Doritos Taco Salad (+Video)
Dorito Taco Salad is a huge favorite! A delicious combination of taco seasoned ground beef, Doritos, taco toppings and Catalina dressing.
A UNIQUE TACO SALAD RECIPE
This Doritos Taco Salad was one of those meals I ate a lot as a kid. I’m sure most of us kids who grew up in the 70’s and 80’s remember this one really well. I still make it often to this day! It’s a really flavorful salad and you can customize it in so many different ways! This taco salad is also perfect to set up as Taco Bar. Put out all the different ingredients and let guests make their own individual salads they way they like it!
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS:
Other toppings include: salsa, pinto beans, sliced olives, jalapeños and sliced green onions.
No you could use tortilla chips instead of the Doritos.
I feel like this really is a whole meal in one! However, if you’d really like a side, I would suggest Mexican cornbread, grilled corn or perhaps some Mexican rice.
You’ve got three good options. Catalina is my first choice. However, you could use French or Russian dressing since they are so similar.
You’ll usually see kidney beans or black beans. Pinto beans are another great option!
Leftovers can be stored in a covered container in the refrigerated for at lest one day. Keep in mind, the lettuce will get soggy. So if you are planning on leftovers, try to keep all the ingredients separate until you are ready to prepare.
INGREDIENTS NEEDED: (FULL RECIPE AT THE BOTTOM OF THE POST)
- ground beef
- taco seasoning
- water
- Doritos
- kidney beans or black beans
- cheddar cheese
- tomato
- Catalina or French dressing
- sour cream
HOW TO MAKE DORITOS TACO SALAD:
Brown and drain beef of excess grease.
Add packet of taco seasoning (whichever one is your favorite or make your own.) Add necessary water (following directions on back of package.) Let water reduce until the beef mixture is thick. Turn off heat.
Crush Doritos and place in a large bowl. Add in beef mixture. Then add in kidney beans, shredded lettuce, cheese and diced tomatoes.
Stir. Finally, drizzle with Catalina or French dressing.
Top each serving with sour cream.
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Originally published: January 2011
Updated and republished: May 2019
Doritos Taco Salad (+Video)
Ingredients
- 1 pound ground beef
- 1 packet taco seasoning
- ⅔ cups water, (or whatever amount the back of your packet of taco seasoning requires)
- 10.5 ounce bag Doritos (Nacho Cheese flavor)
- 15.5 ounce can dark red kidney beans or black beans, drained and rinsed
- ½ head Romaine or iceberg lettuce, shredded
- 1 block cheddar cheese, shredded
- 3 tomatoes, diced
- 8 ounce container sour cream
- 8 ounce bottle Catalina or French dressing (or to taste)
Instructions
- Brown and crumble ground beef in a medium skillet. Once cooked, drain excess grease
- Add packet of taco seasoning and water.
- Let water reduce until the beef mixture is thick. Turn off heat.
- Crush Doritos and place into a large bowl.
- Next add in taco beef mixture.
- Then add beans, shredded lettuce, cheese and diced tomatoes.
- Then lightly drizzle with Catalina dressing. Stir well.
- Serve topped with sour cream.
Video
Notes
- Use as much dressing as you prefer. I usually start with half a bottle and add more from there until you get it how you like it.
- This is great to double to feed a larger crowd. Make a taco salad bar! Let your guests create their own taco salad combinations!
- Other toppings include: salsa, pico de gallo, pinto beans, sliced olives, jalapeños and sliced green onions and guacamole.
- Sliced cherry or grape tomatoes can be used.
Nutrition
Nutritional Disclaimer
“The Country Cook” is not a dietician or nutritionist, and any nutritional information shared is an estimate. If calorie count and other nutritional values are important to you, we recommend running the ingredients through whichever online nutritional calculator you prefer. Calories and other nutritional values can vary quite a bit depending on which brands were used.
This recipe looks super yummy and I am anxious to try it. Could you tell me what size bag of Doritos you use? Thank you 🙂
Hi Sally! You can use however little or however much you like in this recipe. Some people love a ton of Doritos while others prefer more lettuce. I generally just pick up the 9 ounce bag. 🙂
I am a complete Dorito addict and I’ve been craving them all day, and then I see this pop up! I will definitely be trying this as it sounds like the perfect meal for me if I’m honest. I’m super excited to try this recipe! Thanks so much for sharing.
Emily
Same here! Ha! Thank you Emily!
This is just how I make mine minus the dressing, which I think I will try next time ! Thanks for sharing.The photos look delicious and inviting. Happy Thanksgiving !
This a a favorite with us. I use Catalina on taco’s as well. Also, I prefer Fritos to Doritos in the recipe.
Exactly how I prepare my taco salad. Works well for a buffet. Make up the meat mixture ahead of time. Chop and grate other items, cover and store in the refrigerator until time to warm up the meat mixture and set the buffet table. This is a great recipe!
Thanks for sharing your taco salad recipe. I’m going to make this the next time my son comes to visit. He loves Mexican food and I like it too, but not too spicy.
Does the calories reflect the serving amount or for the entire dish?
The calories are just my best guess for a serving amount. There are websites you can go to online where you plug in all the ingredients and it will tell you a rough estimate of calories. Unfortunately it does change based on the exact type of ingredients as well as the size of your serving.
My family loves Taco Salad, but we kick it up a notch by serving it with Cheese Dip poured over the top. We make a cheese dip that has a basic roux as a starter, then a pound of velveeta melted into that along with some shredded cheddar. Then we add a can of Rotel tomatoes with green chilies (pureed in the blender first. It is delicious!
Never had a taco salad without lettuce of some kind, interesting.
A family favorite, we mix half Catalina and half taco sauce or salsa for the dressing. Delish!
I'm salivating!!!! Love me some taco salad!! I'd throw in some black beans, too and use my fave healthy Tex-mex "dressing" of equal parts plain Greek yogurt and verde salsa… Yum! I'll make this soon, Brandi. Thanks
Blessings,
Leslie
Great recipe! I make this every so often, but when they have a throw back & the original Taco flavored Dorito's are available, I make sure to make this!
I like to toss the kidney beans in with the meat & let them cook a little with the taco seasoning.
I got the recipe from my cousin, she brings it to family gatherings, I always look forward to hers, made the same, but hers just always seems better.
My grown children's families come home on Christmas Eve to exchange presents & we like to have a few appetizers & things, this will be part of it this year! Thank you! Diana
Never tastes right to me if you don’t use Taco flavored Doritos!
I have always used Fritos and Catalina Dressing and pinto beans on my Taco Salado. My boys always said I was burnin' them out with that recipe. Funny that those guys always ate every bite!
Hi All, love your site. I always add the juice from a can of Hunts brand (personal favorite) diced tomatoes to the taco seasoning ground meat mixture when cooking instead of water. It adds another great layer of flavor,besides I will be using the canned tomatoes, unless I have summer fresh tomatoes in the recipe topping. Brandie looking forward to trying more of your recipes. You have great instructions and photos!!
My Mom used to make this same taco salad but instead of Catalina dressing, used a mayo/ketchup dressing. So good!!
My Mom used to make this but instead of Catalina dressing, she used a mayo & ketchup combo! So good!
I make Taco salad with these same ingredients except I omit the doritos and mix Fritos in with the entire salad.
Everyone always wants the recipe and their's never any leftovers.
I grew up having pretty much this same dish minus the Catalina and the kidney beans replaced with chili beans. We just called this tacos. It was an easier, somewhat cheaper version of tacos to serve to a family of 5. So much easier than stuffing taco shells. The beans also helped to make the meat go further. I still make this today, except I sometimes add a cheese sauce on top.
Awesome – just found your site and have bookmarked a bunch of recipes! I was a navy brat too, and we also made the same recipe – but with thousand island dressing – and it was tossed together. Looks dreadful but oh so yummy!
We make something similar to this pretty often. I add 1 can of Bush's Chili Magic beans to my cooked meat and we have it over Fritos sometimes, sometimes tortilla chips – with whatever toppings people like. Haven't ever tried with Catalina dressing before – I'll have to try that.
We love taco salad only instead of Doritos, it has to be Fritos. We always use the Catalina dressing too!
I like how taco salad can be made to fit what you have to add to the basic salad.
Love, lovr, love taco salad. For anyone who is not stoo crazy about french dressing, try thousand island dressing, regular or lo calorie..yummy!
This is how we make taco salad too, but with grnd turkey.
I love Taco Salad too! We always made ours with Fritos
We love this taco salad