Given the breadth of cuisines I cover on this blog, I’ve often been asked if I ever eat “normal” food. This always takes me a little by surprise, because (with a few exceptions) most of the things I cook are very low effort.
These beef tacos are the kind of weeknight meal I’ll prepare when I come home after a long day of meetings only to find the fridge devoid of anything even remotely inspirational. The kind of day when I’m almost tempted by my phone and a takeout menu that someone surreptitiously slipped under the door. Thankfully, stand-bys like these beef tacos are at the ready to save me from an almost-certainly bad meal and subsequent heartburn.
There’s nothing fancy or even authentic about these tacos, but they’re a great quick meal that can be thrown together in as little as 10 minutes if you have a few basic pantry items prepared. Just make sure you stock some type of protein in the freezer, some onions, a spice mix, and a bag of masa harina (to make the tortillas). The rest are all condiments and embellishments that are nice to have, but aren’t necessary for this simple satisfying meal.
Units
Ingredients
- ½ medium onion (chopped)
- 2 cloves garlic (minced)
- 450 grams lean ground beef
- 2 tablespoons chili powder
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- ½ teaspoon dark brown sugar
- 12 corn tortillas
- 1 batch salsa verde
- cilantro
- ½ lime (cut into wedges)
Instructions
- Heat a pan until hot, and then add a splash of oil along with the onions and garlic. Fry until the onions are just turning translucent, then add the beef, chili powder, salt and sugar.
- Stir fry until the beef is cooked and there's no liquid left at the bottom of the pan.
- Heat the tortillas and serve with the beef, salsa verde, cilantro and lime wedges.
Syrie says
Wow. Absolutely divine. The beef looks fantastic.
Syrie says
Wow. Absolutely divine. The beef looks fantastic.
Sodamoeba says
That was awesome. Made double the recipe for a group of 8 and everyone loved it. I used the salsa verde recipe, too, and it came out a bit too spicy for some of the group using 1 and a half serranos. Might kick that down to 2/3 of a serrano for the average crowd. Other than that, the only mistake I made was not tripling the recipe. I’m certain the 8 of us could have eaten 3 pounds of the stuff. Thanks as always!
Jon
Marc Matsumoto says
Glad to enjoyed them! The trouble with any chili pepper is that it’s really hard to predict how spicy they are. It varies wildly by plant and the growing conditions (soil, weather, water, etc). One way you can mitigate spiciness is by ensuring you’ve remove all of the white pith that attaches the seeds to the pod as this is the area that holds the most capsaicin. The other thing you can do is taste the chiles before you add them to food. Over time you should be able to start judging how much heat your adding to a dish by nibbling on the peppers first.
Linden says
I know this post is very old but I just discovered your blog and I’m loving it. I just wanted to let you know about chile ancho, because that is the secret to amazing tacos as far as I’m concerned. You can buy a bag of chile ancho at any Mexican grocery store and even a few standard ones. They are poblano peppers that have been roasted and then dried, and make an amazing flavorful sauce I use to season all my Mexican meat dishes. You just remove the stems and as much of the seeds as you want (to adjust for spiciness), and simmer in water until they’re very soft and most of the water is gone. Then just run the whole thing through a blender. The peppers smell very sweet when cooking but are actually bitter, and just full of flavor. I make a big batch and freeze it in small portions.
tellthebell says
I love beef tacos
Marc Matsumoto says
Glad to hear it!