Any time you need a super quick healthy dinner, vegetarian black bean taco salad will be your new go-to! Dig into black beans, red peppers, romaine lettuce, crunchy chips, and a super tasty taco sauce dressing along with some of your other favorite taco toppings.
I don't know how or when it happened, but I'm now a die-hard salad fan.
The trick is using really fresh ingredients and including the things you love, like crunchy croutons, cheese, and your favorite dressing. My dad says I make "the best salads" (I like to think he's not biased...) and he loved this vegetarian taco salad too!
This salad has made its way into my weekly dinner rotation, along with my spicy vegan sausages with peppers and rice and a few other special recipes.
Anything I make on a regular basis for weeknight dinners has to be satisfy certain criteria:
- A source of plant-based protein
- Colorful
- Healthy without tasting too healthy (hehe)
- Easy to make (I workout right before dinner so I'm always starving right after and don't want to spend two hours cooking!)
- Makes great leftovers
And I'm pleased to say my vegetarian black bean taco salad ticks all of those boxes!
Black bean taco salad ingredients
Here's what you'll need to make it for yourself:
- Romaine lettuce
- Black beans
- Red pepper
- Tomato
- Shredded cheese (cheddar or tex-mex is great!)
- Crunchy chips (I usually use tortilla chips or strips, but croutons work too...or Doritos if you're feeling wild!)
- Taco sauce dressing
Yep, that's it! Lots of simple ingredients and everything that's readily available most of the time.
Taco sauce dressing
If you have a favorite salad dressing, go ahead and use it. But I'd love if you gave mine a try! It works so well with the rest of these ingredients.
To make this dressing, you'll need:
- Sour cream
- Taco sauce
- Thousand island dressing
- Optional: a pinch of cayenne pepper and a splash of hot sauce for extra spice. I usually use both of these, but you could also just opt for a spicer taco sauce and use that instead.
By the way, you probably won't use all of the dressing for this salad. Just add as much as you'd like as save the rest for your next salad!
Other salad topping options
Feel free to experiment with what you add to the salad! I'd say all the customization options are one of the best things about salads...it's hard to screw them up!
Depending on what I have available, here are some of the other things I add to the vegetarian black bean taco salad:
- Avocado
- Red onion
- Green onion
- Corn
- Jalapeños
- Shredded carrots
Easy Vegetarian Black Bean Taco Salad
Ingredients
- 3 cups romaine lettuce chopped
- 1 cup canned black beans drained and rinsed
- 1 red bell pepper diced
- 1 tomato diced
- ½ cup cheddar cheese shredded
- ½ cup tortilla chips crushed
For the Taco Sauce Dressing
- ¼ cup sour cream
- 3 tablespoon taco sauce
- 1 tablespoon Thousand island dressing
- 1 teaspoon hot sauce optional, if you want a spicier dressing
- a pinch cayenne pepper optional, if you want a spicier dressing
Instructions
- In a small bowl or jar, add the taco sauce dressing ingredients. Stir or shake well until combined. Adjust spices according to preference.
- In a large bowl, mix all salad ingredients and toss well.
- Add some of the salad dressing to the salad (you likely won't use all of the dressing) and toss before serving.
Notes
Nutrition
Are you as obsessed with salads as I am? Here are some other vegetarian salads you'll want to check out:
- VEGETARIAN SUMMER SALAD WITH GARDEIN CRISPY TENDERS
- GREEK QUINOA SALAD
- HOMEMADE CAESAR SALAD DRESSING WITHOUT RAW ANCHOVIES
As always, hope ya love it!
XO - C
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