A filling & flavorful Vegan Taco Salad complete with fresh veggies, Lentil Taco Meat, and a Creamy Salsa Dressing. This salad hits the spot every time and actually keeps you full! Serve it in the optional Homemade Tortilla Bowls if desired, and dig in!
This salad can be enjoyed as a main for lunch, or served in smaller portions as a fun appetizer! If you love Tex Mex flavors, you'll love this refreshing Taco Salad.
Table of Contents
Why You'll Love This Recipe
- It's perfect for meal prep! You can make the dressing and the Lentil Taco Meat ahead of time and even pre-chop your veggies. Then just assemble everything for lunches throughout the week!
- It is filling! Finally, a salad that packs in a lot of nutrition but also keeps you full! The addition of the lentils, avocado, and cashew-based dressing makes this more hearty than many salads!
- The salsa dressing is creamy but dairy-free! It's hard to find a deliciously creamy salad dressing that is fully vegan, but this one checks all the boxes!
Key Ingredients
- Lettuce, tomatoes, corn, & avocado: fresh veggies to bring our salad to life! The corn adds a pop of sweetness, and the avocado adds some healthy fats and creaminess. In addition, these are all common Tex Mex ingredients so they bring in those familiar flavors!
- Vegan Lentil Taco Meat: our protein of choice! Traditional taco salads usually include a ground meat, so this is our plant based version.
- Cashews, salsa, & vegan mayo: these all blend together (with a couple other flavor boosters) to create a creamy & delicious salad dressing.
- Tortillas: optional, but I've included directions on how to make homemade tortilla bowls to serve your salad in!
How to Make Vegan Taco Salad
Step 1: Place your tortillas between two oven-safe bowls. Bake for 5 minutes.
Step 1 (cont): Remove the inner bowl before baking for another 5 minutes.
Step 1 (cont): Remove the remaining bowl. Bake for 5 more minutes.
Step 1 (cont): Flip your tortilla and bake 3-5 final minutes.
Step 2: Blend together all dressing ingredients.
Step 3: Lastly, assemble your Taco Salad Bowls!
Recipe Tips
- The oil for the Homemade Tortilla Bowls is optional, so if you want to stay oil-free just skip this part! The oil makes our tortilla bowls a bit more crispy, but they are delicious either way.
- The Creamy Salsa Dressing and the lentil taco meat can both be made ahead of time. So if you're short on time, feel free to prep these the day before and store each in an air-tight container in the fridge!
Serving Suggestions
- This salad is filling enough to enjoy as a lunch! If you don't make the tortilla bowls, I highly recommend including the optional tortilla strips to add that satisfying crunch.
- If you're hosting a dinner party, this could also be a delicious appetizer! You can divide this into 8 smaller appetizer-size servings, make the tortilla bowls with 8 smaller tortillas, and serve!
- If enjoying this as an appetizer, consider pairing it with another Tex Mex main! Veggie Enchiladas or Jackfruit Quesadillas would both pair beautifully with this!
Substitutions & Variations
- Add whatever taco-worthy veggies and toppings you would like! Quick Pickled Red Onions or cilantro would both be delicious additions.
- If you prefer a spicy kick, be sure to use a spicy salsa in the Creamy Salsa Dressing!
- For a quicker version of this Taco Salad, you could swap out the Lentil Taco Meat for simple black beans! You can also use a store bought vegan mayo in place of the homemade version.
Frequently Asked Questions
This recipe is whole food plant based (WFPB) friendly! To keep it completely oil-free, just use the homemade Easy Vegan Mayo and skip the optional vegan cheddar. If making the Homemade Tortilla Bowls, make sure to choose oil-free tortillas as well.
Romaine lettuce is perfect for Taco Salad! It provides crunch, and is sturdy enough to hold up well with other toppings.
Cashews and vegan mayo both help to keep this salad dressing creamy and dairy-free. Cashews are often used in non-dairy recipes because they blend into a beautifully smooth texture.
Other Salads You'll Love
📖 Recipe
Vegan Taco Salad With Creamy Salsa Dressing
Ingredients
Creamy Salsa Dressing
- ¼ cup raw cashews - soaked in very hot water for 20-30 minutes (OR in room temperature water overnight)
- ½ cup salsa
- 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
- 1 tablespoon lime juice
- ½ teaspoon cumin
- 3 tablespoon Joyful Balance Easy Vegan Mayo - (OR a store bought vegan mayo)
Optional: Homemade Tortilla Bowls
- 4 large tortillas - (burrito-size is best)
- optional: olive oil or cooking spray
Taco Salad
- 4 cups chopped romaine lettuce - (usually 1 head of lettuce)
- 4 roma tomatoes - diced
- 1 cup frozen corn - thawed
- 1 avocado - diced
- 1 recipe Joyful Balance Vegan Lentil Taco Meat
- optional: small handful tortilla chips/strips
- optional: ½ cup shredded vegan cheddar
Instructions
- To make optional Homemade Tortilla Bowls: -Preheat oven to 375F. -(Optional) lightly brush or spray both sides of the tortilla with oil for extra crispiness - you can skip this if you prefer! -Place each tortilla in between two oven-safe bowls to form a bowl shape. (If baking multiple tortillas at once, use 2 bowls per tortilla - do not stack multiple tortillas in the same set of bowls.) -Bake for 5 minutes in between both bowls. -Carefully remove the inner bowl and bake for another 5 minutes. -Remove the remaining bowl. The tortilla should be able to hold its shape now. Bake for 5 more minutes. -Flip the tortilla bowl upside down and bake for another 3-5 more minutes, or until golden and crisp.
- Make your Creamy Salsa Dressing: Drain the soaked cashews and discard the water. Add the cashews, along with all other ingredients for the Creamy Salsa Dressing, to a high powered blender. Blend until very smooth. Add more water as necessary to thin the dressing, if needed.
- Assemble your salads: evenly divide the lettuce, tomatoes, corn, avocado, and Vegan Lentil Taco Meat among the 4 tortilla bowls (or regular bowls). Top with optional tortilla strips and/or vegan cheddar, and drizzle generously with the Creamy Salsa Dressing. Enjoy!
Happy cooking! If you made this recipe don’t forget to tag me (@joyfulbalanceofficial) on facebook or instagram so I can cheer you on for your salad-making ways.
Stay joyfully balanced!
Sarah | Well and Full says
I LOVE tex-mex flavors, so this is perfect for me!
Delaney Marie says
I hope you try it! 😀
Seema says
This is looks so inviting. i like the taco flovurs, so this is a yes for me.
Delaney Marie says
Such a good recipe for taco lovers!