The Best Easy Taco Dip Recipe made with no cream cheese! This hot taco dip is so quick to make with ground beef & tastes amazing! Great for bringing to a party, it’s keto friendly, healthy, gluten free + yummy! This post is sponsored by our friends at ButcherBox
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It’s no secret we love appetizers around here. Buffalo Chicken Dip, Onion Dip, Healthy Spinach Artichoke Dip, and Thai Chicken Wings are just a few of our favorites – right up there with taco dip.
Up until a few months ago, I had never had taco dip. Cold seven layer dip? Yes.. but warm, cheesy, hearty taco dip… no.
After trying it once, I was hooked – but like many party foods, it is pretty heavy so I set out to make my own lighter version!
Why we love this taco dip
We love this taco dip for so many reasons!
- Easy to make! Made with only 10 ingredients – this taco dip takes under 15 minutes to prep!
- Lower fat- Most taco dip recipes are super high in fat and low in protein. This dip is high protein (made with ground beef) and low in fat (made with greek yogurt instead of cream cheese). Making it the perfect healthy snack!
- Delicious – This is one of those ‘Wait.. this is healthy?’ kind of recipes. It is so yummy – perfect for bringing to a party or for a snack!
- Hearty – This dip is filling enough that you can eat it as a meal or a snack! You can also, try our taco casserole or One Pot Taco Pasta!
Easiest Taco Dip
This really is the easiest taco dip, and I’m going to show you just how simple it is to make!
Love ground beef? Check out this list of 25+ Healthy Ground Beef Recipes!
Ingredients for Taco Dip
Here’s what you’ll need to make taco dip
- ground beef (We always use ButcherBox)
- onions
- taco seasoning
- greek yogurt
- cottage cheese
- salsa
- cheddar cheese
- optional toppings: olives, tomatoes, avocado, lettuce, black beans
There are substitutions for this recipe listed below in the green shaded box.
Our favorite part about this taco dip is the ground beef! If you haven’t tried ButcherBox’s meat– you’re missing out. BUT.. they have a special deal for my readers right now: Free Ground Beef!
When you join today, ButcherBox will give you 2 lbs of ground beef & $10 of! Click here to try it!
We wrote a whole blog post about why we love ButcherBox but here are a few reasons:
- Convenience: The box arrives with all of the meat frozen + on dry ice. You don’t have to go to the store, or look out for sales to get the best prices…they deliver it right to you.
- Quality: You’re getting grass fed beef, free range chicken, wild caught seafood, and heritage breed pork. Quality of meat is super important to us, and I trust ButcherBox’s standards
- Taste: The taste of ButcherBox’s meat is amazing. Seriously, take it from me… I’m a bit of a food snob. 😂
- Cost: I compared BB’s prices to multiple grocery stores (click here to read) and their prices are considerably lower.
If you want to try ButcherBox – they’re giving my readers free ground beef and $10 off when you join today!
How Do You Make Taco Dip
- In a pan brown ground beef and onions until cooked through, about 10 minutes. Make sure to break up the ground beef so that it is in fine pieces. When finished cooking, stir in taco seasoning
- In a bowl mix together beef/onion mixture, greek yogurt, cottage cheese, salsa, and ¾ cup cheddar cheese until smooth.
- Pour into an 8×8 baking dish and top with remaining ¾ cup cheddar cheese (feel free to add more cheese if you’d like!)
- Bake at 350 for 20-25 minutes until the top is bubbling and the cheese is melted!
Once the dip has finished baking you can load it up with all your favorite taco toppings. I used olives, tomatoes, avocado, and green onions.
Substitutions for Taco Dip
This dip is pretty versatile. Here are a few ways you can customize it!
Cottage cheese: I haven’t tested this recipe without cottage cheese, but if you’re asking because you don’t like it… just put it in there. I don’t like cottage cheese either (at all!) but I swear you can not taste it in this.
Cheese: You can use monterey jack or colby jack cheese in place of cheddar. Any shredded cheese will work. We recommend grating your own cheese as it melts much better!
Low fat cheese – I find that low fat cheese does not melt as well as regular cheeses, but they will work in this recipe if you like them. It may make the dip watery.
Vegetarian: I haven’t tried it, but I think you could sub 2 cans of rinsed + drained black beans for the cooked ground beef. You might want to check out our Vegetarian Buffalo Dip or Healthy Easy Bean Dip instead
Ground Beef: This recipe works best with ground beef but ground turkey or ground chicken should also work. We haven’t tried it.
How to serve taco dip:
There’s no wrong way to eat this healthy taco dip.. but here are a few ideas
- Chips – these chips are yummy!
- Pretzels – (I love these flat ones for dipping!)
- Veggies – Celery, peppers and carrots go well with this.
- A spoon or a fork…Seriously! You can make a meal out of this!
- Over a salad – This is dip is hearty enough that it can be eaten like a casserole or served over a salad.
- With a fun drink – We love our Skinny Margarita Recipe or a Healthy Strawberry Mojito
How long is taco dip good for?
Storing Taco Dip: This taco dip will last for 3 days in the refrigerator
Can you freeze it? We haven’t tried it but I wouldn’t recommend that. This dip is best when served right out of the oven.
Pro Tips for Taco Dip
You really don’t need to dirty your crockpot to make this taco dip, but if you’d like to you can cook it on low for 2-3 hours in your slow cooker!
Your taco dip might be runny if you added too many veggies, used low fat cheeses, or over cooked it.
Taco dip is made of ground beef, cheese, greek yogurt, and all your favorite taco toppings. It’s delicious and simple to make!
7 layer dip can be served hot or cold. It’s most often served cold, but this recipe is a little bit different and served hot!
Other healthy appetizer recipes:
If you’re looking for other healthy snacks, check out these dips!
Taco Dip Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 lb ButcherBox ground beef
- ½ cup onions chopped finely
- 1.5 tablespoons taco seasoning
- 1 cup nonfat greek yogurt
- 3/4 cup low fat, small curd cottage cheese
- ½ cup salsa
- 1.5 cups cheddar cheese divided
- ½ cup black beans optional
Toppings:
- ¼ cup tomato diced
- ¼ cup olives diced
- ¼ cup avocados diced
- Other options for toppings: guacamole, lettuce, green onions, cilantro
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- In a pan brown ground beef and onions until cooked through, about 10 minutes. Make sure to break up the ground beef so that it is in fine pieces. When finished cooking, stir in taco seasoning.
- In a bowl mix together beef/onion mixture, greek yogurt, cottage cheese, salsa and ¾ cup cheddar cheese until smooth.
- Pour into a 8×8 baking dish and top with remaining ¾ cup cheddar cheese (feel free to add more cheese if you’d like!)
- Bake at 350 for 20-25 minutes until top is bubbling and cheese is melted!
Chase says
Couldn’t stop eating this, it was so goooood. Even the kids gave it a go. Highly recommend for a family meal 🙂
The Clean Eating Couple says
So glad you liked it! Thank you so much!
Laurie says
Amazing taco dip- i’m going to top it to a baked sweet potato I’m not a fan of cottage cheese but she’s right it’s perfect in this recipe!! I love how there’s always alternative to the recipes that’s why I keep going back !!
The Clean Eating Couple says
So happy you like it, Laurie!
jenn koziol says
So delicious! I love all of the substations listed. Clean Eating Couple never disappoints!
The Clean Eating Couple says
So glad you liked it, Jenn! Thank you!
Chris says
Awesome dish! I am bringing to a birthday party this weekend!
The Clean Eating Couple says
Thanks, Chris! Glad you liked it!
Stacy says
This dip is so good (and versatile). I used it in/on my omelette. This might be my new favorite thing!
The Clean Eating Couple says
This is genius!! So glad you liked it!
Molly Moore says
Oh man, was this good!! It felt so indulgent, but you don’t feel heavy after eating. My 2 and 5 year old gobbled it up too! This will for sure get added to our monthly rotation!
The Clean Eating Couple says
So happy you liked it, Molly!
Kristin says
So good!! Made this for lunch and topped with black beans, corn, avocado, and black olives. Quick and easy to make. Whole family enjoyed it!
The Clean Eating Couple says
So glad you liked it! Thanks, Kristin!
Brooke says
I’m trying to find healthier alternatives to replace cream cheese. It seems you use Greek yogurt and cottage cheese. If a recipe calls for 8 oz of cream cheese what would be the measurements for those?
The Clean Eating Couple says
Every recipe is different so you can’t take what I did here and apply it to other recipes! Depending on what you’re making, how it cooks, etc, you’ll need to test and see – sorry I can’t be of more help!
Keri says
Made this for my family and all of us loved it. Including my boys! (Age 11,9,8 so that’s saying something) definitely making it again. I did add a lot more taco seasoning than it called for and also added cumin. Was so delicious! Thank-you!