EASY Taco Bowl {with Creamy Cilantro Dressing}

Quick & simple Taco Bowl is filled with fresh ingredients and topped with a creamy cilantro dressing. It’s a perfect taco twist.

Taco bowl is a tasty twist on a taco salad. It is similar to a deconstructed taco or chicken burrito bowl, is packed with flavor, and perfect for lunch or dinner!

a taco minus the shell

It’s no secret that we love tacos in this house! Really, we love all Mexican food and eat it at least a couple of times a week.

I love taking those same delicious ingredients and mixing things up a bit, creating a new dish. This tasty Taco Bowl is more like a taco salad!! It’s light, refreshing, and if you remove the taco shell base it can be made low-carb.

The dressing is really the “icing on top”. It’s fresh, and SO tasty. It brings the entire dish together. It’s one yummy bowl-full and makes the perfect lunch or filling dinner!

how to make a taco bowl

DRESSING. Make dressing by blending all ingredients in the blender. Add milk until it’s the consistency you want. Refrigerate until ready to serve.

RICE. Pour all rice ingredients into a large pan and bring to a boil. Add lid and simmer for 20 minutes (stirring occasionally), until rice is cooked.

BEEF. Cook beef in a large skillet over medium heat until no longer pink making sure to break up the meat. Add water and taco seasoning to the skillet and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer for about 5 minutes.

ASSEMBLE bowls by dividing the rice mixture evenly along with the meat, lettuce, corn, black beans, tomatoes, avocado and cilantro.

DRESS + SERVE! Drizzle with creamy cilantro dressing.

homemade taco bowl shell

If you do want to serve your taco bowl inside a shell, making your own taco bowl shells is much easier than you think. You’ll need:

• 6 large flour tortillas
• 6 oven safe bowls. (The diameter of the bowls should be a couple of inches smaller than the tortillas)
• Olive Oil
• Skillet
• Baking tray

PREP. Preheat the oven to 350°F. Arrange the oven safe bowls on a baking sheet.

FRY.  Heat a large skillet to medium high heat and add a bit of olive oil. Fry each side of the tortilla for 30-40 seconds. Transfer the fried tortilla to one of the oven safe bowls. Repeat for each tortilla. 

BAKE. Place the baking sheet containing the bowls into the oven. Bake for 12-15 minutes until crisp.

more toppings + variations

Other ingredient/topping ideas: The great thing about preparing your own taco bowl is that you can control exactly what you put in it. My family loves the recipe I shared, but you can easily change things up to your preference. Some other yummy ingredients that you can use include:

• Plain white or brown rice can be used as well as a rice alternative such as Cauliflower Rice or quinoa
• You can use plain corn kernels or Mexican Street Corn.
• You can line the bowl with a soft flour tortilla or serve a the tortilla on the side. A side of tortilla chips also pair well with this taco bowl recipe.
• Topping choices include: green onions, shredded cheese, salsa, pico de gallo, cilantro
• Serve with a lime wedge that can be used to spritz lime juice on top.
• Season with salt and pepper
• Add heat by sprinkling chili powder, paprika red chili flakes into the ground beef.

Other proteins: This beef taco bowl uses ground beef seasoned with classic taco seasoning. Instead of making this ground beef mixture you can use ground turkey or chicken. Some other delicious proteins that you can use instead include:

meal prepping and storing

Tips for meal prepping:

Except for the avocados, the different elements can be prepped ahead of time.

• The meat and rice can both be made a few days ahead of time and stored in separate containers in the fridge, or you can make them several weeks ahead and store them in the freezer. Thaw and warm them up before using.
• The lettuce, beans, corn and tomatoes can be prepared 1-2 days before. Store them in separate containers in the fridge until ready to assemble the taco bowls.

STORE leftovers in an airtight container in the fridge for 1-2 days. The avocados will brown, but they will still be ok to eat.

Reheating gets a bit trickier. Remove as much of the lettuce and avocados as you can; everything else can be heated in the microwave or in the oven. Once hot, add the lettuce and avocados back into the salad.

For more Mexican Tacos, try: