The Salad Taco is one of my creations that surpassed expectations, being a universal delight to all those who have tried it. A combination of fresh flavours and a rich bean paste left my guests wanting to come back again and again. Not bound to a single recipe, the salad taco is a foundation for combining a variety of ingredients. Every meal, every taco, is different… and all delicious.
This is without a doubt, my favourite food.
A salad taco is a layered food:
- Romain Lettuce: This is the base. This lettuce has a good shape for holding ingredients.
- Cheese (Optional): Some cheese first, so the next layer melts it a bit.
- Bean Mash: Any kind of refried beans, white bean mash, or similar works.
- Toppings: From fresh tomatoes to pickled jalapenos
- Sauce: One of a tomato salsa, guacamole, or a creme dip
You can see that there’s a lot of room for variety here. Indeed, this is best served as a build-it-yourself buffet on a table. Have everything spread around the table in multiple bowls. Let everybody construct their own variations.
I marked the cheese as optional so it’s clear this can also be a vegan dish — and it’s one of the delicious ones.
Romaine Lettuce
Romaine lettuce has a firm rib down its centre, making it ideal to support the weight of the ingredients. It also provides a nice crisp when biting into it.
I recommend organic lettuce, primarily because it is smaller. This keeps the taco solid, with less of the leafy green bit. Its reduced size also encourages one to make several small tacos rather than one large one. This helps emphasize the variety of ingredients, forcing a limited choice on each taco. Though from experience, many people overload their first one.
Cheese
On top of the lettuce comes grated cheese. If you have cheese-fiends as friends, you’ll want a lot of this. Use whatever cheese you’d like. Though I find that older cheeses, like mature cheddar or old gouda, have a strong enough flavour to shine through regardless of how many toppings you add.
If you put this as the first layer, the warm bean paste can melt it a bit. If you’d prefer it unmelted then sprinkle it on top of the toppings or sauce layer.
Or, if you don’t want cheese, then go without. There are enough flavours in the salad taco to not need the cheese. It makes them vegan then, and still delicious. Even if you love cheese, eat a few without for a new flavour profile.
Bean Mash
The beans are the hearty core of the salad tacos. It’s the one ingredient that should be served warm at the table. I have a recipe for classic refried beans; I use that and a lot of variations. I often make it with white beans, and I have a very flexible approach to the recipe.
I would imagine that any bean mash or similar recipe would have a place at the salad taco table. If you want adventure, try my white bean cashew mash. Occasionally I will have two different types on offer.
If you have a variety of guests, I’d suggest keeping the bean mash relatively mild. With a variety of spicier toppings, each guest can tune the dish to their desired heat level. For the same reason I’ll often have a mild and spicy tomato salsa for a sauce.
Toppings
Diced tomatoes are a staple here. Having them finely diced lets you have better coverage on the tacos without pieces rolling away. You can pep up the tomatoes by adding some chopped chives or other onions to them. It’s best to drain the tomatoes after you’ve diced them. This helps limit how much water builds up on the tacos. Sometimes I’ll add a dash of salt and pepper, or maybe a sprinkle of vinegar and oil. Keep it limited though, as there are a lot of flavours around already.
Next up are finely diced bell peppers, or any pepper for that matter. Stick with the ripe ones, as I find the green ones are too bitter to combine with the rest of the flavours.
I also provide a bowl of pickled jalapenos. They provide both some heat and sourness.
From here, I’ve tried a variety of different vegetables. Radishes add a sharp note. A bowl of chives is an alternative to mixing with the tomatoes. Fresh coriander leaves (cilantro) to add some aromatics.
Sauce
Sauces offer more flavour variety and a glue that holds the other ingredients in place. They should be thicker sauces, as you don’t want excess liquid dripping from the tacos.
I’ve found three different families of sauces that combine well:
- Tomato Salsa: Such as my Fresh Basil Tomato Salsa. Or blend a tomato with some chilis and salt if you need an extra spicy note.
- Guacamole: Mash up some avacados with garlic, and maybe a tomato. (I should really upload a few recipes)
- Cream/Quark Dip: Such as my Spicy Dill Quark Dip or Chive Quark Tzatziki. Or just any thick cream, or sour cream, mixed with chopped herbs and garlic.
I encourage you to try new varieties of these sauces each time you make salad tacos. My recipes are just some suggestions here, these are truly families of sauces. I tend to improvise each time: one with tomatoes, one with avacados, and one with a thick quark, or yoghurt, or cream.
Enjoy the Salad Taco
Once you try salad tacos, I’m positive they’ll become a regular at your table. It’s a meal with an endless in-built variety. Its nutritional profile is outstanding: eat them as often as you want knowing that they’re good for you.
Though vegetarian, I have yet to find meat lovers that don’t also love salad tacos. And by dropping a single ingredient, they’re a naturally vegan meal — no need for substitute products.
And don’t worry about making the perfect salad taco. You’re going to over-stack them. They’ll lose bits and topple over. Just grab a fork at the end and eat everything left on the plate. It’s still delicious.
And the left-overs are still great. Even if you have no suitable sized lettuce left, just chop it up, make a layer, then spread the rest of the ingredients on top.
