Perfect Taco Dinner Recipe

If you're looking to make the perfect Taco Tuesday (or Taco any day) dinner for your family then you'll love this taco recipe. It's easy to make and delicious.

Ingredients

Here is a list of the food ingredients you'll need to make these tasty tacos:

1 pound of ground beef

1 packet of Lawry's ground beef taco seasoning

Corn tortillas

Cooking oil (Canola, vegetable, avocado, etc)

Block of mild cheddar cheese

Green olives

Salsa and/or hot sauce

Toppings as desired (tomato, lettuce, sour cream)

Step 1 - Toppings

It's easiest to get all of your toppings cut up first. Shred some cheddar cheese, never use pre-shredded as it has no flavor. Always shred it fresh. I can't stress this enough. Beyond that, it's whatever you like. Maybe a little lettuce, tomato, sliced green olives are a must (try it, you'll love it), along with sour cream or (better yet) use our Chipotle Sour Cream recipe instead.

Some of our Easy Guacamole is also a great option, as is a little salsa or other hot sauce. It's a little embarrassing to admit, but Taco Bell Mild sauce pairs very well. That's right, it's "pairs" well. If there is a sommelier equivalent for Mexican foods and sauces then I'm that guy.

Step 2 - Meat

There's nothing attractive about ground beef but when properly seasoned and put in tacos it's one of the best fillings. It's also cheap, easy to find, and easy to cook. Get 1 pound of quality ground beef and cook it up. Don't try ground turkey or some other such non-sense here either.

The key here is that you need to chop it up into tiny, tiny pieces. You really want it as small as possible, so each piece about the size of a pea, or an M&M for non-veggie eaters. I use a wooden spatula and just stab away at the ground beef while it cooks. The more it cooks the easier it will be to crumble up.

As the beef browns, you'll need to get rid of the fatty grease. You do NOT want this in your tacos. Use a turkey baster, a spoon, or soak it up in paper towels. Don't put it down your drain though! Get as much out as possible. Some people will rinse their meat, that's just non-sense.

When it looks like the photo above, you'll need to add the spice mix. I use Lawry's brand and ONLY Lawry's brand. If I had a religion it's name would be Lawry's. I keep a supply of it on hand that will see me through the end of times. It's that good. Mix in the spices along with water (2/3 of a cup in this case). Bring it all to a boil and then you reduce heat and let it simmer on a low heat for 15 minutes or so.

Step 3 - Tortillas

The tortillas are incredibly important to the whole experience here. Go with some corn tortillas, not flour. The fresher, the better. And now they need to be fried. Relax, there is nothing healthy about this meal anyhow so you might as well enjoy it properly!

Frying tortillas is actually pretty easy as long as you're careful. In fact, we describe it in more detail in our Fry Your Own Tortilla Chips article so read that if you've never done this. Otherwise, you put in about 1/4 if oil into a pan. What kind of oil? Canola oil works well, as does vegetable oil, and even avocado oil.

I heat the oil up at about medium-high heat on the stove. It takes a few minutes for the oil to heat but when it's ready (again, read Fry Your Own Tortilla Chips) you'll gently put in a tortilla and let it fry away. Then flip it and repeat. The first one or two take longer but once you get going it's about 30 seconds per side. After the first few you'll lower the heat to about medium. As you cook more you'll keep lowering it as needed as you'll have less and less oil as you go and you don't want to burn the oil.

As each one is done you pull it out with tongs and set it on a paper towel lined plate. Get another one in the oil right away. While the new one is cooking, use some folded paper towels to blot excess oil from the one on the plate. Keep doing this until you have enough tortillas for everyone.

Eat!

Get everything on your table and build your tacos. The combination of the Lawry's seasoning, freshly shredded cheddar, fried tortillas, the various toppings (especially those green olives!) is taco heaven. Don't be afraid to use double tortillas on each taco, this really adds a lot of yummy tortilla taste. Tomorrow, you'll want to health things up with Matt's Miracle Salad Recipe.