Easy Ground Beef Tacos (2024)

Ground Beef Tacos are the perfect dish for easy weeknight dinners. This quick taco recipe is not only tasty but it uses spices you likely have on hand!

Add your favorite toppings like guacamole and pico de gallo and serve in soft or crisp taco shells (or add the taco meat to lettuce for an easy taco salad)!

Quick Beef Tacos

Traditional Mexican tacos are one of my all time favorite foods and the thing I search out the minute I land in Mexico! I often fill them with either carnitas or salsa crockpot chicken but when I’m home we make ground beef tacos!

Tacos are a terrific way to stretch your meal budget. For a family of four or five, you can get by with just a pound of ground beef.

How Much Ground Beef Per Person for Tacos? Considering that it takes 2 ounces of filling max, per shell (about 4 tablespoons, or ¼ of a cup), a single pound can make up to eight tacos. If you add diced onion, cilantro tomato rice, beans or other fillings, you could make a pound of taco meat stretch even more.

Favorite Taco Seasoning

The great thing about tacos is that you can whip up a big batch of homemade taco seasoning to have on hand for a quick meal and it’s the perfect way to season homemade taco meat!

Taco seasoning is a mélange of classic Mexican herbs and spices (and you can add a little heat if you’d like). Ingredients include chili powder, garlic and onion powders, ground cumin, dried oregano, red pepper flakes, salt and pepper. If you are short on time, use prepared taco seasoning.

Toppings for Tacos

Fill the warm shells with meat and serve with your choice of toppings. Wondering what to serve with tacos? An array of toppings including shredded cheese, diced tomatoes and shredded lettuce. Sour cream and guacamole, sliced jalapenos and salsa are also great on ground beef tacos. Cilantro, olives… the sky’s the limit!

Sides to serve with ground beef tacos with Cilantro Lime Rice and beans for complete and hearty meal.

How to Make Tacos

Ground beef tacos are super simple, especially if you make your taco seasoning in advance. Tacos are literally as easy as 1,2,3!!

1. Brown Beef: Brown the ground beef over medium-high heat (I sometimes add diced onion and garlic too). I like to use lean (but not extra lean) beef (85/15) to get a bit of flavor from the fat. Drain any fat before adding seasonings.
2. Add Seasoning: Add the tomato paste, water and taco seasonings, and simmer until thickened. The water rehydrates the spices and allows the sauce to coat every morsel of the meat.
3. Heat Taco Shells: Hard shells should go in the oven (to make them crisp and warm) and soft shells can be cooked either in the oven or microwave.

You can also serve this over a bed of lettuce to make a great Taco Salad!

To Make Tacos Ahead of Time

You can definitely make taco filling ahead of time! It will keep in the freezer for up to four months, or in the refrigerator for up to four days!

Batch Cook: A good way to make use of those family packs of ground beef is to batch cook taco meat. You can prepare several pounds at once and freeze what you don’t use.

Freeze: Separate into freezer bags or containers, and you’ll have taco filling at your fingertips. I do some single portions for lunches and some family sized portions.

Reheat: Reheat the meat in a frying pan (add a splash of water so it doesn’t dry out) or in the microwave. Frozen taco meat makes a great (and super easy) Taco Soup as well!

More Awesome Tacos

• Easy Fish Tacos – Healthy and delish!
• Instant Pot Chicken Tacos (Pressure Cooker) – quick and easy
• Beef Taco Casserole – kid approved
• Crock Pot Chicken Tacos– super easy
• Shrimp Tacos – so fresh

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