This Vegan Taco Salad is an easy and healthy lunch with over 27 grams of protein per serving and ready in under 20 minutes.
I love including easy, healthy, and filling salads in my weekly meal prep. And when it comes to taste, nothing beats this Vegan Taco Salad. It has all the flavors of TVP Tacos but in a salad form. And since it’s made with TVP (Textured Vegetable Protein), it’s very rich in protein with almost 30g per serving!
So join me in my meal prep and make as many jars as you want of delicious plant-based taco salad! Be sure to check my meal prep tips to make them last for as long as possible and save a whole lot of time from your weekdays.
Ingredients and Substitutions
You need just a few ingredients for the salad and a few more for the dressing.
- Romaine Lettuce – I like classic lettuce leaves, but you can really put any kind of leafy green you like, such as baby spinach.
- Black Beans – There’s no vegan taco without black beans. They taste great and add even more protein. If you don’t have any, you can use red kidney beans instead.
- Corn Kernels – I used canned sweet corn, but you can also use fresh corn from the cob.
- Cherry Tomatoes – I make this with fresh cherry tomatoes from the garden. If they’re not in season, you can just use regular tomatoes cut into small chunks.
- TVP Taco Meat – Textured Soy Protein is a meat alternative that is a byproduct of soybean oil production. Once the oil is extracted, what’s left is very rich in protein. It’s just heated up to turn it into the fibrous, meat-like texture.
- Smoked Vegan Cheddar Cheese – Any vegan cheese alternative would work, but we’re lucky to have a smoked version that tastes great on vegan Mexican food.
Taco Dressing
- Coconut Yogurt – I recommend using coconut yogurt for its fresh flavor, but any plant-based yogurt would do the trick!
- Garlic Infused Olive Oil – Any olive oil works, in fact, any oil works, but I like the flavor of garlic-infused one.
- Lime Juice – Fresh or bottled lime juice.
- Taco Seasoning – Any taco seasoning mix works.
- Chili Flakes – For more zing.
How to Make Vegan Taco Salad
Making this salad is very easy, as you can see in the recipe card further below.
Cook the TVP meat with olive oil and the taco seasoning mix.
Shred the cheese finely if you bought a block.
Mix the dressing ingredients in a small bowl or jug.
Prepare 3 jar if you are meal-prepping the salad and pour the dressing at the bottom.
Add the beans and corn over the dressing. They are the ingredients that would change the least in the dressing. Then add the TVP meat.
Top with the vegan cheese, cherry tomatoes, and salad, and close the container.
Meal Prep Tips
While this salad is great as a regular lunch, it’s particularly easy to use the recipe for meal prep. With these few tips, you can make the salad last longer in the fridge!
- For the longest-lasting, you can keep the dressing and the lettuce separate.
- If you’re making 3-4 jars, you can fully prepare them as above. It’s essential to keep the dressing at the bottom to prevent it from wilting the fresh ingredients.
- Keep the lettuce on the top so you can remove any leaf that might have wilted.
- When you’re ready to serve, open a jar, place a large plate facing down on it, and flip the whole lot!
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Vegan Taco Salad
Ingredients
- 3 cups Romaine Lettuce - chopped
- 1 can Black Beans - (15oz / 400g) drained
- 1 can Corn Kernel - (15oz / 400g) drained
- 1 cup Cherry Tomatoes
- 1 batch TVP Taco Meat
- ⅓ cup Smoked Vegan Cheddar Cheese - shredded
Taco Dressing
- ¾ cup Coconut Yogurt - plain, unsweetened
- 2 tablespoons Garlic Infused Olive Oil
- 1 tablespoon Lime Juice
- 4-5 teaspoons Taco Seasoning
- 1 pinch Salt
- 1 pinch Chilli flakes - or black pepper
Instructions
- Prepare the salad dressing: add all the dressing ingredients into a glass jug and stir until smooth. Set aside in a large salad bowl, or divide evenly into 3 jars if you meal prep.
- Cook the TVP taco meat following my recipe here; don't add the optional cauliflower rice. When cooked, transfer to a clean plate and cool at room temperature for an hour, then cool in the fridge for 1 hour. You can also meal-prep this part the day before to save time.
- Assemble the salad in this order: add the salad dressing, black beans, corn kernel, tomatoes, taco meat, vegan shredded cheddar cheese, and chopped lettuce.
- Toss the salad just before eating.
- Store in airtight container in the fridge for up to 4 days.
Oh Carine, I’m glad you’re making salads again, this is absolutely delicious
I made a pretty large batch and don’t regret it. The way it drips from the jar makes me drool and it’s so good to it. I crush a few tortillas on top for more crisp.
yummy, very tasty. Highly recommend