I cannot lie, I LOVE tacos made from ground beef + package mix.

[SheilaAnn]

My bad y’all…. I’ve done this so many times, it’s just natural. gcdmd

https://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/alton-brown/all-american-beef-taco-recipe-2014469

[Carolyn]

Thanks. I was wondering how much per pound as well.

[SheilaAnn]

Actually, I just eye all it until the texture and flavor seem right.

[jfmorris]

Carolyn I buy the commercial taco seasoning (Tone's) in a big jar at Sam's, and it has always shown 1/4 cup per pound of ground beef (or chopped up chicken). Good to see Alton Brown's recipe has the same ratio of spice mix to meat.

[tamidw]

We get the big container of the McCormicks taco seasoning from Costco and make tacos with that all the time. This kind of tacos is what I grew up with and what I will continue to make when doing just plain tacos.

[fzxdoc]

I had the same experience as Panhead John with some Frontera Grill taco seasoning. So salty we almost couldn't eat the taco.

So now I keep a big jar of homemade taco seasoning in the spice cupboard. I make it with no salt, so I can add salt to taste at the end of cooking the meat. Plus I add some MSG to it.

I like a flour tortilla, spread with refried beans, and one of those stand and stuff taco shells warmed slightly in the science oven nestled into that beany flour tortilla and then the whole she-bang filled with meat and toppings. One of those with a beer and I'm ready for a nap.

Kathryn

[Mosca]

As often as I make these with crispy corn tortillas, I make them more often with thin 12” flour tortillas for gringo burritos!



This evolved as the number of toppings I thought up grew. After lettuce, tomato, onions, cheese, and sour cream, you have the opportunity to add black olives, jalapeños, roasted red peppers, avocado slices, rice, beans… hell, crush up some Doritos to get that texture in there! all that barely fits in the burrito, how’s it going to fit in that dinky taco shell?

[realdocBBQ]

You are SO on the right path with that - I absolutely LOVE a giant, overstuffed burrito with a ton of different things in it. And Doritos is GENIUS! Although - the caveat for me is, we seldom have Doritos in the house, AND it has to be made up and consumed RIGHT FREAKING NOW, or those chips get soggy. No thanks. Otherwise, absolutely!

[realdocBBQ]

I did make these the other night. Nothing special, just plain old Old El Paso seasoning and crunchy taco shells, with Pace Thick & Chunky Medium, lettuce, shredded cheese and sour cream. Nothing special but... it was oh so special! I don't know why, I really think it just hearkens back to childhood, to Mom's Taco Tuesday night.

Nostalgia is a flavor all its own!

[SheilaAnn]

Exactly! To this day, my sister makes this for herself on/around her birthday. Because daddy always made it for our birthdays.

[jfmorris]

On day 26 with the 2 and 4 year old, I decided that last night was TACO WEDNESDAY! 2 pounds of ground chuck into my Lodge 12", browned, and stirred in a 1/2 cup of the Tone's taco seasoning from Sam's, along with some water to simmer, while I warmed up corn tortillas and crunchy taco shells. So good! Kept it simple with shredded lettuce, shredded cheese, and guacamole salsa.

[dpearce]

You guys are killin' me. Was all set for Pork Loin on Sat, but now I'm thinking Taco Sunday. That'll be too much food, but I'm craving some crunchy tacos now.

We use a lot of the same packets everyone has posted, plus I do have a recipe from my mom for taco seasoning that she used to use all the time when I was growing up. Little spicier, but different enough I like to make it from time to time.

Problem is, the hard shells with the seasoning packet included always seem to be the ones on sale, so we end up with a basket full of spice packets.

Maybe I'll get creative and do Taco Burgers one night this coming week...

[JoeSousa]

We buy the big bottle of taco seasoning from Costco. Seems like we have tacos on the menu once every couple weeks. Nothing fancy at all. Just some grocery store shells, seasoned beef, tomato, lettuce, and some sour cream. I can put down a half a dozen of those pretty easily but since we have to feed the kids too I limit myself to 2 or 3.

[Bkhuna]

If someone gives you grief over ground beef just call it carne molida de res.

[fzxdoc]

Sounds fancy.

[realdocBBQ]

I had crunchy tacos on Monday night.

Tuesday night, I went to a local place and they do Taco Tuesday 5 for $5.99, chicken or beef, soft, crunchy or fried (flour) tortillas. I got 3 chikkin, 2 beef.

Wednesday night I decided to do tacos again, as I still had meat left and hell, what is wrong with tacos three nights in a row??? But I ended up seeing some 12" tortillas in the cabinet so I decided the hell with that, I'm making BURRITOS - but I wanted the crunch, so I did what Mosca mentioned above and put in some crunchy Doritos into my burritos and they were AWESOME! The only Doritos I had were the Asian chili ones, so the flavor didn't really 'match up' with the seasoning of the taco meat, but hell, it was still good!

Last night was The Boy's last night at home - he moves into his apartment at college for good today, no more dorm rooms! - so he wanted smashburgers, or I might have done a 4th night in a row of tacos. I might do them today, though, for lunch or dinner - or maybe nachos with that taco meat, Or maybe burritos again??? I don't know.

We'll see. lol

[Mosca]

I started doing that thing with the chips a long time ago. It started with hoagies: I like to take Italian hoagies, wrap them in foil, and bake the snot out of them in the oven, lettuce, tomatoes, onions, and all. Then when the hoagie is hot and steamy all the way through, open it up and add potato chips. Kettle chips if you have them. That way you get both the cooked goodness, plus the crunch.

It was a natural progression from there. I do not apologize for making something good.

[Mosca]

It took me until last night to get around to making some gringos. They were awesome.

I didn’t realize hard taco shells have shrunk so much! I remember them being considerably larger, and recently too.

A couple folks Panhead John Michael_in_TX mentioned that the shells close up when heating them in the oven. Somebody showed me this a long time ago. Take a piece of foil and stick it in the shell. It doesn’t have to be jammed, it just has to touch both sides. It will keep the shell spread as it heats.

[Purc]

Had issues using your hack when I heated mine in the microwave!

[Mosca]

Purc not sure why- maybe try a bigger piece of foil?

[Panhead John]

No foil in the microwave!!! 😳

[tamidw]

This had me craving tacos. So I made ground beef taco meat and had taco salad. We like to use Doritos for our chips to add that extra flavor for taco salad. Haha!

Sorry, no pics. 😁

[Michael_in_TX]

Texan comfort food.





(Yes, I ate five. Shush.)

[Mosca]

Exactly. I did four, but mine were stuffed more.

[klflowers]

I am pretty freaking slow. I finally got around to this. The shells were almost stale. Is that a thing? But they weren't too bad. With my new favorite Mexican beer (I think it's Mexican), Estrella.

[Mosca]

What he said!

[Panhead John]

For years I never heated mine up first either, didn’t know you had to. Being a man, I never read the instructions.

[klflowers]

Mosca Panhead John i just looked at the box and it does say heat them up. Who knew?

[Attjack]

Same here. On Taco Tuesday, I usually either walk 3 blocks to a pair of adjacent bars, one has a pulled pork taco on a tasty homemade tortilla, while the other has a pretty incredible Vietnamese-Mexican fusion beef-birria taco. I like to get one at each place. Or I drive 5 minutes for $1 ground beef tacos at a dive bar. Those $1 tacos are definitely punching above their weight!