This is the classic Ground Beef Taco Recipe you have been looking for!

Crispy and healthy toasted taco shells loaded with freshly made tomato salsa and well spiced ground beef, topped with creamy guacamole and savory cheese. These Ground Beef Tacos will be your perfect breakfast, lunch, dinner, and midnight snack!

Hard Taco Shell v.s. Soft Taco Shell

What is your preferred taco, hard or soft? 

Although I need to take the risks of breaking some brackets on my brace, I have always been preferring hard-shell tacos because of their crunchiness.

However, hard taco shells are often deep fried with oil, which makes them less healthier than soft ones.

What if you can take the advantages of both of them and turn the soft taco shells crunchy too?

How to make taco shells CRUNCHY with a toaster?

Here comes my pro tip to magically turn soft taco shells crunchy – by using a toaster!

Simply fold a tortilla into half and pop the tortilla into the toaster like a slice of bread. Make sure your tortilla is not significantly larger than your toaster slots. I used 6 inch tortillas, which fitted in my toaster perfectly.

Toast them for 4 minutes (time might vary), then you will some perfectly warm and crunchy taco shells in return without deep frying!

Free Pro Tip: If you happen to buy corn tortillas (just like I did), the skins might crack when you try to fold them.

But no worries, surround 4 tortillas in a damp kitchen towel and microwave for 45 seconds (or just 1 tortilla for 20 seconds) – they will turn soft and flexible.

You do not need to do this extra step if you buy the extra soft wheat tortillas.

Can I bake it with an Oven? Can I stick to the traditional deep frying method?

Of course yes! I will introduce these methods to you under the “Instruction” section below （ ‘◡’○）ﾉ♥~~~

How to Make Ground Beef Taco

Equipment

• Toaster – for making taco shells (Optional if you use hard taco shells or choose to deep fry the tortillas)

• Frying pan

Ingredients

• 16 corn/wheat tortillas (6 inch)

For making tomato salsa

• 500 g tomatoes
• 2  jalapeño peppers
• ¼ sweet onion or red onion
• ½ cup cilantros
• 5 tbsp lemon juice (from 1 lemon)
• ½ tsp salt
• ½ tsp pepper

For making grounded beef filling

• 3 tbsp olive oil
• 2 lb 80/20 grounded beef
• ¾ sweet onion or red onion
• 3 tbsp Dan-O’s Hot Chipotle Seasoning  (Or use 1 tbsp chipotle pepper powder, 1 tsp smoked paprika,1 tsp salt, 1 tsp garlic powder, 1 tsp ground cumin, ½ tsp parsley powder as a substitute)

Other optional toppings

• Lettuce
• Guaccamole
• Sour Cream
• Cheese of your choice

Instructions

– Make Tomato Salsa

1. Cut the jalapeño peppers in half lengthwise, use a small knife or a spoon to scrape out the membrane and seeds. Finely dice the tomatoes, sweet onion, cilantros, and deseeded jalapeño peppers.

2. Place all chopped ingredients in a serving bowl. Add 5 tbsps of lemon juice, ½ tsp of salt and ½ tsp of pepper. Mix well, cover with a food wrap and set aside. (Freshly made salsa can sit out for up to two hours at room temperature. Or you can store the salsa in the fridge for up to 5 days.)

– Warm Up Taco Shells (*See Note 1)

1. Place 3 to 4 tortillas between two slightly dampened kitchen towels.

2. Microwave for 45 seconds until soft and warm.

3. Optionally spray oil on both sides of each tortilla for a subtle oil taste. (This step is skippable, it will also work without oil.)

4. Gently fold each tortilla in half and insert them into a toaster.

5. Toast them to your desired crispness. (It took my toaster about 4 minutes. Time might vary.)

6. Transfer the toasted tortillas to a plate. Set aside. (They will turn crispier after they cool down. )

– Cook Ground Beef Filling

1. Heat a frying pan over medium heat. Add 3 tbsps of olive oil. Add the ground beef. Scoop out the excess grease. Pan fry until the ground beef is no longer pink.

2. Add chopped onions. Pan fry until onions turn soft.

3. Add 3 tsbps of Dan-O’s Hot Chipotle Seasoning and mix well. (*See Note 2)

4. Optionally add some salt and pepper to your taste.

– Assemble Ground Beef Tacos

1. Spread a thin layer of each ingredient into each taco shell in the order you like. The following is my preferred order: lettuce, ground beef, shredded cheese, tomato salsa, guacamole.

NOTES

Note 1:

    You can skip these “Warm Up Taco Shells” steps if you’re going to use store bought hard taco shells.

    My corn tortillas broke up easily before being microwaved. If you’re going to use extra soft wheat tortillas, you can also skip the microwave step, go ahead and pop the wheat tortillas into your toaster directly. 

    If you do not have access to or do not want to use a toaster, you can always deep fry or bake the tortillas to make hard taco shells. Here are two nice blog posts teaching you about these methods:

• How to Fry Tortillas – Meggan Hill

• BAKED TACO SHELLS ARE JUST AS GOOD AS FRIED – Patrick

Note 2:

    The Tiktok video of this recipe was sponsored by Dan-O’s, but not this blog post. I found seasoning very easy to use and the ingredient list looks clean & healthy. So I’d still recommend using it to season the ground beef, though this post is not sponsored.

    You can also use 1 tbsp of chipotle pepper powder, 1 tsp of smoked paprika,1 tsp of salt, 1 tsp of garlic powder, 1 tsp of ground cumin, and ½ tsp of parsley powder as a substitute.