This quick + easy Vegetarian Taco Salad is an amazing way to load up on veggies with all the flavor and crunch of your favorite tacos!
By now you’ve probably realized my taco salad obsession is going absolutely nowhere.
Around here we have a build your own taco salad or burrito bowl night once a week!
Sometimes they’re T-Rex per Paul’s request, sometimes pescatarian, and other times I indulge my veggie loving ways and go full on vegetarian with my taco salad bowl!
Todays taco salad is just that – gloriously vegetarian (and gluten-free) with a mountain of toppings and mix-ins. YES. PLEASE.
TACO SALAD TOPPINGS + MIX INS
This vegetarian taco salad starts with a bed of crisp chopped romaine lettuce topped with black beans, pinto beans, sweet corn, sliced jalapeños, diced bell pepper, crushed tortilla chips, grated cheddar cheese, and juicy ripe tomatoes.
That’s a whole lot of goodness in one salad bowl!
Want to customize your bowl even further? Here are some more tasty taco salad topping ideas:
- fresh cilantro and/or scallions
- black bean salsa
- pico de gallo
- jarred or homemade salsa
- guacamole
- salsa verde
- avocado salsa verde (yessss!)
- black olives
- pickled jalapeño peppers
- shredded cabbage or slaw
- cilantro lime quinoa
- tortilla chips
Substitutions and Swaps
To keep things simple and speedy, I tossed a mix of both pinto beans and black beans into the taco salad as a delish protein powerhouse.
You can add them straight up like I did, or first warm the beans with a spoonful or so of taco seasoning for even more flavor!
You could also add some Taco Roasted Chickpeas or my Walnut Cauliflower Taco Filling to the salad in addition to or in place of the beans. Another delish protein option is my Lentil Taco filling. SO GOOD!
Easy Vegetarian Taco Salad
This easy peasy taco salad recipe yields 4 side salads or 2 large meal-sized salads. Feel free to double the recipe if you need more servings!
Vegetarian Taco Salad
Ingredients
- 2-3 cups chopped romaine lettuce
- 1 red bell pepper
- 1 jalapeño , diced or sliced thin
- ½ cup black beans (drained and rinsed)
- ½ cup pinto beans (drained and rinsed)
- 1 cup corn canned or steamed from fresh/frozen
- ½ cup freshly diced or chopped tomatoes
- ¼-⅓ cup sliced green onion greens and whites
- ½ cup grated cheddar cheese
- ⅓ cup crushed tortilla chips
CREAMY SALSA DRESSING
- ¼ cup sour cream
- 2 TBSP red salsa
- ½ tsp ground cumin
- ⅛ tsp salt or season to taste
- ½ lime
OPTIONAL PLANT BASED PROTEIN ADD-INS
- Taco Roasted Chickpeas
- Walnut Cauliflower Taco "Meat"
- Lentil Taco Filling
Instructions
- To make the dressing, combine sour cream with salsa, cumin, and salt. Juice half a lime and whisk into the dressing. If your salsa is chunky and you’d like a more uniform dressing, simply puree using a blender or immersion blender.
- For the salad, cook corn via your favorite method. You can grill or boil it right on the cobb then cut it off for this salad, or simply steam from frozen.
- You can add your beans straight up like I did, or first warm the beans with a spoonful or so of taco seasoning for even more flavor! Both methods are marvelous.
- Chop all your veggies up super small for a little bit of goodness in every bite. Finely chop romaine lettuce, bell pepper, and tomatoes, and thinly chop/slice green onion. Jalapeño can be thinly siced (spicy!) or seeded and chopped for a milder kick. Combine with black beans, corn, crushed tortilla chips, and grated cheese. Toss to mix.
- For a little dressing in every bite, toss salad in a few tablespoons of dressing and mix to coat right before serving. Serve with extra toppings/dressing on the size for a custom salad.
- Love veggies? Us too! Feel free to add extra vegetables or mix-ins to this salad and rock your plate! Enjoy!
Notes
Nutrition
If you get a chance to try this easy peasy vegetarian taco salad, let me know!
Leave some love in the comment form below or tag your photos with @peasandcrayons on Instagram so I can happy dance over your creation. I can’t wait to see what you whip up!
Taco Night Favorites
- READER FAVORITE: Spicy Sriracha Shrimp Tacos
- Vegetarian Taco Bowls with Cauliflower Walnut Taco Meat
- Instant Pot Lentil Tacos – SO GOOD!
- Sheet Pan Nachos with Homemade Queso
- Avocado Corn Salsa
I only used black beans. Loved the dressing which gave it a true taco night flavoring!
We loved this recipe so much!! This is our second time making it, except this time at the request of a carnivore teenager. 😂
OOOOH now that’s a good request! I’m so thrilled y’all have been enjoying the recipe — thank you!
Absolutely delicious, the dressing was sensational!
Yay!! Thank you!!
This salad was a huge hit with our family! I have four children and they all loved it! I am adding this to my dinner rotation!
My family didn’t even miss the meat! So good!
Woot woot!!
What a beautiful, tasty salad! I have some ‘T-Rexs’ and Veggie lovers so this is perfect to customize for their likings!
Yes so easy to customize! Thank you Beth!