How To Make A Flavorful Taco Salad Dressing With Just 2 Ingredients

Taco salad is a beloved Tex-Mex dish that combines fresh greens with the foundational flavors and fixings we've come to associate with tacos. For Chef Abbie Gellman, a registered dietitian, three-time cookbook author, and Have A Plant Ambassador, her go-to taco salad recipe incorporates a special two-ingredient dressing twist that is as simple as it is flavorful.

"I'll mix some plain yogurt with salsa and use that as a dressing," Gellman explains. The coolness and tanginess of the yogurt combined with the heat, saltiness, and savoriness of the salsa yields an ideal combination to complement the Tex-Mex flavors. It's an incredibly simple salad topping that accomplishes the task of simultaneously serving up salt, fat, and acid for an exceptionally complex flavor.

Gellman also lets us in on the elements that form her favorite taco salad compilation. "My standard taco salad is often composed of greens, beans, tomatoes, peppers, avocado, cheese, and ground meat or poultry," she says. "I like to cut corn tortillas into wedges and bake them till crispy, then crunch those up in the salad or add some crunchy mung beans, as well." Pro tip: Chill your salad bowls for a fresher result, since using cooled serving vessels helps keep your greens and veggies vibrant.

A nice aspect of this simple dressing is its versatility. The resulting texture, taste, and spice level of the salad topping can vary widely with your salsa choice. There's so much scope for flavor variety with salsa, from a standard amalgamation using tomatoes, onion, garlic, jalapeño, cilantro, and lime – adjusting the heat level from mild to spicy according to your taste preferences and similarly altering the chunkiness and smoothness — to more out-of-the-box options like a refreshing avocado salsa, an earthy Hatch chile salsa, or a smoky salsa macha. Be sure to also consider the traditional difference between salsa and pico de gallo when deciding on your base, as pico de gallo is more strictly defined in terms of its composition and is always served fresh and has a chunkier texture.

There's also flexibility in the ease of making the dressing, whether you want to tailor a homemade salsa to achieve a specific flavor profile or you'd rather execute a quicker result with a store-bought brand. With the latter, keep in mind the best and worst salsas you can buy at the grocery store to ensure the best results.

In relation to the yogurt element of the dressing, there's also a bit of room to play in terms of texture and flavor. If you want a smoother, creamier, slightly sweeter result, regular yogurt fits the bill, whereas Greek yogurt lends more tanginess and thickness. An alternative like goat-milk yogurt is more liquid in its consistency, yielding a more runny dressing.