Taco Bell Fiesta Taco Salad

For all of you Taco Bell lovers out there, or if you’re simply in the mood for making taco night at home, this copycat Taco Bell fiesta taco salad recipe is the perfect one for you!

It’s easy, tastes delicious, and it’s also kind of healthy for you. Let’s look at exactly how you can make this delicious copycat recipe at home.

Copycat Taco Bell Fiesta Chicken or Beef Taco Salad

Although Taco Bell sometimes carries and sometimes does not carry Taco Bell fiesta taco salad, you can enjoy this delicious taco salad anytime you want with our easy copycat recipe. Thankfully, this fiesta taco salad is not too complicated to make at home, and we are so excited to show you how you can easily make it on your own.

Let’s look at how you can easily make this delicious copycat taco salad. Below are the ingredients you will need.

Fiesta Taco Salad

Recipe Ingredients

Tortillas. We like to use soft tortilla shells and shape them into bowls for this fiesta taco salad. You could also purchase taco bowls if you prefer.

Refried beans. You can simply use a can of refried beans that are already made and purchased from your local grocery store.

Seasoned rice. You can pick up a package of ready-to-make seasoned Mexican rice from your local grocery store in the south of the border section.

For this recipe, we like to use a type of rice we picked up from Dollar General which is a package of seasoned Mexican rice, but you can use any type you want or even make your own.

Lettuce. Prepare any type of lettuce by washing it, allowing it to dry, and slicing the lettuce for your taco salad. You can use Romaine, iceberg lettuce, or even bag lettuce if you prefer.

Tomato. Tomatoes are also included in Taco Bell’s fiesta taco salad. Simply wash the tomatoes and diced them into small pieces. Of course, if you do not like tomatoes, you can skip this ingredient.

We have found that Roma tomatoes work the best, however you can use any kind of tomato.

Tortilla strips. The original Taco Bell fiesta taco salad includes red tortilla strips in their taco salad. If you are able to find red tortilla strips, then by all means use them, but if you are not you can also use corn chips like Fritos in any brand.

Ground beef or chicken. You can enjoy cooked ground beef or cooked chicken on your fiesta taco salad if desired. Simply cook the meat ahead of time and add your taco seasoning if desired.

Shredded cheese. Shredded cheddar cheese is used to top off the original Taco Bell fiesta salad as well. You can use whatever type of shredded cheese you wish, including a Mexican blend, or any other type of shredded cheese if you wish.

Sour cream. Sour cream is also used to tap off the delicious fiesta taco salad. This is an optional ingredient, but we do recommend including it for the ultimate delicious flavor.

Salsa. Salsa is another optional ingredient that you can use to top off your fiesta taco salad if you wish. You can choose to include salsa from mild all the way to very hot if you wish.

How to Make Fiesta Taco Salad

To make this delicious copycat Taco Bell fiesta taco salad, you will first want to begin by cooking the meat. Once the meat is cooked, add the taco seasoning if desired. Set aside the meat to keep it warm.

While your meat is cooking, go ahead and start cooking your seasoned rice as well. Be sure to check the packaging of your rice container to determine how long it will take to prepare.

When your rice and meat are close to being done, go ahead and heat your refried beans.

While the meat is cooking, rice is cooking, and beans are heating, prepare your tomatoes and lettuce by finely dicing each one after they have been washed.

When everything is ready, take your prepared tortilla bowl, or make your own by taking a soft tortilla shell, and heating is a skillet with a drizzle of oil over medium heat. Add your soft tortilla shell to the pan, and heat on each side just until it begins to bubble. This will take approximately 30 seconds on each side.

Add the heated tortilla shell into an oven-safe bowl to shape the tortilla. Place the bowl into the oven at 375°F for approximately 5 to 8 minutes or until the tortilla shell is hardened.

Then use the shaped tortilla bowl from the oven, and assemble the copycat Taco Bell fiesta taco salad.

To assemble the salad, first, add a layer of refried beans to the bottom of your tortilla bowl. Follow the layer with seasoned rice, a layer of lettuce, your desired type of meat, tomato, tortilla chips, shredded cheese, and top it off with sour cream, and salsa if desired.

Serve your assembled copycat Taco Bell fiesta taco salad right away and enjoy!

Tips & Tricks

Cook Hot Ingredients First. It is always a great idea to first cook your meat, rice, and beans as these will take the longest amount of time and are the ingredients you need hot when served.

You can simply keep them over warm burners while your other ingredients are prepared, and the taco salad is assembled.

Add or Subtract Ingredients. As always, you can feel free to add or subtract any ingredients to the fiesta taco salad that you wish.

If you want to make it extra spicy, add some red pepper flakes to your meat for the added heat, then use a hot sauce rather than salsa if desired.

If there are ingredients here that you do not like, then feel free to leave them out. If there are ingredients you want to include, such as guacamole, feel free to add them in as well!

Variations:

Fiesta Taco Salad – Chicken

Two main ways you can make this fiesta taco salad that is with chicken or beef. To make it with chicken, you will want to use chicken breast that has been finely cut, and cooked until the internal temperature reaches at least 165°F.

The cooked chicken can have the seasoning added to it if you wish before it is assembled with your final copycat Taco Bell fiesta taco salad.

Fiesta Taco Salad – Beef

The other popular variation of the fiesta taco salad recipe is to make it with ground beef. You can use whatever grade of ground beef you prefer, and cook it until the beef is browned, and crumbled finely.

We recommend adding taco seasoning to the beef if you wish before it is assembled into the fiesta taco salad.

Keto Variations

The goal of the keto diet is to avoid high-carb foods. To make this copycat Taco Bell fiesta taco salad into a keto-friendly variation, you will want to remove any ingredients that contain carbs.

For example, you will most likely want to exclude the top soft tortilla shells, seasoned rice, and most likely the refried beans. Leaving you with the basic taco salad ingredients.

Storage

Room temperature. This copycat recipe for Taco Bell fiesta taco salad should not be left at room temperature any longer than two hours before it goes bad and has to be thrown away.

Refrigerator. Although the separate ingredients of this taco salad can be stored in the refrigerator, until you are ready to assemble them, we do not recommend that you store the assembled taco salad as it is likely to become mushy and not taste nearly as good.

Reheating

To reheat the ingredients, you want to be sure that they are separated before being reheated as things like lettuce should not be warmed. To reheat ingredients such as meat, rice, or refried beans, you can do this in the oven, stovetop, or microwave.

Simply reheat the ingredients until they are warmed through using your preferred method.

Recipe FAQs

What ingredients were in the Taco Bell Fiesta Taco Salad?

The ingredients included in the original Taco Bell fiesta taco salad or a tortilla bowl, refried beans, seasoned rice, chopped lettuce, diced tomato, red tortilla strips, ground beef, or chicken, shredded cheese, and sour cream. It sometimes includes spicy salsa if requested.

Does Taco Bell Have Salads?

Taco Bell’s menu seems to change a lot lately. Sometimes they do carry salads well other times they don’t. The good news is that you could always enjoy copycat Taco Bell salads by making your own copycat recipes.

Fiesta Taco Salad Taco Bell

In the mood for Taco Bell, never fear you can make your own homemade copycat Taco Bell fiesta taco salad following easy instructions.

This is a delicious salad that can be made anytime and for any occasion. Give it a try and see what you think! We hope you love it just like our family does. Now, let’s get cooking!

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Taco Bell Fiesta Taco Salad Recipe

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