Doritos Taco Salad

Last weekend I went to a Memorial Day cookout with future Mr. Bites’ extended family. One of the side dishes brought to the party was Doritos Taco Salad. That’s right, Doritos Taco Salad. I swooned. I had seconds. I wanted to eat the whole massive serving bowl full. You know how people go nuts over the Doritos taco at Taco Bell? That’s how I felt about this salad.

When I got home I immediately googled it and a bunch of recipes came up that looked similar to the salad I was still dreaming about. I couldn’t wait to lighten it up with my own spin and share it with you all. I love the taco seasoned meat flavor with nacho cheese crunch of Doritos and the sweet, tangy, tomato-ey Catalina dressing. The original salad I tasted used French dressing, so you could certainly use that instead. Feel free to get creative and experiment by adding in additional ingredients if you like – beans, corn, black olives (will affect nutrition info). I kept it simple and it came out amazing, but there are tons of ways to customize it to your own tastes.

When I measured my finished product it was a little over 14 cups total, so if you’re bringing it as a side dish to a potluck or cookout, it’ll probably serve around 14 people. If you’re serving it at home as a main dish I’d consider 2 cups to be a serving, so in that case it would serve 7 people. Make sure not to add in the Doritos and salad dressing until you’re ready to serve so that the whole dish doesn’t get soggy.

Another pro-tip: if you’re worried you will be unable to stop eating them if you open a large bag of Doritos (like I was), they sell 6-packs of 1 oz bags. Use four for the recipe and then you’ll just have two individual, pre-portioned servings to eat later!

This dish is sure to be a crowd pleaser whether out at a party or at home on your dinner table. Doritos and tacos together in a waistline friendly salad – who wouldn’t want that?

Doritos Taco Salad Yield: 14 cups Ingredients: 1 lb 95% lean ground beef*

1 (1.25 oz) packet reduced sodium taco seasoning

1 medium-large head of iceberg lettuce, chopped into bite sized pieces (if you’ve never chopped up a head of iceberg before you can follow these directions)

1 medium-large tomato, diced

4 oz 50% less fat or 2% sharp cheddar cheese, shredded (such as Cabot)

4 oz nacho cheese Doritos, broken up a bit into bite sized pieces

1 cup light Catalina or French dressing (I used Kraft Lite Catalina) *if you replace the ground beef with 99% lean ground turkey a cup will be 3 SP on WW Freestyle Directions: Brown the ground beef in a skillet over medium heat, breaking it up into pieces with a wooden spoon. Add the packet of taco seasoning and stir until well coated. Set aside. In a large serving bowl, combine the lettuce, tomatoes, cheese and ground beef. When ready to serve, add the Doritos and dressing and toss to coat. MyWW SmartPoints per (1 cup) serving: (SP calculated using the recipe builder on weightwatchers.com) Green: 4 SmartPoints/ Blue: 4 SmartPoints/ Purple: 4 SmartPoints Weight Watchers Points Plus:

4 per (1 cup) side dish serving* (P+ calculated using the recipe builder on weightwatchers.com) Nutrition Information (per 1 cup side serving):

150 calories, 14 g carbs, 6 g sugars, 6 g fat, 2 g saturated fat, 10 g protein, 1 g fiber (from myfitnesspal.com) Adapted from Women Living Well