Recipe updated: March 22nd, 2025
This easy and quick ground beef taco recipe is a favorite our whole family loves. Taco night is a good thing around our house! When you don’t have much time to be in the kitchen on busy weeknights, this simple, easy taco recipe can save your day.
With protein from the ground beef and cheddar cheese, and vitamins and minerals from the assorted vegetables, you can’t go wrong serving these classic ground beef tacos to your family for dinner. These are the best ground beef tacos ever. They go great with french fries, air fryer tater tots, tortilla chips, or air fryer potato wedges.
When my daughter makes tacos, she adds 1/2 teaspoon of cayenne pepper. Cayenne pepper comes from a moderately hot chili pepper containing capsaicin. Capsaicin is the compound that gives the peppers their heat. If you don’t like hot and spicy, you can always reduce or eliminate the amount of cayenne pepper used in this recipe.
🍴 Key Ingredients
- 2 pounds of lean ground beef
- One 16-ounce jar of La Victoria Salsa Victoria Hot (or your favorite salsa)
- 1/4 cup ketchup (not shown)
- 1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper (not shown)
- Soft taco flour tortillas
Toppings
- 1 can of refried beans
- 1 pound of extra sharp cheddar cheese
- 10 ounces of cherry tomatoes (one container)
- 1 bag of shredded lettuce
👩🍳 How to Make Easy and Quick Ground Beef Taco Recipe
These step-by-step instructions are accompanied by detailed photos for enhanced clarity and guidance.
Step 1. Prepare the Ground Beef
Put two pounds of ground beef in a large skillet, then start the browning process on medium-high heat. If medium-high is too hot, turn the burner down to medium heat.
Step 2. Fry the Ground Beef until Brown
Brown the hamburger until there is no pink left. Chop it up, move it around, and mix it up while it is browning. This process takes approximately 10 to 15 minutes.
While the ground beef is browning, open the can of refried beans and simmer on the stove until you are ready to eat. Stir occasionally.
The photo below shows what the lean ground beef looks like when it is chopped up, browned, and has no pink left in it.
At this time, remove any unwanted liquid grease from the frying pan. An easy way to do that is to move the browned ground beef mixture to one side of the frying pan, then slightly tilt the pan in the opposite direction of the ground beef. Use a couple of paper towels to sop up the grease, then throw the paper towels in the trash can.
Step 3. Add the Salsa
This recipe uses one 16-ounce jar of La Victoria Salsa Victoria Hot. There are some good things in this little jar of salsa, such as tomatoes, onions, distilled vinegar, garlic, and Santa Fe peppers. Still only 10 calories in 2 tablespoons.
Pour the 16-ounce jar of La Victoria Salsa Victoria Hot on the ground beef taco meat mixture, then add 1/4 cup of ketchup, and 1/2 teaspoon of cayenne pepper together with the ground beef mixture.
Step 4. Mix Salsa Thoroughly with Browned Ground Beef
Stir the browned ground beef taco meat mixture together with the salsa, ketchup, and cayenne pepper until thoroughly blended. Simmer on low heat for about seven minutes or so. The hot and spicy ground beef taco mixture is now finished and ready to serve.
🌟 Recipe Variations
- You can make turkey tacos by using ground turkey instead of ground beef.
- Put a spoonful of your favorite hot sauce on your taco, or sprinkle a little bit of hot red pepper flakes on it.
- Top off your taco with some fresh sliced green onions.
- Sprinkle a little bit of garlic powder, onion powder, or ground black pepper in the ground beef mixture while it is cooking on the stove.
☝️ FAQs
Take any cooked taco meat and put it in an airtight container, then place it in the refrigerator. Reheat the leftovers for lunch the next day, or the next night for an easy dinner.
We use soft flour tortillas, but you can serve these delicious tacos with soft corn tortillas, or premade hard shells, all sold in the grocery store.
For the soft flour tortilla and soft corn tortilla shells, heat them (one at a time) in the microwave for about 15 to 20 seconds until warm. After that, put a layer of refried beans on it, then a layer of the taco meat mixture, a layer of extra sharp cheddar cheese, and then a layer of lettuce and tomatoes, or top with any of your favorite toppings, such as, sour cream, black olives, shrimp, diced onions, black beans, guacamole, or extra mild or hot salsa.
You can also make crispy shells if you prefer. To make crispy shells, heat some cooking oil in a frying pan, then fry a soft corn tortilla for about half a minute or less, flip it over and repeat for the other side. When done, lay it on a paper towel to soak up any excess oil on both sides.
You can also skip the shell and make a taco salad. For a taco salad, put all the taco ingredients in the same order on your plate, minus the taco shell.
💭 Final Thoughts
We have the best ground beef taco recipe right here to share with you that tastes great whether you use hard taco shells, soft shells, or no shells at all.
Celebrate taco Tuesday, or any day of the week, like we do, by setting up a taco bar with all of your favorite taco toppings and enjoy the best tacos you will ever eat. Our whole family loves the flavor of these tacos, even my three granddaughters at a young age. The flavor is spicy and hot, but not overwhelmingly hot.
📝 Recipe Card
Easy and Quick Ground Beef Taco Recipe
🫕 Equipment
🧂 Ingredients
- 2 pounds lean ground beef
- 16 ounce La Victoria Salsa Victoria Hot (or your favorite salsa)
- 1/4 cup Ketchup (give or take)
- 1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
Toppings
- 16 ounce refried beans (1 can)
- 1 pound shredded sharp cheddar cheese
- 10 ounce tomatoes (1 container)
- 1 bag shredded lettuce
👩🍳 Instructions
- Put the lean ground beef in a frying pan. Brown on medium heat for about 15 minutes, or until no pink is left in the hamburger. Drain Liquid.
- Pour the salsa on the hamburger.
- Add the ketchup and the cayenne pepper, then mix well.
- Simmer on low heat for about 7 minutes or so.
Prepare A Taco
- Heat a flour tortilla in the microwave for about 10 seconds.
- Spread a layer of refried beans on the flour tortilla.
- Put a layer of the ground beef mixture.
- Toss on some sharp cheddar cheese, lettuce, and tomatoes.
*️⃣ Recipe Notes
- Sour cream
- Diced green onions
- Black olives
- Shrimp
- Black beans
- Guacamole
💖 More Ground Beef Recipes You Will Love
- This Korean style ground beef recipe is super simple to make, and the taste is superb!
- We have a delicious ground beef Philly cheesesteak recipe made in the skillet that you will absolutely love.
- Our best sweet and spicy chili made in the instant pot with plenty of ground beef, beans, and seasonings. You can also make this chili on the stove in a big pot.
A wife, a mother to a son and a daughter, and a grandmother to three granddaughters. Flo loves sharing recipes passed down from her own mother, her mother-in-law, and her grandmother as well as new recipes created with her daughter, Tamara Ray.
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