Vegan Taco Salad – Eat With Clarity

This simple vegan taco salad is a hearty, easy to make recipe that is perfect for summer! With tons of fresh veggies like crisp romaine lettuce, tomatoes, corn, black beans, avocado, taco meat and finished with a cilantro lime cashew dressing.

It’s salad season! Though to be honest I love salads all year round but definitely crave them more in the summer. This vegan taco salad is everything you love about tacos, but packed with some extra veggies in salad form.

We have a base of crisp romaine lettuce, corn, tomatoes, black beans, onion, cilantro and vegan taco meat for protein and lots of flavor.

This recipe is packed with fiber, antioxidants, protein and so much flavor. If you love this recipe, be sure to try my chickpea tacos next!

Before we get started…

• You can use my homemade tofu taco meat, or just 1 pound of your favorite store bought! If you aren’t vegan, you can of course swap for your favorite ground chicken, turkey or beef.
• There will be leftover dressing. I love to have it on hand for burrito bowls, tacos or a dip for veggies throughout the week.

How to make a vegan taco salad

First, prep your taco meat. Either use this vegan taco meat recipe, or your favorite store bought vegan taco meat.

Meanwhile, add the cashews to a bowl and soak with boiling water for about 20 minutes. If you have a high speed blender you can safely skip this step, but soaking nuts makes them easier to blend and digest.

Prep the veggies and add to a large salad bowl. I like to finely chop the romaine, but you can keep it as big or small as you like. Add in the taco meat once ready and cooled.

Drain and rinse the cashews and add to a blender along with all dressing ingredients. Blend until completely smooth, adding more water as desired to thin.

Toss the salad with as much or as little dressing as you like. You definitely won’t need all of it, but it keeps well in the fridge! Serve cold and enjoy!

Key ingredients

Romaine. I love using romaine as the base of this taco salad because it’s crispy and so affordable. You need one small head of romaine chopped up super small.

Black Beans. The black beans add extra protein and fiber to this recipe. You need one can, drained and rinse, tossed in with all the ingredients.

Onion & tomato. I love using red onion and cherry tomatoes, but any kind of onion and tomato will work well.

Corn. I used frozen corn (which I defrosted), but you can use fresh corn that you cut off the cob! If you aren’t a fan of corn, feel free to leave it out.

Taco Meat. For this salad, you can use either my homemade taco meat or a store bought vegan taco meat. If you are not vegan, feel free to use 1 pound of ground turkey or chicken cooked with one packet of taco seasoning.

This particular vegan taco meat is made of mostly tofu, walnuts and lots of spices. Store bought vegan taco meat will usually have a soy base.

Avocado. Avocado is a must in every salad if you ask me! It makes it so creamy and balances out the crunchy textures.

Dressing. For the dressing we’ll be making a simple cilantro lime vinaigrette with just cashews, cilantro, lime, garlic and salt.

How to store

This vegan taco salad stores well in the fridge, either before or after it is dressed! It will keep for a bit longer if you store the dressing on the side, but because it is so hearty, it won’t get soggy if the dressing is stored with the salad.

Keep it covered in a container, then just grab what you want and go! I often make little wraps with the siete almond flour tortillas, but you can also serve it exactly as is.

More salads you’ll love!

If you try this recipe, leave a comment below and let me know how it turns out! Be sure to follow me on instagram and subscribe to my newsletter for more recipes.