bulgur wheat salad - taco style!

Bulgur wheat salad - taco style! Dig into layers of flavorful, saucy bulgur taco meat, all the taco fixings you can handle, and tasty dressing for the ultimate taco salad supreme.

Raise your hand if you don’t love taco salad. This recipe was my very first vegan taco salad, and I loved it from the beginning. But it’s had quite an evolution from the first one. I’ve learned a lot.

Today's version, the one I love better than the original, is even easier, healthier, and more satisfying.

I’ve discovered that it's easiest to approach this recipe in three parts.

Part I

The ‘salad’ part. All the good stuff, except the bulgur taco meat and dressing - that's what I mean by salad. 

The bulgur taco meat takes 15 – 20 minutes to cook. That’s not enough time to prepare everything else and keep the bulgur hot. Prep everything before you start cooking. I speak as a taco salad warrior.

When it comes to toppings, anything goes, but here are a few ideas:

Crisp lettuce – Yes, this is a place to revere iceberg lettuce. Chopped Romaine is also a great choice. If you rinse and chop the lettuce, you can place it in the fridge, and it will get even crispier.

Tomatoes – Cherry, Roma, fresh tomatoes are a taco salad tradition.

Black olives – If you love them, you love them. ½ a cup of sliced black olives is a must for my taco salad.

Avocado – Want to keep them fresh while you get on with the rest of your salad? Cube them and then toss them in lemon or lime juice. Cover them until you are ready to use them.

Salsa, hot sauce, or pico de gallo – Serve something extra spicy on the salad or on the side for folks who can’t get enough heat.

Plant-based sour cream – Whenever you can, do it. If you aren’t feeling the love for a particular dressing, try mixing sour cream with salsa or hot sauce. 

Corn – a cup of canned or thawed corn can go straight into the bowl, or you can mix it into the cooked bulgur.

Raw onions - Sliced red onions or scallions (green onions) can add a bit more fire to your salad.

Cilantro (coriander) – Mix chopped cilantro along with the tomatoes and some onion – oops, we’re back to pico de gallo.

Tortilla chips – It’s a requirement, isn’t it? Because I try not to have added oil, I make my own. I start by making my own corn tortillas, then cut them and bake them. That’s a bit extreme for a weeknight, but you can make them ahead. Be sure to hide them from yourself so that there’s something left for the salad.

Beans – Black beans, white beans, kidney beans, tall beans, short beans… You get it. I usually just drain and rinse a can of black beans and add them in. If you want them heated, you can also add them to the cooked bulgur and give them a stir.

Part 2

You need a dressing to pull everything together. I have a few ideas that have all been tested. That's how much I loved my taco salad research.

Spicy chipotle – This is what I used for all the pictures. It’s creamy, spicy, and the chipotle chili flavor is smoking.

Cilantro lime – I first tried this with our taco salad supreme. It's bright and citrusy.

Sriracha tahini – This is a little heat and a bit of nut.

Chipotle cream – I use this a lot for cauliflower tacos. It’s basically coconut milk, ground flax seeds (to thicken), lemon juice or lime juice, and hot sauce. Primo!

Part 3

If you aren’t familiar with this fearless meat substitute, it’s overdue.

Bulgur wheat is an absolute gold strike for anyone who wants a cheap, easy-to-cook meat substitute. Take whole wheat groats, crack them, parboil them, and dry them – it’s bulgur. Better yet, grab a bag or box at the store next time if you aren’t already stocked with it.

From a nutritional perspective, bulgur rocks. It’s high in fiber, low in calories (and fat) big on vitamin B and iron. More forgiving than rice, bulgur is seriously easy to cook. Because it’s already been parboiled, you're looking at 15 minutes for it to get tender.

That’s why you want to prep all the other salad ingredients first. Bulgur won’t give you must simmer rest time. 

If you build it, they will come and get it

I like to make my taco salad into layers, but I always add 2 layers of shredded lettuce. It’s my sneaky way of not making it all seem like ‘only’ salad. Be sure to grab a big enough bowl. Space can get precious quickly once you start piling things on.

In anticipation of leftovers, or to make taco salad as a lunch meal for a few days, consider combining the bulgur and beans so that you can reheat them. Then, in a separate container, house all the lettuce, tomatoes, and olives. Keep the dressing, chips, and sour cream separate. This helps your salad to not get soggy.

Final thoughts

Taco salad can seem overwhelming once you look at the list of ingredients and things to do. Attack the cooking process - one part at a time. The bulgur cooks quickly, so don't depend on doing much more than washing a few dishes, setting the table, or checking your phone.

And then, get ready because that bowl's gonna go quickly. Peace.

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