Savory Pairs: 7 Tasty Side Dishes to Serve with Taco Salad

Taco Salad is a salad with ground beef or chicken base, topped with lettuce, salsa, tortilla chips, and cheese.

It commonly includes olives as well. Some people also add refried beans, guacamole, sour cream, or other items to their taco salads.

Taco Salads are very popular with families for weeknight dinners because they’re easy to make and can be prepared in advance.

They are a good choice for potlucks and parties as well.

It can be served as an appetizer or as a dish on its own for lunch or dinner.

It’s a delicious dish, and it can be served with many different side dishes.

The tastes, textures, and aromas of Taco Salad provide a pleasant contrast to the side dishes you choose.

When you serve it as a dish on its own, the side dishes can be anything from chips and salsa to rice and beans.

When served as an appetizer, the side dishes are usually small portions of some of the best-known Mexican appetizers like salsa, guacamole, or quesadillas.

If you’re not sure what to serve with your taco salad, this article will give you seven suggestions for side dishes.

Why Consider Serving Side Dishes with Taco Salad?

Taco Salad is usually served as an appetizer or as an entrée for dinner when it includes meat such as ground beef, chicken, or turkey.

It is traditionally served with a side of salsa, guacamole, or sour cream.

It can also be served with refried beans, and sometimes it is topped with cheese as well.

If you’re having people over for dinner or hosting a party, serving Taco Salad is an excellent choice because the preparation time is minimal, and it’s easy to make in advance.

The side dishes you choose to serve with the taco salad enhance the experience of eating it and provide a pleasant contrast to its flavors, aromas, and textures.

When it is served as an appetizer, Taco Salad can be accompanied by any of the best-known Mexican appetizers such as salsa, guacamole, or quesadillas.

The side dishes that go well with taco salad are similar to the side dishes you can serve when serving Mexican appetizers.

When served as an entrée for dinner, Taco Salad usually includes meat and is topped with beans, cheese, or sour cream.

If it includes ground beef, it will also include lettuce and a generous amount of pico de gallo, also known as salsa fresco.

The meat will either be cooked in a sauce or seasoned with herbs and spices if it has chicken.

The way you choose to season your ground beef or chicken for your taco salad is an essential factor in the side dishes that go well with it.

You can serve Taco Salad with rice and beans or serve it with a side dish of refried beans.

What to Serve with Taco Salad? 7 BEST Side Dishes

As mentioned previously, many types of side dishes can go very well with taco salad when it is served as an appetizer or as a dish on its own.

Some salads are served with rice and beans, but Taco Salad usually doesn’t have these items added to it except for the refried beans that you may choose to add if you’re serving it as an entrée.

The side dishes that go well with Taco Salad are similar to the types of side dishes served when you serve Mexican appetizers and make for outstanding accompaniments to taco salads when they’re served as a dish on its own or as an appetizer.

1 – Chips and Salsa

Chips and salsa make a great accompaniment with any taco salad served as an entrée because they go very well together.

They’re usually the first items served when you order tacos at Mexican restaurants, but chips and salsa can be served with Taco Salad if it’s served as a dish on its own or appetizer when it comes to dinner parties.

If you’re serving taco salad as an appetizer or dish on its own, chips and salsa are a must because they go so well together.

You can serve your guests either tortilla chips to scoop up the salsa or top their Taco Salad with it after putting it in their bowl if you’re not adding chips to the salad when you serve it.

You can prepare your salsa and serve it with tortilla chips, or you can conveniently buy a jar of salsa to put out when serving appetizers such as taco salads.

2 – Guacamole

Avocado is an ingredient that features prominently in many Mexican dishes, including guacamole made from avocado, along with herbs, spices, and other ingredients like onion, coriander leaves, salt, and tomatoes.

Guacamole is a tasty side dish that goes well with taco salads because it is green in color, which contrasts nicely with the colorful ingredients you add to your taco salad, such as pico de gallo or shredded cheese.

You can prepare guacamole at home or buy it from the grocery store in a jar so that you can conveniently serve it with your taco salads.

It is a creamy side dish that can be served as a dip for tortilla chips.

Still, guacamole is also suitable as an accompaniment for taco salads served on their own because of its contrasting flavor and green color.

3 – Pico de Gallo

Pico de gallo is a flavorful side dish that you can make to serve with taco salads if they are served as appetizers or on their own when it comes to your dinner party.

It makes for an excellent accompaniment because its vibrant colors contrast nicely with the salad, making it stand out when it’s served on top of the salad.

Pico de gallo sauce is a type of salsa that can easily be prepared at home with fresh ingredients like tomatoes, onions, and cilantro, which you mix with spices such as chili powder, salt, and pepper to create a meal complimenting side dish.

You can find jars of pico de gallo at the grocery store if you don’t have the time to prepare them yourself.

Still, you can also serve your taco salads with tortilla chips and prepared guacamole readily available in a jar.

4 – Frijoles de la Olla

Frijoles de la olla are boiled beans that you can serve with taco salads if they’re served as an appetizer or dish on their own.

They go very well with tacos and enchiladas but prepared frijoles de la olla also make for good accompaniments for salads such as taco salad because of their earthy flavor, which contrasts nicely with the ingredients are added to the salad, such as fresh vegetables and cheese.

Frijoles de la olla is Mexican-style beans, homemade beans, boiled pinto beans, or simply pinto beans.

Recipes for frijoles de la olla vary from region to region and even from household to household.

So you can adjust the recipe to suit your taste, the ingredients you have available, and your cooking time.

5 – Mexican Corn Salad

Mexican corn salad is a quick, easy and tasty dish that goes well with taco salads.

The ingredients of Mexican corn salad are similar to those that you would use for an American-style corn salad, such as the kind you buy in supermarkets.

But it’s dressed up differently so that it tastes unique.

For example, you will need a fresh dressing made from lime juice, olive oil, and cilantro.

You will also need to add some chopped jalapenos or serrano peppers if desired, along with salt and black pepper to taste.

In addition, Mexican corn salad is almost always served at room temperature so that you won’t have to worry about it getting tepid while it’s being transported from the table to your kitchen and back.

If you like corn salad or have never tried Mexican corn salad before, tasty taco salads that are served with this kind of side dish will be even more appealing to you.

6 – Lime Cilantro Rice

If you want to try something different with your taco salads, then consider serving them with rice.

But not just any kind of rice because plain boiled rice is rather boring.

Instead, why not serve lime-cilantro rice? This side dish goes very well with many types of Mexican and Tex-Mex food such as tacos, burritos, enchiladas, and of course, taco salads.

The recipe for lime-cilantro rice is easy to follow.

But you will need some unique ingredients such as fresh cilantro (coriander leaves), butter, long-grain white rice, frozen whole kernel corn, garlic, and salt.

Lime juice is another ingredient that’s needed, so you might as well use fresh limes.

It’s best to cook the rice in chicken broth or water because this will add a bit of flavor.

Then, when you’re ready to serve your taco salads, all that you’ll have to do is spoon lime-cilantro rice onto each plate or bowl and top it off with the salad.

You can also place the rice in a bowl and let your guests serve themselves if you want to offer them a choice.

7 – Easy Black Bean Soup

To get a different taste from your taco salads, you can try serving them with black bean soup.

But it’s not just any kind of black bean soup because this one is made in the slow cooker or crockpot so that it will simmer for hours (which will give the flavors time to mix and mingle) and then be ready when you are.

The ingredients of the black bean soup are simple so that you won’t have to spend a lot of time in the kitchen to prepare this dish for your taco salads.

It will require some olive oil, onions, garlic, cumin, oregano, salt, and pepper, as well as dried or canned black beans.

You will also need to add vegetable or chicken broth as well as water.

If you want your black bean soup to turn out extra tasty, you might want to consider adding a ham bone or some smoked turkey wings because these will enhance the soup’s flavor and provide it with a more intense taste.

Conclusion

In conclusion, taco salads can be served with many different types of side dishes.

The seven side dishes mentioned on this page can serve as examples to follow or adapt to your tastes.

However, if you’re not sure what to serve, taco salads that are topped with guacamole and shredded cheese will always go well because it’s a classic combination.

Next time you want to prepare taco salads for yourself or your family, you will know what to serve with them.

Try out one of these side dishes and taste the difference.

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