Are you tired of packaged taco mix but don’t have a go-to recipe for deliciously simple ground beef tacos? Look no further—this is about as simple as it gets!
You probably have everything in your spice drawer and refrigerator to make the best tacos ever. This simple ground beef taco recipe has been a staple in my mother’s kitchen for years. I grew up eating it, but I switched to packages as I navigated life on my own.
A few years ago I found this in an old cookbook of my mother’s and was immediately re-hooked! This is now the only ground beef taco recipe we use and it’s because it’s incredibly simple and the absolute best.
Mexican tends to be in our weekly meal rotation, but sometimes we like to switch it up with something other than ground beef. You can try my chicken tacos or this copycat chipotle beef barbacoa recipe from JZ Eats. The beef barbacoa one is a little work on the front end but it tastes exactly like Chipotle beef, so darn delicious.
Why These Simple Tacos Should be in Your Weekly Dinner Rotation
Ground beef tacos make a great dinner for a variety of reasons:
- Quick and Easy: Ground beef cooks quickly, making tacos a fast and convenient option for busy weeknights. You can have everything ready in 30 minutes or less, depending on your prep time.
- Clean: When you make your food at home, from scratch, you avoid all the nasty chemicals, additives, and seed oils that are often hiding in all restaurant food and packaged foods. While the convenience may be tempting at times, in my opinion, it is not worth it.
You end up spending more money for less flavor and less nutrition. We make nearly all of our food at home, but sometimes we get the itch to go out. It is difficult to find a place that is not disappointing. I almost always end up frustrated that I paid so much money for food that tasted mediocre at best.
And don’t even get me started on the kid’s options. Even at some of our favorite restaurants, the kid’s menu is disheartening. The last time we went out the mac n cheese they served was Kraft, for $7, not kidding.
- Customizable: Tacos are highly versatile. You can easily modify them to suit your preferences or dietary needs, whether that means adding more veggies, using a different protein, or controlling how spicy they are.
- Balanced Meal: Ground beef provides a good source of protein, and you can balance the meal by adding healthy toppings like lettuce, tomatoes, avocado, or beans. Pairing with a side of rice, or a simple salad rounds it out well.
- Flavorful: Seasoned ground beef offers a delicious base that pairs perfectly with fresh toppings like cheese, salsa, guacamole, or sour cream. The combination of flavors and textures makes it satisfying.
- Family-Friendly: Tacos are often a hit with kids (and adults alike), as they can assemble their own tacos with the toppings they love. It’s a fun and interactive dinner that allows everyone to customize their meal.
- Diet Friendly: You can please everyone’s diet with these tacos. You can have them in a taco shell, make a burrito bowl or quesadilla, or even make a taco salad.
- Leftovers: Ground beef tacos can easily be made in larger batches and stored for leftovers. I often make double and freeze the second half, use it during the week or make a batch of enchiladas for the following week! Here is my easy gluten-free enchilada recipe.
Simple Ground Beef Taco Seasoning Ingredients
- Seasoning Salt
- Cumin
- Oregano
- Chili Powder
Seriously, it’s as simple as that.
How to make simple ground beef tacos
- Dice your onion, green pepper, and tomato. Mince the garlic.
- Measure out the seasonings and mix in a small bowl.
The cooking process goes so much more seamlessly and quickly when you have everything prepped and ready to go.
- Brown the ground beef, diced onions, and green pepper in a skillet. This doesn’t take more than 5 minutes.
- Drain the grease, because if it’s a fattier type of ground beef you don’t want all that in there.
- Add the seasonings, chopped tomatoes minced garlic, and a little water if it’s too dry.
- Let it simmer for 5 minutes and you are all set to enjoy deliciously simple ground beef tacos from scratch.
What if I don’t have green pepper, onion, or garlic on hand?
You can definitely omit these but I would add in onion a teaspoon of onion powder and garlic powder. This is one of those recipes where you could omit all the fresh produce and the tacos would still taste good, but not as awesome as if you added those ingredients.
Transparency here–I have omitted the tomato, green pepper, and onion before, especially when I’m in a rush or just didn’t plan correctly.
Result? My family STILL loved them and the taco seasoning was still 10 times better than any store-bought package. From scratch for the win!!
Tips for Your New Simple Taco Recipe
- Don’t overcook your ground beef, you do not want to eat charred beef in this recipe.
- Make sure to add the onions and green peppers while the beef is browning, not after, that way they have time to soften and won’t be crunchy.
- If you don’t have a tomato on hand, you can easily substitute salsa here. I would probably use 2 tablespoons to start and adjust from there. The important thing here is to maintain consistency, so if you have a runny salsa you don’t want to use too much.
- Shred your cheese. This may not seem like a big deal, but it does make a difference and is so much better than packaged shredded cheese.
Did you know that most shredded cheese in a package is coated in tree fibers? Yuck! It literally takes a few minutes to shred your own and is something your kids would probably love to help with.
- Make double. I often double this recipe or triple it as I have a family of 6 to feed. I then use the leftovers for enchiladas or nachos. It freezes very well!
- Make your own sourdough tortillas. So delicious but not quick, I will warn you. They are worth the work once in a while though.
Good luck and happy cooking! Let me know your thoughts and comments and what did and didn’t work for you while making these simple ground beef tacos.
Mom's Ground Beef Tacos
Ingredients
- 1 pound ground beef
- ½ medium yellow onion diced
- ½ green pepper diced
- 1 medium tomato diced
- 2 small cloves of garlic minced
- 1 Tbsp chili powder
- ½ tsp cumin
- 1 tsp seasoning salt
- ¼ tsp oregano
Instructions
- Brown the ground beef in a cast iron skillet at medium until no pink meat is left.
- Add in the onion, green pepper and garlic while the ground beef is browning. Cook until the onions are translucent and green pepper is soft. About 7-10 min.
- Drain any excess fat if you so desire.
- Add in the chili powder, seasoning salt, cumin, oregano and chopped tomatos.
- Simmer for another 5 min on low for the spices to mesh with the meat and for the tomato to cook down.
- Serve warm with warmed soft shell tortillas or hard shells or as a taco salad for those paleo folks. See my favorite recipe for homemade sourdough tortillas.
- Top with your favorite toppings: shredded cheese, tomatoes, lettuce, sour cream, avocado, guacamole, onions, or any other desired topping.
