Forget the drive-thru, this ground beef taco recipe tastes just like the hard shell Taco Bell tacos you love! It’s a fast recipe that makes for an easy taco dinner at home any night of the week.
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
“Fabulous change-up to plain old beef tacos! I was a bit leery at the addition of cornmeal, but hubby thought it sounded interesting, so we tried it. Not only does it make your pound of ground beef stretch farther, it was filling & adds a great consistency to ordinary, crumbly beef taco meat. This will be a go-to going forward!” -Valerie, FoodieCrush reader
These Hard Shell Beef Tacos Taste BETTER Than Taco Bell
These ground beef tacos are a nod to one of America’s favorite Mexican fast food chains (and my husband’s) — Taco Bell.
I’m not much of a fast food fan, but Taco Bell tacos hit just right when it comes to drive-thru Mexican food. I have many recipes that satisfy our regular taco cravings, like my blackened fish tacos with creamy avocado sauce, carnitas, and grilled steak tacos.
But these Taco Bell tribute tacos are so nostalgic and satisfy a totally different type of craving, right up there with greasy, cheesy pepperoni pizza. This recipe comes from my mother-in-law. She shared all her secrets with me, and these are so good, they could very well curb your drive-thru habit too.
Enjoy!
Heidi’s Tips for Recipe Success
Select ground beef that isn’t too lean. 85% lean ground beef is perfect for making tacos. You don’t want anything too lean, otherwise, you’re liable to wind up with dry taco meat.
Ditch the taco seasoning packet and make your own. Fortunes have been made on packaging taco seasoning, but it’s so simple to make from your spice drawer using just ground cumin, chili powder, garlic salt, kosher salt, and black pepper. Taco seasoning is pretty salty by itself, so don’t be alarmed if you take a taste and feel it’s too much.
Yellow cornmeal is the secret ingredient that makes these tacos taste just like Taco Bell’s! my mother-in-law swears this is key to making these tacos taste most like Taco Bell. Cornmeal tightens up the beef mixture after the tomato juice is added and adds another layer of maize/corn essence, combining with the Mexican flavors.
What’s in This Recipe?
The full recipe, with amounts, can be found in the recipe card below.
- Ground beef — You could substitute ground turkey if you wanted, but you’d need to add a little extra oil since turkey is so lean.
- White onion + garlic — Get sautéed with the ground beef mixture for more flavor.
- Tomato juice — This surprise ingredient is added to the ground beef and spices to deglaze the pan. It loosens up all those browned bits and also lends extra moisture for the perfect consistency. You could also use V-8 or water.
- Yellow cornmeal — If the taco meat feels too thick after stirring in the cornmeal, add a bit more tomato juice to thin it and cook the cornmeal.
- Taco shells — I like hard taco shells (white corn specifically), but yellow corn or even flour tortillas make a great Taco Bell-style taco.
- Shredded cheese – Cheddar cheese is my cheese of choice. Shred your own (I don’t recommend buying the pre-shredded stuff, which doesn’t melt as well).
- Taco seasoning — Homemade taco seasoning is easy to make with just cumin, chili powder, garlic salt, kosher salt, and black pepper.
Love tacos? Try making this 30-minute taco soup recipe next. It’s packed with the flavor of your favorite tacos, all cooked in one pot!
How to Make Beef Tacos Like Taco Bell
- Cook the ground beef. I recommend using a flat-edged wooded spatula to really chop up the beef into small pieces. I find this easiest to do once the meat has begun to brown, breaking down easier than when raw. My MIL says the flavor in these tacos comes from browning the beef thoroughly, building crisped bits on the bottom of the pan. Watch it though, so the beef doesn’t burn or char.
Heidi’s Tip: To break down the taco meat very finely, use a potato masher or a meat masher. Or, use your spatula and take your time breaking up the ground beef.
- Sauté the onion and garlic. Once the meat is in smaller bits, stir in the onions and garlic and cook.
- Add the special seasonings. Adding the taco spices to the ground beef toward the end of browning allows them to cook for a minute or two to seal flavor into the meat and also awakens the flavors of the spices as they heat.
- Simmer to thicken. After stirring in the tomato juice and cornmeal, let the taco filling bubble away for 10 to 15 minutes. If you try to serve your ground beef tacos immediately, the filling will be too soupy.
- Toast your tacos. Use a sheet pan or a casserole dish to snuggle your corn tortillas together upright, then spoon the taco meat into them and sprinkle them with shredded cheese. Toast in the oven or a toaster oven at 400°F just until the cheese melts and the shells begin to brown.
- Set up a DIY area for filling your tacos. Make your life easier and put all the taco toppings into serving dishes for folks to top their tacos how they’d like.
Our Favorite Taco Toppings
Sour cream, shredded iceberg lettuce, avocado, diced tomatoes, and onion are my picks for classic toppings. Everyone has their favorite toppings, and since you’re making them yourself, now is the time to load them up.
Here are some more suggestions:
- Red onion or pickled onions
- Cilantro
- Pico de gallo
- Avocado salsa verde
- Restaurant-style salsa
- Pickled jalapeños
If you make this recipe, please let me know! Leave a ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ rating on this recipe below and leave a comment, take a photo and tag me on Instagram with #foodiecrusheats.
Copycat Taco Bell Beef Tacos
Ingredients
- 1 pound 85% lean ground beef
- ½ white onion , diced
- 2 cloves garlic , pressed or minced
- 2 teaspoons cumin
- 2 teaspoons chili powder
- 1 teaspoons garlic salt
- 1 teaspoons salt
- 1 teaspoons pepper
- 2 cups tomato juice
- ¼ cup yellow cornmeal
- 12 taco shells
- 2 cups cheddar cheese , shredded
Optional Toppings:
- sliced lettuce
- chopped tomatoes
- avocado
- onion
- sour cream
Instructions
- Add the ground beef to a large skillet over medium-high heat and cook until browned, about 10 minutes, breaking into small pieces as it browns.
- Add the onion and garlic and sauté until the beef is well browned and the onion is translucent.
- Add the cumin, chili powder, garlic salt, kosher salt, and black pepper and cook for another 1-2 minutes, stirring often.
- Stir in the tomato juice and cornmeal and simmer for 10-15 minutes or until the juice has cooked down and the cornmeal softens, stirring occasionally. Add more tomato juice or water if the mixture clumps.
- Place the taco shells on a sheet pan or in a baking dish and spoon about ⅓ cup taco meat into each shell and sprinkle with cheddar cheese. Broil in a toaster oven or oven until the cheese melts.
- Garnish the tacos with fixings and serve.
Notes
Nutrition
FAQs
You could drain your ground beef if you wanted but I don’t usually bother.
Some recipes have you do this, but tomato juice imparts so much more flavor! However, if your mix is too thick, you can use water to thin it out.
You can, but your homemade taco recipe won’t taste just like Taco Bell’s.
What to Serve With Hard Shell Tacos
More Taco Recipes You’ll Want to Make
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Jasmin
Give it a try! It’s really delicious and tastes just like Taco Bell’s meat, but even better! I won’t go back there because I can use high-quality, organic ingredients and get more for my money. I was initially skeptical about adding cornmeal, but hearing that the mother-in-law thinks it enhances the recipe convinced me to give it a try. I ended up using about 1/5 of a cup instead of the full 1/4 cup. I purchased Taco shells and flour tortillas and made crunchwrap inspired tacos. So good!!!
Such a great idea to make a crunchwrap! I need to give that a try. And my MIL will be impressed her credibility is the reason you gave it a try :).
Pamela
These were pretty authentic TB tasting! The cornmeal is a surprise ingredient that works. We like them best in soft flour tortillas. We did find the recipe is way too salty as written. The tomato juice has salt and the garlic salt, of course. Suggest leaving out the 1 tsp salt until tasted at the end of cooking.
Thanks for your input Pamela, it’s easy to add the salt at the end to taste. Glad you thought they had that Taco Bell flavor too!
Valerie
Fabulous change-up to plain old beef tacos! I was a bit leery at the addition of cornmeal, but hubby thought it sounded interesting, so we tried it. Not only does it make your pound of ground beef stretch farther, it was filling & adds a great consistency to ordinary, crumbly beef taco meat. This will be a go-to going forward!
I’m so glad you tried it Valerie! It’s my mother in law’s secret, and it does help make the ground beef go farther. And the flavor is just so good!