Sweet & Spicy Taco Salad

Submitted by Bekah49036

"I love taco salad but I hate buying those packets of taco seasoning from the store. Half the ingredients are things I can't even pronounce and the other half are spices that almost everyone keeps in the pantry. After tweaking this recipe a bit, I think I found the perfect balance of sweet with a gentle heat. I prefer to use lean ground pork but beef would work just fine. Just make sure you drain the extra grease."

 

• Ready In: 20mins
• Ingredients: 17
• Serves: 4

ingredients

• 1 lb ground lean pork
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 1 small onion
• 2 teaspoons ground cumin
• 1 teaspoon oregano
• 1⁄2 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1⁄4 teaspoon fresh ground pepper
• 1 -2 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes (depending on how much heat you like)
• 1⁄2 - 3⁄4 cup Catalina dressing
• 1⁄2 - 1 teaspoon cayenne pepper sauce (I like Frank's original)
• 1 (12 1/2 ounce) bag nacho cheese flavor Doritos
• 2 cups shredded cheddar cheese
• 4 cups lettuce, chopped or shredded (about 1/2 a head)
• 1 tomatoes, diced

• Garnish

• sour cream (optional)
• black olives (optional)
• jalapeno (optional)

directions

1. In a large skillet, heat butter over medium heat. Add onion and saute for 1-2 minutes.
2. Add pork, cumin, oregano, salt, pepper and pepper flakes. Cook until pork is no longer pink.
3. Add Catalina dressing and hot sauce. Taste sauce and adjust sweet/spicy to taste.
4. Raise heat to HIGH and bring to a boil. Then simmer for 1-2 minutes.
5. Crush Doritos on a plate (I normally plate this individually but you could serve family style on a platter as well), top with meat mixture, cheese, lettuce and tomato. Garnish as desired.
6. Enjoy!

Reviews

[happynana]

This made us a very nice lunch today. I did make a few modifications. I used 1 tablespoon of butter and I drained off the grease of the pork. I used 3/4 cup of the catalina dressing. Next time I think I would add fritos instead of the nacho chips. Made for Spring PAC 2009.