Upgrade your salad game and make a tasty Dorito Taco Salad with Catalina Dressing! This flavorful and hearty salad has ground beef, beans, cheese, lettuce, tomatoes, and Doritos tortilla chips tossed with creamy salsa and topped with Catalina dressing. Perfect for an exciting weeknight dinner. It’s a fiesta in a bowl that will leave you craving for more.
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Table of Contents
Doritos Taco Salad with Catalina Dressing
This Doritos taco salad with Catalina dressing is loaded with ground beef, kidney beans, cheese, and more. What makes this salad extra delicious is the addition of tortilla chips. It’s full of every texture – crisp, soft, and crunchy with a touch of sweetness and tanginess from the dressings.
You probably love salads, but let’s face it, they can become a bit boring. This Doritos taco salad definitely gets you out of the same old salad slump. Not only is it easy to make, but it’s delicious too!
Why You Should Try This Recipe for Taco Salad with Doritos
This Doritos salad is perfect for when you have a lot of friends over (just increase the ingredients as required), and there are unlikely to be any leftovers!
This taco salad with Doritos and Catalina dressing is sure to become one of your favorite easy dinners. It’s quick and easy to make, looks beautiful, and doesn’t heat up the house. This Tex-Mex dish is sure to please – whether out at a potluck or at home on your dinner table. Everyone will clean their plates – guaranteed!
This taco salad is perfect for summer when you don’t feel like turning on the oven. And it will almost certainly get your kids to eat their vegetables and come back for seconds!
Dorito Taco Salad With Catalina Dressing – Ingredients You Will Need
Here’s what you will need to make this Dorito taco salad recipe:
For the salad:
- Ground beef
- Red kidney beans
- Onion – White or red onions
- Iceberg lettuce
- Tomatoes
- Cheese
- Doritos chips
For the salad dressing:
- Pace Picante Salsa
- Mayonnaise
- Salt and pepper
Additional dressing for serving:
- Catalina salad dressing
What Is Catalina Dressing?
Catalina dressing is similar to French dressing but is thinner and redder because of its high ketchup content. You can buy ready-made Catalina dressing or make Catalina dressing.
How to Make Taco Salad with Doritos
Here are the simple steps to make this tasty Tex-Mex salad:
- Brown the ground beef and onion in a large skillet, add the kidney beans, and set the mixture aside to cool.
- Stir the salsa, mayonnaise, salt, and pepper together.
- Place the lettuce, chopped tomatoes, and cheese in a large bowl.
- Add the beef mixture and Doritos chips.
- Pour the salsa dressing over everything and toss to combine.
- Serve and drizzle Catalina Dressing over the top of the salad.
Recipe Notes and Tips
Make the dressing while the onion and beef are cooking and set it aside. Or prepare it ahead of time and keep it in the fridge.
It’s best not to add the Catalina Dressing to the other dressing as not everyone likes it.
To prevent soggy nacho chunks in leftovers, serve the Dorito chips on the side and let everyone add them to their individual portions.
Recipe Variations
There are endless ways to vary this taco salad recipe with Doritos. Here are some ideas:
- Meat: Substitute ground turkey or chicken for ground beef. A good way to use up leftover meat.
- Cheese: Shredded cheddar cheese is the classic addition to taco salad, but Monterey Jack, Colby Jack, Pepper Jack, or Mexican cheese blend all work well.
- Lettuce: Crunchy, cool, and crisp iceberg is perfect for this Doritos taco salad. However, you can use romaine lettuce or other types of lettuce if you prefer.
- Dressing: Swap out the Catalina Dressing for Thousand Island dressing, Western dressing, Ranch dressing, French dressing, or Green Goddess dressing.
- Veggies: Add some corn, chopped green onion, black olives, green peppers, or cucumber.
- Beans: Change up the beans – instead of kidney beans, you could opt for pinto beans or black beans.
- Seasoning: Prepare the ground beef with homemade taco seasoning or a packet of taco seasoning for extra Mexican flavor.
- Tortilla Chips: Instead of regular tortilla chips, try nacho cheese Doritos, Cool Ranch Doritos, or Chili/Cheese Fritos.
How to Serve Dorito Taco Salad
This Mexican salad is a hearty dish and can be served as a whole meal. It makes the perfect weeknight dinner for your family. That said, here are three easy sides that pair well with this dish:
Add your favorite taco toppings:
- Fresh avocado
- Green onions
- Black olives
- Jalapenos
- Sour cream
Don’t forget cocktails beforehand – Bloody Marys or Watermelon Margaritas. And, for a nonalcoholic drink, go with homemade lemonade.
How to Store Leftovers
Leftover Dorito taco salad will be good in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 3 days. However, if you have included the chips, be prepared for them to get soggy along with the lettuce.
This taco salad with Doritos and Catalina dressing does not lend itself to freezing – you will have a watery and mushy concoction when thawed.
Make Ahead
This Doritos salad can easily be made ahead of time. However, it’s best to prepare the individual components in advance but wait to toss the salad until just before serving.
More Mexican Salads
Popular Mexican Recipes
- Applebee’s Wonton Tacos
- Cafe Rio Chicken
- Dorito Casserole
- Fiesta Lime Chicken
- Sonic Frito Burrito
- Taco Bell Crunchwrap Supreme
- Taco Bell Enchrito
- Taco Soup
Check out more of my easy salad recipes and the best Mexican food recipes on CopyKat!
Thanks to JTill0915 for this salad recipe.
Dorito Taco Salad
Ingredients
Picante Dressing
- 16 ounces Pace Picante Sauce
- 1/2 cup mayonnaise
- salt and pepper to taste
Salad
- 1 cup chopped onion
- 1 pound ground beef
- 14 ounces red kidney beans drained
- 1 head iceberg lettuce chopped
- 2 tomatoes chopped
- 2 cups grated cheese
- 1 small package Doritos nacho chips broken
- 8 ounces Catalina salad dressing
Instructions
Picante Dressing
- Combine the picante sauce, mayonnaise, salt, and pepper in a medium bowl.
- Mix well and set aside.
Salad
- Sauté the onion and ground beef in a skillet over medium heat until the beef is browned. Drain.
- Add the kidney beans, mix well, and set aside to cool.
- When ready to serve, place the chopped lettuce in a large bowl.
- Add the beef mixture, tomatoes, cheese, and Doritos.
- Pour the picante dressing over the salad along with a small amount of Catalina dressing and mix well. Alternatively, you can serve the Catalina dressing on the side.
Sally
My family cleaned their plates. Finally.