The best Taco Meat recipe only needs 25 minutes, ground beef, and an easy homemade taco seasoning. Make it spicy or make it mild; you're in control. You will never use packaged taco seasoning again.
🐄Ingredients
Ground Beef
Aromatics— fresh onion and garlic, but powdered may be used.
Tomato Sauce
Seasoning—chili powder, cumin, oregano, cayenne pepper (optional), salt, and black pepper
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Featured Comment from SandyToes :
"Talk about a blast from the past! Your filling is as close to those classic SoCal tacos as I've ever tasted, albeit a little spicier. I like the heat… thanks from the bottom of my taco-loving heart…"
This is the absolute best taco ground meat recipe you will ever make. It's perfect for easy weeknight dinners and a party taco bar everybody will love.
Taco Tuesday will never be the same when you make the best spicy tacos and full-flavor ground beef nachos.
👨🍳How to Make Taco Meat—Step-by-Step
1. Combine taco seasoning spices. If using fresh, chop the onion and mince or crushed garlic.
2. In a large skillet, brown meat and onion over medium-high heat. Add garlic near the end of browning.
3. Drain the excess fat well.
4. Mix in the spices and tomato sauce.
5. Cook another 5 minutes until the sauce is incorporated.
6. Serve in tacos, nachos, or on a salad.
For more details, keep reading. See the Recipe Card below for complete instructions and to print.
Ingredients options and variations
Picking the right meat
Standard 80/20 ground beef will produce the best moist and juicy results. Lean ground beef, ground turkey, or ground chicken can be used but tends to be a bit dry—the fat adds taste and moisture.
Other ingredients
Aromatics—fresh onion and garlic, but you may substitute powdered. One clove of garlic is ⅛ teaspoon of garlic powder, and one medium onion is 1 tablespoon of onion powder.
Tomato—Use good quality tomato sauce, but crushed or diced tomatoes could also be used. The cheaper generic sauce tends to be very acidic; you might need a teaspoon or two of sugar to counter that.
Optional additional vegetables—Black beans, chopped pepper, or shredded carrots can be added to the raw meat to cook.
Adjusting the heat for spicy tacos
The recipe calls for ¼ to ½ teaspoon of cayenne pepper. ¼ teaspoon will produce 3/10 heat, while ½ teaspoon will produce 5 to 6 out of 10. Eliminate the cayenne pepper for a mild flavor.
You can also substitute a jalapeno pepper for ½ teaspoon of cayenne pepper. Add it to the meat with the onion.
Other easy Mexican recipes
Cook great Mexican recipes in your crock pot with Mexican Shredded Chicken, Mexican Shredded Beef, or Chili Nachos. It is featured in Cinco de Mayo Recipes, Tailgating Recipes, and Game Day Recipes roundups.
🍽️How to use taco meat
Serve in hard taco shells or with tortillas for soft tacos. For nachos, spread cheese over nacho chips and top with Mexican blend or other cheese, then heat in the microwave or oven. You can also serve them as a taco bowl on rice with corn, black beans, and toppings.
In addition to tacos and nachos, this spicy ground beef taco meat is perfect for traditional Mexican dishes like burritos, enchiladas, and quesadillas. Or spread it on a taco salad or pizza. This recipe is also part of my Easy Taco Casserole and Taco Chili recipes.
🍴Toppings and side dishes
Traditional toppings
Everybody will have their favorite taco toppings. I enjoy shredded cheddar, sour cream, and Mexican cheese mixture. Sometimes, I add black beans, salsa, or pico de Gallo.
If I have them on hand, chopped tomatoes, shredded lettuce, jalapeno slices, avocado slices, and sliced green onions or olives are good additions.
Cilantro is frequently added, but some people (my wife and I) will find cilantro tastes like licorice.
Side Dishes
Mexican rice, guacamole, refried beans, and black beans are favorites. The usual tortilla chips and salsa are also a great side dish, especially Pineapple Mango Salsa.
❄️Leftovers storage
It is an easy recipe to adjust to the desired amount, but I frequently make 3 pounds to have leftover taco meat in the freezer. Stored in an airtight container, it is good in the refrigerator for 4 days, in the freezer for 4 months, and reheated in the microwave.
To reheat, if frozen then thaw first, use the microwave for a minute or two depending on the amount.
❓FAQs
I always estimate ¼ pound of meat per serving. The number of savings per individual will vary—I triple or quadruple for teenage boys. Plus, I always want leftovers.
No, this is not a powdered mix. The tomato sauce will provide moisture.
Cast iron, if not enamel coated, is "reactive," and heating an acid like tomatoes will cause the metal to react with the food. A non-reactive skillet, like non-stick or stainless steel, is the better choice.
📖 Recipe
The Best Taco Meat
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Ingredients
- 2 pounds ground beef
- 1 onion-medium diced - 1 tablespoon of onion powder
- 2-4 cloves garlic-crushed - ¼ to ½ teaspoon garlic powder
Taco seasoning
- 4 tablespoons chili powder
- 1-2 teaspoon ground cumin
- 1 teaspoon oregano
- ¼-1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper - optional
- 1 teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon black pepper
- 8 oz tomato sauce
Instructions
- Mix homemade taco seasoning. If using fresh, chop a medium onion and mince or crush 2 to 4 cloves of garlic.
- Brown the meat and onion in a large frying pan over medium-high heat. Add the garlic for the last minute of browning. Cook until there is no pink—about 6-10 minutes.
- Drain the excess fat well.
- Mix in the taco seasoning and tomato sauce.
- Turn the heat to medium and simmer for another 5 minutes until the sauce is incorporated.
- Serve in tacos, nachos, or on a salad.
Recipe Notes
Pro Tips
- To increase or decrease the amount, adjust the amount in the serving area of this recipe card and use the amounts in the ingredient list, not in the instructions.
- 80/20 ground beef gives the best results.
- You may use ground turkey or chicken. Of course, there will be a slight taste difference, but the spices in this meat will dominate.
- This is about a 3/10 spicy when using ¼ teaspoon of cayenne. For spicy tacos, increase to ½ teaspoon.
- I suggest making a large amount and freezing leftovers.
- Leftovers are good in the refrigerator for 4 days and freezes well for 4 months.
Your Own Private Notes
To adjust the recipe size:
You may adjust the number of servings in this recipe card under servings. This does the math for the ingredients for you. BUT it does NOT adjust the text of the instructions. So you need to do that yourself.
Nutrition Estimate
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This modified and simplified of Cooks Illustrated taco meat recipe (Subscription required) that tastes better than any ground beef taco meat you've ever eaten.
Originally Published May 6, 2011. Updated with expanded options, refreshed photos, and a table of contents to help navigation.
Judy says
Just found your blog do you ever post what to do with leftover ingredients? What dish you could use them in or safe to freeze. Looking forward to trying your recipes. Thank you
Dan Mikesell AKA DrDan says
Hi Judy,
Welcome to the blog.
I cover the use and storage of leftovers of the product of most recipes in the post. I don't usually cover leftover ingredients or their usage. But having said that, many things, like chopped onion and tomato sauce, can be frozen.
I hope that helps at least a little.
Dn