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    Home » Easter/Spring Recipes

    Crunchy Taco Salad with Pasta & Ranch Dressing

    Published: Jul 26, 2019 · Modified: Apr 4, 2022 by Marcie Groller · This post may contain affiliate links

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    Crunchy Taco Pasta Salad

    Taco night is a staple in our household. However, even something as delicious and crunchy as hand-held tacos can get a little monotonous. This week we decided to change things up by making a Crunchy Taco Salad! This is simply the basic veggie-meat-cheese elements mixed with pasta, served over lettuce, and topped with crushed tortilla chips & ranch dressing. I have to say that adding noodles was a huge hit with the kids. We chose rotini, but you can really use any pasta you like.

    This recipe is super quick and you can easily customize it for your family. My kiddos love tomatoes and peppers, so we were sure to incorporate these veggies into the dish.

    child holding bell  peppers and tomato

    There were a ton of ways for the kids to help make this dish. Other than cooking the meat and noodles, most of the work involves chopping. So, we were thrilled to put our Curious Chef kid-friendly knives to use (see our post on Testing Kids Kitchen Knives for details on these and other kid tools).

    child slicing yellow pepper

    Next we combined the ingredients and stirred them together. My daughter was excited to throw all the veggies into the bowl and mix them together with the meat, cheese and noodles. Of course, I had to remind her not to eat all the olives during the process. Haha.

    child tasting olives in taco salad bowl
    child stirring taco salad ingredients
    child pouring cheese into taco salad bowl
    Taco salad ingredients in bowl

    My son completed the final step: crushing the tortilla chips. We used our favorite Food Should Taste Good Multigrain Tortilla Chips!), but feel free to use any kind of tortilla chip you'd like. You can even use nacho cheese chips for some added flavor!

    CHILD CRUSHING CHIPS WITH HANDS

    We topped the taco salad with our Homemade Ranch Dressing (see this post for the recipe). Of course, making ranch from scratch adds a little extra time to the meal-prep. So, feel free to use your favorite brand of ranch dressing.

    child adding sour cream to vitamix
    child turning on Vitamix
    Crunchy Taco Salad with Ranch Dressing

    🌈 Kidify the Meal 🌈

    Have picky eaters? Read More...

      🍅Noodles on the side! If your kids don't like their veggies "touching" their noodles, set aside some plain noodles. 

      🍅Swap the veggies. If your kids don't like black olives, consider swapping them for cucumber or celery. Let them decide!

      🍅 Serve dressing on the side. Some kids like to dip their veggies so consider serving the ranch dressing as a dipping sauce. 

       

      🍴 Modify the Meal🍴

      Make the meal fit your dietary lifestyle!

        🍅Make it Gluten Free! It's really easy to make this dish gluten free. Either use your fave gluten free noodles, or skip the noodles altogether and increase the tortilla chips. Also, make sure the ranch dressing (if it's store bought) and the taco seasoning don't contain gluten.

        🍅Make it Vegetarian! Replace the turkey with pea protein crumbles. I'm a huge fan of Beyond Meat Beefy Crumbles. I've used them for years to make vegetarian chili and they are soooo delicious. I'm definitely a meat eater and I can't tell the difference. Worth noting is that these crumbles are high in protein and also gluten-free. 

      Note: This post contains affiliate links.

      Other Recipes Using Ground Turkey

      • Healthy Italian Wedding Soup with Turkey Meatballs
      • The Easiest Turkey Burger Sliders
      • Ground Turkey Spaghetti with Hidden Veggies
      • Tangy Turkey Taco Bowl

      Crunchy Taco Salad with Ranch Dressing
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      Crunchy Taco Salad with Pasta & Ranch Dressing

      Author: Marcie & Julie
      Instead of regular old tacos, try making a taco salad with noodles, for a change. This taco salad has all the meat-cheese goodness, plus noodles & ranch!
      Total Time28 mins
      Course: Dinner, Lunch, Main Course
      Cuisine: American, Americanized Mexican
      Servings: 4

      Ingredients

      • 1-2 teaspoon salt
      • 12 ounce rotini pasta we use whole wheat rotini
      • 1 Tablespoon cooking oil
      • 1 pound ground turkey
      • 2 Tablespoon taco seasoning
      • 1 large tomato chopped
      • 1 green bell pepper chopped
      • 1 yellow bell pepper chopped
      • 2.25 ounce can black olives sliced
      • 8 ounce shredded Mexican cheese
      • 3 cups shredded lettuce
      • 15 ounce Ranch dressing use your favorite brand
      • 3 cups tortilla chips hand-crushed
      • 2 Tablespoon Cilantro chopped

      Instructions

      • Heat water in a sizable pot for pasta. Once boiling, add salt and pasta, and cook according to package. When done, strain the pasta and run it under cold water. Set aside.
      • Meanwhile, heat a pan on medium. Once heated, add cooking oil and ground turkey. Cook turkey until brown, stirring often. Once done, drain turkey and put in large bowl. Then add taco seasoning and mix together.
      • Drain the olives. Add chopped tomato, peppers and olives to the turkey. Stir in noodles, and shredded cheese. Mix all ingredients together well.
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      Notes

      For each individual portion, serve mixture over a generous scoop of lettuce. Top with ranch dressing, crushed tortilla chips, and cilantro (optional).
       

      Nutrition

      Calories: 1665kcal (83%)Carbohydrates: 136g (45%)Protein: 60g (120%)Fat: 101g (155%)Saturated Fat: 22g (138%)Polyunsaturated Fat: 42gMonounsaturated Fat: 28gCholesterol: 151mg (50%)Sodium: 4085mg (178%)Potassium: 1096mg (31%)Fiber: 11g (46%)Sugar: 9g (10%)Vitamin A: 1335IU (27%)Vitamin C: 88mg (107%)Calcium: 607mg (61%)Iron: 6mg (33%)

      *Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet. While we are not certified nutritionists, we work with a Wordpress-integrated nutrition API to calculate our recipes' ingredient values.

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      We are two sisters with young kids who want to help simplify mealtime for busy families! Platein28 is our family’s unofficial guide to wading through mealtime chaos. Here you will find quality recipes that take 28 minutes or less, with activities to occupy your kids so you can actually cook.

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