Ground Beef Tacos
This is hands-down the BEST ground beef taco meat you'll ever make. And the best part? You can have it ready and on the table in less than 30 minutes—perfect for a quick and delicious meal everyone will love!
Servings: 4 servings
Calories: 202kcal
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 pound lean ground beef
- ½ onion finely chopped (about ½ cup)
- 1 clove garlic minced
- 2 tablespoons taco seasoning homemade or store-bought
- 2 tablespoons tomato paste
- ½ cup water or more as needed
- taco shells soft or crunchy
- taco toppings choose your favorites!
Instructions
- Brown meat: Heat olive oil in a medium-large skillet over medium-high heat. Add beef and cook for 1 minute, crumbling meat as it browns. Stir through onion, garlic and taco seasoning. Cook until meat is browned and onion has softened, about 5-8 minutes. Drain excess fat if needed.
- Add liquids: Reduce heat to medium. Stir through tomato paste until fully combined. Add water, stirring well to combine. Simmer for 2-4 minutes over medium heat, until sauce has thickened and is coating meat well.
- Serve: Serve taco meat immediately with your favorite taco shells and toppings.
Notes
Ingredient notes
- Meat: I recommend using a leaner ground beef, or to drain excess fat after browning. Feel free to use ground turkey instead of ground beef.
- Onion/garlic: Yellow or red onion are best in this recipe. For even quicker prep, use dried onion and garlic powder instead of freshly minced.
- Tortillas: I prefer the softer flour tortillas over fried corn tortillas for tacos. If you prefer crispy taco shells, feel free to fry white corn tortillas or use store-bought crunchy shells.
- Tomato paste: Please use tomato paste and not tomato sauce in this recipe. If you’re in a pinch and all you have is tomato sauce, skip the water the recipe calls for and instead use about ¼ – ⅓ cup tomato sauce; or as needed to yield juicy (not liquidy!) taco meat. The color and taste will be a little different, but still good.
Recipe tips
- How much meat per person: This recipe uses 1 pound ground beef, which serves about 4 people. You’ll need 2-3 tablespoons of meat mixture per taco, which yields approximately 2-3 tacos per person; or 8-12 tacos in total.
- Make sure you don’t let the taco meat dry out: Once the beef is browned, turn the heat down to medium-low and let it simmer gently with the seasoning and liquid – don’t overcook it, or the meat may dry out.
- Leftovers/freezer: Keep leftovers covered in the fridge for up to 3 days, or freeze for up to 3 months. Defrost in the fridge overnight, reheat in a skillet with a splash of water until steaming hot all the way through.
Nutrition
Serving: 1serving | Calories: 202kcal | Carbohydrates: 4g | Protein: 25g | Fat: 9g | Saturated Fat: 3g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g | Monounsaturated Fat: 5g | Trans Fat: 0.4g | Cholesterol: 70mg | Sodium: 241mg | Potassium: 497mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 2g | Vitamin A: 240IU | Vitamin C: 4mg | Calcium: 19mg | Iron: 3mg