grab yourself a bowl that is about  the size that you'd like your tortilla bowl to be   and we're going to place a piece of heavy duty  aluminum foil molding it over the back of the bowl   then we'll place it onto a baking sheet  and i'll make one more i can squeeze   two of these onto one baking sheet  after scouring the internet this is   the easiest method that i found  and honestly it works out great now we'll take our tortillas which you  want to be nice and soft and pliable   so either have them at room temperature or  if you're pulling them out of the fridge   just pop them in the microwave for 10 seconds  or so just to soften them up we're going to   brush these lightly with a bit of oil  i'm using avocado oil but any oil will do we're going to get them on both sides then we'll just place them over our heavy duty  aluminum foil domes we created and i'll gently   kind of pleat the sides uh just to guide  it into the sort of shape that we want   believe it or not this heavy duty foil is strong  enough to hold up to the weight of the tortillas   which is awesome i have a feeling that regular  aluminum foil might not be strong enough but if   you try it let me know i found this to  be the easiest way to get nice uniform   bowls without having to buy special taco  salad bowl pans or something like that then we're just going to pop these into the oven  and we'll give them a quick bake at 375 degrees   for about 10 minutes or so or until they are  a beautiful golden brown transfer them to a   cooling rack to let them cool down and these  will stay nice and crispy so you can do these   in advance if you like this nice and crispy  actually for a couple of days repeat to make   as many bowls as you like and this will be a  beautiful addition to your homemade taco salads   and now for all of the other yummy things that  make taco salads one of our favorites for lettuce   we like to use a combination of romaine and  iceberg we like to use some dark red kidney beans   our taco meat maybe some corn this is a great  use if you have leftover corn on the cob   some shredded cheese of your  choice we use a mexican blend   some sliced olives diced red bell pepper  we like to use some sliced radishes   and i like to add a little something spicy some  sliced pepperonis or jalapenos tomatoes of your   choice i love grape tomatoes some diced fresh  avocado and maybe some sliced green onions if   you have some other favorite ingredient additions  i would love to hear them share them with us in   the comments these are just some of our favorites  to make serving dinner easy do a taco bar style   everyone can assemble their own salad with the  toppings that they like and everyone will be happy don't forget to top it with your salsa ranch  dressing and everyone is in for a delicious   taco salad dinner this is one of the few times  i can serve only salad for dinner and hear   zero moans or groans from the kiddos and just  a side note if you don't want to make your   own taco bowl shells or don't have tortillas  on hand get yourself some tortilla chips or   some yummy little santa fe style tortilla strips  like these they are equally delicious or do both and that's how our family likes to enjoy our taco  salads these make an excellent weeknight dinner   or really for any time i hope we were  able to give you maybe some new ideas   to spice up your taco night thank you  so much for joining me make sure that   you are subscribed to our channel and turn  on your notifications so that you will get   notified when we upload our next delicious  family favorite recipe happy home cooking

Channel: Happily Homecooking

Views: 46,197

Keywords: Taco salad with homemade crispy baked tortilla bowls, Taco salad, tortilla bowls, tortilla bowl, fried tortilla bowls for taco salad, baked tortilla bowls for taco salad, diy tortilla bowl, tortilla bowls for taco salad, diy taco salad bowl, homemade taco seasoning recipe, homemade taco seasoning, how to make taco seasoning, how to make taco salad, Taco seasoning, dressing for taco salad, dressing for taco salad recipe, Taco salad recipe, easy taco salad, Taco salad shells

Id: jYjefJYkHC4

Length: 11min 17sec (677 seconds)

Published: Mon Apr 11 2022