The 80’s and 90’s are back, only better! Put a spin on taco night with these Taco Salad Minis, also great as a party appetizer! Ingredients, Nutrition Facts, and Directions below.
Music: http://bensound.com
Taco Salad, a classic Tex-Mex creation! It doesn’t originate from Mexico, however we can still celebrate Cinco de Mayo in the United States with these little beauties.
Traditionally the Taco Salad uses a giant flour tortilla which is pinched into the shape of a bowl then deep fried until crispy golden brown. The fillings would consist of shredded iceberg, diced tomato, shredded cheese, and seasoned ground beef. Of course you could doctor it up any way you’d like, with some sliced black olives, a little taco sauce, a dollop of sour cream… The meat could even be switched to shredded chicken or pork. The possibilities were as endless as any taco would be. Which is what made Taco Salad so much fun at the turn of the 20th century.
If you don’t know this already from my earlier recipe Crock Pot Chicken Tacos, my brothers and myself would pretty much lose it and go crazy the seldom times that our mom would tell us we’re having tacos for dinner. Every now and again it would be Taco Salad, and that was my absolute favorite!
As an adult the one thing that I would change is the size of the taco salad, as it’s just a lot of food to consume at one sitting. In comes the idea to make the taco salad minis.
This is a fun idea for changing up taco night, or even better for party apps. And if you’re already making crock pot chicken tacos for a get together you can always make a batch or two of these just for fun.
To make these you’ll just need a muffin pan and Mission brand’s “Street Tacos” and make sure you buy the flour tortillas I haven’t tested the corn tortillas yet and I’m not sure I will as they may break apart and not hold their shape as well as the flour tortillas once baked.
Ingredients:
- 10 Street Taco sized Flour Tortillas.
- 1 lbs. Ground Beef.
- 1 Ounce packet of Taco Seasoning.
- 1 Cup Shredded Monterey or Cheddar Cheese (4oz. block form).
- 1 Cup Diced Roma Tomatoes.
- 1 Cup Shredded Iceberg Lettuce.
- (Optional) 1/2 Cup Scallion or Diced Yellow Onion.
- (Optional) Drizzle of any selected Taco Sauces/Condiments.
- (Optional) Jalapeno Slice and Sliced Black Olive for garnish.
Nutrition Facts:
- Calories: 436
- Total Fat: 16.3g
- Saturated: Fat 6.8g
- Cholesterol: 103mg
- Sodium: 591mg
- Total Carbohydrates: 29.5g
- Dietary Fiber: 0.8g
- Total Sugars: 1.4g
- Protein: 38.3g
- Vitamin D: 0mcg
- Calcium: 188mg
- Iron: 18mg
- Potassium: 528mg
Directions:
- Cook 1 lbs. 80/20 ground beef in a 10″ skillet until brown and no pink remains. Add in 1 ounce of your favorite taco seasoning packet, or use my recipe for scratch made taco seasoning. Once seasoning is fully mixed in with the beef, remove from heat and drain in a colander. If you used lean beef (90/10) then you will need to add 3/4 cup of water once you add your seasoning to help it mix as there’s not a lot of rendered fat in the skillet.
- Using the smallest flour tortillas you can find (5″ are perfect, I used Mission brand’s “Street Tacos” flour tortillas) coat both sides in cooking oil. Gently pinch four sides of the tortilla and slowly push them into the cup of a muffin pan. Bake at 375° for 15 minutes. Shells will harden after they completely cool, so if you want them more pliable pull them out at 10-12 minutes and use your best judgement.
- Fill taco shells up with your favorite ingredients! I feel like the classic ingredients I remember most from childhood are shredded iceberg lettuce, diced Roma tomatoes, ground beef, then topped with shredded Monterey or cheddar cheese. Sometimes jalapenos and black olives were sprinkled on top, I just used those lastly as a garnish.
There really are no rules here so by all means get creative! This works great with my Crock Pot Chicken Tacos recipe as well by the way! (link is above)
Traver Recipes 