Taco salad is traditionally served in a fried tortilla bowl with lettuce, meat, beans, cheese, and tomatoes.
Unlike a conventional taco, taco salad presents its ingredients over a larger, bowl-shaped fried tortilla. Common additions include sour cream, salsa, guacamole, olives, and onions, although recipes vary by restaurant and region.
The dish became especially popular in the United States during the twentieth century as Mexican-American and Tex-Mex restaurants expanded nationally. It is generally considered a Tex-Mex or American-Mexican creation rather than a traditional Mexican regional dish.
Taco salad is sometimes confused with a tostada. A tostada usually uses a flat, crisp tortilla, while taco salad is characteristically assembled in a shaped tortilla bowl.