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You are here: Home / Main dish / Best Easy Taco Meat Recipe

Best Easy Taco Meat Recipe

April 25, 2022 By Joe 5 Comments

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Here’s a taco meat recipe that has all the right spices you would love in a perfect homemade taco. There’s no need to buy one of those $1.25 packs of taco seasoning at the grocery store.

It’s made with a taco seasoning mix of spices you probably already have in your pantry. Let’s all get ready for Taco Tuesday!

4 tacos ready to eat.

Why This Recipe Works

Besides having a great blend of simple ingredients to season the meat, there is an additional step to making these tacos Restaurant Style. That’s what I’m calling it anyway.

After the meat is browned in your skillet, you are left with inconsistent chunks of meat no matter how hard you try to break it up.

If you leave them this way, the chunks have a tendency to fall out of your tortilla shell because they don’t stay together properly.

So the Pro Tip is to throw the meat into a food processor and pulse it 5 or 6 times to break the ground meat into small, consistent pieces that hold together once they are prepared.

This technique is a total game-changer. It makes the tacos easier to eat for one.

And the smoother texture makes for a superior mouthfeel. The difference is remarkable.

Another way to make the ground meat break up into a more consistent blend is to cook it in a saucepan and add about one-half cups of water per pound of meat.

Break up the meat with a wooden spoon to start separating the pieces. Keep your stove on medium-high heat to simmer the water. Give the meat a stir every few minutes and cook until the water has mostly evaporated and the meat is browned.

Once the meat has browned, you can add in the spices and a little more water and continue with the directions in the recipe card.

This method will take more cook time but will generally give you excellent results. And it is also a way to make a big batch of perfect taco meat.

4 tacos with meat and assorted fixings.

What Ground Meat To Use

The meat you use is totally up to you as any ground meat can be seasoned for tacos. I tend to prefer ground beef or ground pork.

The meat I used for this recipe was a 50/50 blend of pork and beef. The beef was ground chuck which was an 80/20 lean-to-fat blend.

The rendered fat gets skimmed off once the meat is browned.

You can use lean ground beef too, but I think that the added fat gives the meat more flavor and that’s why I use it in this recipe.

Also, ground chicken or ground turkey could be used.

Taco meat spices on a plate.

Spice Ingredients

The spices for your own homemade taco seasoning are ingredients you probably have on hand.

  • Chili powder
  • Ground cumin
  • Garlic powder
  • Onion powder
  • Kosher salt
  • Dried oregano
  • Cayenne pepper
  • Tomato paste
  • Water

Here’s another Hot Tip. Tomato paste comes in those little 5 or 6-ounce sizes and a lot of the time the whole can doesn’t get used.

When that is the case, I use a small scoop and place balls of paste onto a baking sheet.

Then put the sheet into the freezer to harden the paste. Once the tomato paste is frozen, it goes into a freezer bag.

Stored in the freezer, it is easy to take out the amount needed for your next recipe.

Skillet with browned meat.

Preparing the Taco Meat

Use a large skillet on medium heat to brown the meat you are using. This will take 5 to 7 minutes.

Tilt the skillet slightly and push the meat to one side and the rendered fat will run to the bottom.

Use a spoon to scoop out and dispose of the excess fat.

Tilted skillet of browned meat with fat drippings to remove.

Then, carefully place the browned meat into a food processor and pulse the meat 5 or 6 times to break it into small pieces. 

Food processor bowl with ground taco meat.

Put the ground meat back into the skillet on medium-low heat and add the tomato paste and the spices. 

In the photo below you can see the frozen tomato paste that has been added to the ground meat.

Skillet of browned taco meat with tomato paste added.

The spices were measured using totally level amounts. No rounding of the ingredients.

This will ensure that this spice mixture in the meat can be duplicated exactly. 

Skillet of taco meat with spices added.

Once the spices are added, pour in one cup of water and fold the meat with a spatula to combine.

Keep the heat on low and simmer until most of the water has evaporated.

This will result in saucy taco meat that is totally combined with the spices and with the addition of the water will hold the meat together well when added to a taco shell.

Before you serve this taco meat recipe be sure to give it a taste test. You may want to add your own seasoning or more salt, chili powder, or cayenne pepper.

Or you may say that this is absolutely perfect.

Taco meat in a skillet ready to eat.

Putting It All Together

Now that the taco meat is cooked and seasoned there is only one thing to do…and that is Make Tacos!

There are lots of toppings for tacos and you probably already have your favorites. I keep the toppings pretty simple and generally have shredded cheese, chopped iceberg lettuce, onion, tomatoes, black olives, chopped cilantro, taco sauce, and sour cream.

Other ideas: Hot sauce, lime juice, guacamole, salsa verde, refried beans, jalapenos, pico de Gallo, and chopped scallions.

Skillet of taco meat with chopped taco ingredients in small bowls.

Finally…your choice of hard taco shells, corn tortillas, or soft flour tortillas. This is totally a personal preference. The best tacos are the ones with your favorite toppings

I use flour tortillas that have been browned on a griddle.  You may like the hard-shell corn ones or even a combination of flour and corn. 

2 tacos with meat, cheese, and sour cream.

However you make your tacos, I hope that you enjoy this easy recipe for making the best taco meat. Leave a comment below telling me how it went for you.

4 tacos that are ready to be eaten.

Here are some more South-of-the Border recipe ideas:

  • Mexican Rice
  • Mexican Street Corn Salad
  • Homemade Jalapeno Taco Sauce
  • Wicked Good Fish Taco Recipe
  • Spicy Grilled Shrimp Tacos
4 tacos that are ready to eat.

Easy Restaurant-Style Taco Meat Recipe

Here's a taco meat recipe that has all the right spices you would love in a perfect homemade taco. There's no need to buy one of those $1.25 packs of taco seasoning at the grocery store. It's made with a taco seasoning mix of spices you probably already have in your pantry.
5 from 2 votes
Print Pin Rate
Course: Main Course
Cuisine: Mexican flavors
Keyword: taco meat, taco meat recipe
Prep Time: 0 minutes
Cook Time: 20 minutes
food processor time: 5 minutes
Total Time: 25 minutes
Servings: 4 people
Calories: 293kcal
Author: Joe Boyle

Ingredients

  • 1/2 lbs. ground beef, 80/20 or 85/15
  • 1/2 lbs. ground pork
  • 2 tbsp. tomato paste
  • 1 cup water
  • 2 tsp. chili powder
  • 1 tsp. ground cumin
  • 1/2 tsp. garlic powder
  • 1/2 tsp. onion powder
  • 1 tsp. kosher salt
  • 1/4 tsp. dried oregano
  • 1/8 tsp. cayenne pepper
Prevent your screen from going dark

Instructions

  • Using a large skillet on medium to medium-high heat, add the ground beef and pork to brown. Use a wooden spoon or spatula to break up the meat. This should take 5 to 7 minutes.
  • Remove the skillet from the heat and push the meat to one side then tilt the skillet at an angle and let the rendered grease pool in the bottom of the skillet. Use a spoon to scoop out the liquid and discard it. Then carefully place the browned meat into a food processor and pulse the meat 5 or 6 times to make small granules of ground meat.
  • Place the meat back into the skillet on medium-low heat and stir in the tomato paste and the seasonings. Then add the water and continue to fold the meat to combine the seasonings well. Simmer until most of the water has evaporated. This will take about 10 minutes.
  • Taste the meat and adjust the seasonings as desired.
    Then assemble your tacos with your choice of fixings.

Notes

  1. Level spoon measurements were used for all of the spices.
  2. The nutrition facts are for the taco meat only using an 80/20 blend for the ground beef. That is 4 people getting 2 tacos each. A taco shell and fixings will add 125 to 150 calories per taco.
  3. Leftover taco meat can be stored refrigerated in an air-tight container for 3 days. You can also freeze the leftover meat in a sealed, air-tight container for up to 3 months.
  4. Make additional taco seasoning mix and store it in a shaker container to season hamburgers, pork chops, or chicken. It is especially good for grilling.

Nutrition

Calories: 293kcal
 

Taco meat recipe Pinterest collage.

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Filed Under: Main dish, meats

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Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Rick Booz

    April 30, 2022 at 12:06 pm

    Loved this recipe. I could have eaten the whole amount myself. Wasn’t sure I would like the combination of pork and beef but it turned out perfectly. Plan to use this taco meat for taco burgers, burritos and nachos.

    Reply
    • Joe

      April 30, 2022 at 2:10 pm

      Hi Rick,

      Thank you for the comment. I’m glad that you liked the recipe.

      Joe

      Reply
  2. Sandy Axelrod

    April 26, 2022 at 4:00 pm

    5 stars
    Love the tips about chopping the meat in the food processor and freezing tablespoon sized balls of tomato paste. I have taken to buying tubes of tomato paste but it’s much more expensive that way!

    This also brought back very fond memories. When our son was growing up Steve traveled for work. Steve has never loved tacos, but our son and I love them. So I always made tacos for Brian and I when Steve left on a biz trip. Used to use hard tacos and Brian and I would giggle like crazy while trying to eat our tacos. Those shells always shattered into lots of messy, but delicious pieces! Then I finally started turning those taco nights into taco salad nights! Just as yummy but much less messy. Nowadays I prefer soft tacos that I warm and char a bit in my cast iron skillet.

    Thanks for bringing back such an awesome memory!!!

    Reply
    • Joe

      April 26, 2022 at 4:09 pm

      Hi Sandy,

      Thanks for the nice comment. Too bad that Steve doesn’t like tacos. I’ve never heard of anyone not liking tacos! Next time you make them, use the food processor to make small crumbles. It makes a world of difference to the texture and mouthfeel.

      Joe

      Reply
  3. MaryJo

    April 25, 2022 at 5:17 pm

    5 stars
    Yum, I love this recipe. The spices are spot on and I love the way the meat is in smaller pieces because it makes the tacos easier to eat.
    And these would be dynamite with the Mexican rice recipe.
    My mouth is watering just thinking about these tacos!

    Reply

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