20-Minute Taco Salad {Quick & Easy Recipe}

It’s Tuesday. One child has soccer practice, while the other has a middle school parent event meeting thing. Finally, a third kid is running around naked, refusing to wear clothes because he is potty training.

Hello and welcome to my life as of late! So soccer season is underway, the big kids are back at school, and my toddler/preschooler is naked potty training (not by my choice). Even more, I’m also enrolled in college again, so I’m trying to balance schoolwork as well.

Dinner is definitely not my favorite part of the day on days where every person in the house has something going on. Hence, why I started this series of quick and easy meals!

On busy days, I don’t want to be in my kitchen for two hours making something painstakingly from scratch. I just want to grab some stuff and throw it together. Thankfully the internet is a treasure trove of mostly homemade recipes that take fewer than 30 minutes to make.

This taco salad recipe can be made in under 30 minutes and is also great for any family members who may be on a low carb diet (like my husband). It’s pretty much as easy as making tacos. You cook the meat of your choice and assemble. I added cucumber and cilantro to the mix because I had it on hand. So that is absolutely a plus of making a salad: add what your family wants!

(Print)

What you need:

• 1 lb. ground beef, turkey, or chicken
• salt and pepper, to taste
• 2 Tbsp. taco seasoning or 1 packet taco seasoning
• 1/4 cup water
• 8 cups romaine lettuce, chopped
• 1 can (15 oz.) black beans, rinsed and drained
• 1 can (15 oz.) corn, drained
• 1 cup cherry or grape tomatoes, halved
• 1 cup grated cheddar cheese
• 1 large avocado, sliced or diced
• 1 cup salsa
• sour cream, if desired

Directions:

1. Cook and crumble ground beef in a large skillet over medium heat. Then season with salt and pepper and drain off excess grease.
2. Add taco seasoning and water. Simmer for 5 minutes until water is mostly gone.
3. Assemble the salad by dividing lettuce, beans, corn, tomatoes, cheese, and avocado. Then top with beef and salsa. Top with sour cream, if desired.
4. Serves 4.

Recipe from Kristine’s Kitchen Blog.

Before you go, don’t forget to let me know if you try this out and if it made your night a little easier!

Also before you go, be sure to check out Leah’s Back to School Sanity Savers and Lindsay’s Lunch Box Hero posts. These two posts will be your best friends for the crazy back to school time. And yes, even a month in, it’s still crazy and hectic, but not too late to get into a better routine!