You've made a fabulous taco salad from leftover taco meat, cheese and salad veggies, but you're stumped as to what to use as taco salad dressing. There are several schools of thought as to what should go with a taco salad.
Many people like to use salsa-based dressings, which are usually combined with sour cream to make a spicy but cooling dressing which goes great with all of the ingredients in the salad, including the taco salad shell. Others like to dress their salad with a spicy vinaigrette, heavy on the cumin and pepper notes. Still others like a variation of ranch dressing. Try one of these taco salad dressing recipes to see which one suits your fancy.
Easy Salad Dressing for Taco Salad
Ingredients You Will Need:
½ cup sour cream
½ cup of your favorite salsa
¼ cup of ketchup
Mix together and serve. Because this dressing is heavy, you will want to use it sparingly.
Spicy Vinaigrette for Taco Salad
Ingredients You Will Need:
½ cup red wine vinegar
½ cup olive oil
1 tablespoon honey
Juice from one fresh lime
1 tablespoon fresh chopped cilantro
1 teaspoon cumin
1 teaspoon diced fresh chili peppers
Mix ingredients together immediately before serving. Dressing will separate upon resting, so mix before each serving.
Tomato-based Salad Dressing for Taco Salad
If you grew up eating taco salad with Catalina dressing, you'll appreciate this recipe as a step up from the bottled stuff.
Ingredients You Will Need:
½ can of tomato soup
½ cup of sugar
1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
½ cup olive oil
Pinch of salt
Pinch of pepper
¼ cup cider vinegar
1 clove of garlic, finely minced
½ teaspoon cumin
Combine all ingredients in a saucepan and cook on medium heat, stirring constantly for 15 minutes. Cool in refrigerator. This dressing should keep for up several days.
 | Making homemade salad dressing is simple. Start by perfecting your whisking techniques with basic oil and vinegar based recipes before moving on to more complicated recipes. Within minutes, you'll have a low-sodium, preservative-free alternative to bottled dressings. |
 | When you decide to make homemade vinegar, you first need to either purchase or make mother, a stringy, gelatin-like substance that is nothing more than bacteria and yeast cells. Mother can be created with any liquid that has sugar or starch in it. |
 | Looking for quintessential summer salads? One of the most popular healthy salads served in the summer is the Waldorf salad, made from apples, celery, walnuts and a creamy dressing. This fresh salad is quick, easy and inexpensive to make. |
Herbal vinegars are a culinary delight. They can be used to cook or drizzled straight out of the bottle as a healthy alternative to salad dressing, and they make wonderful homespun gifts. |
Vinegar was a great accident. It's been around for as long as there has been fermented beverages, such as wine, beer, champagne and sake. The French named it, as "vin" means "wine" and "aigre" means "sour." |
