Keto Taco Salad with Ground Beef

A keto taco salad is a great dinner option, whether it’s Taco Tuesday – or any other night you want a quick meal that’s low in carbs, but high in taste.

The best part about this easy low carb taco salad is it has so much flavor. That makes it easy to ditch a high carb taco shell in favor of a keto taco salad bowl instead! Plus, this quick and easy layered taco salad recipe is a recipe your whole family will love.

 

Is Taco Salad Healthy?

Many taco salad bowl recipes are calorie bombs waiting to explode. While most basic taco salad ingredients are generally healthy, all of the taco salad add-ins start to add up!

When you order a large salad bowl from a restaurant whose “healthy taco salad recipe” includes toppings like black beans, tortilla strips, plus all of the fixings – you’re looking at taco salad calories upwards of 1,100 – 1,620+ for what you thought was the healthy choice.

And we haven’t even touched on carbs yet! These same salads have somewhere between 52 and 93 grams of carbs. IN. A. SALAD. 🤯

 

Is Taco Salad Keto Friendly?

While traditional taco salads are carb-traps in bowl form, a keto taco salad recipe is a great option when you skip the high-carb add-ins.

In fact, a healthy taco salad is even better than traditional low carb tacos since you’re not tempted with “healthy” meal additions, like low carb tortillas or low carb tortilla chips. While these products are marketed as keto-friendly, that’s not what she said!

And by she, I mean the girl who can’t lose weight on keto no matter how hard she tries – not whoever Micheal Scott is referring to in pretty much every episode of The Office.

Real food that’s low in carbs = keto weight loss gold!

Highly processed “keto-friendly” products = keto weight loss stall!

 

Ground Beef Taco Salad Ingredients

If you’re in search of lazy keto meals with ground beef, you just struck keto gold! After all, the ingredients list is simple, plus this easy taco salad takes less than 20 minutes to make!

 

Ground Beef:

For the low carb taco meat, choose a higher fat meat like an 80/20 cut. Steer clear of ground turkey and lean ground beef options since all of that flavorful fat is helpful with weight loss on a ketogenic diet.

If you’re giving me the side eye because you truly prefer leaner cuts over higher fat versions, Lucy – you’ve got some ‘splaining to do. On second thought, let me explain.

Oftentimes, preferences for lean meat is the result of poor digestion. Before my digestion was up to par, even the thought of a delicious ribeye steak made me nauseous. Once I worked to improve digestion, voila – my cravings for a juicy ribeye returned!

The same thing goes with other high fat foods on keto. If you can’t stomach higher fat options, put in the work to improve your digestion. Since proper digestion is the only way to make your keto results stick long term, the work is completely worth it.

Speaking of getting the best results on keto, it’s also best to choose organic, grass-fed beef. If you have trouble sourcing high quality beef near you, check out Butcher Box. They’ll deliver high quality meat right to your doorstep each month.

 

The Salad Base:

Whew – I sure had a lot to say about ground beef 😂 Let’s keep this next part brief.

The base of this simple layered taco salad is made up of sour cream and taco seasoning. While I won’t lecture you again about the importance of high quality ingredients on keto, just know it’s a good idea to make homemade taco seasoning whenever possible.

I mean, have you even checked out the ingredients on your grocery store taco seasoning yet? Things like corn starch, maltodextrin, partially hydrogenated soybean oil, silicon dioxide, sunflower oil, and ethoxyquin don’t belong in a healthy diet, mmm-kay?

Heck – I don’t even know what that last one is, but I can tell you it doesn’t belong anywhere near your food! (OK – so it’s a preservative used in pet foods. Google is my friend).

At the very least, choose a store bought taco seasoning not only based on the net carbs – but always double check the ingredients list too.

 

Veggies:

My favorite toppings for this easy taco salad recipe include shredded lettuce, cheddar cheese, diced tomatoes, and onions.

While chopping romaine lettuce from scratch is best (since leafy greens contain more nutrients), I sometimes pick up a bag of shreds if I know I have a busy day and won’t have much time for taco salad meal prep.

While I add only onions and tomatoes to my easy taco salad recipe, please understand that doesn’t mean you’re limited to only these fresh toppings in your salad.

Feel free to test out your favorite taco toppings with this recipe. Diced green onions, bell peppers, and black olives are all wholesome ingredients that could take this healthy keto taco salad to the next level!

 

Cheese:

If you’re sensitive to dairy like yours truly, you’ve got two options here:

Option #1: This is the option I chose for years … and I’m warning it’s not the fun choice. But if cheese leads you to a keto weight loss stall, or causes other health issues, the best thing to do is to let the cheese stand alone. (AKA, leave it off the salad).

Option #2: This is my most favorite option because it means I finally get to eat cheese on keto! Pick up a block of raw cheddar from a store like Sprouts, and use a shredder to grate your own cheese.

Before finding this option, any hint of dairy made my nose run and my weight loss stall. Since eating more raw dairy options, I get to eat ALL. OF. THE. CHEESE! (Well, as long as it’s a raw version).

 

How to Make Taco Salad

First, brown ground beef over medium-high heat in a frying pan. Break it up with a wooden spatula, and allow it to brown – just as you would with regular taco meat.

While the meat browns, meal prep the toppings. Slice, dice, and chop any of the veggies you plan to use as taco salad ingredients. Set aside until you’re ready to put the salad together.

Once the meat is browned, top with 1 oz of taco seasoning and 3/4 cup of water. Stir to combine, and then bring to a boil. Then reduce the mixture to simmer for 5-10 minutes. This helps the Mexican food flavor soak into the meat.

While you wait for the meat to simmer, mix the remaining taco seasoning into the sour cream in a small bowl. If you typically serve keto recipes family style, then transfer the sour cream mixture onto a large plate and flatten it with a large spoon.

Want individual servings instead? Then spoon the sour cream evenly on 4 separate plates.

Next, layer the plates with shredded lettuce…

cooked ground beef…

your favorite toppings…

and shredded cheese.

Then devour the whole thing! (Or perhaps you should share with your family too 😉)

 

Keto Taco Salad FAQ’s

 

Low Carb Taco Salad Wrap Up

This simple low-carb taco salad is a favorite keto recipe in my household. It’s also one of my most popular recipes … and for good reason! It’s so easy to make, plus it tastes so fresh!

The fact that you also get to lose weight with delicious recipes like this – how can you not love it?

If you enjoy this ground beef taco salad recipe, I bet you’ll also love my buffalo ranch taco salad. The taco salad dressing combines creamy ranch with buffalo sauce for a great recipe you can serve hot or cold.

Miss the drive thru on your keto diet? This simple Big Mac Salad burger bowl doesn’t disappoint!

Since you’ll probably make this keto recipe on a regular basis, go ahead and save it to your easy keto ground beef recipes Pinterest board. Please share it on social media too.

Keep scrolling for the recipe card and nutritional information.

 

Weight Loss Made Easy

If you’re new to keto, or you struggle with weight loss on low carb – don’t miss our Keto Masterclass. This free training talks about 3 big mistakes so many keto dieters make that keeps them stuck.

These are the same myths that kept me stuck in yo-yo diets for decades. After following the strategies in the masterclass, I lost over 100 pounds – a weight loss I easily maintain for the first time ever!

 

Keto Taco Salad

 

More Easy Recipes with Ground Beef:

White Castle Burger Bowl

Sweet & Spicy Keto Spaghetti Sauce

Sesame Ginger Beef

 

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