Taco Tuesday just got even better with these amazing Ground Beef Tacos! They’re filled with tender flavorful meat and beans and loaded with all the toppings.
This ground beef taco meat is one of the most frequent recipes I make for my family. It’s delicious in tacos or taco salad! I add always add beans to it to add fiber and stretch the meat so it lasts for two meals. For more taco filling recipes, try 3-Ingredient Salsa Chicken, Slow Cooker Carnitas, and Chicken Cabbage Potato Tacos with Apple Pico de Gallo.
Ground Beef Taco Meat
If you’re not a big fan of ground beef tacos it’s because you’ve been making them wrong! Follow this recipe and you’ll fall in love with this flavorful, saucy, tender meat.
Ingredients for Taco Meat:
- Oil– Just a little oil is needed to get the onions cooking. Olive, avocado, canola, or vegetable all work great.
- Ground Beef– Any percent fat will do since you’ll be draining off the fat. I usually buy my ground beef from Costco to divide up and freeze and it’s 88% lean.
- Onion– This adds so much flavor! When diced small and cooked first, they soften up a lot and blend in really well with the meat. I typically use a sweet onion but yellow works just as well.
- Beans– Any type of canned beans can be used. Draining and rinsing well will reduce gas and bloating.
- Tomato Sauce– This adds flavor and body to the sauce and helps it coat the meat beautifully.
- Taco Seasoning– I typically use my homemade Taco Seasoning Recipe or I buy a large bottle of the McCormick seasoning at Costco.
How to make tacos with ground beef:
Time needed: 30 minutes.
- Sweat the onions
Heat 2 teaspoon oil in a cast iron skillet over medium heat. Add the onions and cook for about 5 minutes until translucent. Push the onions out toward the edges of the pan and turn heat up to medium-high.
- Brown the meat
Add the ground beef and let it sit and sear for 2-3 minutes. Flip and let it cook another 2 minutes. Break meat apart with a meat chopper or wooden spoon and let it sear again. Continue to chop up and brown meat. Once browned, drain off the grease. (I like to just dump it into a large mesh sieve.)
- Simmer
Add the meat/onions back to the pan along with the black beans, water, tomato sauce, and taco seasoning. Mix together, bring to simmer, reduce heat to low, cover, and let simmer 15-20 minutes or until tender.
- Enjoy!
Use this ground beef meat filling in tacos with all your favorite toppings or add it to a taco salad.
FAQs
I prefer to use a well seasoned cast iron pan because it gives meat a great sear but any other pan (stainless steel, non-stick…) should work use fine. Just remember that if the beef is not releasing easily when you go to flip it then it isn’t seared enough.
I like to add beans to my taco meat for a few reasons. 1.) It stretches the meat so we can have leftovers for lunch. 2.) Simmering the beans with the meat helps them become tender and more flavorful. 3.) It adds fiber and gets us to eat more beans than if we added them separate.
Simmering the ground beef on low for at least 15 minutes (you can go up to 30) helps to tenderize the meat as well as allows for more of the flavors to develop.
This recipe is how I like it but feel free to make it how you like. If you dice the onions small enough and sweat them before browning the meat they become small and tender so you and your kids won’t even know they’re in there but the meat will taste awesome!
There is only a little tomato sauce so it is not at all over powering. If you don’t have any on hand though, just replace it with 1/4 cup water.
TOOLS USED TO MAKE THIS MEAT:
- Cast Iron Skillet– A cast iron skillet is a kitchen must have. It heats evenly and gives meats a nice crust.
- Meat Chopper– This makes crumbling ground meats so easy!
LOOKING FOR MORE MEXICAN DISHES? CHECK OUT THESE:
- Slow Cooker Beef Barbacoa
- Honey Lime Chicken Enchiladas
- Authentic Mexican Molletes
- Cafe Rio Sweet Pork
- Baked Chicken Taquitos
Ground Beef Tacos
Ingredients
For the Meat:
- 2 teaspoons olive oil
- 1 pound ground beef
- 1 cup sweet or yellow onion, (about 1/2)
- 1 15 ounce can black beans (optional), drained and rinsed
- 1/2 cup water
- 1/2 cup tomato sauce
- 4 tablespoons taco seasoning
For the Tacos:
- tortillas
- romaine lettuce
- black olives
- tomatoes
- shredded cheese
- sour cream
- salsa
Instructions
- Heat 2 teaspoon oil in a cast iron skillet over medium heat. Add the onions and cook for about 5 minutes until translucent. Push the onions out toward the edges of the pan and turn heat up to medium-high.
- Add the ground beef and let it sit and sear for 2-3 minutes. Flip and let it cook another 2 minutes. Break meat apart with a meat chopper or wooden spoon and let it sear again. Continue to chop up and brown meat. Once browned, drain off the grease. (I like to just dump it into a large mesh sieve.)
- Add the meat/onions back to the pan along with the black beans, water, tomato sauce, and taco seasoning. Mix together, bring to simmer, reduce heat to low, cover, and let simmer 15-20 minutes or until tender.
- Place meat filling in tortillas along with your favorite toppings.
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