White People Taco Night – The Best You Have Ever Had
Making white people style tacos for my friends in college is what originally formed my love of cooking. I started with the taco kit, and got so excited seeing my friends enjoy the food so much. After a while, I started playing around with the recipe. Add some onions, add some garlic. How about adding some of my own spices to the packet? It took a few years of making them a few times a month, and I finally ditched the packet all together.
I originally posted my recipe for these tacos when I first started my website. This is the first time I have revisited it and adjusted it since then. This recipe is basically 25 years in the making and I think it is perfect.
Making the ground beef taco meat
I like to cook the beef first to brown it. I have gone back and forth with this, but it really is the best way to get the most flavor from the meat and veggies. Sear the meat first, then take it out of the pan and cook the onion and jalapeno in the beef fat. I strain a little of the beef fat if it is too much, but when I am using 85% lean meat I usually keep most or all of it.
At this point you really want to be cooking everything on super high heat. Brown the edges of the onion and jalapeno, then add the garlic, cumin, and chili powder. These spices benefit from cooking a little in the oil, it wakes them up and makes everything more fragrant! Then it is time to add the beef back in. I know this feels like a lot of work if you are used to doing the seasoning packet but this version of white people tacos will change your life I promise.
Finishing the taco meat
Now add the rest of the flavors and liquids. Chipotle peppers, smoked paprika, beer, honey, coriander, and just a pinch of clove or cinnamon. Of course there would be beer in white people tacos! If you can’t have beer, you could use stock or cider. If you do use cider though, I would add a little less honey.
Let it simmer until the liquids have evaporated and reduced and the sauce is clinging to the meats.
Make the pico de gallo
You can use store bought salsa of course, and sometimes I do! But this post is about having the best white people taco night of your life! It’s summer right now too, so I am especially inclined to make the pico and use local heirloom tomatoes in the mix. The pico is tomato, onion, jalapeno, cilantro, lime, garlic, and salt.
White people taco night is not complete without guac!
I like to keep guac super simple, especially when my avocados are perfect. Just a little garlic, cilantro, salt, and lime. Another guac shortcut is to add a scoop of the pico to the avocados and be done. To store the guac, I like to squeeze a little lime on the top and then press plastic wrap on to the surface of it. I used to not eat guac on my white people tacos but now I cant go without it!
Assemble the white people taco night spread
Get the taco meat down, warm up the taco shells, and grate the cheese. GRATE THE CHEESE YOURSELF! I can’t stress this enough. I sometimes buy grated cheese just like you do but don’t make me tap the sign. We are talking about the best white people taco night of your life, and pre-grated cheese will not get you there.
Just look how good this meat looks! how can these tacos not be good?
Cheesy double shell tacos
To make the cheesy double shell taco, which in my opinion is the pinnacle of white people tacos, lay out the soft tortilla, then add some cheese to it. Microwave it for about 25 seconds to melt the cheese, then put the crunchy shell on the melted cheese. I like to break the shell so it lays flat and you can stuff more filling into it. Then just load it up!
I usually have two crunchies and one double layer, and then have to work really hard with my self control to not have more!
Twists on white people tacos
If you want to go deeper and more homemade on your ultimate white people taco night, you could make the tortillas too! you could just fry some soft corn tortillas for this, or you could actually make them! I like this guide for corn and this one for flour.
If you want to make this vegetarian, I do it all the time with veggie ground beef. I usually just skip step one and add the meat after the onion and before the garlic. Most brands are either pre-cooked, or brown up really easily, and do not have as much fat that you need to strain!
For more fun tacos, check out my chopped cheese tacos, or these coffee berbere braised beef tacos!
White People Tacos
Ingredients
Pico
- 2 vine ripened tomatoes diced (about 1.5 cups)
- 1/2 small yellow onion diced (about .5 cups)
- 3 jalapenos seeds removed, diced (about .75 cups)
- 10 sprigs cilantro chopped (about .25 cups)
- 1 clove garlic grated
- 2 tablespoons fresh lime juice
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
Guac
- 2 large ripe avocados
- 2 tablespoons chopped cilantro
- 1 tablespoon fresh lime juice
- 1 clove garlic grated
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
Taco meat
- 1.5 pounds ground beef I usually use 85% lean
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 medium yellow onion diced
- 4 jalapenos seeds removed, diced
- 5 cloves garlic minced
- 1.5 tablespoons ground cumin
- 1.5 tablespoons Mexican chili powder
- 1/2 teaspoon cracked black pepper
- 2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
- 1 beer I usually use pale ale or mexican lager
- 2.5 tablespoons chopped chipotle peppers in adobo
- 2 tablespoons honey
- 1.5 tablespoons smoked paprika
- 1 tablespoon dried oregano
- 1 teaspoon ground coriander
- 1 pinch cinnamon or clove
Tacos
- 16 ounces cheddar cheese freshly grated
- 2 cups sour cream
- 4 cups shredded lettuce
- 18 store bought crunchy taco shells
- 18 store bought taco sized soft flour tortillas
Instructions
Pico de gallo
- Mix all the pico ingredients in a large bowl and stir to combine. Taste and adjust lime, salt, or garlic to your preference.
Guacamole
- Mix all the guac ingredients in a large bowl and stir to combine. Lightly mash with a fork. Taste and adjust salt, garlic, or lime juice as needed.
Taco Meat
- Cook the beef in a very hot pan to brown. Season with some of the salt. Make sure you really get some searing and browning on the beef. This will take about 10 minutes. Remove the beef from the pan, leaving at least 2 tablespoons of the beef fat in the pan. You could strain excess fat depending on how fatty the meat is.
- Add the onion and jalapeno to the pan with the fat still on high heat. Season with more of the salt. Cook about 8 minutes to brown the edges of the veggies.
- Add in the garlic and cook 2 minutes. Add in the cumin and chili powder and cook 1 minute. Add in the vinegar and stir to combine. Add in the beer and the rest of the salt.
- Stir in the remaining taco meat ingredients and stir to combine. Reduce heat to low and simmer for about 20 minutes until the sauce has evaporated and thickened and is clinging to the meat. Taste and adjust seasonings as needed.
Tacos
- Shred the lettuce as thin as you can.
- Cook the taco shells in a hot oven – about 5-8 minutes at 425
- Serve everything together and enjoy!
To make a double cheese layer taco
- Add about 1/4 cup of cheese to a soft tortilla and microwave it for 25 seconds.
- Add a hard shell to the melted cheese, breaking it in the center so it can lay flat.
- Add some meat to the bottom, then pico, guac, sour cream, and lettuce. Fold and enjoy.
I was directed to this recipe recently after your post about Gov Walz and saw your Instagram post about white people tacos really sparking your love for cooking. I come from a neighborhood with heavy Mexican influence and grew up eating amazing tacos. Simple very flavorful amazing tacos. I married a wonderful woman from the Midwest. I love everything about her but she definitely holds fast to her white people tacos. We call them BBT (Basic B*tch Tacos) so at least she recognizes the tacos she grew up on are not the tacos Ive introduced her to, which she also loves. This recipe is a perfect way for me to improve the classics white people taco (packet and shredded lettuce) and compromise her midwestern idea of tacos with much more flavor.
Love this! Let me know if you end up making them