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The Best Tacos Recipe

Robyn Stone

Published Apr 21, 2025

Learn to make the Best Tacos that are quick, easy, and delicious! These classic homemade ground beef tacos are family favorites and are much better than takeout!

Row of soft beef soft shell tacos made with flour tortillas and filled with seasoned beef, lettuce, tomatoes, avocados and onions. - 1

These easy homemade tacos are our family favorites for a quick and easy weeknight supper. I make them using my homemade taco seasoning that calls for just a few ingredients and no preservatives (so much better than those pre-packaged taco kits)! So fresh and delicious!

One of the great things about these is their versatility. While this is a traditional taco recipe using ground beef, there are many more ways to customize for particular tastes.

And these are not only easy to serve – they can be a lot of fun! I love to create a taco bar with all types of toppings -what a neat way to serve a casual, delicious meal to friends and family! While we love all kinds of tacos in my family, like my shrimp tacos and fish tacos, we call these the best because the taste is so scrumptious, and we eat them much more often. They’re a tasty and simple go-to meal that everyone loves, ready in minutes!

How to Make the Best Tacos

In just a matter of minutes, I can have these ready and on the table for my family. Here’s how to make them.

Ingredients

Be sure to see the recipe card below for the full listing of ingredients, instructions, notes, and estimated nutritional information.

Tortillas – You can use your preferred type of tortilla – corn or flour.
Ground beef – Use lean ground beef if possible. If your beef is lean enough, it may not require draining any fat, which will make the cooking time quicker. If you use ground beef with a higher fat content, just be sure to drain away the fat before adding the taco seasoning.
Taco seasoning – I use my homemade taco seasoning mix, which I love to keep on hand. You can also use your favorite store-bought seasoning mix if you prefer.
Lettuce – shredded Iceberg, romaine, or arugula
Tomatoes – I love to use grape tomatoes, sliced in half, or diced tomatoes.
Red onion – peeled and cut into thin slices
Avocado – peeled, pitted , and sliced or cut into cubes.

Other Meats : Ground turkey and ground chicken are delicious alternatives to ground beef in these. I also love shredded chicken , my beef barbacoa, or shredded beef , too.

Meatless Option : If you choose, you can use black beans or pinto beans for a tasty meatless option.

Optional Toppings

Use these toppings as desired to create your favorites, and set up a taco bar if you’d like.

Shredded cheese
Sour cream
Salsa
Guacamole

Step-by-Step Instructions

Cook . Add lean ground beef to a skillet, break it up with a spatula, and cook over medium heat. Sprinkle with taco seasoning. (If using ground beef that wasn’t lean, drain excess fat if necessary before adding taco seasoning.) Stir to combine well, then cook until the meat is cooked through and browned, about 7 minutes.

Assemble . Place cooked ground beef on each tortilla. Then top each taco with lettuce, tomatoes, onions, cheese, avocado, sour cream, and any other optional ingredients.

Serve . You may wish to add the toppings and serve if serving family style. Buffet style is perfect for serving guests, so each person can top their dish as they wish.

Side Dishes to Serve

Refried Beans

Cilantro Lime Rice

House Salad

Queso and Chips

Other Favorite Ground Beef Recipes

Taco Cups

Hamburgers

Skillet Lasagna

Spaghetti

Here’s my Best Tacos Recipe. Make them soon when you need a quick and easy meal that everyone will love!

Ingredients

▢ 8 (6-inch) flour tortillas , or corn tortillas, lightly browned or left soft
▢ 1 1/2 pounds ground beef
▢ 4 tablespoons taco seasoning
▢ 1 cup arugula , other spring greens or shredded iceberg lettuce
▢ 1 cup grape tomatoes , sliced in half
▢ 1/2 red onion , sliced
▢ 1 avocado , peeled, pitted and sliced

Optional toppings:

▢ pepper jack cheese
▢ sour cream
▢ salsa

Instructions

Add ground beef to a medium skillet set over medium heat. Sprinkle with taco seasoning, stir to combine well, and cook until the meat is cooked through and browned, about 7 minutes. Remove from heat and drain away any excess drippings.
Assemble tacos by spooning ground beef into each tortilla and then topping with preferred toppings of arugula, tomatoes, onion, avocado, cheese, sour cream and salsa.

Nutrition

Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.

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Enjoy! Robyn xo