Ground Beef Tacos
Minced beef cooked with real spices rather than a sachet, in corn tortillas with whatever you have. Twenty-five minutes.
Photograph credit: Ground beef tacos at Goldmine Tacos, Yorkville GA by John Phelan · CC BY 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons
Build the Meal Around Ground Beef Tacos
- Pico de gallo
- Salsa verde
- Soured cream
Sides from the same cuisine on this site: Refried Beans, Instant Pot Black Beans, Pan de Muerto.
Making Ground Beef Tacos, Step by Step
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Heat the oil in a wide frying pan over a high heat.
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Add the mince in a single layer and leave 4 minutes without stirring.
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Break it up and brown 3 minutes more.
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Add the onion and cook 4 minutes.
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Stir in the garlic and cook 30 seconds.
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Add the cumin, paprika, oregano, coriander and cayenne and stir in the hot fat for 30 seconds.
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Stir in the tomato purée and cook 1 minute.
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Add the water and salt and simmer 2 minutes, until it clings rather than runs.
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Warm the tortillas in a dry pan for 20 seconds a side.
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Fill with the beef, top with shredded cabbage and coriander, and serve with lime wedges.
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Worth Knowing Before You Cook
Bloom the spices in fat for thirty seconds.
Four minutes untouched to brown the mince.
A splash of water at the end so the filling holds together.
Common Substitutions & Variations
- Lemon is the everyday swap for lime in this kind of dish — the acidity plays the same role even though the flavour is not identical.
- An eighth of a teaspoon of garlic powder per clove is the stand-in usually given when you are out of fresh garlic; it will not brown the same way, and it burns easily, so add it with the liquid.
- Fresh herbs work in place of the dried oregano at roughly three times the quantity — a teaspoon of dried is about a tablespoon of fresh, chopped.
Storing and Reheating
The filling keeps 3 days refrigerated and freezes 2 months.
The Numbers per Serving
Per serving, calculated from the ingredient list with USDA FoodData Central figures (SR Legacy). A calculation, not a laboratory analysis: brands, cuts and how you measure change the real numbers. How the figures are worked out.
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Compiled by Turab
Checked by script for timings, diet labels and nutrition arithmetic. How the recipes are checked. Found a mistake? Tell us.
First published ; last changed .