Patriotic Taco Salad

Taco salad looking like an American flag.

5 from 2 votes

Patriotic Taco Salad is a show-stopping dish for your 4th of July celebration. This patriotic taco salad, designed to resemble the American flag, is not only visually impressive but also packed with delicious flavors.

Prep Time25

Cook Time20

Total Time45

Course: 4th of July, Cinco de Mayo

Cuisine: 4th of July

Servings: servings

Calories: 499kcal

Author: Chula King

Equipment

9 x 13-inch dish

Ingredients

For the Taco Meat

1 pound (16 ounces) ground beef (See Tip 1)
1 ounce package taco seasoning (See Tip 2)
10 ounce can Rotel Diced Tomatoes & Green Chiles
½ cup water

For the Taco Salad

16 ounce can of refried beans (See Tip 3)
Prepared taco meat from above
6 cups shredded iceberg lettuce
4 cups crushed tortilla chips

For the Red, White, and Blue

12 to 16 grape tomatoes cut in half lengthwise (See Tip 4)
1 ½ cups (6 ounces) shredded Monterey Jack cheese
½ cup crushed blue tortilla chips
¼ cup sour cream (See Tip 5)

Instructions

For the Taco Meat

Brown and crumble ground beef in a large skillet over medium heat. Drain and rinse well to remove as much fat as possible. Once the cooked ground beef cools a bit, further crumble it by rubbing it between the palms of your hands.
Wipe the skillet used for cooking the ground beef with a paper towel. Then, return the cooked and crumbled ground beef to the skillet. Add the taco seasoning, undrained Rotel tomatoes, and water; stir to combine. Cook over medium heat until most of the liquid has evaporated, about 15 minutes.

For the Taco Salad (See Tip 6)

Spread the refried beans on the bottom of a 9 x 13-inch dish.
Add the cooked taco meat, spreading to cover the refried beans.
Top with the shredded lettuce and finish with the crushed tortilla chips

For the Red, White, and Blue

Start by placing a layer of halved grape tomatoes along the long side of the dish. Repeat for the second red stripe, about an inch and a half from the first stripe. Repeat for the third and fourth stripes, leaving a space where the star layer will go.
Carefully place the shredded cheese between the tomatoes for the white stripes and also add the shredded cheese in the space where the stars will go.
Finally, sprinkle crushed blue tortilla chips in the area left empty for the stars. Then, using a small star tip, pipe sour cream as stars on the blue tortilla chips.
Yield: 8 servings.

Video

Notes

For the taco meat, I've used ground beef, ranging between 85% and 93% fat. Since I drain and rinse the cooked ground beef, the fat percentage is not that important.
Rather than using store-bought taco seasoning, use 3 Tablespoons of homemade taco seasoning.
I used fat-free refried beans in this recipe, but you can use regular refried beans. You could also substitute rinsed and well-drained black beans.
The number of grape tomatoes will depend on their size. However, for the best presentation, try to use grape tomatoes that are about the same size.
If the sour cream is a bit runny, thicken it with 1 ½ teaspoons of cornstarch.
This salad is best if assembled right before serving. Otherwise, the tortilla chips will become soggy.

Nutrition