Ground Beef Taco Meat Recipe

How Do You Make Taco Meat From Scratch?

I grew up on tacos made with a packet of seasoning purchased from the grocery store. El Paso was the brand, I believe. I honestly never knew you could make taco meat without some sort of packet aid.

It wasn’t until just a few years ago, as I began to experiment with cooking from scratch, that I discovered that most of the foods I once loved could be made at home with simple, real food ingredients. And the from-scratch versions tasted much better!

When you make your own taco meat at home you have complete control over what goes into your food. There aren’t any ultra-processed ingredients, like preservatives or mystery flavorings. Just take a look at the back of a store-bought seasoning packet and you’ll likely find more than just basic pantry ingredients lurking inside. This is why it’s important to always read ingredient lists (learn how to do that here).

Plus, making your taco meat from-scratch (versus relying on a kit or seasoning packet) is much cheaper. The spices needed to make this recipe may be used to make a multitude of other recipes. This is what I call stretching your dollar in the kitchen.

To make your own taco meat from scratch, you must first start with a few basic pantry spices: chili powder, cumin, oregano, paprika, salt, and pepper. The spices make all the flavor in this recipe. Ground beef is mixed with the spices, along with tomatoes and onion. That’s it! So simple.

How to Use Homemade Taco Meat

Once the taco meat has been made, you can use it in a variety of different ways. By the way, you can make the taco meat on the spot and serve or make it advance and store in the fridge to use later in the week. Here are a few ways to use taco meat…

• Quesadillas: You can use this recipe as a base but instead of a cheese and veggie filling, add the taco meat (instead of the veggies) and cheese.
• Tacos: Fill tortillas with the ground beef taco meat and top with your favorites: lettuce, slaw (try this basic slaw or this multi-veggie slaw), avocados, sour cream, fermented salsa, etc.
• Taco Salad: Add this taco meat to a bed of lettuce and tortilla chips, cheese, salsa, sour cream, or whatever you like.
• Enchiladas: Instead of the chicken in this recipe, use this taco meat instead.
• Taco Bowls: Add the taco meat, rice or quinoa (I love to make Instant Pot rice to save time), and toppings of choice to a bowl. I also love to sauté some onions and peppers to serve on top.
• Nachos: Add the meat over tortilla chips, then add shredded cheese over top and broil for a few minutes. See this chicken nachos recipe, just sub out the chicken and beans for this ground beef recipe.