It’s crisp, it’s crunchy, it has an amazing, tangy, homemade dressing, and it goes perfectly along side your lentil tacos ;D
Honestly, this recipe started out with me craving a crunchy salad, but it ended up being nothing more than a vehicle for this delicious dressing. I didn’t expect the dressing to be so amazing, but I love it… And it took only about five minutes to whip together! Normally I would use a buttermilk substitute rather buying a whole quart when I only need a little, but with this dressing you really need that authentic buttermilk flavor. What will I do with the rest? Make buttermilk biscuits, of course.
Actually, the whole salad will probably take less than 30 minutes to make; dressing, tortilla crisps, and all. Which means that you *can* have a delicious salad on a week night when you’re exhausted from work. I did, anyway.
If you want to make a whole meal out of this, just grill up some chicken and toss it in!
Oh, and yes, I know iceberg is nutritionally void and all of that great stuff. I eat a ton of vegetables so I’m not worried about using iceberg once in a while. I needed a REALLY crisp green for this salad and iceberg kind of takes the cake. Romaine is also really crunchy and has more green, if you want it.
Southwast Salad with Taco Ranch Dressing
Southwest Salad with Taco Ranch Dressing
Servings 6 to 8 servingsIngredients
DRESSING
- 3/4 cup plain yogurt ($0.41)
- 1/2 cup buttermilk ($0.27)
- 1/4 cup mayonnaise ($0.33)
- 1/2 tsp salt ($0.02)
- 1/2 tsp garlic powder ($0.03)
- 3/4 tsp chili powder ($0.04)
- 1/4 tsp ground cumin ($0.03)
- 1/8 tsp cayenne pepper ($0.02)
TORTILLA STRIPS
- 6 small corn tortillas ($0.39)
- as needed non-stick spray ($0.05)
- 1 pinch salt ($0.02)
SALAD
- 1 head iceberg lettuce ($0.87)
- 1 15oz. can black beans ($1.19)
- 1 1/2 cup frozen corn kernels ($0.70)
- 1 tomato ($1.23)
- 1 bunch green onions ($0.75)
- 1 1/2 cups shredded cheese ($1.88)
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Use a pizza cutter to slice the tortillas into thin strips. Line a baking sheet with foil and coat it with non-stick spray. Spread the tortilla strips out in a single layer and spritz lightly with more non-stick spray. Sprinkle lightly with salt.
- Bake the tortilla strips for 15-20 minutes or until they are golden brown and crispy. Stir the tortilla strips half way through cooking.
- While the tortilla strips are baking, cut the head of lettuce into small pieces. Rinse the lettuce and drain well (or use a salad spinner). Also chop the tomato and slice the green onions. Rinse the black beans in a colander to remove the starchy canning liquid. Remove the corn from the freezer and allow it to thaw.
- Whisk together all of the ingredients for the dressing (yogurt, buttermilk, mayonnaise, salt, garlic powder, chili powder, cumine, and cayenne). Makes about 1.5 cups or 6 servings of 1/4 cup each.
- Once the tortilla strips are finished cooking, the dressing is made, and all of the salad ingredients are prepped, build the salad! You can either build one big salad and then serve or build individual portions. Layer the lettuce first, then black beans, corn, tomato, shredded cheese, green onion, and a few tortilla strips on top.
See how we calculate recipe costs here.
Nutrition
Have you tried this recipe?Mention @budgetbytes or tag #budgetbytes on Instagram!
Step By Step Photos
First, preheat your oven to 400 degrees. Cut the tortillas into thin strips. I found that a pizza cutter made this a quick and easy task.
Spread the tortilla strips out onto a baking sheet covered with foil and coated with non-stick spray. Spray the strips lightly with non-stick spray and then sprinkle lightly with salt.
Bake for 15-20 minutes or until golden brown and crispy. Stir the strips about 10 minutes in.
While the tortilla strips are baking, chop, rinse, and drain the lettuce. I cut my lettuce into small squares. Make sure to drain the lettuce really well so that your salad is not watery.
Also prepare the other toppings. Rinse the black beans to remove the starchy canning liquid. Take the corn out of the freezer and allow it to thaw. Dice the tomato and slice the green onions.
Lastly, whip together the taco ranch dressing. It’s really easy, just whisk together all of the ingredients. All of the spices are in 1/4 tsp increments so you only need to use one measuring spoon! (You’ll have to fill it half way for the cayenne, but it doesn’t have to be exact.)
I’m not gonna lie, I was really, really hungry when making this and I couldn’t stop dipping the tortilla crisps in the dressing!
You can also make this dressing as light or “heavy” as you want. I used non-fat yogurt, low fat mayo, and regular buttermilk (same fat content as 2% milk). It still tasted rich and delicious!
You can build the salad in any order you want, but I found this order to be most visually appealing: lettuce, black beans, corn, tomato, cheese, green onion, and tortilla crisps on top. You can either build one big salad and then serve single portions, or just build single serving portions to begin with.
I bought the app, mostly because I appreciate your hard work and creativity. But I couldn’t find this recipe on the app. Is the app limited to more recent recipes?
Yes, the app has about 150 recipes right now, but we’re adding more every week! :)
Taco ranch for the win! This dressing is amazing. We switch up the other stuff in this salad a lot – sometimes steak or chicken instead of black beans, we usually skip the cheese, etc. And we almost always use store-bought tortilla chips. No matter what we put in there the dressing makes it awesome.
This was so yummy and my family LOVED it :)
Beth, if I double the dressing recipe how long will it keep?
Probably about five days.
This dressing is madly delicious and I make it pretty often. I am very lazy with measurements so it tends to be a bit different every time, but always great. The swaps I almost always make:
finely crushed fresh garlic instead of powder
smoked paprika instead of chili powder
a little more yogurt and less mayo, I think.
Thanks for sharing this deliciousness :) Having it for lunch tomorrow…
Usually, when a recipe calls for buttermilk, I mix milk and vinegar, because I never end up finishing a carton of buttermilk when I buy it. Would that substitution work here? Or is the real buttermilk essential? Thanks Beth!
Personally, I think the buttermilk flavor is essential here. But I think I have a fairly sensitive palate when it comes to buttermilk. Vinegar and milk subs just don’t taste the same to me. Other people may not be that picky about it, though. :) P.S. I discovered that you can freeze your leftover buttermilk, so the remainder won’t go to waste.
Your salad and dressing recipe look delicious! I recently purchased a Dole Southwest Salad bag mix and loved the dressing. I bought some Wishbone South of the Border, thinking it would be a good. Not bad, but jus not as good. Rather than just throw it away, is there anything I can do to make it a bit tastier as the Taco Ranch?
Hmm, it’s really tough to say without having tasted it myself. I suppose you could always try adding more spices, though!
I’m not much of a salad eater, no matter how good the dressing or ingredients are. But this dressing made the salad amazing!! I ate three times this week for lunch.
This looks really good and healthy! I have a $2 (a serving) taco salad recipe on my blog that would take this to the next level… but also leaves out some of the work like making your own tortilla strips. A combination of this recipe and mine would be super delicious! http://nikkieandbabies.blogspot.com/2014/07/what-i-ate-wednesday-2-taco-salad.html
Would it be possible to use previously frozen buttermilk?
Yes, I believe I’ve made ranch with previously frozen buttermilk before. It kind of separates a bit as it thaws, but give it a good stir and then it’s as good as new.
I never have been much of a salad eater but this is the best salad I have ever had, even in a restaurant! My husband and I have made this multiple times now and each time, after we both eat some the first night, I separate all the ingredients and eat it 3 days straight while he has spaghetti for two nights. I actually LOOK FORWARD to eating this salad, even on day 3! To the point of thinking about it and getting excited 3-4 times a day while at work. Lol. Thanks for this amazing recipe! Going to be trying TONS more of your recipes and I can’t wait! :0)
OMG that looks so good. I have a weakness for this type of stuff. Have to go to the store now.
Thanks! It didn’t quite last that long. >.>
I really love this recipe…I just made it again! In my quest to try ALL THE THINGS, I almost never do that. So thanks!
Made this tonight. Most satisfying meal I’ve had in a while! And I normally do not eat salad dressing but I made this anyways. I went overboard on the cumin (~1 tsp) and am glad I did it was delicious!!!
Wow! This is so colorful & looks delicious too.