Crockpot taco meat
Two pounds of saucy, perfectly seasoned taco meat that cooks itself, enough for taco night plus lunches or the freezer.
- 390 min total
- 20 min hands-on
- Anyone can make this
- Serves 8
- About $3.03 a serving
- 430 calories
- Good the next day
- Gluten-free
Dolly says: Make the full amount. It’s just as good for lunch the next day.
Ingredients
For 8 servings.
- 1 yellow onion, finely chopped
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 2 lb 90/10 ground beef
- 1 can tomato sauce
- 16 corn tortillas
- 2 cups shredded lettuce
- 1½ cups Mexican blend cheese
- 1 cup pico de gallo
- 2 limes, cut into wedges (optional)
From your pantry
- 2 tbsp chili powder
- 2 tsp ground cumin
- 1 tsp paprika
- 1 tsp dried oregano
- 1½ tsp salt
- ½ tsp black pepper
Each serving has about 430 calories, 32 g protein, 30 g carbs and 20 g fat, and costs about $3.03 at typical US grocery prices. Both are estimates from what the recipe uses.
Missing something?
- No yellow onions? White onions or red onions work.
- No 90/10 ground beef? 85/15 ground beef works.
- No tomato sauce? Crushed tomatoes work.
- No shredded lettuce? Iceberg lettuce or romaine lettuce works.
- No Mexican blend cheese? Shredded cheddar or cheddar cheese or Monterey Jack cheese works.
- No pico de gallo? Salsa works.
- No limes? Lemons work.
Steps
Tap an underlined word for a quick explanation.
the onion and the garlic.
Finely chop. Finely chopping means cutting food into small pieces, a little bigger than minced, about the size of a lentil. Small pieces spread their flavor through the dish and cook quickly.
How you’ll know: Nothing is bigger than a lentil, and the pile looks like confetti rather than paste.
Mince. Mincing means chopping something into the tiniest pieces you can, smaller than a grain of rice. Tiny pieces melt into the dish, so you get the flavor without biting into a chunk of garlic.
How you’ll know: Every piece is tiny and about the same size, and the pile starts to look almost like a paste.
Put the beef in the slow cooker with the onion, garlic, tomato sauce, chili powder, cumin, paprika, oregano, salt and pepper.
Mash and stir it with a potato masher or sturdy spoon until the raw beef is broken into small bits and everything is mixed.
Dolly’s tip: Breaking it up now is what keeps it crumbly. Skip it and you get one big loaf.Cover and cook on low for 5 to 6 hours or high for 3, stirring and breaking it up once halfway if you’re home.
Timer: 300 min
Mash it into fine , check that no pink is left anywhere, and spoon off any fat pooling on top.
Crumble. Crumbling means breaking food into small, rough bits with your fingers or a spoon, like feta or ground meat in the pan. Small bits spread through the dish, so there’s some in every bite.
How you’ll know: The pieces are small and uneven, about pea-size, with no big clumps left.
Food safety: Ground beef, pork and lamb are done at 160°F. When it’s cooked through there’s no pink left anywhere in the pan.
Wrap the tortillas in a damp paper towel, 8 at a time, and microwave each stack 45 seconds, until soft.
Fill the tortillas with the meat and top with lettuce, cheese, pico de gallo and a squeeze of lime.
Dolly’s tip: Cool leftover meat and freeze it in bags for up to 3 months. It’s dinner in 5 minutes later.
Plan this in Dollop, and get the grocery list
Dollop puts this dinner on a night that suits your week, lists only what you still need to buy, and walks you through each step while you cook.
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High-protein dinners ›Beginner dinners ›What to make with ground beef and canned tomatoes ›What to make with ground beef and lettuce ›What to make with ground beef and Mexican blend cheese ›