Anyday Crispy Tacos

This is a throwback to those crispy shell, ground beef tacos of my childhood, but oh! so much better! There is nothing authentic or traditional about these tacos. The hard-shell taco is an American invention, and these definitely blow the processed, pre-packaged taco mix out of the water. In my humble opinion, my family heartily agrees.

One of the first things I did when I started cooking for myself was to figure out how to make things from scratch that most people bought packaged in a store. And first on the list was creating my own taco seasoning. I started reading packaged food labels when I was around the ripe old age of 9, and could not understand why there were ingredients I could not pronounce on the label. I know what most of them are now, and still don’t want to eat them. I also realized I always have all the spices for a yummy taco blend in my spice pantry, why duplicate them.

Over the years I have played with different combinations of spices, but this one is the tried and true that makes everyone happy. You can up the spice level or cut the recipe in half, but I like to make a large batch so we have leftovers. My oldest son is always so happy to have fixings for nachos at the ready, and it makes a great taco salad for lunch the next day. More on that to come!

Add in some pantry salsa and a tangy cilantro-lime sour cream and you have the crispy tacos of your dreams or at least mine! Pantry salsa is so easy to make and I usually have most of the ingredients stocked and ready to go. Just amp up the flavor with a little char and roasted canned tomatoes.

My trick for keeping my shells crispy and from getting soggy and collapsing while eating is to add some shredded cheese to the bottom of the shells after warming in the oven, then putting them back in the oven just until the cheese melts. This seals the bottom of the shell and protects it from the saucy beef filling.

You can mix up your toppings any way you like, these are just suggestions but add or delete to your heart’s desire! Check out my full video below for more tips and tricks and hear my thoughts on my controversial ingredient.

Anyday Crispy Tacos

Recipe by Chef JenCourse: Anyday DinnerCuisine: American, MexicanDifficulty: Easy

Servings

8

servings

Prep time

30

minutes

Cooking time

40

minutes

Ingredients

• Ground Beef Filling

• 1 Tablespoon avocado oil

• 2 lbs 85/15 ground beef, grass-fed preferred

• 1 medium white onion, small dice

• 6 medium garlic cloves, minced

• 1/4 cup ancho chili powder

• 1 heaping teaspoon dry oregano

• 1 heaping teaspoon dry thyme

• 1 heaping Tablespoon ground cumin

• cayenne pepper to taste, optional

• 1 Tablespoon Diamond Crystal Kosher Salt

• 1 teaspoon ground black pepper

• 1/4 cup ketchup

• 1 teaspoon Worcestershire, a couple of really good shakes

• 12 oz can Modelo Beer

• 1/2-1 cup water

• Juice of a lime, optional

• Pantry Salsa

• 1 – 24 oz can whole tomatoes, strained and reserving the juice

• 1 lime, halved

• half a white onion, cut in half to make 2 wedges

• 1 serrano pepper, halved, seeds in optional

• 1 large garlic clove, roughly chopped

• 1 bunch cilantro, roughly chopped

• Cilantro-Lime Sour Cream

• 16 oz whole milk sour cream

• Juice of half a lime, more as needed

• 1 bunch of cilantro, roughly chopped

• pinch of salt

• Fixings

• 1 package 12 crispy corn tortillas

• Monterey jack cheese, grated

• Shredded iceberg lettuce

• White onion, thinly sliced into 1-inch slices

• Fresno peppers, finely sliced

• Cilantro

Directions

• Ground Beef Filling
• Heat a cast-iron or heavy bottom skillet over medium-high heat. When the pan is hot add the oil and ground beef. Break the beef up with a wooden spoon. Let beef brown on one side before stirring.
• When the beef has browned add the onion and garlic and sweat just until they are tender. Add the chili powder, oregano, thyme, cayenne pepper, salt, and pepper, and cook for a minute to toast the spices. Add in the kitchen and Worcestershire and stir to combine.
• Deglaze the pan with the beer and add enough water to almost come to the top of the beef. Bring to a simmer, reduce the heat to low, and let braise until most of the liquid has evaporated.
• Taste and adjust seasoning with lime juice and salt
• Pantry Salsa
• Preheat broiler. Put the whole tomatoes without the juice on a sheet pan, and place under the broiler until tomatoes start to caramelize.
• While the tomatoes are roasting, put a griddle or cast-iron pan over medium-high heat and add the lime halves cut side down, onion wedges, and serrano halves cut side down. Let char until deep golden brown, turn to char the other side.
• Put the roasted tomatoes, reserved tomato juice, onion, serrano, cilantro, and garlic in the bowl of a food processor. Squeeze in the juice of the charred lime. Pulse until all the ingredients come together and are almost pureed. I like to leave a little texture, but you can process until smooth.
• Cilantro-Lime Sour Cream
• Add all the ingredients to the bowl of a food processor, and blend until smooth, scraping down the sides as needed. Taste and adjust lime juice and salt.
• Putting It All Together
• Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Put a small cooling rack into a baking dish, and stand the corn tortillas up using the cooling rack to help keep them upright. Demo in my video. Put tortillas into the oven and warm for 5 minutes.
• Remove from oven and put enough cheese in the bottom of each tortilla to cover the bottom. Put back in the oven just until the cheese is melted.
• Start layering, beef, Cilantro-Lime Sour Cream, onion, lettuce, cilantro, Fresno, plate and serve with salsa and extra sour cream on the side.

Recipe Video