Baked Taco Cups

3030-Min MealdfDairy-FreeefEgg-FreegfGluten-Free

By Linley Hanson

Published 3/4/2024 • Updated 4/29/2024

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Taco night just got a whole lot cuter! Our baked taco cups are made with homemade BAKED hard shell taco boats — all thanks to a muffin tin!

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This recipe is very nostalgic to me. Did your grandma always order the taco salad at Perkins where the taco shell was a delicious fried tortilla bowl? Mine did. This shell is an ode to my grandma, but instead of a fried tortilla bowl, they are baked in a very secret way!

We used a muffin tin as the mold to create little taco shell cups. You can see in the photos below for a quick snapshot of how they’re made.

What’s in these Baked Taco Cups?

We use these taco-sized flour tortillas and place them on the bottom of the muffin tin to form little taco cups. 

For our taco meat protein option, we went with ground chicken as it’s lean and has a more neutral flavor than beef. 

Finally, we topped our little cups with our favorite taco toppings like lettuce, pico de Gallo, shredded cheddar cheese, black olives, and non-fat Greek yogurt. But you can use whatever toppings you like. 

Other Meat Options

These mini taco cups are delish with ground chicken, but feel free to sub it for any taco meat of your choice! Any of the following would be delish:

• Shredded Chicken: use up your leftover chicken breast or thighs by shredding It!
• Ground Beef: use the meat in our ground beef tacos for these taco cups.
• Ground Turkey: if you’re not a fan of chicken, turkey is the next best thing!
• Carnitas: Our Instant Pot carnitas recipe is to die for and would be so delicious in this recipe.
• Lentils: Hoping to keep things vegan? Try our easy lentil taco meat!
• Sweet Potato: roasted sweet potatoes make for another great vegetarian “meat” idea. It’s easy, too!

Other Lettuce Options

We opted for classic chopped romaine hearts for these taco cups, but feel free to sub in any green of your choice that you have on hand, like:

• Red leaf lettuce
• Bib lettuce
• Butter lettuce
• Arugula
• Iceberg lettuce

Storage

Store any leftovers from these mini taco cups in an airtight container in the fridge for 3-5 days. We recommend making the taco boats fresh before serving them with any leftover fixings.

Other Serving Ideas for Baked Taco Cups

Keep things traditional or feel free to jazz up your mini taco cups by adding any of these topping options:

• Slaw: slaw is a fun way to jazz up a taco cup! Our pineapple coleslaw would be delicious.
• Corn Salad: try our black bean and corn salad.
• Mexican Street Corn Salad
• Fajita Veggies: there is nothing better than peppers and onions. Try our grilled version.
• Guacamole: so many guac options! You can stay classic or go mango!

Mini Taco Cups

These baked taco cups made with homemade baked hard shell taco and then stuffed with ground taco meat and toppings.

By: Linley Hanson

Prep: 15 minutes mins

Cook: 15 minutes mins

Total: 30 minutes mins

Servings: 6

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Ingredients 

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For the Chicken Taco Meat

• ▢ 1 pound ground chicken, turkey or beef work too
• ▢ 1 tablespoon olive oil
• ▢ 1 tablespoon minced garlic
• ▢ 1.5 tablespoon chili powder
• ▢ 2 teaspoon ground cumin
• ▢ 1/2 teaspoon paprika
• ▢ 1 teaspoon maple syrup
• ▢ salt, to taste

For the Tortilla Boats

• ▢ 8 street taco-sized flour tortillas
• ▢ non-stick cooking spray
• ▢ sea salt

For the Rest of the Tacos

• ▢ 1 cup chopped lettuce
• ▢ 1/2 cup pico de gallo/salsa
• ▢ 1/2 cup cheddar cheese
• ▢ 1/4 cup black olives
• ▢ 1/4 cup nonfat Greek yogurt

Instructions 

For the Chicken Taco Meat

• Place olive oil and minced garlic on a nonstick skillet and heat to medium/high heat. Then, add ground chicken and brown. Once it’s almost fully cooked, add spices and maple syrup and finish cooking.

For the Tortilla Boats

• Preheat the oven to 400ºF.
• Begin by placing tortillas in the microwave for about 5-10 seconds to soften a bit.
• Then, place on the backside of a muffin tin so that they create a boat-like shape. The bigger the muffin tin you use, the more you can cook at once.
• THOROUGHLY spray each taco shell with nonstick cooking spray on both sides and then season with sea salt. Option to use a squeeze of lime.
• Place in the oven and bake for around 8 minutes, or until golden brown.

For the Rest of the Tacos

• Assemble tacos by placing lettuce on the bottom of a taco shell, followed by about 1/4 cup of meat. Then, top with pico, cheese, black olives, and Greek yogurt.

Tips & Notes

• We found that white flour tortillas cook better and become crunchier than corn tortillas.
• Make sure you give the tortillas a good spray with cooking spray and let them cook long enough.
• We also found it’s best to eat the shells ASAP as they might get stale if you let them sit out.
• Option to use any kind of meat that you desire.

Watch It

[adthrive-in-post-video-player video-id=”boKXHPI4″ upload-date=”2017-05-24T17:59:08.000Z” name=”How to Make Mini Taco Cups” description=”Taco Tuesday just got a whole lot cuter! Get the whole family involved and make these adorable mini taco cups made with homemade hard taco boats!”]

Nutrition

Calories: 252 kcal, Carbohydrates: 17 g, Protein: 18 g, Fat: 14 g, Fiber: 2 g, Sugar: 3 g

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

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