A festive taco salad flag is a fun appetizer to bring along to your Fourth of July potlucks and get-togethers. This taco dip uses fresh ingredients that are layered in a patriotic flag design perfect for tortilla chip dipping!

taco salad that looks like american flag

Why this recipe works

The Fourth of July is a fun holiday to celebrate with patriotic-themed dishes. We usually gravitate towards a dessert like our red, white, and blue poke cake and an appetizer dish to bring to the celebrations. So we took our favorite taco dip recipe and turned it into this taco salad flag!

RELATED: you might also like this recipe – 7 Layer Taco Dip

Ingredients you will need

Get all measurements, ingredients, and instructions in the printable version at the end of this post.

Ingredient Info and Substitute Suggestions

TOPPING – The flag design on top is made from chopped tomatoes, shredded mozzarella cheese, and crushed blue tortilla chips. For the star cutouts, you can use pre-sliced cheese or cut slices from a block of cheese. Use any size star-shaped cookie cutter that you’d like. Alter the number of stars based on the size of the cookie cutter to fill in the area over the corn chips. You could also use diced red pepper or halved cherry tomatoes in place of the chopped tomatoes for the stripes.

How to Make a Taco Salad Flag

These step by step photos and instructions are here to help you visualize how to make this recipe. You can Jump to Recipe to get the printable version of this recipe, complete with measurements and instructions at the bottom.

Spread refried beans into the bottom of a 9×13 baking dish.
Beat cream cheese with a hand mixer until creamy. Add sour cream and taco seasoning and beat until fully combined. Spread cream cheese mixture over refried beans.
Stir guacamole to make it easier to spread. Drop dollops of the guacamole over the surface of the cream cheese layer and carefully spread into an even layer.
Top with cheddar jack cheese, lettuce, green onion, bell pepper, olives, and cilantro.
Press down the toppings gently to create a relatively smooth “surface” on the salad.
Sprinkle crushed blue tortilla chips in the upper left-hand corner of the dish.
Beginning and ending with the tomatoes, rotate rows of chopped tomatoes and mozzarella cheese to form the stripes of the “flag.”
Cut out star shapes from the cheese slices uses a star cookie cutter and place them on top of the blue corn chips.
Serve immediately.

Frequently Asked Questions & Expert Tips

Can I make this ahead of time?

Yes, you can make this dip ahead of time. You can prepare all layers of the dip a day in advance, but we’d recommend waiting to do the flag design on the top until the day of as the lettuce and chips become soggy after a day of sitting.

How do I store this taco salad flag?

Store leftovers, covered with plastic wrap or an air tight lid in the refrigerator for 2-3 days. The chips and lettuce will become soggy by the next day, but the dip will still be delicious.

Can I substitute ingredients?

Absolutely. You can add/remove any ingredients you’d like to personalize this taco dip. Jalapeno, shredded chicken, hot peppers, and ground taco meat all make great additions! If you don’t like refried beans, you can simply skip the layer altogether and still have a tasty layered dip.

Serving Suggestions

This taco salad flag is best served the day of with tortilla chips or even with a spoon as is! We paired it with blue tortilla chips to keep in line with the patriotic theme.

Leftover taco dip is actually delicious wrapped in a tortilla and eaten like a burrito.

More Patriotic Recipes

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This post originally appeared here on June 8, 2021.