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These ground beef tacos are made with an easy homemade taco seasoning, juicy beef, and served in crispy or soft shells. Serve with all your favorite toppings for an easy weeknight meal that comes together fast.
If my family had a go-to meal, it would be ground beef tacos. They’re easy to make, done in less than 30 minutes, and way better than those fast-food crunchy tacos. Plus, everyone gets to top theirs however they like (I’m partial to the classics – shredded cheese, lettuce, sour cream, and tomatoes or pico de gallo).
Why You’ll Love This Recipe
- The best juicy ground beef taco filling. This recipe features a simple yet flavorful homemade taco seasoning that adds so much more taste than store-bought packets. It’s combined with a bit of tomato paste for extra flavor, making everything juicy and delicious.
- Crispy shells are made fresh. If you’ve never made your own crunchy taco shells, now is the time. I use corn tortillas that are lightly fried, creating the most beautiful puffy shells that are perfectly crispy and irresistible.
- Better than fast food. Don’t get me wrong – I love going out to eat as much as the next person, but these tacos are simply fresher, crispier, and way more flavorful than anything you can get at the drive-thru.
Ingredients You’ll Need
- Ground beef: I like using 85% lean for the best balance of flavor and juiciness. You can always discard any excess grease once the meat is cooked if you prefer.
- Tomato paste and water: I like to add tomato paste for added flavor, acidity, and moisture. If you don’t have tomato paste, you can use a couple of tablespoons of tomato sauce. Just note that using tomato sauce will add a little more sweetness than tomato paste.
- Taco seasoning: A blend of chili powder, cumin, garlic powder, onion powder, Mexican oregano, and salt gives these tacos the perfect bold flavor. Mexican oregano is preferred, but if you can’t find it near you or online, you can use regular oregano.
- Lime juice: A squeeze at the end brightens everything up.
- Corn tortillas: This recipe features homemade crispy shells made from corn tortillas that are lightly shallow-fried in oil to get them nice and crunchy. However, you can also just warm the tortillas in a skillet or over an open flame if you prefer. Or use flour tortillas.
This is an overview of the key ingredients I used and why. See the recipe card below for the full recipe.
How to Make Ground Beef Tacos
Cook the beef. Heat the oil in a skillet, then brown the ground beef, breaking it into small pieces as it cooks. Drain any excess grease, then stir in the tomato paste, water, and all the taco seasonings. Let it simmer for about a minute, then remove from heat and add lime juice.
Make homemade crunchy taco shells. Heat 1 inch of oil in a pan, then fry each tortilla for 15 seconds per side, using tongs to fold it into a taco shape. Drain on paper towels.
Assemble and serve. Fill the taco shells with beef, lettuce, cheese, tomatoes, and sour cream.
Recipe Tips
- Use 85% lean ground beef. This keeps the meat juicy and moist without being overly greasy. If using leaner ground beef, add a little extra oil to the skillet while cooking, and pay close attention to the meat so you can pull it off the heat when it’s done.
- Don’t have tomato paste? You can use ½ cup of tomato sauce instead (keep in mind this will add a touch of sweetness as tomato sauce is sweeter than tomato paste). You can also cook down 1-2 diced Roma tomatoes with the beef.
- Make the shells ahead of time. Fry them in advance and store them at room temperature for up to 4 days.
- Add veggies. Mix in diced bell peppers, zucchini, or spinach for extra nutrients.
Frequently Asked Questions
You need about ¼ pound of taco meat per person. This recipe uses 1 pound, which makes a total of 4 servings. Each serving is 3 tacos. That ensures everyone is well-fed and not hungry afterward.
You need about 2-3 tablespoons of taco seasoning per pound of ground beef to season taco meat.
Cooked ground beef taco meat can be stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 5 days or frozen for up to 3 months.
To reheat, warm the meat in a skillet over medium heat (or in the microwave) for a few minutes until fully heated through. You may need to mix in a splash of water or broth if the mixture has dried out.
A classic combination of shredded lettuce, shredded cheese, diced tomatoes, and sour cream are great. You can also get as creative as you want and add pico de gallo, guacamole, Mexican pickled onions, cilantro lime crema, or a roasted tomato salsa.
More Taco Recipes
Did you make this ground beef tacos recipe? Be sure to leave a rating and a comment below! I love hearing about your experience, and it also helps others.
Ground Beef Tacos
Ingredients
For the taco meat
- 1 ½ teaspoons olive oil
- 1 pound ground beef
- 3 tablespoons tomato paste (see notes for using tomato sauce)
- ½ cup water (or beef broth)
- 1 tablespoon chili powder
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- ½ teaspoon ground cumin
- ½ teaspoon garlic powder
- ½ teaspoon onion powder
- ¼ teaspoon dried oregano
- 1 tablespoon lime juice (about ½ lime)
For the crunchy taco shells
- 12 corn tortillas
- Oil, for frying (vegetable oil, olive oil, or avocado oil are great)
For serving
- Thinly shredded lettuce
- Shredded cheese
- Diced tomatoes
- Sour cream
Instructions
- Make the filling. Heat the oil in a medium skillet over medium-high heat. Add the ground beef and cook for 6 to 8 minutes, breaking up the meat into small pieces as it cooks. Drain and discard any excess grease if necessary.
- Add the tomato paste, water, chili powder, ground cumin, salt, garlic powder, onion powder, and dried oregano. Stir together until fully combined. Cook for 1 more minute.
- Remove the skillet from the heat and stir in the lime juice.
- Make the crunchy taco shells. Line a large baking sheet with paper towels. Heat 1 inch of frying oil in a sauté pan or pot over medium-high heat until hot. (If the oil sizzles when you dip the edge of the tortilla in, it’s ready.) Working 1 tortilla at a time, add in a tortilla and fry for 15 seconds. Flip it over and use tongs to fold the tortilla in half to create a “U” shape. Fry for 15 seconds like this, then flip once more, continuing to fold the tortilla with the tongs, and fry on the other side for 15 more seconds. Transfer to the prepared baking sheet to drain off any excess oil. Continue frying the remaining tortillas.
- Serve the ground beef in the taco shells topped with shredded lettuce, cheese, tomatoes, and sour cream.
Notes
- Beef: I like using 85% lean ground beef to keep the taco meat juicy and moist without it being overly greasy.
- Tomato paste: You can use ½ cup of tomato sauce instead of the tomato paste and water.
- Taco shells: If you don’t feel like frying your own taco shells, you can use your favorite store-bought crunchy taco shells, or you can use soft and warm corn tortillas or flour tortillas.
- Reheating: Add a splash of water or broth when reheating the taco meat to help prevent it from drying out.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
This post was originally published in November 2017 and has been updated with new photos, more helpful tips, and a better overall recipe.
Photography by Ashley McLaughlin.
Hello Isabel,
If you don’t have lime can you replace with lemon?
Thx
Yes, you could!
Hi Isabel,
Are you using regular oregano or Mexican oregano in this recipe? Thanks!!
Hi Shandria! This recipe uses regular oregano.
I really like this but I added a tsp of ancho chili powder and smoked paprika — it has become a family tradition.
Do you have a recipe for a big batch of diy taco mix?
Hi Cristina! Yes we have a recipe for homemade taco seasoning and you can double or triple it depending on what you need.
Your post about potato taco brought back a fond memory. My late husband and I drove a tractor trailer. Our favorite load was to Larado, TX. The taco truck served ground beef and potato tacos. We actually would not put ourselves available till after the morning taco run. We tried to recreate them at home but never found the right combination. If you have a recipe can you please share
Hi Susan! We’re glad this recipe brought back memories for you. We dont have a recipe that mixes both, but you can definitely make the potato taco filling, and this ground beef filling and then fill and fry them with the potato taco instructions.
When you say chili powder, is there a specific one that you use?
Hi Carol! Any chili powder you can find in your grocery store is fine. We usually use a regular chili powder that is a combination of different ground chilis.
I thought I already had the best taco seasoning that could be had, but I gave this one a try because of all the great recipes Isabel does every day. I’m forced to leave a comment after making this tonight. This is by far, the BEST I’ve had from anywhere (including restaurants). Excellent Isabel, many thanks.
I am very excited about the recipe for taco seasoning. I need to control my salt intake so this will give me the perfect seasoning without the sodium. My question is: after I have my double batch of mix how much per 1 lb of ground beef?
Hi Debbie! On the recipe page on the website, if you hover over the serving size number, you can adjust it to what you need. It then automatically adjusts the amount for the ingredients. I hope this helps!
Debbie K asked how much of the pre~made seasoning to use for 1 pound of ground beef. She has ALREADY made a double batch of the Taco Seasoning, now she wants to know how much of that bulk seasoning she should use per pound of ground beef.
I don’t understand how your response answers her question? How is hovering over the serving size and adjusting the amount of each individual spice going to help her figure out what amount should be used per each 1 pound of ground beef?
Hi Lyssa! I apologize for the confusion, I misread the response. We recommend 2 tbsp per 1 pound of ground beef.
Isabel. What is that specific hot sauce you have in this picture. I hope you have the recipe for that one. It looks very delicious.
I do! It’s this Toasted Red Chile Salsa – https://www.isabeleats.com/toasted-red-chile-salsa/. Enjoy!
making tacos tonight using your taco seasoning, thanks so much for sharing! do you make your own hot or chipotle or sriracha sauce?
Thanks, Abby! And I make my own hot sauce sometimes. Here’s a link to check out the sauces that I’ve shared – https://www.isabeleats.com/recipes/sauces-dressings-dips/. I also have a lot of different store bought hot sauces in my fridge, haha. I like Valentina, original Cholula, Frank’s Red Hot, and more! 🙂
This taco seasoning is delicious and tastes just like seasoning you’d buy in a packet. I’ve tried other recipes and they weren’t as good and also required a lot more spices. This one is perfect and makes for a super quick dinner. Can’t wait to try more of your recipes!