What Do You Need To Make Taco Salad Bowls
- your favorite flour tortillas
- olive or canola oil spray
- tray
- Make Dessert Bowls Coat with cinnamon sugar for a delicious dessert bowl! Its perfect for serving strawberries and cream, fruit salad, homemade ice cream and more!
As I mentioned before, theyre so easy! No fuss, no mess. They are the perfect addition to your weeknight dinner. Theres nothing better than a warm, toasty tortilla bowl filled with all your favorite Mexican flavors! See the recipe card below for the full recipe!
How To Make Crunchy Tortilla Chips
Instead of making homemade crunchy taco shells, you can turn your wraps into homemade crunchy tortilla chips. You can bake your tortilla chips in the oven for a crispy yet healthy alternative to standard chips you find in the store.
How To Make Taco Salad Bowls
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Tips For The Best Taco Bowl Shells
- If you have one nearby, a local Hispanic market will carry fresh tortillas. You can often find them at your favorite grocery store!
- If your tortillas are tearing, try warming them in the microwave or stovetop first. This makes them softer to help shape into bowls without tears.
- Experiment with sizes. Mini tortillas are great for kids or smaller servings, and larger burrito-sized tortillas are great for hungry guests.
- For an extra indulgent touch, line the bowl with cheese!
- If youre making several at once, place bowls on baking sheets. This will allow you to put them in the oven and remove them with ease.
How To Make Homemade Taco Shells
There’s a vast range of different methods and recipes for preparing homemade taco shells. You first need a pack of tortillas from the store or a stash of tortillas that you’ve prepared from scratch earlier using your tortilla press. Then you can bake them, fry them, turn them into tortilla chips, or crunchy taco bowl shells!
For each of the following methods, you’ll need 10 x 8-inch taco shells. We suggest using corn tortillas , but you can try making a hard shell taco from whole wheat or white flour tortillas too!
Read Also: How To Make Chicken Salad Sandwich
What Do You Put In Taco Salad Bowls
- Taco Salad shells are also an adorable way to serve dry accompaniments for a taco bar like cheese, onions, cilantro and lettuce.
- My favorite Taco Salad recipe so flexible by using all your favorite ingredients.
Truly, these bowls work well with any Mexican food, especially brown rice and cilantro!
Love that cilantro lime flavor combination? Dont skip this Cilantro Lime Crema and Cilantro Aioli!
To see just how easy taco salad bowls are to make, watch the video in this post!
- Pin this for later!
You can find all of my Easy Mexican Recipes here! Youre especially going to love this taco salad thats perfect to fill these shells. Dont forget to make my favorite skinny margaritas to go along with your taco night! What are your familys favorite Mexican dishes?
How To Make Taco Salad Shells
Mini taco shells shaped like tiny salad bowls are all the rage right now! You can turn tortilla wraps into salad bowls by baking them in the oven and shaping them over an upside-down muffin tin. Its a nifty trick that gives you homemade baked taco shells that you can then fill with your favorite Mexican-style salad toppings for a healthy lunch!
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Taco Salad Tortilla Bowl
This is so simple to do and you get such impressive results! If you have four ovenproof bowls, you can bake the tortilla shells all at once. If not, let bowl cool in between uses. I found in Martha Stewart Kids magazine.
Provided by Munchkin Mama
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- Lightly brush tortillas with oil. . Sprinkle with salt and pepper to your liking.
- Press tortilla into the ovenproof bowl. Bake about 13 minutes.
- Transfer tortilla to a cooling rack and repeat with remaining tortillas. Fill with your taco salad and listen to your guests rave!
Nutrition Facts : Calories 212.9, Fat 15.8, SaturatedFat 2.4, Sodium 1935.2, Carbohydrate 15.4, Fiber 0.9, Sugar 0.6, Protein 2.5
How Do I Make Really Crispy Taco Shells
If youve ever ordered hard shell tacos at a fast-food joint, then youll notice that they are usually super crispy and super crunchy. To get your taco shells really crispy, however, you need to use a lot of oil. Restaurants will often use a deep fryer for cooking their hard shell tacos, but of course, this isnt the healthiest option!
You can recreate this at home using the frying method we outlined earlier, but youll need to add more vegetable oil to make them even crispier. If you want a healthy yet crunchy taco shell, then you can bake the taco shells in the oven with a light drizzle of oil. You can also leave them to bake for longer in the oven. We recommend 10 minutes, but you can leave them baking for a few more minutes to add that extra crunch.
Remember, though, that its always going to be a trade-off between a healthy hard shell taco and the crispiest hard shell taco. You need to find a balance to avoid burning off all those nutrients and adding excess fat and calories through the additional oil!
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My Love Affair With The Taco Salad
I have long been a fan of taco salads. Ever since the days of old where I started my first job at Wendys when I wasnt even 15. I used to love their taco salads. Now, they didnt have an edible taco salad bowl like this, but they were still so good, I actually posted a copy cat recipe here on my blog. The Copy Cat Wendys Taco Salad is made with chili and tortilla chips.
Aunt Sues Taco Salad
Another recipe that is always a giant hit in our family is my sister in laws taco salad. Aunt Sues Taco Salad as its named is full of beans, ground beef, lettuce, cheese and tomatoes then its finished off with Italian Dressing and nacho cheese Doritos.
Are you looking for a vegetarian option? My friend Debi makes this Vegetarian Lentil Taco Salad in her slow cooker!
Today though, we arent talking about the salad itself, more like the vessel in which its transported.
Lets dust off that air fryer, and give it another way to make your life easier and lower in calories by cutting out some of the fat you would get if you made these tortilla bowls by frying them in oil. I loved how they had those little puffy spots where it made an air bubble. They were perfectly imperfect, each one was just a little different.
Assembling Beef Taco Salad Bowls
Add lettuce to the taco bowls followed by tomatoes, meat, olives, black beans, cheese, avocado, onion, salsa, and sour cream.
Top with creamy lime cilantro dressing and serve with a freshly squeezed lime if desired.
Rather than using taco bowls made from tortillas, if youre plating the taco salad or serving it from a large serving bowl, you can add chips on top like Fritos, Doritos, or corn tortilla chips.
The crunch factor shouldnt be missed!
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What Readers Are Saying About These Taco Bowls
- Hannah says: Looks amazing easy and flavorful summer recipe!
- Erin says: I never considered making my own bowls before- these are so easy and make our Mexican dinner nights feel a little more special!
- Roberta says: These are perfect! I even made mini bowls for the grandkids and they got such a kick out of it. Thanks for sharing!
You cannot make everybody happy you are not a taco.
Taco Salad Bowls are so easy to make and delicious that youd never guess they are light in calories, too! With less than 150 calories, these darling shells are the perfect way to serve taco salad without guilt.
If youre anything like our family, we like to eat Mexican-inspired dishes at least once a week for dinner. These homemade taco bowls are such an easy way to elevate a simple meal!
Taco salad bowls add such a nice flavor and texture to your favorite taco salad.
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Make Ahead And Freezing Instructions:
To make ahead: Everything can be prepped a day or two in advance. Reheat the meat mixture in the microwave or in a skillet, and serve hot.
To freeze: Allow meat mixture to cool completely and store in freezer-safe bag in the freezer for up to 3 months. Allow to thaw in the refrigerator overnight and reheat on the stove or in the microwave.
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How To Make A Taco Salad Shell
Spray taco shell molds and place on baking sheet. If you do not have molds, no worries!! You can use a oven safe dish. I like to use a medium size Pyrex dish. Put it upside down and lay tortilla over
Add one tortilla per mold
Bake at 375F in oven for 10-15 minutes or until crispy and no longer limp.
Wonderfully crispy and crunchy!
Ready for taco salad now!! You can also use these shells for holding dips and chips.
Fill with your favorite lettuce and toppings! I like tomato, onion, sour cream, cheese and avocado ranch. For mor creative ideas, HannahsFoodJourney.com
- 2.0 Large flour tortillas
- 2.0 Salad shell mold or Oven safe glass bowl
- Butter or olive oil
Homemade Taco Bowls Ingredients:
- Flour Tortilla Shells Whatever size you want. I like the 8 or 10 inches. You can also use mini tortilla shells. Corn tortilla shells can be used for gluten-free taco bowls.
- Cooking Spray Whatever kind you have is great.
- Aluminum Foil
- Oven-safe bowl, or muffin tin for mini shells for baking tortilla bowls.
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How To Make Baked Tortilla Taco Shell Bowls Step By Step
Step 1. Preheat the oven to 375F.
Step 2. Find the items to use as the tortilla bowl molds.
Here are the options:
- Empty metal food cans
- Mason glass jars
- Tin foil
The easiest thing to use as a mold is tin foil 🙂 What you need to do is take a large sheet of tin foil and crumble it into a ball!
Next, smoosh it on the table on both sides to make a flatter bottom and a flatter top . Put the taco mold on the baking sheet.
Step 3. Microwave the tortillas for 30 seconds so they are warm and pliable
Step 4. Brush The Tortillas With Oil
Lightly brush the tortillas with olive oil on both sides.
Step 5. Prick the tortillas several times with a fork
This is done so the tortilla doesnt puff up when baking.
Step 6. Drape the tortillas over the taco molds
Put the tortilla on top of the foil ball and press the tortilla sides down to drape them. This is going to be the tortilla shell bowl
Step 7. Bake for 10 minutes
Remove from the oven when the tortilla is brown and crisp.
Step 8: Flip the tortilla bowls over and take out the molds.
Voila! Heres your amazing baked tortilla bowl made from scratch!
Step 9 Fill with your favorite taco salad and enjoy!
Here are my favorite ingredients for the taco salad browned ground meat with taco seasoning, corn, lettuce, salsa, shredded cheese, and of course, guacamole!
Ideas And Variations For Taco Salad Bowls
Aside from the various protein alternatives to ground beef I mentioned such as chicken, turkey, sausage, or pork, there are tons of other ways to customize and personalize these taco salad bowls.
Whether its black beans, olives, jalapeno, or another ingredient that may not be popular with the whole family, feel free to simply omit things as desired.
Pickled red onions, radishes, jicama, shredded carrots, cucumbers, celery, or most fresh and crunchy vegetables work perfectly in taco salad.
Cuisine:Category:
Also Check: What Is In Wendy’s Taco Salad
Taco Salad W/ Homemade Tortilla Bowls
INGREDIENTS
- 4 oven safe bowls
- Cooking Oil
- 1 lb Lean Ground Beef
- Taco Seasoning
Remove from the oven and let them cool COMPLETELY. They will not come to their full crispiness until they are completely cooled. Set aside and prepare taco filling.FOR THE TACO FILLING
ASSEMBLE YOUR TACOS
Taco Salad Recipe With Homemade Tortilla Shell Bowls
This post may contain affiliate links.
Taco salad has been my go-to meal lately. It is so yummy, healthy, delicious and versatile. Some may call them tostadas, but this is the ultimate taco salad recipe made with homemade tortilla shell bowls.
It took me a few times to master these tortilla bowls. I love the ones you get at a Mexican restaurant that are so bubbly and crispy. I think those might be deep fried, so I made the healthier choice and perfected these by cooking them in the oven.
You can make this taco salad vegan, vegetarian or use substitutions for any of the ingredients to suite your dietary needs and tastes. I usually serve this family style so that my kids will pick out what they want from all the ingredients or toppings.
Aside from the amazing edible tortilla bowl, there are so many possibilities for making this the best taco salad ever! For protein, you can add any combination of carne asada, chicken, fish, pork and beans. Ive really enjoyed mine with black beans and chicken.
Because I love ranch so much, I love pouring some homemade ranch on top. You can also add a dollop of sour cream, guacamole, salsa, pico de gallo or your favorite hot sauce.
This meal is so easy and great to have when you dont know what to do about dinner. Usually I already have most of these ingredients in my kitchen anyways.
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How To Make Taco Salad:
For a crowd, or if uncertain of your guests preferences, set up a build-your-own taco salad bar.