Tacos in Mexico come in soft tortillas, not hard taco shells. These Easy Beef Mince Tacos feature a delicious beef mince filling inside soft flour tortillas. Once you’ve had soft beef tacos, you won’t go back to hard ones!
Real Mexican tacos are not hard!
Here in the UK, were accustomed to tacos being a filling stuffed into hard taco shells… but that’s not what you get if you order tacos in Mexico!
In Mexico, tacos come in soft tortillas – either soft corn tortillas or soft flour tortillas. And if you’ve never tried soft tacos, believe me, they are a million times better than what we in the UK call tacos!
These Easy Beef Mince Tacos feature a delicious beef mince filling inside soft flour tortillas. Once you’ve had soft beef tacos, you won’t go back to the hard ones!
How to make Beef Mince Tacos
These Beef Mince Tacos are so easy!
All you need to do is fry diced onion, beef mince, cumin, chilli powder, smoked paprika, oregano, garlic, salt and pepper. Stir in tomato puree and boiling water, then simmer for 15 minutes.
Serve the beef mince filling directly on the table (either in the pan, or in a serving dish) together with a big pile of warm, soft tortillas and all your favourite toppings, for everyone to make up their own tacos at the table.
(Full recipe given in the recipe card below.)
Should you use corn tortillas or flour tortillas for tacos?
This is totally up to you! You will find both corn tortilla tacos and flour tortilla tacos in Mexico. I have only ever been to the south of Mexico and in the south corn tortillas tend to be more common, but in the north my understanding is that flour tortillas are more common.
From experience I’ve found that many Brits really don’t like the flavour of soft corn tortillas – probably because most of us have grown up only knowing soft flour tortillas and hard corn taco shells!
So, if you are inviting guests and you want to play it safe, I recommend going for soft flour tortillas.
Easy Soft Flour Tortillas
Should you use homemade or shop bought flour tortillas?
If you possibly can, I recommend you make homemade soft tortillas – they are infinitely better than shop bought!
But you can of course use shop bought if you prefer, or if time is tight. I suggest using taco-size tortillas (typically 15-20cm diameter), but you can use fewer, larger tortillas if you prefer.
Is beef mince an authentic taco filling?
Not really no. Beef mince doesn’t seem to be all that common in Mexico. Generally if you order beef tacos in Mexico, you’ll get diced up steak in your taco.
But using beef mince is quicker, easier and less expensive than steak. It also means the filling can be made in advance if need be.
(I have very loosely based the filling on Mexican Chorizo, which you can read more about in my Breakfast Burritos post.)
If I am making my own flour tortillas how can I juggle the timings?
If you are making your own homemade flour tortillas, I recommend you follow the following plan:
First, make the tortilla dough, divide it into balls and leave to rest for 30 minutes.
Next, make the beef mince filling. You can leave it simmering on low while you fry the tortillas, or you can turn it off and reheat it just before serving… depending on exactly how the timings work out in real life for you.
Finally, fry the tortillas, then reheat the beef mince filling.
If you are making your own salsa, guacamole and/or refried beans then I recommend you make these first and pop them in the fridge. Then you can get started on the tortillas.
What to serve with Beef Mince Tacos
There are so may options here!
You could serve these Beef Mince Tacos with:
- Guacamole
- Salsa
- Refried beans
- Diced onions
- Fresh coriander
- Limes
- Crumbled feta cheese (this is as close as you can get to Mexican cotija cheese in UK supermarkets)
- Grated mozzarella cheese (this is as close as you can get to Mexican Oaxaca cheese in UK supermarkets)
- Grated cheddar cheese – not even vaguely authentic, but delicious nonetheless!
- Sour cream / Mexica crema
Or whatever sides and toppings you love with tacos!
What to drink with Beef Mince Tacos
Birria Mince Tacos require a wine with a bit of ‘oomph’ that can stand up to the robust flavours in this dish. I recommend either an Australian Shiraz, a Syrah from the Northern Rhone, an Argentinian Malbec, a Tempranillo from Spain or a Cabernet Sauvignon from the USA or South Africa.
I really don’t recommend white or rosé wines with Beef Mince Tacos.
What to do with leftover Beef Mince Tacos
Tacos, once made up, do not keep very well as the tortillas start to disintegrate.
Instead, I would always recommend you serve all the individual elements of the tacos separately, then if you end up with leftovers, you can store the individual elements separately, as they keep much better separately.
For example, if you have leftover flour tortillas, simply wrap them in foil and store in the fridge, and if you have any leftover salsa or guacamole, you can simply cover them with some clingfilm or foil and store them in the fridge too.
And, of course, the actual beef mince taco filling keeps beautifully in the fridge. Place any leftover taco filling in a plastic lidded container. The leftovers will happily keep for 3-4 days in the fridge… or much longer in the freezer (see below).
To reheat, simply tip the beef mince filling into a saucepan with a splash of water. Bring to the boil, then reduce the heat and simmer for 5-10 minutes or until piping hot all the way through.
Alternatively reheat this beef mince taco filling in the microwave until piping hot all the way through.
Can you freeze Beef Mince Tacos?
Again, I do not recommend freezing already ‘made up’ beef mince tacos, but the beef mince filling itself freezes beautifully.
Simply put the cooked and cooled filling into a plastic lidded container and place in the freezer, where it will keep for up to 3 months.
Defrost overnight and reheat as above, then serve with freshly made or reheated tortillas, guacamole, salsa etc.
If you like this recipe…
…you might also like:
- Leftover Turkey Tacos
- Easy Beef Birria Tacos
- Chicken Tinga Tacos
- Easy 4 Ingredient Guacamole
- 5 Minute Blender Salsa
- Easy Homemade Refried Beans (From Tinned Beans!)
Chicken Tinga Tacos
Easy Beef Mince Tacos (Soft Tacos)
Ingredients
Beef Mince Taco Filling
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 onion finely diced
- 500 g beef mince
- 2 teaspoons cumin
- 2 teaspoons mild chilli powder (See Note 1)
- 3 teaspoons smoked paprika
- 2 teaspoons oregano
- 2 cloves garlic
- Salt and pepper (to taste)
- 2 tablespoons tomato puree
- 285 ml boiling water
Beef Mince Soft Tacos
- 24 small taco-size soft tortillas served warm (See Note 2)
- All your favourite toppings, such as diced onions, fresh coriander, limes, guacamole, salsa, grated cheese etc.
Instructions
- Place the olive oil and diced onion in a large, non-stick frying pan over a low heat and fry gently for 3 minutes until the onion is softened but not brown, stirring occasionally.
- Turn the heat up to high and add the beef mince. Break up the beef mince using a spatula and stir regularly until the mince is nicely browned all over. This should take about 4 minutes.
- When the mince is nicely browned, turn the heat right down low and add the cumin, chilli powder, smoked paprika, oregano, garlic, salt and pepper. Fry for 1 more minute
- Stir in the tomato puree and boiling water. Turn the heat up and bring to the boil then turn the heat down low and simmer for 15 minutes.
- Serve the beef mince filling directly on the table (either in the pan, or in a serving dish) together with a big pile of warm, soft tortillas and all your favourite toppings, for everyone to make up their own tacos at the table.
Notes
- If you possibly can, I recommend you use chipotle chilli powder. But this recipe will still taste good with regular ordinary chilli powder from the supermarket! I recommend you use mild chilli powder in this recipe. But if you like things hot, by all means use hot chilli powder!
- If you possibly can, I recommend you make homemade soft tortillas – they are infinitely better than shop bought! But you can of course use shop bought if you prefer, or if time is tight. I suggest using taco-size tortillas (typically 15-20cm diameter), but you can use fewer, larger tortillas if you prefer.
- Suitable for freezing. (Freeze tortillas and beef filling separately.)
- Nutrition information is approximate and meant as a guideline only.
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