5 Easy Beef Taco Recipes for Any Night of the Week

All Recipes

Craving tacos but tired of the same old Tuesday routine? In this video, Nicole shares five easy, flavor-packed beef taco recipes—plus her go-to taco seasoning mix and a foolproof method for making perfectly saucy, small-crumble taco meat. Whether you love your tacos crispy, smashed, cheesy, or loaded with birria-style beef, there’s something here for everyone.  Nicole walks through each recipe step-by-step, starting with crispy beef tacos and moving through viral-inspired Big Mac tacos, juicy birria tacos, and easy sheet pan tacos that make weeknight dinners a breeze. She also throws in a fun twist at the end: an Italian cherry margarita that’s as bold and refreshing as your taco lineup.  Whether you're meal prepping, feeding a crowd, or just looking for new taco night ideas, these easy beef taco recipes will quickly become your new favorites.

Transcript

00:00I wish every day was Taco Tuesday because tacos happen to be in my top five favorite foods of all

00:04time and today I'm giving you five of the best easy beef taco recipes. Let's go. Before we can

00:11really get into the tacos, I think you want to know how to make taco seasoning and the best taco

00:17meat because once you have that, you have the arsenal to make the best tacos ever. No packets

00:22today. Aren't you proud? Because here's the deal. Let me show you the ingredients that are on the

00:26back of this taco seasoning packet. It starts with wheat flour. Then it's just salt. Garlic, chili

00:33peppers, fine. Spice, onions, paprika, sugar, great. But then maltodextrin, silicon dioxide,

00:41natural flavor, yeast extract, soybean oil, malic acid. We don't need all that.

00:49We have the perfect recipe for taco seasoning at all recipes and I'm going to take that recipe

00:53and multiply it by 10. Okay, this way you can just keep this on hand in a jar and grab what you need.

01:00So I'm doing half a cup plus a couple tablespoons of chili powder and then five tablespoons of ground

01:06cumin. Now this next part you can adjust how you like it. I'm doing like three and a half

01:10tablespoons of salt and it's the same amount of pepper. Paprika's next. This is going to give it

01:16that color that you like, you know, that's reminiscent of taco seasoning. All right, and then just shy of a

01:22tablespoon of garlic powder and onion powder. Same amount of crushed red pepper. You can go up or down

01:28on this to your liking. Last, a little oregano. And I'm going to give it a little crush in my hands

01:34because I like to make it like finely ground. That's it. And then you can always just start with this

01:40and adjust it, you know, to your liking. Got our taco seasoning. Now we make the taco meat. When I say taco

01:47meat, everybody knows what I'm talking about. You know, it's saucy. It's like small crumbled beef.

01:52You don't want like big chunky taco meat. At least I don't. I like it to be like kind of

01:58finely ground and super saucy. So whenever I cook my taco meat, I put a little onion in there

02:04for flavor. So we're going to do about a half a cup of finely chopped onion. Now I want it like really

02:11finely chopped and soft in the taco meat because you just want it to add flavor and then that's all you need.

02:16That and our taco seasoning and a little something else. Come on. So get your skillet going and then

02:23go in with your beef. All right. I like to get the beef going and once some of that fat renders out,

02:30I'll add in the onion. Potato masher is a great way to get those like small crumbles. When it's crumbled,

02:36this is when I go in with the onion because you can see that fat that's kind of rendered out.

02:40That cooks this. I'm going to let this soften for about three minutes and then I'll go in with my taco

02:47seasoning. I'm going to do three tablespoons. Cook that for about a minute. Let those spices kind of

02:53like toast up a little bit, become aromatic. Now we want to make it saucy. So I'm going in with a couple

02:58tablespoons of tomato paste in with some water. Scrape up any flavor and then turn the heat down and just let

03:07it simmer for about five minutes and that is your taco meat. See how flavorful that looks. Now we make

03:15tacos. All right. Buckle up because these are about to be the best simple beef tacos you've ever had.

03:22We are doing crispy fried beef tacos. This is indulgent but it is 1000% worth it. Okay. All right. Just go ahead

03:31and heat up a skillet. I like using a large deep skillet for this. Even though we're not deep frying

03:36it just gives me a little safety and then you're just going to put a very thin layer of a wheel at

03:41the bottom. Lay a tortilla down. Once it starts to bubble and start to brown we'll flip it and then

03:47we'll top it. So now that it's kind of gotten bubbles on this first side we're going to flip it

03:52back in and then we're going to start topping it. Cheese all over and then your taco meat just on half of it.

03:59Then you're going to use your tongs and flip. Once they're browned they will be crispy. Then you just

04:07keep going and they stay they hold their integrity they stay crispy for a while so you just keep the

04:13keep the train moving and get ready for the best taco maybe that you've ever had. For the build.

04:20They are delicious just like this but you still want to fill them like you would your other tacos.

04:25So you open it up add whatever you want. I'll just do I always like lettuce in mine. Maybe a little

04:31cilantro a little salsa and I'm even going to make a little dip for this Mexican hot sauce. Sour cream

04:39and a little lime. You're just getting all kinds of bonus recipes you know. The perfect bite taco right here.

04:45It's the best taco. It's the best. That meat and cheese is just like one delicious creamy gooey mixture

05:01and then you get the fresh you know crunchy veggies in there. Honestly you could stop watching now but

05:08don't. But definitely make these. Breaking out the ketchup and mustard for this next taco. We do not

05:15need the taco seasoning because we are doing smashed Big Mac tacos. This was a viral sensation a couple

05:22years ago. I've made them multiple times. This is the great time to bring out your griddle your cast iron

05:28skillet if you're just doing a few or if you've got the Blackstone and you need another use of it

05:33this is for that. So start out with the burger sauce. Also know before you say anything that ketchup is

05:42not in Big Mac sauce but I really like it in this sauce so I'm going to add it okay. But it starts out

05:46with a little mayonnaise and then just a little bit of ketchup. A little mustard. A little relish. I'm doing

05:52a dill relish. Stir it up and this is our taco sauce for today. Japan hot. Then you just take your meat

05:59straight from the package on to the griddle. And you want to do like loose sized portions. No more than

06:04a quarter pound for each taco. Probably a little less. Maybe three ounces is all you need. Season it

06:11with a little salt and pepper. Then flour tortillas for this one. Instead of a burger bun this is your bun.

06:22Take your tortilla and smash your burger. Now you want to work it to where it kind of

06:28stretches all the way to the edges of your tortilla. Okay it's so thin that it does not take

06:37about a couple minutes to cook. You want it to get really like browned on that flat side and then

06:43we're going to flip it over. It's like a smash burger. You know the best part of a smash burger

06:46are all those like crusty bits. Like the whole thing is that. Okay top them with a slice of cheese

06:53and when the cheese melts it's done. I'm going to go ahead and top it. A little sauce. A little iceberg

07:02and a little red onion. Then take it off the heat. Fold it over. Smash burger tacos. And then why not

07:09serve it up with a side that you like with your burgers. You know instead of our tortilla chips and

07:13salsa. How about some potato chips. That was easy. The Big Mac smash taco. Shall we taste?

07:23Mmm. You really satisfy your burger craving with this. I feel like even more than a taco craving.

07:30But the way that shell gets a little toasty on the outside because once you flip it it cooks in that

07:35burger grease a little bit. So there's just flavor all around. Tastes like a burger in a taco package.

07:43Make it. I'm breaking out the crock pot for this next one because I promised easy we're making

07:48quesa birria tacos. These are one of the greatest inventions in the modern years. I know they're not

07:57new but they became new to us via TikTok a few years ago. I'm having a hard time believing that this birria

08:04bomb is supposed to season a whole entire piece of meat. And I crave them. They are so good. They are not

08:11hard but they they're quite involved. But my goal is to make this easy for you today.

08:17So I'm breaking out the birria bombs. I've just wanted an excuse to try these. These were like

08:24the viral sensation on TikTok a year or so ago and I have yet to try them so today's the day. This is

08:30going to eliminate like a ton of ingredients because they come in this like bomb like a bath bomb.

08:36So this starts with a boneless chuck roast. You still want it in kind of big pieces so that you can

08:41shred it at the end. All right so I'm just going to place these directly in and then the package just

08:49suggests onion and cilantro going in. So that's what I'm going to do. See it's like a bath bomb.

08:56But for food. Who'da thunk it. And it's packed with some flavor. Guys I'm dropping the bomb in and then

09:05four cups of water. Trust in the process here. See you in six hours. The time has come. The meat is

09:14tender. I cannot wait to see what the birria bomb has done. But look in here. It's the bomb. Look at all

09:22that rich flavor. Oh my gosh. Color equals flavor. If you've heard me say it once. You've heard me

09:29say it a million times. Oh my god look how tender. The fact that I didn't even add salt and pepper to

09:34this is like blowing my mind. I need to taste it. It's not that I thought everyone that I've seen on

09:43TikTok make this like I didn't think they were lying but I was like surely you had to add a little

09:50something. I really can't believe how much flavor is concentrated into that little bomb. Literally

09:54just falling apart. I mean this looks better than when I made it from scratch. All right beef is

10:00shredded. Now we go to the stove and we make turn it into quesabilla. All right here's the technique.

10:07Take your corn tortilla. Dip it in the cooking liquid. Then into your skillet. Take your cheese.

10:14Then the delicious meat. Let it get toasted up. Fold it over. And that's it. So this is why it's called

10:23quesabilla tacos is that you are similarly making a quesadilla. What we're looking for is golden and

10:33lightly toasted. This is not your like crunchy kind of taco. This is your like most dippable taco

10:41situation ever. You want some of the cheese to scatter around the outside so that it creates a little

10:47crust. Golden brown and delicious are key words in the kitchen. These are that.

10:56Mission accomplished. You have to serve it with the jus. We also call this liquid gold. I don't even think

11:04it needs anything else. So I just go straight in. A little dip and a bite.

11:13In the top 10 perfect bites of all time. Of all time. This is my bowl so I can double dip. Other

11:19than I'm speechless I don't really know what to say. The meat is mouth-watering. There's so much flavor

11:26whether you make this from scratch or use the shortcut with the those bombs. The crispy slash chewiness

11:33you get in this. It's the absolute perfect bite. I even want to say if you don't make anything else

11:37from this video make this but I also kind of want you to make everything from this video. This recipe

11:43is easy beef sheet pan tacos. The sheet pan is the solution and the answer to how you make a lot of

11:49things at one time. You just need a pound and then green chilies. Some finely chopped onion and then it

11:58calls for chili powder, cumin, garlic powder, salt and pepper. But I'm just going to use a little more

12:03of our taco seasoning because why not? All right so just get everything incorporated. So now we have a

12:09delicious seasoned beef mixture. Take a little oil and oil your sheet pan. This is going to help them

12:15get crispy. Then you're going to take corn tortillas. If they're not pliable wrap them in a damp paper towel

12:22and put them in the microwave for about 30 seconds. You want these to be really you know moist so they

12:28don't dry out. Take your heated moistened corn tortilla and you're going to spread this beef mixture on half

12:37in a thin layer. A little refried beans on the other half. I like a beef and bean situation. A little beef,

12:44a little bean and then just some pre-shredded cheese and then we're just going to keep building. So easy

12:50as long as you've got everything prepared it just goes like a little assembly line.

12:55Similar to like those jack-in-the-box style tacos where they just put raw meat but they fry them.

13:01You want to be sure each side you know has oil on it. That's it. Now these go into the oven 425 degrees

13:09for about 30 to 35 minutes. You're going to want to flip them about halfway through. You want to be sure

13:13both sides get golden and crispy. Crispy sheet pan beef tacos. But look at that. See how the cheese

13:26like helps create like a toasty edge on the taco shell. So you could dip them or top them.

13:34The crunchy edges are the best part. Some of the cheese when it you know kind of melts out on that

13:40sheet pan. It crisps up and it creates like a two layered taco shell. These are perfection. They're

13:48going to be a hit. They'll fly off the table. So maybe make double. This next one is so easy.

13:55It should almost be illegal. But to me this is the solution. If you are having a bunch of people over

14:01Rotel tacos is the answer. Rotel tacos are the creamy beefy tomato mixture

14:08that we all know and love just in a crunchy taco shell with whatever toppings you want on it.

14:15So start by cooking up your taco meat same way we did earlier. I'm going to add my onion in a little

14:21bit early so that it all just cooks together at the same time. And then once that's all browned

14:29I'll go in with my Rotel. And the good stuff. Now we turn it in to the Rotel. So in goes your

14:40can of Rotel. I just keep the juices in. And the cheese. It's just got to be this when you're making

14:49Rotel. Alright so then you just cook this for a few minutes until the cheese is all melted.

14:55The whole mixture is creamy. And that's all you have to do. Meanwhile heat up those taco shells.

15:00You got to go crispy here. You got to go crunchy shells. I know you're thinking I can do whatever

15:04I want. But for this one just go crunchy. Just go crunchy. Creamy, cheesy, delicious. Okay let's make tacos.

15:14I just think this is the perfect recipe for a party because you could just keep this in the crock pot.

15:19And then all you really need is a stack of shells and a little shredded lettuce. And goes the cheesy

15:25beef mixture. Also this is the perfect time for these kind of shells. Not sponsored but the stand up

15:33taco shells. Stand and stuff. That is just a genius idea. Whoever thought of that. A little hot,

15:38cold, creamy, and crunchy. This is how I like to make it. The famous Rotel taco.

15:48Shouldn't be that good. I want y'all to think I don't eat trashy stuff like this but

15:54I do and I love it.

15:57We ended on a bang. Now let's make that margarita.

16:01What kind of service would I be giving you by doing five taco recipes and not giving you a margarita?

16:07I don't think I'd be doing you any good. So this is one of my favorite things. It is an Italian

16:11cherry margarita. So not our typical margarita. But it's one of the best things that you will drink.

16:19Fresh cherries are best especially when they're in season. You only need a few.

16:23I just kind of break them in half and drop them in your shaker. The juice of about half a lime.

16:37You haven't seen me do that in a while. You can use just a spoon or whatever but you want to kind of

16:42muddle those cherries kind of like you know break them up a little bit. All right ice in the shaker.

16:51Shot of tequila. And then what makes it Italian? Amaretto. You wouldn't think about this combination

16:58but it is so good. So you're going to use about half the amount of amaretto as you did tequila.

17:03So like half a shot. No mixer here guys.

17:09Look how pretty this is.

17:17Cheers.

17:17I don't know whether it be Italian or not but

17:28it's so good. No more boring tacos. Elevate your taco Tuesday with one of these five taco recipes

17:34and don't forget about the special taco meat and homemade taco seasoning. Don't let me catch you

17:39buying those packets again. Let me know what you think. Cheers. Talk about being full. That's me.

17:47But I am thirsty.

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