4 Tips for Cooking a Taco Meat Recipe
Tacos Al Pastor Shepherd's tacos, known as adobada tacos in the north of Mexico, spiced pork tacos with pineapple and spicy salsa
Everyone loves tacos and it’s easy to see why. Fresh, easy, delicious, and customizable, tacos are a great meal option for anyone who loves a little flavor in their life. And while cooking a taco meat recipe isn’t necessarily the most difficult thing in the world, it still could take a little bit of practice in order to really get it down. However, we are here to help you out with these four tips:
Start With Quality Meat
The first tip to cooking a taco meat recipe is to start with quality meat. Since the meat is the entire base of the recipe, you don’t want to skimp here when it comes to quality. Most tacos are made with ground beef, although you could use other meats like chicken, steak, or even carnitas. When it comes to ground beef, you might want to use leaner percentage – we usually go with 90% lean. That way, you have less grease and fat to deal with later on and it’s still nice and juicy.
Don’t Just Use a Boxed Recipe
Another tip for cooking a taco meat recipe is to not just stick with your basic boxed recipe – mix it up! One thing that you can do is to create your own taco seasoning. You can use ingredients like paprika, crushed red pepper, chili powder, garlic powder, dried oregano, dried cumin, and salt and pepper to make a delicious homemade taco seasoning that beats the store-bought ones. You can also substitute the typical “water” additive on the box recipe for tomato sauce to make your taco meat extra flavorful. Finally, you can even incorporate sautéed onions with your ground beef to really help your meat pack a punch.
Drain the Meat
Once the meat has cooked, you will be left with some fat and grease in the pan. You will definitely need to get rid of this before you add in your final ingredients of water/tomato sauce and taco seasoning. How exactly you go about this is totally up to you. You could simply pour out the extra grease from the pan while carefully making sure that none of the meat goes with it. Another method is to place the meat into a strainer with smaller holes so that the liquid leaves and the meat stays! Feel free to get creative here to find a method that works for you.
Finish With Toppings
The last tip for cooking a taco meat recipe comes after the meat has been cooked. Tacos are so amazing and universally popular because they are so customizable! You can really go a little bit crazy here with a variety of delicious toppings so that your family can pick and choose their favorites. You could even make a homemade pico de gallo or guacamole to really take your tacos to the next level!
- For pico de gallo you will need red onions, tomatoes, cilantro, lime juice, and jalapeño
- For guacamole you will need avocado, tomatoes, garlic, cilantro, lime, red onion, and salt
Some other great toppings that you can add to your tacos include things like shredded cheese, sour cream, grilled green/red peppers, shredded lettuce, fresh tomatoes, corn, green onions, and so much more!
Now that you have all of these tips, you are ready to get cooking! Taco meat is already a very simple and delicious thing that you can make with just a little bit of time and a few ingredients. With these tips, you will be able to make tacos so great that want to make them for every Taco Tuesday!
