Sometimes I just throw random leftovers into a pot or skillet and just see how it turns out. 😜 But you can’t really go wrong with the ingredients that I used this time around. This Beef Taco Skillet isn’t that novel of a concept, but it was quite tasty and has a lot of room for customization, so I thought it would be the perfect “easy fix” meal to share. So tuck this Beef Taco Skillet Recipe into your bookmarks, because I think you’ll get great use out of it!
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I had a half pound of ground beef in my freezer, a pint of grape tomatoes that I bought for something else and never got around to using, the ever present half bunch of green onions in my fridge, and a bag of tortilla chips. They all went into the skillet with my homemade taco seasoning, a little cheese on top (I always seem to have random partial blocks of cheese in my fridge, too), and I had an incredibly easy and tasty dinner.
Don’t the Chips Get Soft?
The tortilla chips soak up all the flavor in the skillet and get kind of soft, kind of like they do in chilaquiles, migas, or tortilla soup. It’s not a bad thing, IMHO. But if you’re not a fan of soft tortilla chips, you can always crush them over top of your skillet just before serving to make this more like a taco salad (minus the salad part).
Other Topping Ideas
As I mentioned in the intro, this recipe is ripe for customization and you can throw just about any leftover ingredients that you might have on hand into the skillet. Anything that you might like on a taco, taco salad, or in a burrito would be good in this skillet. So check your fridge, freezer, and pantry for any of these items and toss them into the mix:
- Avocado
- Pickled red onions
- Sour cream
- Corn kernels
- Cumin lime coleslaw
- Jalapeños
- Corn salsa
- Pico de gallo
- Finely shredded lettuce (like an upside down taco salad!)
- Cilantro
- Radishes
Can I Use Store Bought Taco Seasoning?
Yes, if you don’t have all the herbs and spices needed for the homemade taco seasoning in the recipe below, simply substitute one packet of store bought taco seasoning.
Can I Substitute the Ground Beef?
Yep, that’s easy, too! You can use any other ground meat (turkey, chicken, pork), or even just do an extra can of beans of you want to keep it vegetarian (extra black beans or pinto beans).
Beef Taco Skillet
Servings 4Ingredients
Homemade Taco Seasoning
- 1 Tbsp chili powder* ($0.30)
- 1 tsp smoked paprika ($0.10)
- 1 tsp ground cumin ($0.10)
- 1/4 tsp cayenne pepper ($0.02)
- 1/2 tsp dried oregano ($0.05)
- 1/4 tsp salt ($0.02)
- 1/4 tsp freshly cracked black pepper ($0.02)
Skillet Ingredients
- 1/2 lb. ground beef ($2.85)
- 1 15oz. can black beans ($0.89)
- 1 pint grape tomatoes (or one large tomato) ($1.49)
- 4 oz. tortilla chips ($0.50)
- 2 oz. shredded cheddar cheese ($0.42)
- 1 green onion ($0.11)
Instructions
- Combine the ingredients for the homemade taco seasoning in a small bowl (chili powder, smoked paprika, cumin, cayenne, oregano, salt, and pepper).
- Slice the green onion and cut the grape tomatoes in half (if using one large tomato, cut it into a small dice).
- Add the ground beef to a skillet and cook over medium until it is fully browned. If you're using a higher fat content beef (20% or higher), drain the excess fat before moving to the next step. If you're using a very lean ground beef (<10% fat) you may need to add a touch of oil to the skillet to keep the beef from sticking.
- While the beef is cooking, rinse and drain the can of black beans. Add the black beans to the skillet with the prepared taco seasoning. Continue to stir and cook over medium heat for about 2 minutes more, or until heated through.
- Add the tomatoes to the skillet and continue to cook over medium, stirring often, until the tomatoes begin to break down a bit (about three more minutes).
- Finally, add the tortilla chips and stir to combine with the other ingredients in the skillet.
- Top the skillet with the shredded cheese, place a lid on top, and let it heat for 1-2 minutes, or just until the cheese is melted. Sprinkle the sliced green onions over top just before serving.
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Notes
Nutrition
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How to Make Beef Taco Skillet – Step by Step Photos
Combine the spices for the homemade taco seasoning: 1 Tbsp chili powder, 1 tsp smoked paprika, 1 tsp ground cumin, ¼ tsp cayenne pepper, ½ tsp dried oregano, ¼ tsp salt, and ¼ tsp freshly ground black pepper. You can use a packet of store bought taco seasoning in place of the homemade taco seasoning, if needed.
Slice a green onion and a pint of grape tomatoes in half. You can use one large tomato in place of the grape tomatoes (I just happened to have those on hand and they needed to be used). If using a large tomato, cut it into a small dice.
Add 1/2 lb. ground beef to a skillet and cook over medium heat until it is fully browned. If you’re using a high fat ground beef you’ll want to drain the excess fat off before moving to the next step. If you’re using a really low fat ground beef, you may need to add a little oil to the skillet to keep it from sticking. I used 15% fat beef, which didn’t need any extra oil and didn’t need to be drained.
While the beef is cooking, rinse and drain the black beans. Add them to the skillet along with the taco seasoning. Continue to cook and stir over medium heat for a couple more minutes.
Add the tomatoes to the skillet and continue to stir and cook just until the tomatoes begin to break down (about 3 more minutes).
Finally, add about 4 oz. tortilla chips (you don’t have to be exact here. I just looked on the label and it said each serving was 1 oz., or about 12 chips, so I estimated). Stir the chips into the skillet.
Top the skillet with 2 oz. shredded cheddar (about ½ cup). Place a lid on top and let it heat for a couple of minutes, or until the cheese is melted.
Sprinkle the sliced green onions over the beef taco skillet just before serving.
Enjoy this taco-nacho hybrid in a skillet for all its cheesy goodness!
Made as written (with exception of only having a whole tomato), and it came out excellent! Easy, one pot, inexpensive, and so much flavor. Husband and I both loved it, and this will be on our menu rotation. Thank you for sharing!
Delicious and easy!! I subbed refried beans for the black beans and used cool ranch Doritos. Thank you for the lovely lunch!!
Is this recipe freezer friendly?
I think it just depends on how sensitive you are to texture. The tortilla chips will definitely be very soft after freezing and reheating. Everything else in the dish should be fine. You could always make it without the chips and then just add them to each bowl after reheating.
Amazing recipe. I just added a little bit of Trader Joe’s tomato paste and a dash of Worcestershire sauce. Thank you!
So good! We all loved it. I doubled the recipe so that our family of four would have leftovers. To make that work, I dished the meat mixture on top of the tortillas and sprinkled with cheese instead of mixing it all in the pan together. Will definitely be on our regular rotation!
Delicious. Like the fancy nacho dish from a local taco chain. Ground beef, the spice mixture, black beans, tomatoes, corn, chips, cheese and topped with green onions, avocado, sour cream and salsa. Also, with just the right amount of heat, but not too spicy. Was a big hit for supper tonight.
Making this for dinner AGAIN tonight…it’ll be our 3rd or 4th time since it was first posted.
This is a great recipe! My husband and I love the flavour . It’s super easy to make! I’ve made the recipe twice now. The second time I made it I used my air fryer to fry up some cut up tortillas instead of using nacho chips. I felt like it took this dish to another level!!
I was driving home late, hungry and tired from work knowing I had chips and not much else that was readily available for dinner. I also had a portion of cooked ground beef in the freezer. I checked budgetbytes to see if there was any quick meal that could be made with those ingredients. Turns out, there was. I didn’t have tomatoes, but I had salsa that worked as a substitute. I even had an avocado in the fridge that wasn’t going to last another day. I pretty much threw this together without even measuring and used the recipe as a guideline with what I had on hand. It was even better than it looked, took almost no time or effort, and saved me from having just chips and salsa for dinner. Thank you.
All l can say is “WOW”. So easy and so good. Next time I will use it as a topping for salad.
Delicious and quick!
Simple, tasty, and quick!
I’m so glad I doubled this recipe because it was delicious! I love how quick and easy it was to make and my family loved it.
Great recipe! If you leave the tortilla chips our of the pan, you can portion it up and reheat for lunch. Then just use the tortilla chips too scoop it up and eat!
I love how customizable this recipe is! We used a can of corn instead of black beans, a can of Rotel instead of tomatoes, and garnished with fresh Cilantro and it was amazing!! Definitely going into our rotation since it only takes around 15 minutes to make. Thanks for this one!!