Taco Salad
Taco Salad, a quick and healthy dish with ground beef, taco seasoning, chili beans, and more, is perfect for a quick meal.
Taco Salad, a quick and healthy dish with ground beef, taco seasoning, chili beans, and more, is perfect for a quick meal.
- Carbohydrate 5.523415625 g
- Cholesterol 73.6067238125 mg
- Fat 17.430204625 g
- Fiber 1.3675000359863 g
- Protein 20.843956125 g
- Saturated Fat 9.688670734325 g
- Serving Size 1 1 Serving (209g)
- Sodium 414.724026775 mg
- Sugar 4.1559155890137 g
- Trans Fat 1.3492459383125 g
- Calories 262 calories
Step-by-step
- In a large skillet over medium-high heat, brown the ground beef and drain excess fat.
- Stir in the taco seasoning, chili beans and French-style dressing.
- Fill the dressing bottle 2/3 full of water and add to the skillet.
- Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer for 15 minutes.
- Crush the bag of chips, open the bag, and toss the broken chips into a large bowl with the lettuce, cheese and tomatoes.
- When the meat mixture is done, combine it with the lettuce, tomatoes, chips and mix well.
- Then, add salsa and sour cream.
Unlike a traditional hand-held taco wrapped tightly in a corn or flour tortilla, this deconstructed iteration disperses its textures across a wide bowl. Cooking ground beef requires careful attention to visual cues rather than guessing with a thermometer. Brown the meat thoroughly over medium-high heat until the pink color vanishes entirely and deep mahogany crusts form on the skillet floor, indicating the Maillard reaction has developed savory complex compounds.
Simmering the beef alongside chili beans and French-style dressing creates a distinct chemical interplay between proteins, starches, and emulsified fats. The tomato paste base in the French dressing contains acetic acid that tenderizes the beef fibers, while soybean oil and sugar emulsify with the starches released from the simmering beans to form a cohesive coating sauce rather than a watery pool.
Drain any excess rendered fat prior to adding the seasoning packet to prevent the final sauce from breaking into an oily slick. Maintain a gentle simmer for precisely fifteen minutes so the liquid reduces by half, concentrating the spices without scorching the tomato solids at the bottom of the pan.
Toss the crushed tortilla chips into the greens just before serving to maintain structural crunch against the moisture of the tomatoes and warm meat. Iceberg lettuce provides high water content that balances the heavy sodium levels of the packaged seasonings and cheese.
