Ground Beef Taco Recipe
This is 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!
Equipment
- Toaster - for making taco shells (Optional. You can also use hard taco shells, or deep fry your tortillas to make hard taco shells.)
- 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
- 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
- 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.
- 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)
- Place 3 to 4 tortillas between two slightly dampened kitchen towels.
- Microwave for 30 seconds until soft and warm.
- Optionally spray oil on both sides of each tortilla for a subtle oil taste. (It will also work without oil.)
- Fold each tortilla in half and insert them into a toaster.
- Toast them to your desired crispness. (It took my toaster about 4 minutes. Time might vary.)
- Transfer the toasted tortillas to a plate. Set aside. (They will turn crispier after they cool down. )
- Cook Ground Beef Filling
- 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.
- Add chopped onions. Pan fry until onions turn soft.
- Add 3 tsbps of Dan-O's Hot Chipotle Seasoning and mix well. (*See Note 2)
- Optionally add some salt and pepper to your taste.
- Assemble Ground Beef Tacos
- 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.
Video
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:
Note 2:
The Tiktok video of this recipe was sponsored by Dan-O's, but not this blog post. This seasoning is very easy to use and the ingredient list looks very 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.