Frito Salad With Homemade Catalina Dressing

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Frito salad is a fun twist on a taco salad. It is loaded with flavor and is perfect for potlucks, but also makes a fun dinner main dish. The homemade Catalina salad dressing is easy to make and the salad is packed full of goodies.

Take a salad and make it a dinner they’ll actually ask for! Frito taco salad is so much fun and a great way to get your family to eat their vegetables.

Bring it to a carry-in as a super fun side salad. Or add taco meat and serve it to your family as an all in one dinner dish.

The homemade Catalina dressing doesn’t get easier to make and brings the whole thing together. You can use bottled if you want, but making your own only takes a minute and you can use it for other things as well.

Our Family’s History with this Salad

MiMi says she remembers a time where you couldn’t go to a BBQ or potluck without there being a Frito salad there.  I don’t remember these times, so it must have been a LONG time ago. 😉  

Just kidding MiMi, you are young and vibrant!

Anyway, we were having some really special burgers for family dinner this week.  Don’t worry, you’ll get the recipe.  You’ll just have to wait a little longer for it!

Spoiler alert: it was my Maw-Maw’s hamburger suprises.  My Maw-Maw was making stuffed burgers before stuffed burgers were a thing!

Anyway, she thought this would be the perfect accompaniment for it.  I wouldn’t exactly say it is the healthiest salad.  

I mean really, the name is Frito salad people!  But, it was a really tasty side to our burgers.

Even if it’s not exactly a superfood, it is a super fun way to get your family to eat some vegetables.  So in my book that is still a win!

You can leave the taco meat out if you want and make it a side dish.  Or you an add it and make the salad the star of the show. (Or add it and still make it a side dish, you do you!)

The catalina dressing is super simple to make and you may find yourself making that for other salads as well.  You could keep a jar in your refrigerator for more salads or recipes like Catalina chicken.

All of the chopped veggies give a nice fresh flavor to the salad while the beans add lots of flavor and texture as well.  The Fritos give it a nice salty crunch that makes it extra fun!

Prepping the Salad Ahead of Time

You can do most of the prep work ahead of time. Chop everything up and get it ready.

You can even toss most of it ahead of time and store it in the refrigerator until you are ready.

Just don’t toss in the Fritos, beans and dressing until you are ready to serve. Or the taco meat if you are going full monte! You don’t want anything getting soggy.

If you like this, you may also like some of these other salad recipes that are great as side dishes or dinner mains:

Grandma’s Napa Salad is the perfect mix of crunch and flavor. It is an amazing side dish, but we love it with chicken as a meal as well.

Portillo’s Inspired Chopped Salad is loaded with meat, cheese and even a little pasta.  It is such a fun mix of ingredients and there is something for everyone!

Bok Choy Salad with Apples and Yogurt Peanut Dressing is loaded with crunch! It is topped with apples, peanuts and an easy homemade dressing. It is fun, different and flavorful.

Did you make this recipe? Please leave a review in the recipe card below!

Thanks for sharing!