These Crispy Baked Tacos are filled with a juicy ground beef mixture and melted cheese and baked until golden brown. They’re made with simple ingredients and ready in 40 minutes, perfect for game day or as an easy dinner!

Can’t get enough of tacos? Try these Instant Pot Chicken Tacos (shredded chicken tacos), Taco Casserole, and Cheeseburger Baked Tacos!
Table of Contents
- Why we love these crispy tacos:
- Ingredients for crispy ground beef tacos:
- How to make Crispy Beef Tacos:
- Tips & Tricks
- Variations and Substitutions
- How to store leftover ground beef tacos:
- Make these crunchy tacos in the air fryer:
- Serving suggestions:
- More taco-inspired recipes you’ll love:
- Crispy Baked Tacos Recipe
Whip out this Crispy baked Tacos recipe for your next taco night! It’s a fun spin on my Classic Weeknight Tacos, where ground beef tacos are baked to crispy perfection in the oven.
As the tacos bake in the oven, the cheese gets all melty, and the outside becomes super crispy, kind of like quesadillas!
Once you pull them out of the oven, you can add your favorite taco toppings and some dipping sauce.
Why we love these crispy tacos:
- Make-ahead friendly: You can whip up the ground beef mixture beforehand to save time.
- Simple ingredients: This recipe uses 5 ingredients to create the ultimate quick weeknight dinner.
- Crowd-pleaser: The whole family will love this fun take on traditional tacos!
Ingredients for crispy ground beef tacos:
- Lean ground beef: I love using my homemade taco meat for this recipe, but you can make it from scratch as instructed!
- Small onion: use a yellow or white onion.
- Homemade taco seasoning: I always have a huge batch of my homemade taco seasoning on hand but store-bought works too!
- Corn or flour tortillas: use the taco-sized tortillas.
- Shredded cheddar cheese: this gets all melty and gooey as the tacos bake. Feel free to use another type of melty cheese.
- Oil spray: this helps the outside of the tortillas to crisp up!
How to make Crispy Beef Tacos:
With just a few simple steps, you’ll have a delicious, crowd-pleasing meal ready in no time! For the full list of recipe instructions, scroll down to the recipe card.
- Cook ground beef and onion in a large skillet until browned and the onion is soft.
- Drain excess fat.
- Stir in taco seasoning until the desired flavor is reached.
- Fill each tortilla with cheese and the taco meat mixture, then fold it in half.
- Place the filled tortillas on the prepared sheet pan and spray lightly with oil.
- Bake until golden and crispy, flipping halfway through.
Tips & Tricks
- To make corn tortillas pliable enough for folding, pop them in the microwave covered with a damp towel to soften them up.
- Double up the recipe for a larger crowd.
- Make the taco meat 1-2 days ahead of time!
Variations and Substitutions
- If you don’t want to use shredded cheddar cheese, you could use cotija, Oaxaca, a Mexican blend cheese, or Monterey Jack!
- Don’t like ground beef? Use ground chicken or turkey, ground pork, or boneless skinless chicken breasts or thighs. If you’re in a pinch, rotisserie chicken or pre-cooked Shredded Chicken works, too. Just toss it in a skillet with the onion. Then, add your taco seasoning and a splash of chicken broth. You can add a little tomato paste to thicken it up if you like!
How to store leftover ground beef tacos:
Pop the tacos in an airtight container on a paper towel (so they don’t get soggy) in the fridge for 3-4 days. Reheat in the oven or in a skillet to get them nice and crispy again.
Make these crunchy tacos in the air fryer:
You can make this taco recipe in the air fryer! Here’s how to do it:
- Preheat your air fryer to 400ºF.
- Fill the tacos as instructed and pop them in the air fryer for 8 minutes, flipping halfway through (you may have to pin them with a toothpick to hold them together).
- Remove and serve with your favorite toppings!
Keep in mind that you might have to do several batches to get all the tacos cooked!
Serving suggestions:
Add a dollop of this Homemade Salsa Recipe, Corn Salsa, or Spicy Mayo to the top of your tacos for a slight kick. You can also serve these alongside classic Mexican sides like refried beans, black beans, Southwest Potato Salad, brown rice, or anything else you like!
More taco-inspired recipes you’ll love:
- Taco Dip — perfect for a party!
- Taco Pizza — a fun mash up the kids love!
- Taco Casserole — another prep-ahead taco meal.
- Easy Taco Soup recipe — for the chilly days!
Crispy Baked Tacos
Ingredients
- 1 lb lean ground beef
- 1 small onion (finely diced)
- 1-2 tablespoons homemade taco seasoning
- 8-10 small corn or flour tortillas
- 3 cups shredded cheddar cheese
- oil spray
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 425 degrees and line a sheet pan with parchment paper.
- In a large skillet, cook ground beef and onion until onion is softened and ground beef is browned.
- Drain any excess fat.
- Add taco seasoning, one tablespoon at a time, until desired flavor is achieved. Set aside.
- Fill each tortilla with ⅓ cup cheese and 2 tablespoons taco meat (I like to put some cheese on the top and the bottom so it holds the taco together) and fold in half. Place on the prepared sheet pan and spray lightly with oil spray.
- Repeat until all tortillas are used.
- Bake for 8-9 minutes, flipping once half way, until light golden and crispy on the outside.
- If desired, open tacos and add lettuce, salsa, sour cream, fresh tomato, and your favorite toppings.
Notes
- Ground beef: you can swap the ground beef for ground pork, chicken or turkey, or boneless, skinless chicken breasts or thighs. If using a leaner meat, you may need to add oil or spray the pan for cooking.
- Onion: since there is onion powder in the seasoning, you can omit the diced onion if you prefer.
- Cheese: feel free to swap the cheddar for your favorite taco cheese (something melty is ideal to hold them together).
Nutrition Information
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Darlene says
Baked a little longer for crispiness we like.
Ashley Fehr says
Thanks for sharing Darlene!
Karenjo says
My family loved this!
Ashley Fehr says
Thanks Karenjo!
Amanda says
What works better, corn or flour tortillas?
Ashley Fehr says
You can use either, but I prefer corn as they’re less likely to break