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These crunchy hard shell tacos are a Tex-Mex classic filled with ground beef, lettuce, cheese and all your favorite toppings! Homemade yet still as delicious as the fast-food version, they make a great taco night recipe the whole family will love.
I just can’t resist a crunchy hard shell taco! Filled with saucy and highly seasoned ground beef, these tacos remind me of the classic Taco Bell version that I grew up eating. Nothing beats the crunch you get in every single bite, am I right?
In an effort to make them a little bit healthier (with real unprocessed ingredients), I decided to make them at home with my own taco seasoning and some tomato paste to get that saucy consistency I know and love.
They’re ready in 30 minutes or less, these are the ultimate crowd pleaser so you may even want to double the recipe! Don’t say I didn’t warn you.
Ingredients in Hard Shell Tacos
For the taco seasoning, I combined chili powder, ground cumin, salt, garlic powder, onion powder, paprika and dried oregano. It’s actually the same recipe as my Homemade Taco Seasoning, but just scaled down so there’s none leftover. If you make ground beef tacos often, I highly recommend making an entire batch of seasoning so you can have that on hand for whenever the mood strikes!
For the filling, I sauteed some diced onions in olive oil until they became soft and translucent. Then add and cook the ground beef until browned and no longer pink. Once it’s cooked, the secret to getting the beef delicious and saucy is adding in some tomato paste and water.
I prefer using tomato paste instead of tomato sauce or diced tomatoes because you can easily control how “watery” everything is while still having that rich and thick tomato flavor.
Last but not least, you’ll also need some store-bought hard taco shells. I’ve tried making hard taco shells at home, but they never come out quite as good as store bought which is why I recommend just going ahead and buying them. Nowadays, there are lots of options and brands out there that aren’t made with bad ingredients. The shorter the ingredient list, the better!
The essential toppings
Hard shell tacos aren’t complete without the right toppings! Some of the must-haves include:
- shredded cheese
- shredded lettuce
- diced tomatoes
- sour cream
- hot sauce
Some other good ones are guacamole, pickled jalapenos, mexican crema, pickled onions and even a spoonful of queso dip!
More taco recipes
Classic Hard Shell Tacos
Ingredients
For the taco seasoning
- 1 tablespoon chili powder
- 1 teaspoon ground cumin
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1/2 teaspoon onion powder
- 1/2 teaspoon paprika
- 1/4 teaspoon dried oregano
For the tacos
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 small onion, diced
- 1 pound lean ground beef
- 2 tablespoons tomato paste
- 1/4 cup water
- 12 -14 hard taco shells
- 2 1/2 cups shredded cheddar cheese
Optional toppings
- shredded lettuce
- diced tomatoes
- sour cream
- salsa
Instructions
- In a small bowl, combine chili powder, cumin, salt, garlic powder, onion powder, paprika and dried oregano. Set aside.
- Heat olive oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat.
- Add onions and saute for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally, until softened and translucent.
- Add ground beef and break up into smaller chunks using a wooden spoon. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the beef is completely browned, about 6 to 8 minutes.
- Add small bowl of taco seasoning and tomato paste. Mix thoroughly until tomato paste is completely combined with all the meat.
- Add water, mix to combine and remove the taco meat from the heat.
- Heat up hard taco shells according to package instructions.
- Divide meat mixture into taco shells and top with shredded cheese, lettuce, diced tomatoes, sour cream and salsa. Serve immediately.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
You had me until you got to buying the shells. No they are not better. Making your own is much better. I want to enjoy the whole taco and store bought shells are not tasty. Making your own is easy. You don’t need any thing but two forks and practice.
just finished cooking this delish recipe. just perfect!!
Looks yummy will need to try! Do you have the taco shell recipe too? Kind of hard to find them where I live and would love to learn how to make the Taco themselves as well as flour and corn tortillas!
Hello Bella! We currently do not have a recipe for the taco shells, but we do have recipes for homemade corn and flour tortillas on our site!
Hi Bella, I have the same issue, so I improvised. What I do is take a tostada, run both sides under water a few seconds, then set it between moist (not wet) towels for an hour. The tostadas soften so you can lay them over a taco rack – avail on Amazon, or make your own with foil. Put the tostada / taco stand in the oven on 200 for about 15 minutes, and you have nice, crisp taco shells. Once you fill the taco shells you can keep them in the oven on warm to keep them crisp until ready to eat. Works every time. I also found, BTW, that toasting them a second time with the filling already in them makes them super ‘flaky’ and easy to eat without them breaking and falling apart. Worth a try if you can find tostadas.
Can anyone recommend a recipe FOR the shells themselves? Everyone keeps saying “oh there are lots of recipes out there :)” but all I keep finding are pages like this (where there literally is no recipe and it just says to buy store-made shells…) and recipes telling you to deep-fry soft-shell tortillas, which isn’t even remotely the same thing. Please help!!!
My husband and son cannot have anything spicy so I omitted the chile powder and it was still delicious. Thank you for the recipe! This will be on regular rotation in our home.
I made the meat, didn’t have the Paprika, didn’t make the hard shell tacos, instead made Burritos. Added re-fried beans and fresh chopped Onions, rolled up the Flour Tortilla and it was delicious even without the Extras, Cheese, Lettuce, Tomato and the Sour Cream. So I saved the Spices in a Glass Shaker jar for another day. It was great!!!
Added just a little chipotle powder and this was really good.
I’m sorry but I’m really surprised your recommending store made taco shells they taste horrible because of all the artificial ingredients. I have always made my own, way better!
Hi Ruth, I totally understand. You’re welcome to use homemade hard shells with this recipe as well! There are also some great brands out there that sell taco shells made without artificial ingredients – Garden of Eatin’ is a great option!
Please kindly share the recipe for the homemade taco shell
That’s your opinion ruth flores. This is a great recipe for a busy weeknight or for a new family. Maybe you’d be better off as a vegan, or starting your own blog and sharing how you homemake your own taco shells. I enjoyed the recipe. Quick, easy and tasty.