Homemade Tacos are the perfect busy weeknight dinner. These Easy Ground Beef Tacos are better than take-out and ready in minutes.
Mexican Tacos
Traditional Mexican beef tacos are made with marinated sliced or shredded beef on soft corn tortillas. Those are great! But, that’s not what most Americans think of when we think of classic tacos.
Best Ground Beef Taco Recipe
Most of us grew up eating ground beef tacos in a crispy corn shell or a soft flour tortilla, with lots of toppings. That’s the traditional taco we’re making in this recipe. But, we’re not using a pre-packaged taco seasoning mix. This recipe uses a flavorful homemade taco seasoning.
What Kind of Ground Beef For Tacos?
Lean ground beef is the best beef to use for making tacos because you don’t need to drain off any fat after cooking it. There is just enough fat in the beef to make it super flavorful, but not so much to make it greasy. Skipping the step to drain the fat makes this a quick and easy taco recipe.
Of course, if you have ground beef with more fat, you can still use it in this recipe. Just cook the beef and drain off the fat before you add the taco seasonings.
How To Make Tacos
*Note: The full printable recipe card is at the bottom of this post.
- Break apart lean ground beef in a skillet over medium-high heat.
- Add chili powder, cumin, salt, oregano, garlic powder, and pepper.
- Cook until the beef is browned.
- Add tomato sauce and water to the meat.
- Cook until some liquid has evaporated, but the meat is still saucy.
- Spoon 2 tablespoons of the taco meat into hard taco shells or small soft tortillas.
- Top the tacos with your favorite traditional taco toppings.
Taco Toppings
- Shredded cheese
- Shredded lettuce
- Chopped tomatoes
- Diced onion
- Sliced avocado
- Sour cream
- Guacamole
How Much Taco Meat Do You Need Per Person?
If you use the traditional size hard taco shell, or small 6-inch flour tortillas, 2 tablespoons of taco meat per taco is the perfect amount. This recipe, using 1 pound of lean ground beef, will make 12 tacos. I tend to serve 3 tacos per person. So I use 1 pound of taco meat for 4 people.
Watch the step by step recipe video for The Best Homemade Tacos Recipe below.
The Best Homemade Tacos Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 lb. 90% to 93% lean ground beef
- 1 Tablespoon chili powder
- 1 teaspoon ground cumin
- 3/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
- 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
- 1/2 cup tomato sauce
- 1/4 cup water
- 12 taco shells - either hard shells or small 6-inch soft flour tortillas will work
- Optional Taco Toppings: shredded cheese shredded lettuce, chopped tomatoes, diced red onion, taco sauce, sour cream, guacamole, etc.
Instructions
- Add the beef to a large skillet over medium-high heat. Break the meat apart with a wooden spoon. Add the chili powder, cumin, salt, oregano, garlic powder, and pepper to the meat. Stir well. Cook until the meat is cooked through, about 6-8 minutes, stirring occasionally.
- Reduce the heat to medium. Add the tomato sauce and water. Stir to combine. Cook, stirring occasionally, for 7-8 minutes, until some of the liquid evaporates but the meat mixture is still a little saucy. Remove from the heat.
- Warm the taco shells according to their package directions.
- Fill the taco shells with 2 heaping tablespoons of taco meat. Top with desired taco toppings: shredded cheese, shredded lettuce, chopped tomatoes, diced red onion, taco sauce, sour cream, guacamole, etc.
Nutrition
Try These Great Ground Beef Recipes
Bee says
I love the recipe, perfect for taco Tuesday and the seasoning is perfect and the tacos are so tasty 😋.
Easy to follow recipe 👌🏾
Glen says
How do you make the taco sauce and guacamole? Are u just expected to make your own on the side?
Amanda says
I just buy storebought guac and sauce.
Joann Brantley says
Buy already made
Michelle says
This recipie was the 1st time I ever made homemade. My kids absolutely loved it but then I lost this recipie thankfully I found it again because no other recipie compares. Best recipie ever!!
Karen Johnson says
Excellent! I substituted lentils for the beef and added some salsa to it.
Nadine says
This was actually my first time making tacos! They came out great and my kids loved them. Thanks for an easy and tasty recipe!
Diana says
Excellent, excellent, excellent! No more store bought taco seasoning for my family. This is so much better tasting than store bought mix and my family loves it!
Con Lo says
First time I try this. It was excellent.
Ash says
I needed to find a taco recipe for my culinary class and this turned out amazingly!
Becca Sloane says
This is a really delish recipe. Family loved it!
Erika K says
Recipe is easy to double and triple. We used it for amazing walking tacos. Everyone loved it. Thank you!
Madeleine White says
My husband happen to find this recipe about 6 months ago. It is so delicious that we have thrown out all our other taco recipes because this is the only one we make now.
Anais says
AMAZING!! I don’t usually cook and this was a hit!! Thank you for sharing.
Shelly says
This is one of my favorite taco recipes to make. Quick, easy, and delicious!
Julie says
Is it really a tablespoon of chilli powder. Far too hot for me!
Linda says
I just made this for our taco salad. All I can say is…. Absolutely delicious! Much better than the store bought taco mix. I will be using this for all my taco seasoning. Thank you for sharing.
Kia says
Hello is it tomato sauce you use for spaghetti?
Cecelia says
I’ve cook this for twice and will cook more in the future. The recipe is very simple and I’m lucky that I always have all the ingredients in my counter.
First try I didn’t have tomato sauce so I changed it with ketchup and still taste great! After this I never buy instant taco’s seasoning anymore!!!
Thank you!!!!!
Carol Maddox says
I have used tomato soup when I ran out of paste or sauce is amazing
Jessica says
Can you cook this in advance and reheat? Worried it will dry out but would prefer to prepare in advance if possible.
Carol Maddox says
Making it for Card club today really amazing thanks for the recipe