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If you’re looking for more fun meal prep ideas like my last chicken meal prep, consider making a taco salad! You can load it up with lettuce, beef, chicken or turkey and all your favorite toppings. It’s a healthy, easy way to prep lunch for the week.
What goes in a taco salad bowl
If you’re trying to figure out what goes into a taco salad bowl, it’s really whatever you’d like. I always recommend some type of protein as the base. That could be ground beef, ground chicken, ground turkey or even chicken breast or steak cut into bite-sized pieces. For a vegetarian taco bowl, consider mixing black beans and corn and even adding a grain to it like brown rice or quinoa.
Otherwise, fill up the taco salad bowl with lettuce, tomatoes (or salsa) and anything else you would normally top your taco with. I like including shredded cheese, guacamole or avocado, sour cream and diced green chiles.
How to make taco salad bowls
Once you have your ingredients prepped, it’s all about making the taco salad bowls. If you’re using the meal prep containers like I am, I recommend keeping the lettuce and the protein separate. You want the lettuce to stay crispy and fresh after a few days in the fridge so it’s best to keep it dry and divided.
Then, add in the taco beef or whatever protein you’re using and all the accompaniments. For taco salad meal prep purposes, I love using small reusable containers within the meal prep containers to keep the accompaniments separate. This is especially great for salsa, sour cream and guacamole.
Depending on the size of the meal prep containers you’re using and your appetite, you can really pile up these taco salads as much as you’d like. I found that one pound of ground beef goes a long way to make 4 hearty taco salad meal prep containers that are super filling for lunch or dinner.
Tips for making taco salad meal prep
- Vary the toppings. When you’re making a taco, it’s all about the abundance of salsa, avocados, sour cream and cheese. For this meal prep variation, the same idea works. Get a good balance of fresh, spicy and salty toppings to pull all the flavors together.
- Keep ingredients separated until ready to eat. With all the toppings and sauces, it’s important to keep everything in separate containers or compartments so that the greens don’t wilt, and the items all stay as fresh as possible.
- Keep the meals for up to 4 days. For most prepared meals, especially this one with ground beef, the safe zone is 3-4 days. Use this handy fridge and freeze storage chart from the FDA for more guidelines.
- Freeze only the taco beef for best results. Since this recipe is a salad bowl type of meal prep, it’s best to only freeze the cooked beef and no other ingredients, since they don’t freeze well.
These taco salad meal prep containers are great for Sunday prepping to last you for a few days. You can prepare everything the same day, store in the fridge and enjoy for lunch or dinner throughout the week. This is a smart choice if you’re looking for low-carb meal prep ideas that are loaded with flavor and texture!
For more salads
- Couscous Salad
- Mexican Chopped Salad
- Shrimp Avocado Salad
- Vegetarian Cobb Salad Jars
- Classic Lettuce Wedge Salad
For more tex mex recipes:
- Mexican Street Tacos
- Tex Mex Breakfast Bowl
- Ground Beef Taco
- Zucchini Enchiladas
- Beef Taco Burritos
- Corn Salsa
- Chicken Taco Cups
If you’ve tried this healthy-ish feelgood Taco Salad Meal Prep recipe or any other recipe on FeelGoodFoodie, then don’t forget to rate the recipe and leave me a comment below! I would love to hear about your experience making it. And if you snapped some shots of it, share it with me on Instagram so I can repost on my stories!
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Taco Salad Meal Prep
Video
Ingredients
For Taco Beef
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 small onion diced
- 1 pound lean ground beef
- 1 tablespoon taco seasoning
- ½ cup tomato sauce
For Assembly
- Shredded romaine lettuce
- Shredded cheese
- Guacamole
- Sour Cream or Taco Ranch
- Salsa
Instructions
- Heat olive oil in a medium skillet cook the onions until they soften slightly, about 2-3 minutes. Add ground beef, season with salt, pepper and taco seasoning, then cook until no longer pink, about 5-7 minutes. Add tomato sauce and stir to combine.
- Transfer the taco beef into 6 meal prep containers. Add shredded lettuce and condiments of choice, keeping items in separate containers or compartments for best freshness.
- Store in the fridge for up to 5 days.
Notes
- Instead of lettuce, you can substitute with Napa cabbage, green cabbage, purple cabbage, or any other greens you like.
- Instead of ground beef, you can substitute ground chicken, ground turkey, chicken breast or even steak. If you want to make them vegetarian, I would recommend using black beans and corn instead of the ground beef.
- If you want to make it a fuller salad, consider adding brown rice, quinoa or even cauliflower rice.
Nutrition
Nutrition information provided is an estimate. It will vary based on cooking method and specific ingredients used.
From what I have seen recipes are healthy especially the salads. Other meals looked and sounded easy and delicious.
Thank you!
Love your tips for making taco salad meal prep.
Love the recipes THANK YOU !!!
Yay! You’re so welcome!
Could you please tell me what brand your glass 3 compartment meal prep containers? They look really nice. Thanks you!
Great question. These are made by Bentgo, and you can get them on Amazon.
Here’s the affiliate link: https://amzn.to/2IpYNPp