Spicy Taco Meat is a core recipe for your kitchen. Could I say basic? Maybe essential is a better word.
An essential recipe
Spicy Taco Meat lends itself to so many different recipes. As you can see from my video, I really love making taco salad with Spicy Taco Meat. Just because you are making tacos for dinner doesn’t mean individual plates. You can serve an entire taco salad buffet and let everyone fix their own.
Far from basic
Again, I am avoiding the word basic, but you can upgrade this recipe in so many ways. Add 1 chopped seeded tomato when you add the spices in this recipe. Canned tomatoes work also, but most canned tomatoes come in 14oz cans (400g.) That is too much tomato! A single fresh tomato seems to be the correct amount.
However, adding tomato sauce will give you an entirely different type of Spicy Taco Meat. An 8oz. can (227g) is the perfect size for adding a saucy touch to your Spicy Taco Meat. I would choose a salt free variety as canned tomato sauce can have quite a bit of extra sodium. You can also omit the salt from this recipe and adjust the level of salt after you add the can of tomato sauce.
Another upgrade would be chopped cilantro. Simply toss in a handful of freshly chopped cilantro on top of your of the cooked beef once it has simmered and you are ready to serve. Cilantro loses flavor when cooked, so a fresh garnish is best.
You can switch out the ground beef for ground chicken, turkey or even a vegetarian ground beef substitute. However, all of the beef substitutes are very lean and can be too dry to pan brown by themselves. You may need to add a couple of tablespoons (30ml) of olive or avocado oil before you begin to brown your ground meat.
PrintSpicy Taco Meat for the best tacos
- Prep Time: 5 minutes
- Cook Time: 5 minutes
- Total Time: 10 minutes
- Yield: 4 servings 1x
Ingredients
1 lb. ground beef, 80-85% lean (480g)
2 oz chopped onions (56g– about 1/2 medium onion)
1 clove garlic, minced
1 tsp. black pepper (2g)
2 tsp. chile powder (2g)
Salt to taste (about .5 tsp/2g)
Instructions
Place the ground beef in a medium sized skillet and brown over medium heat. Allow some of the fat to render. Make a well in the center of the skillet of ground beef and add the minced onions, allowing to brown in the rendered fat for about 1 minute.
Add the minced garlic, pepper, chile powder and salt. Stir to combine all of the ingredients. Allow to simmer over a medium flame for about 5 minutes. Cover while simmering if desired.
Serves 4
Notes
Don’t worry if your ground beef is frozen. In a pinch, you can place the frozen ground meat in a skillet with a couple of tablespoons of avocado or olive oil. Cover and bring to a medium heat. The ground beef will simultaneously brown and thaw. Remove the lid every 3-4 minutes to scrape away the cooked ground beef from the solid frozen portion. Once the ground beef is completely thawed and cooked, add the onions and spices as directed above.
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