Beef Tacos – the old school beef mince way!!! With juicy seasoned ground beef taco meat and crispy shells, this taco recipe is made with a simple yet flavour packed homemade taco seasoning that truly tastes like store bought. PS I won’t judge if you use tortillas instead… 🙂
Totally un-authentic Beef Taco Recipe!
You will never find ground beef / mince tacos in Mexico. Authentic beef tacos are either sliced seared steaks (like Carne Asada), or marinated beef chopped into thin strips that are pan fried to get golden crispy edges (taqueria style), or slow-cooked and shredded into sauce like this Shredded Beef Mexican Beef and Beef Barbacoa.
So beef mince tacos, the single most popular type of taco meat made in million and millions of households the world over, is totally un-authentic.
And that’s absolutely ok. We love them anyway – and we will always love them!
Bake them!
This is how I make my old school beef tacos – BAKING them to melt the cheese and crisp the tacos shells at the same time. I don’t know if that’s “normal”, but I’ll take any opportunity to melt cheese when appropriate.
Let me put it this way – if I had a choice of a cold slice of cheese slapped on bread, or a grilled cheese sandwich with gooey cheese oozing out the sides, I know which one I’d choose. And you?? 😇
Homemade taco seasoning
Skip the packet seasoning! It truly is quite incredible how simple it is to make homemade taco seasoning. Garlic, onion, cumin, paprika, oregano plus optional cayenne pepper for a touch of heat.
Just pure, normal spices and herbs – no scary sounding ingredients you can’t pronounce like maltodextrin, silicon dioxide and ethoxyquin that you’ll find in packets of store bought!! (Yes really, just Google “Old El Paso taco seasoning ingredients”)
This taco seasoning mix is a terrific staple to add to your arsenal for all things Tex Mex, from Quesadillas to Burritos, Enchiladas to Taco Soup (don’t knock it until you’ve tried it, it’s amazing!). While stores sell different seasonings for each of these, essentially they have the same flavour base which is the Taco Seasoning mix used in this recipe.
The taco meat
The taco meat recipe as written is my base recipe made with just beef and onion, and it will stuff 10 tacos generously or 12 normal size tacos.
TIP: Add vegetables for extra nutrition and make one batch go further. Capsicum/bell peppers, corn, black beans, zucchini, to name a few. If you add vegetables, scale up the homemade taco seasoning using the recipe scaler (click on servings and slide up).
Old school taco toppings
There’s a plethora of taco topping options, but today I’m sticking with the old school way: shredded cheese, taco sauce (optional), iceberg lettuce, tomato, onion and even sour cream.
That’s right folks. We’re going Tex-Mex all the way. No fancy salsas, no authentic chilli sauces, no Mexican pickles.
Pile on that shredded cheese and sour cream! 🙌🏻🙌🏻🙌🏻
Just to be clear – baking the tacos with the filling and cheese is totally optional.
If you’re not a Melted-Cheese-Monster, by all means feel free to serve it the normal way – bake the empty taco shells then lay it all out for people to stuff themselves. – Nagi x
More taco topping options
Guacamole, Avocado Sauce or avocado slices/diced
Pico de Gallo (chunky tomato salsa) or a smooth Salsa Sauce
Taco Sauce or hot sauce / chilli sauce of choice
And more tacos
Quick Chicken Tacos – 2 in 1 recipe, shredded taco seasoned chicken AND taco sauce
Beef Tacos – the old school way
Fish Tacos – marinated and grilled, healthy and delicious!
Pork Carnitas Tacos – the iconic Mexican pulled pork tacos
Shredded Beef Tacos – tender slow cooked shredded beef in a deep flavoured Mexican sauce
Beef Barbacoa – another braised, shredded beef, but tangier and punching through with chipotle chill flavours
Watch how to make it
Sometimes it helps to have a visual, so watch me make this Beef Taco recipe – the old school way!
Hungry for more? Subscribe to my newsletter and follow along on Facebook, Pinterest and Instagram for all of the latest updates.
Old School Beef Taco recipe
Ingredients
- 10 to 12 crispy taco shells (“stand and stuff) OR soft tortillas of choice (Note 1)
Beef Tacos:
- 1 tbsp oil
- 2 garlic cloves , minced
- 1 onion , finely chopped
- 500 g / 1 lb beef , ground / mince (Note 2)
- 2 tbsp tomato paste
- 1/4 cup / 65ml water
Homemade Taco Seasoning:
- 1 tsp EACH garlic powder, onion powder, dried oregano
- 2 tsp EACH cumin powder, paprika
- 1/4 tsp cayenne pepper (adjust spiciness to taste, can skip)
- 1 tsp salt
- 1/4 tsp black pepper
Toppings:
- Shredded cheese (Note 3)
- Shredded iceberg lettuce
- 2 tomatoes , chopped
- 1/2 red or white onion , chopped
- Sour cream
- Taco sauce (optional)
- Other: coriander/cilantro , jalapeño, hot sauce / chilli sauce, pickled chillies, salsa sauce, pico de gallo
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 180C/350F.
Beef Filling:
- Heat oil in a large skillet over high heat. Add garlic and onion – cook 2 minutes until golden.
- Add beef and cook for 2 minutes, breaking it up as you go, until it changes from red to light brown.
- Add Taco Seasonings and cook for 2 minutes until beef is cooked through.
- Add tomato paste and water. Cook for 1 minute or until water is evaporated and you’re left with a juicy not not watery beef filling.
Bake (optional):
- Place taco shells in a baking pan (I can fit 10 in). Fill with taco meat, top with cheese.
- Bake 5 to 7 minutes until cheese is melted by which time the shells with be crispy.
Serve:
- Serve tacos hot, straight out of the oven. Lay out toppings and sauces of choice on the table and let everyone assemble their own!
Recipe Notes:
Nutrition Information:
Life of Dozer
SO overdue for lawn mowing……
We make these every other week (kids request them!)…honestly, I can’t remember a recipe I made that WASN’T yours! Swedish meatballs, tacos, steak, easy baked chicken, cottage pie,…we love it all!
really good and easy to make! thank you <3
Thanks for your website. I tried this but the mince wasn’t as juicy as it looks in your video. Any tips on how I can improve this?
Hi Laz, sorry you had issues here – what type of mince and fat content did you use? N x
I used beef mince that had a 90/10 ratio of meat/fat.
Perhaps I cooked the mince too long?
Love your presentation and recipes I’m going to cook.Thanks CON
This is my favorite taco recipe. Even just in making the meat. If we’re not having baked tacos I still use this recipe for cooking the beef. SO SO good! I have loved everything I’ve made from your site. Keep it up! YUM!
Thanks so much Jess ❤️
Hi Nagi
Although I’ve made a ton of your recipes – sorry I haven’t commented on them – just lazy on my part – sorry but I’ll catch up! Albeit that everyone I’ve cooked from you recipes is wonderful – however, I’m a bit disappointed that I can no longer find your recipe for ribeye steak done in the oven – it’s wonderful! What happened? Gosh and I’m planning on making it tonight!
Oh well I guess we’ll do another one of yours! Please let me know if I missed it – or?
Tx
Patti Brady
So tasty, we cooked ours in the oven as recommended. Wouldn’t change a thing.
That’s awesome Leah, thanks so much for letting me know ❤️
Oh and we will be trying the chicken fajita recipe this week for sure!!!!!! So happy I found your site, thanks!!!!
Tonight my family went crazy for this recipe! Fast, easy and sooooo tasty we will be making this every Tuesday from now on! I used the cheese flavored shells and that added an extra kick, thank you Nagi, I have been making many of your recipes and have been really enjoying them!
You’re awesome Nagi. You should have a TV show
Dozer would have to be in it if I ever do!! 😂
I know this isn’t super traditional but I absolutely adore this recipe. It’s been a godsend while I’ve been looking at some quick savoury options to include midweek. Even my nephew (who Is notoriously finicky with food) devoured bowls of this at the weekend. Your website is truly a godsend and I would have been in many pickles without your fab and quick recipes! X
That’s the best compliment ever Shan!!
Made two of your disdhes this weekend! This was the first. Loved it. I would definitely recommend making the taco sauce as it’s easy and adds moisture! Thank you for teaching me how to cook. 😉
I’m so glad you enjoyed it Cat!
Ha ha, Dozer.
Peek-A-Boo, I see you. (Just) Lol x x x
Always…. lurking… 😂
Hey Nagi, I gave the taco seasoning crack and I feel I’ve missed a crucial step… I’m only starting out learning to cook but is it ground paprika or sweet paprika?
Forgot to rate!
Thanks Jaimee!
Finally a ground beef taco recipe that the whole family likes! I ended up k my using half of the seasoning mix and it was perfect for our tastebuds! I made it with your Mexican rice recipe. Thank you for giving easy, flavorful recipes!
Wahoo! Great Jaimee ❤️
Hi Nagi, I’ve cooked a lot from your recipes and they’re all good. Today I thought I’d try not using packet taco seasoning and use yours. Delicious!! Thank you 🙂
Thanks for this recipe! I followed everything to the T and it came out bland. For a pound of beef, doubling the seasoning and tomato paste was perfect for me. Great idea on baking and melting the cheese! Although shells don’t come out as crispy as if it were warmed separately, I prefer having the melted cheese.
Hi Araya, are you saying it was bland or the seasonings were ok? It definitely shouldn’t be bland ☺️
Yes it was bland. So I (near)doubled the amount of seasonings, tomato paste and added harissa for more flavor. It was okay after that, but something still seems to be missing…can’t point finger on.
So you missed the cayenne in the recipe – no wonder you thought it was bland!
Something might be wrong with your tastebuds because I have made this recipe more than 5 times for my family of 6 and it is never bland, I also made the Quesidilla recipe and the seasonings and amount are also the same, it’s never bland and always full of flavor, my family and I LOVE IT!
True. There might be something wrong… Or mine are just more developed than yours. Ignorance is bliss afterall. I figured out what was missing and it’s chili powder. It won’t hurt to try. Cheers
Best taco ever!
Yessss! So glad you enjoyed them Beth
I love all your recipes !❤️ I have made several of them Nagi!
Thanks so much Jeannine!