Looking for a recipe for easy taco meat? Look no further! This is the BEST Taco Meat Recipe!
This taco meat is made with ground beef, a perfect blend of seasonings and will be better than anything you can get from a seasoning packet or a drive-thru!
What seasonings do I need to make the Best Easy Taco Meat?
Making your own taco meat elevates boring “packet” taco meat to the best taco meat ever! Sure you can use a taco seasoning packet and it will taste just fine, but this recipe is even better!
The blend of seasonings for this taco meat is the perfect blend of flavor. They will mix together with some tomato paste and the end product is delicious!
The seasonings used for this Easy Taco Meat recipe are simple and the perfect blend. You will use/need:
- Garlic Powder
- Onion Powder
- Chili Powder
- Paprika
- Cumin
- Beef Bouillon (Better Than Bouillon works great)
- Sugar
- Salt
In addition to the seasonings you will add some all-purpose flour. The flour adds a bit of texture and can thicken the sauce on the meat, binding the flavors to the ground beef. If this seems, odd trust me, try it once! Or, leave it out!
What kind of Ground Beef is best for Taco Meat?
I always us an 80/20 ground beef. The 80/20 refers to the meat to fat ratio of the ground meat.
You will typically find ground meat labeled lean 80/20. But you may also see 70/30 (extra lean) and 90/10 (super lean). The smaller number is the fat content.
The higher the lean meat content the less fat you will have. 80 is the lean meat content and 20 is the fat content. 80/20 is the perfect blend for flavor and fat so the meat doesn’t dry out. I prefer some fat for flavor but it is up to you what you choose.
Making the Best Taco Meat
This taco meat comes together in under 30 minutes. It actually can cook in about 15 minutes (or faster!)
Brown your ground beef in a skillet. I like to break up my meat into smaller pieces for tacos. To do this I have learned that my potato masher works perfect. It breaks up the ground beef into the perfect uniform pieces of tender meatiness.
Cook the ground beef fully. I like to let my ground beef get a good golden color on it.
OPTIONAL: Drain (or rinse if that is your thing) the ground beef and add it back in to the pan.
Next, add your tomato paste, water, all-purpose flour (this is optional) and other seasonings to the cooked ground beef.
Mix it all together as it heats. It will smell delicious. Let the meat heat/simmer on medium-low so the flavor can develop. If you have excess sauce let it simmer for a minute to cook down.
Adjust the seasonings to your liking.
What to make using Easy Taco Meat
This taco meat is obviously for tacos! But you can also use it for oven baked tacos.
Use this Taco Meat recipe to make enchiladas! You can use my Easy Ground Beef Enchiladas recipe and use this meat for the filling instead of what the recipe calls for.
Make my Enchilada Tacos, but make this taco meat instead of the enchilada flavored taco meat in the recipe.
Try my Enchilada Tacos Rollups but use this meat for the filling.
This Easy Taco Meat can be used in burritos, quesadillas, and so much more!
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Easy Taco Meat
Ingredients
- 1 lb. ground beef *I use 80/20 lean ground beef
- 1/2 cup water
- 3 tbsp tomato paste
- 1 tbsp all-purpose flour *see notes as to why you add this
- 2 tsp beef bouillon *Better Than Bouillon is amazing
- 1 1/2 tsp chili powder
- 1 1/2 tsp paprika
- 1 tsp cumin
- 1 tsp onion powder
- 1 tsp garlic powder
- 1/2 tsp white sugar
- 1/2 tsp salt
Instructions
- Brown your ground beef in a skillet over medium heat. I like to break up the ground beef into small uniform pieces. A potato masher works great to do this.
- OPTIONAL:Drain/rinse your meat. Add the ground beef back into the same pan.
- Add the water, tomato paste, all purpose flour and seasonings. Mix them into the ground beef. Adjust the seasonings to your liking.Lower the temperature to med-low and let the meat heat so the flavor can simmer and develop. If there is excess sauce let the meat heat until it has cooked down a bit.
- This Easy Taco Meat makes tasty tacos, burritos, enchiladas, taquitos, quesadillas and so much more!
Notes
Nutrition information is automatically calculated and should only be used as an approximation.