The best taco meat you will ever make! It has the easiest homemade taco seasoning and a secret ingredient to create the most flavorful and creamiest taco meat. It's perfect for hard or soft shell tacos.
This creamy taco meat is perfect on top of anything or eating right off a spoon! It has so much flavor without requiring hard-to-find ingredients. Only basic pantry ingredients are needed!
You can make this taco meat with any protein. It's great with ground turkey and chicken!
What I love about this recipe:
✔ Great depth of flavor with minimal pantry ingredients
✔ Perfect for tacos or taco salads
✔ It makes meal prepping easy and is great for making ahead of time
how to serve taco meat
This creamy taco meat is perfect on top of anything. It's best for tacos, enchilada filling, taco salads, you name it!
On top of tacos:
You can use soft or hard shell tacos. I like to add a couple of tablespoons of creamy taco meat, add sour cream, Chipotle's Fresh Tomato Salsa or salsa, and shredded cheddar cheese. I am not a huge fan of shredded lettuce on top of tacos, but it would be a great addition!
ingredients needed for creamy taco meat:
- Ground Beef - I like to use 80/20 or 88/12 because it has more flavor. You can use ground chuck or ground sirloin. Fattier meat will need to be drained, and leaner meat will not have to be drained. You can also substitute the ground beef for ground chicken or ground turkey.
- Chili Powder
- Cumin
- Garlic Powder
- Onion Powder
- Yellow or White Onion
- Garlic
- Tomato Paste
- Water
- Salt and Pepper
frequently asked questions:
Each taco would be approximately 2 ounces per taco, so if you eat two tacos, then 4 ounces per person would be perfect.
I like to use the 80/20 or even 88/12 for taco meat because it is very flavorful. The fattier meat will have to be drained before adding seasonings.
It depends on the fat content in your ground meat. If you are using fattier ground beef, then you will have to drain the excess oil. If using leaner meats, there is no need to drain the meat.
recipe shortcuts
Sometimes we are short on time and need to prep things ahead of time. Here are a few ideas that can help make this recipe even faster for you!
✔ Prep ahead – All of the ingredients can be prepped up to 24-48 hours ahead of time and keep in a bag or a container in the refrigerator.
✔ Cook ahead – Taco meat is perfect for cooking ahead and reheated without any loss to flavor or form. Make as directed, cool to room temperature, package, and refrigerate. When ready to eat, heat on the stovetop or in the microwave.
✔ Freezer meal – Read directions below.
freezer meal instructions
This taco meat is the perfect freezer meal! You can either prep this before cooking or after cooking. For best results, use within 4-6 months.
TO FREEZE BEFORE COOKING:
- Prepare all ingredients and place the soup into a freezer bag or freezer-friendly container. I would recommend using lean ground beef since all of the ingredients will be mixed, and it will be difficult to drain any excess oil.
- Freeze.
- When ready to cook, add to the slow cooker. If you are cooking from frozen, the meat will need additional cooking time. Frozen meat can be thawed before cooking by placing it in the refrigerator 24-48 hours beforehand.
- Cook as directed.
TO FREEZE AFTER COOKING:
- Prepare recipe as directed.
- Allow the meat to cool to room temperature.
- Package in freezer bags or a freezer-friendly container.
- Freeze.
- Meat can be reheat in the microwave or on the stovetop.
recommended tools
leftovers
Leftovers are my favorite! They save and reheat well. To save them, place them into a container once cooled to room temperature. The taco meat is good in the refrigerator for 3-4 days and up to a month in the freezer.
more easy beef recipes
If you loved this recipe, here are a few more easy beef recipes you will love!
You can check out all of my easy dinner recipes here or see a few of our readers’ favorites below:
✔ Beefaroni
✔ Copycat Chipotle Chicken
✔ Slow Cooker Mexican Rice
✔ Mexican Street Corn Salad
The best taco meat you will ever make! It has the easiest homemade taco seasoning and a secret ingredient to create the most flavorful and creamiest taco meat. It's perfect for hard or soft shell tacos.
- 1 lb 80/20 or 88/12 ground beef
- 1 medium yellow or white onion, finely diced
- 2 tbsp tomato paste
- 3 garlic cloves, minced
- 1 tbsp chili powder
- 1 tsp cumin
- 1 tsp garlic powder
- 1 tsp onion powder
- ¼ cup water
- salt and pepper, to taste
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Add the ground beef and onion to a skillet over medium heat and cook until ground beef is cooked through. Drain any excess fat and return to skillet.
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Add minced garlic, tomato paste, seasonings, and water and stir to combine. Let the mixture simmer until the sauce has thickened, 5-7 minutes.
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Serve hot with tortillas or taco shells.
Nutrition is an estimate and calculated using 88/12 ground beef with excess fat drained.
You can use any type of ground meat you would like: ground turkey and ground chicken would be delicious.
A very good base recipe. I added one chopped green pepper, a teaspoon of oregano, and substituted the tomato paste for a quarter cup of medium salsa. Garnish with green onions.