Baked Crispy Beef Tacos Recipe

Everyone loves taco night, but even Taco Tuesday can feel stale without an upgrade to your culinary repertoire. Enter baked crispy beef tacos  –  courtesy of recipe developer Julie Kinnaird. These easy-to-prepare sheet pan tacos are filled with succulent spiced beef and tangy Mexican cheese, then baked to crispy perfection. Served with a silky cilantro-laden avocado crema for dipping, these tacos will become a new weeknight favorite.

Kinnaird says that what she loves the most about this recipe is the texture of the baked tacos. The soft corn shells crisp up under a light coat of avocado oil, but are still more tender than hard taco shells. The seasoned beef stays juicy inside the shells, but takes on a slightly charred crunch around the edges. As the cheese oozes out during baking, it too develops a crispy and nutty texture and flavor. The best part? Dipping the hot, crispy tacos into the cool avocado crema for a tantalizing contrast of texture and flavor.

For your taco filling, select freshly ground beef that has a fat ratio of 90/10. This relatively lean mix will give just enough fat to make your filling flavorful and crispy around the edges, but won't lead to excess fat to drain from the pan. To season the beef, you will need sea salt, ground cumin, smoked paprika, chili powder, dried oregano leaves, garlic powder, ground cinnamon, and black pepper. The cinnamon adds warmth and a hint of sweetness to balance the intensity of the other seasonings. You need a prepared or homemade salsa and some golden raisins. Kinnaird says she loves the subtle flavor of the golden raisin variety, and the surprising burst of sweetness that they give to the filling. You will need a shredded Mexican cheese blend to complete the filling, and corn tortillas to fold everything up in. You will brush the tortillas with some avocado oil to help them crisp up as they bake. Lastly, for the avocado crema dip, you need ripe (but not brown) avocados, plenty of fresh cilantro, lime juice, and sour cream.

Preheat an oven to 425 F.

Line 2 sheet pans with parchment paper.

Brown the ground beef in a large skillet over medium-high heat.

Add ½ teaspoon sea salt, cumin, paprika, chili powder, oregano, garlic powder, cinnamon, and black pepper.

Cook and stir until fully incorporated into the beef.

Add the salsa and golden raisins to the pan.

Reduce the heat to medium-low and simmer for 10 minutes.

While the beef simmers, add the avocado, sour cream, cilantro, lime juice, and remaining 1 teaspoon sea salt to a high-speed blender to make the avocado crema.

Process the mixture until smooth.

Scrape the avocado crema into a bowl, cover and chill until ready to serve.

Place the tortillas in a tortilla warmer or wrap with a damp kitchen towel and microwave for about 30 seconds until soft and pliable.

Evenly space 6 tortillas on one of the sheet pans and brush on some of the avocado oil to lightly coat.

Flip the tortillas over.

Fill each tortilla with ¼ cup of the cheese.

Top with ¼ cup of the beef mixture.

Fold each tortilla over and gently press down.

Bake the tacos for 6 minutes on one side.

Flip the tacos and bake for an additional 6 minutes until crispy and golden, with the cheese starting to ooze and crisp.

Remove the pan from the oven.

Repeat the process with the remaining tortillas and fillings.

Serve the baked crispy beef tacos immediately with the avocado crema for dipping.

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The wonderful thing about tacos is that you can fill them with absolutely anything you desire. For this recipe, Kinnaird says that she wanted to really emphasize the seasoning mix in the meat to create a lot of complexity of flavor. Because these baked crispy beef tacos only have 2 filling elements, flavor is everything. If cinnamon or oregano just aren't your thing in taco filling, consider boosting up the chili flavor and adding some cayenne or crushed red pepper for more heat. You can also substitute any blend of cheeses that you like. You might want to try a straight pepper Jack, or go for an extra-sharp cheddar. Consider blending in some Oaxaca (the Mexican equivalent of mozzarella) for satisfying melty stretch, or add some extra tang with a bit of fresh goat cheese.

You can use any variety of salsa that you like, whether it is red, verde, or a fruity option that contains pineapple or mango. If you use a fruit salsa, consider skipping the raisins so that your tacos will not taste overly sweet. You can also try using flour instead of corn tortillas. Just make sure that they are of a similar size and adjust your baking time accordingly to achieve a crispy exterior. 

Sheet pan recipes are wonderful for entertaining or meal prep, as you can have everything ready to go for a simple last-minute pop-in-the-oven. These tacos can be prepared up to the point of baking, then wrapped in plastic or foil and refrigerated until ready to use. Just be sure to bring them back to room temperature before baking. You can also prepare the meat filling up to 5 days in advance for easy assembly and baking.

The crema is a bit more delicate and won't last quite as long. The avocado will start to oxidize and turn grey once it is exposed to air, even with the acid of the lime juice. You can make this dip several hours in advance, but it will start to discolor after a day in the refrigerator. You can increase the cilantro quantity to help compensate for this, but it's best to make it as close to serving as possible.

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