If you want to take your Taco Tuesday to the next level, try baking your tacos! Yes, I said baking them. These Baked Beef Tacos are one of my favorite fast and easy weeknight meals. Their crunchy, toasty shells, melted cheese, and liberally seasoned beef and black bean filling always have me coming back for more. …And more. 😅
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Why Bake Tacos?
Baking your tacos toasts the corn shells, makes sure the filling is nice and hot, and the cheese perfectly melted. Toasting hard taco shells is an often overlooked step in the taco making process, but makes a huge difference in the flavor of the taco shell.
I have to admit, I was well into my 20’s before I realized that you’re supposed to bake hard taco shells for a few minutes to toast the corn before filling and eating them. I guess I just never bothered to read the package before then, but I’m glad I finally did. So don’t feel bad if you’ve never done this before!
But baking the whole taco really takes these beef and black bean tacos to the next level.
Do the Baked Beef Tacos Stay Crunchy?
Yes, the taco shells stay crunchy! That is, if you use a lean ground beef, or make sure to drain the fat well when using a higher fat content beef. If the beef and bean mixture has too much oil, the oil will saturate the shells and make them soften. Also make sure to drain the beans well.
Can I Use Store Bought Taco Seasoning?
Yes. I used my own homemade taco seasoning for these baked beef and black bean tacos, but if you don’t have a well stocked spice cabinet you can just pick up one packet of store bought taco seasoning.
Can I Make These Baked Tacos Vegetarian?
Sure! try using an extra can of black beans in place of the ground beef, or try the filling from my Lentil Tacos or Quinoa and Black Bean Tacos!
Baked Beef Tacos
Servings 5 (2 tacos each)Ingredients
TACO SEASONING
- 1 Tbsp chili powder ($0.30)
- 1 tsp smoked paprika ($0.10)
- 1 tsp ground cumin ($0.10)
- 1/2 tsp dried oregano ($0.05)
- 1/4 tsp cayenne pepper ($0.03)
- 1/2 tsp salt ($0.02)
- Freshly cracked black pepper ($0.03)
TACOS
- 1 Tbsp cooking oil ($0.04)
- 1 yellow onion ($0.37)
- 2 cloves garlic ($0.16)
- 1/2 lb. lean ground beef (93% lean or higher)* ($3.90)
- 1 15oz. can black beans ($0.79)
- 1 box hard taco shells (10 shells) ($1.00)
- 1 cup shredded cheddar (4oz.) ($1.20)
OPTIONAL TOPPINGS
- 1 tomato ($0.49)
- 1 jalapeño ($0.06)
- 1 handful fresh cilantro ($0.13)
- 1/4 cup sour cream ($0.11)
Instructions
- In a small bowl, combine the ingredients for the taco seasoning, then set the seasoning aside (or use one envelope of store-bought taco seasoning). Preheat the oven to 400ºF.
- Dice the onion and mince the garlic. Add the onion, garlic, and cooking oil to a large skillet. Sauté the onion and garlic over medium heat until the onion is soft and translucent (about 5 minutes). Add the ground beef and prepared taco seasoning and continue to sauté until the beef is cooked through (another 5 minutes).
- Arrange the taco shells in a casserole dish so they are all standing upright. If you do not have a dish that fits them snuggly enough to hold them up, use balled up aluminum foil to act as "book ends" to help hold the line of tacos upright.
- Drain the can of black beans well, but do not rinse them. A little sauciness helps keep the beef mixture moist.Stir the beans into the seasoned beef and allow them to heat through.
- Fill the tacos with the beef and bean mixture. Sprinkle the shredded cheese over top. Bake the tacos in the preheated oven for 7-10 minutes, or until the cheese is melted and the taco shells are golden brown on the edges.
- While the tacos are baking, dice the tomato, slice the jalapeño, and roughly chop the cilantro leaves. Sprinkle the diced tomato, jalapeño, and cilantro over the tacos, and add a dollop of sour cream just before serving.
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Notes
Nutrition
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Scroll down for the step by step photos!
How to Make Baked Tacos – Step by Step Photos
Start by mixing up your homemade taco seasoning (or use a store bought blend instead). Stir together 1 Tbsp chili powder, 1 tsp smoked paprika, 1 tsp cumin, 1/2 tsp oregano, 1/4 tsp cayenne, 1/2 tsp salt, and some freshly cracked pepper. Set the taco seasoning aside. Begin to preheat your oven to 400ºF.
Dice one onion and mince two cloves of garlic. Add them to a large skillet along with 1 Tbsp cooking oil. Sauté the onion and garlic over medium heat until the onions are soft and translucent.
Add a 1/2 lb. lean ground beef and the prepared taco seasoning to the skillet. Continue to sauté until the beef is cooked through (about 5 minutes). If you are using a higher fat content beef, add the beef alone first and cook until browned, then drain the excess fat. Add the taco seasoning after draining and cook for one minute more.
Drain a 15oz. can of black beans well, then stir them into the skillet. I did not rinse the beans because the little bit of starchy coating they had helps keep the beef mixture moist.
Line up the taco shells in a baking dish so that they are all standing upright. My box of taco shells had 10 shells, but I think I had enough filling for 12. I used a smallish 8×12″ glass baking dish, which allowed them to sit in the dish snuggly enough to hold them upright. If you don’t have a dish that this works well with, you can use balls of aluminum foil to act as book ends and help hold the shells up.
Divide the beef and bean mixture between the taco shells, then top the tacos with 1 cup (or 4oz.) shredded cheddar cheese.
Bake the beef tacos in the preheated oven for 7-10 minutes, or until the cheese is melted and the edges of the tacos become slightly golden brown. See those browned edges? That’s the FLAVOR. The total cooking time will depend on the type of shell you have, your oven, and other factors, so just keep an eye on them. The important part is that after baking they are all hot and toasty with melted cheese allll over ’em.
Finally, add your favorite cold toppings to your baked beef tacos. I used one diced tomato, one sliced jalapeño, a handful of chopped cilantro, and a little sour cream. Avocados, taco sauce, pineapple, and pico de gallo, would also be awesome!
Seriously, though. Tacos should not be confined to just Tuesdays. Tacos EVERY DAY. #teamtaco (P.S. try topping your tacos with some homemade Pico de Gallo!)
I made these before I had surgery for an ileostomy (colostomy of the small colon) and they were fantastic. Since having an ileostomy I can’t digest anything fibrous or gassy so I can’t have the black beans or any other bean equivalent. I’m usually pretty good at coming up with substitutes but I can’t really think of anything that would fit in this recipe. I might just have to do all beef unless you can think of anything clever!
Uh so I had no idea to put are supposed to bake hard shells, but it says it right on my box 😜😜😜 any way these were great and will definitely be making again.
I just made this recipe and it was a hit! My husband and I didn’t understand at first what the big deal would be – we heat our taco shells in the oven anyway – but this was great! We only made four tacos because it’s just the two of us, and we froze the rest of the filling for a quick meal later. Changes we made: used venison instead of beef, omitted the cilantro because my husband detests it, and put a layer of cheese at the bottom of the shells before adding the meat/bean filling. I think that helped keep the shells intact also. Thanks for the recipe!
Love this Tess! I swap venison too :)
Good isea for some chhese on the bottom tokeepthe shell from cracking.
Thanks.
I plan to use premade taco seasoning from a Costco sized container, how much should I use?
Thanks ❤️
Probably about 2 Tbsp, although I don’t know how much salt is in your taco seasoning, so if it contains a lot of salt that might end up over salting the mix.
How have I forgotten about this gem of a recipe?!?!?! I made them again tonight after way to long. So good! The cool part is for my large family standing the shells up and quickly spooning the filling in and then cheese and into the oven seemed to actually save time from trying to stand each taco individually to fill for all 6 people. I also noticed the shell doesn’t break as easy but they are still crispy.
These are a weekly staple in my house too Sharesa!
Made these for dinner and all 4 of my kids LOVED them!! This will be in high rotation from now on as it is very rare I find a meal 4/4 kids will eat!
Hooray! That’s a huge win!
At first I thought, what’s the big deal with baked tacos??
Tried them out. OMG. You are right Beth, this takes tacos to a whole new level.
I now crave baked tacos. Can’t go back to regular tacos.
Just love the velvety beef/bean mixture, the crunchiness of the top of the taco shell and the somewhat soggy bottoms, the melted cheese, and the cold, fresh toppings. And it looks so pretty when served!
So glad you loved them! I crave them all the time now, too. :P
So good and easy! Thanks for another great recipe!
Hi There! Gosh, so long since I’ve had tacos! I cruised through your recipe and found I had everything on hand except the ground beef. Going to use Maui onion instead of yellow onion. We have an herb garden down behind the condo, so I’ll grab a small bunch of cilantro. Love cilantro!! So this will be on the docket for tomorrow’s dinner. Thanks for sharing! I’ll be back.
Aloha, Nancy On Maui
I made these for dinner tonight, and I really liked the seasonings. I’ve been looking for a good homemade taco seasoning recipe for ages, and this one was perfect. :)
This was a great recipe and very delicious. I used leftover pot roast and shredded the meat instead of the ground beef.
This recipe has been a great crowd pleaser but is also nice for dinner for 2 – half the tacos now and then the taco filling mix is ready for half the tacos later or as a topper for lunch salad.
Another easy crowd pleaser was turning the sour cream into Lime Crema by adding the juice and zest of one lime and 2 minced garlic cloves to 8 oz of sour cream. Boom.
ooh that lime crema sounds fantastic!
My sister and I have made the Beef and Black Bean Tacos plenty of times!! We would use Spicy Nacho flavored taco shells, Cheese flavored taco shells, and we would use Ground Turkey instead of Ground Beef for the filling. Regardless of what kind of shells and filling we would use, these tacos are the bomb dot com. 😋😋
Made these tonight but my taco shells tasted stale. I made sure the filling was dry to avoid it making the shells soggy. Followed the recipe as stated What could have went wrong? Aside from that everything was great. Meat/beans were very good. Just wished my taco shell was crunchy.
Fantastic for game night! We tripled it. Thanks!!