Delicious Baked Tacos include crunchy tortilla shells filled with a seasoned meat and bean taco filling, topped with cheese and then baked. They’re fun and easy to make (or even to make in advance!);don’t expect leftovers!
We always reserve at least one day a week for “taco night” and these Baked Tacos make a regular appearance (along with fajitas, carne asada tacos, shrimp tacos and carnitas!) They’re also great for feeding a large group because you can prepare a whole bunch in a pan a few hours ahead of time and bake them just before you’re ready to eat. The taco meat mixture is made up of ground beef, beans, tomato sauce and pantry spices you already have, giving it a crave-worthy flavor that can’t be beat!
How to Make Baked Tacos:
- Cook the ground beef in a large skillet over medium heat, breaking it into very small pieces until browned. Remove grease. Add onion and saute for a few minutes. Stir in the dry spices.
- Add the tomato sauce and pinto beans and stir to combine. Turn the heat to low and simmer for 5-10 minutes, stirring occasionally.
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Line two 9×13” pans with the taco shells.
- Spoon taco mixture into tacos. Top with cheese. Bake for 10 minutes.
- Top with a little bit of lettuce, tomatoes, and sour cream and salsa, if desired.
Make Ahead and Freezing Instructions:
To Make Ahead: The taco meat filling can be made 2-3 days in advance (depending on the freshness of your ingredients), stored in the fridge. When ready to use, fill tacos and bake as instructed. Assembled tacos, in the shells, will keep for a few hours stored in covered in the refrigerator (the taco shells will start to soften too much if assembled for longer than a few hours before baking).
To Freeze: You can freeze taco meat filling in a freezer safe container for up to 3 months. Thaw overnight in the refrigerator, fill tacos and bake as directed.
Consider trying these popular dinner recipes:
- Slow Cooker Pot Roast
- Sheet Pan Chicken Fajitas
- Honey-Lime Chicken Enchiladas
- Italian Grilled Cheese
- Gourmet Baked Mac N Cheese with Bacon
- Crispy BBQ Chicken Wraps
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Recipe
Baked Tacos
Equipment
Ingredients
- 1 pound lean ground beef (or ground turkey)
- 1 small onion , chopped
- 1 Tablespoon chili powder
- 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cumin
- ½ teaspoon paprika
- 1/4 teaspoon dried oregano leaves
- 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
- 3/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- 8 ounces tomato sauce
- 16 ounce can pinto beans , or black beans
- 20 hard tacos shells
- 1 1/2 cups shredded cheddar cheese , or your preffered kind of cheese
- 1 romaine heart , chopped
- 2 Roma tomatoes , chopped
- salsa and sour cream , for topping, optional
Instructions
- Cook the ground beef in a large skillet over medium heat, breaking it into very small pieces until browned. Remove grease. Add onion and saute for a few minutes. Stir in the dry spices.
- Add tomato sauce and pinto beans and stir to combine. Turn the heat to low and simmer for 5-10 minutes, stirring occasionally.
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Line two 9x13'' pans with the taco shells.
- Spoon taco mixture into tacos. Top with cheese. Bake for 10-15 minutes.
- Top with a little bit of lettuce, tomatoes, and sour cream and salsa, if desired.
Notes
Macros Recipe Adaptation
1 lb. ground turkey, 16 oz. black beans, Mexican cheese.Per Serving Amount
98.3 grams meat mixture, 2 hard taco shells, ⅛ cup cheese, ¼ cup lettuce, 6 grams tomatoes.Macros
330 kcal, Fat: 15g, Carbs: 26g, Protein: 21g (serves 10)Nutrition
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I originally shared this recipe February 2016. Updated January 2021.
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I made these tacos last night and they’re great! Baking them adds a lot of flavor and softens the shells a bit. We had plenty of leftovers and they heated well today for lunch!
These were a huge hit with my picky family!! I might try with soft corn tacos next time just to see since I tend to always have those on hand. Perfect for large crowd too.
Lots of flavor for easy prep! I didn’t use onion because I didn’t want to deal with some of the kids complaining:)
I almost threw in the towel when I was trying to get the shells to stand up in the pan, but then I decided to fill them and put in the pan as I filled each one- voila, they stood up w/o falling over. Used store bought Ortega taco shells and they didn’t get soggy.
I will make again! (Maybe with Tres Leche Cake from here- a family favorite!)
I loved the ease of these and they were very tasty but mine were so soggy that they just fell apart…I drained my grease and then pressed it with a cloth and I drained my beans vey well…I don’t know what happened…good idea for tacos though!!
I’d like to bring these to a camping potluck (no ovens, but power available) as they are just so delicious! Do you think it would work to make filling in advance, put in slow cooker on the day of and then sprinkle with cheese and place on warm, then scoop filling into soft tortillas or hard shells ??? Thanks for all your delicious recipes!!
Yes, that would work great! Enjoy!
Made this for dinner tonight, hubby loved it. It was very good a, flavorable and easy. I used boxed taco shells, I baked them for 4 min, let them cool and put then in a 8×8 (we only need 6 tacos). Worked out great!
Amazing! Fixed this tonight. I used homemade seasoned refried beans instead because it needed using but it was delicious. This is a new family fav!