Manzanillo Taco Salad in a Lettuce Bowl
I wanted a taco salad. Not a taco, or a burrito or a taco wrap. I wanted an actual taco salad in a nice, crispy bowl, but I didn't want the fried shell.
Enter iceberg lettuce.
Using big, crisp leaves of iceberg as the "bowl" for this salad delivers guilt-free crunch and lets you pack in a little more taco meat and beans. Win/win. We used our Manzanillo Mexican Seasoning for this dish for a bit of heat and richness, but if you want a milder version, we recommend our Taco Seasoning instead. Both blends are big on flavor and are entirely salt-free. Enjoy!
Prep Time: 5 min.
Cooking Time: 20 min.
Servings: 4
Cooking Method: Stovetop
Category: Light and Healthy, Salads
Cuisine: Mexican
Ingredients:
- 12 ounces ground beef
- 1 Tablespoon Manzanillo Mexican Seasoning
- 1/2 cup water
- 1 can or 2 cups cooked black beans
- 8 oz reduced fat Monterrey jack cheese or colby cheese, shredded
- 1 medium tomato, chopped
- 1 small red onion, chopped
- 2 small heads of iceburg lettuce
- 8 Tablespoons Ranch style dressing or salsa.
Instructions:
- Heat a large skillet over medium-high heat.
- Crumble ground beef into the hot skillet.
- Cook and stir until the beef is completely browned, 7 to 10 minutes.
- Drain and discard any excess grease.
- Return ground beef to heat.
- Add Manzanillo Mexican Seasoning and water over the beef; stir to combine.
- Bring to a simmer and cook until the moisture absorbs into the meat, about 5 minutes.
- Prepare the salad bowls by washing the lettuce, removing the core and slicing each head vertically. You should now have 4 1/2 heads of lettuce.
- Carefully, remove enough of the center of the head to create a bowl, while leaving enough of the sides to support the remaining ingredients.
- Place each lettuce bowl in a serving bowl or place and assemble the salad by adding equal amounts of the taco meat, black beans, tomato, onion, cheese and dressing.
