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Our easy Tostada recipe is ready in under 30 minutes, loaded with seasoned ground beef, refried beans, and all your favorite toppings. It's an inexpensive meal that's customizable at home for a fraction of the restaurant cost!
On busy nights, we make Tostadas.
I love how quickly I can throw together this tostadas recipe and and everyone gets to build their own, which means no complaints from the picky eaters. You can buy store-bought tostadas to make them really conveniently, or use our homemade corn tortillas recipe to fry your own tostada shells.
I like to use a can of pinto beans instead of canned refried beans–I drain them, reserving some of the juice, and mash them with some garlic powder, cumin, and salt, to taste. Add some of the bean broth from the can until they're the right soft refried beans consistency. YUM! Homemade salsa is also a great addition here. The higher quality ingredients, the better they taste, but I love that you can use a lot of shortcuts with these to make them really quick and easy, too. If you haven't made tostadas at home yet, I promise this recipe will become a regular in your dinner rotation!
Try more of my Mexican recipes, like Pork Carnitas, Smothered Burritos, Baked Tacos, Mexican Pizza, or Cheese Enchiladas!
How to make a Tostada:
Bake or Fry Corn Tortillas (instructions for both in the recipe card notes), if not using store bought tostada shells.
Cook Beef: Brown the ground beef in a pan over medium heat. Use a meat chopper or wooden spoon to break it into small pieces until cooked through. Remove the grease then toss in the onion and seasoning, stirring and cooking for a few more minutes.
Heat Refried Beans: Make my homemade refried beans, or if you are using canned, add them into a microwave safe bowl or a small skillet over medium heat. Stir in a small scoop of sour cream and stir until warmed through.
Assemble: Take your tostada shell and spread a thin layer of refried beans over the tostada shell. Top with a small spoonful of ground beef then sprinkle on lettuce, cheese, avocado, salsa, sour cream, and hot sauce. Enjoy immediately! If you love this recipe, make sure to try my crispy ground beef tacos!
Easy Mexican Tostada
Equipment
Ingredients
- 10 tostada shells , (or soft corn tortillas, if making your own tostada shell)
- 1 can refried beans
- 1 lb ground beef, ,( or substitute cooked shredded chicken, pork or beef)
- 1/4 onion, , diced
- 1 Tablespoon chili powder
- 1 1/2 teaspoons cumin
- 1/2 teaspoon EACH paprika and salt
- ¼ teaspoon EACH garlic powder, oregano, black pepper
- 1/2 head lettuce , , finely chopped
- queso fresco , (or other cheese)
- 1 large avocado
- Mexican crema , (or sour cream)
- Salsa, , pico de gallo or salsa verde
Instructions
- Bake or Fry the corn tortillas, if not using store bought tostada shells. See recipe card notes.10 tostada shells
- Add ground beef to a skillet over medium heat. Cook, breaking into small pieces with a wooden spoon, until browned. Remove grease.1 lb ground beef
- Add onion and seasonings and cook an additional few minutes.¼ onion, 1 Tablespoon chili powder, 1 ½ teaspoons cumin, ½ teaspoon EACH paprika and salt, ¼ teaspoon EACH garlic powder, oregano, black pepper
- Add the refried beans to a microwave safe bowl, or a small skillet over medium heat. Stir in a small scoop of sour cream, or Mexican crema. Cook until warmed through.1 can refried beans, Mexican crema
- Assemble the tostadas: Spread a thin layer of refried beans over the tostada shell. Top with a small spoonful of ground beef, then lettuce, cheese, avocado, salsa, sour cream and hot sauce.½ head lettuce , queso fresco , 1 large avocado, Salsa
- Serve immediately.
Notes
- Spray corn tortillas on both sides with oil based cooking spray.
- Lay the tortillas in a single layer on top of a greased sheet pan. Lightly sprinkle salt on the tortillas.
- Bake them at 400°F for 5 minutes. Then flip them over and bake them for an additional 5-10 minutes, or until the tortillas are crispy.
- Heat about ¼ inch of vegetable oil in a medium, deep skillet.
- Once the oil is hot, place one corn tortilla at a time in the oil and cook, flipping half way once it's lightly golden brown.
- Place the fried tostada on a paper towels to soak up the extra oil.
- Lightly sprinkle with salt and allow to cool before serving.
- You can find pre-made tostada shells (usually fried) at most any grocery store near where you might buy hard taco shells.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
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I originally shared this recipe January 2020. Updated April 2026.
Absolutely fabulous recipe! Our wonderful Mexican market had the best baked corn tortillas and delicious Mexican crema instead of sour cream. We served it two nights in a row for guests and all loved it! Thank you!
Tried this recipe last night, it was very quick and easy to make and the taste was great!
This recipe was so delicious. The spices really made the recipe. Everyone in my family loved it.
Delicious, new addition to the rotation. Thank you for sharing.
Another perfect recipe from tastesbetterfromscratch.com!! We baked some store-bought tostadas per the instructions and it was all delicious. I can’t thank you enough for all your awesome recipes!!
My family loved these! Since we were having homemade sour cream chicken enchiladas, I thought this would be a perfect side, along with some guacamole and chips. I made these vegetarian, with a smear of jazzed up retried beans, shredded cheese, finely diced lettuce, a few diced tomatoes and a drizzle of verde sour cream sauce. It was a nice fresh crunch that made everything else taste even better. We made 10 for our family of five, and they were gone in no time! I was so busy that I forgot to take a picture of them. I remembered as my son, was stuffing the last one in his mouth—lol. Thanks for a great recipe!
This was simply the best. It’s very rare that I make something that the whole family loves. But this was a fun and easy way to change up taco night.
This looks great. We feed the missionaries once a month.
We have young lady missionaries and young men missionaries. This would be great to add to the rotation.
This recipe was super helpful and delicious!
I was looking for a tostada recipe, and came across your site. This was terrific! I used rotisserie chicken, and then, once assembled, baked in the oven to melt the cheese. Will definitely make again!
Thank you! Your site is the best! Variety, easy, shopping list – yes, recipes, pics, easy instructions, and tasty! Thank you so much – so helpful!