If you’ve been reading my blog for a little while now, you know how much I love to make Mexican food at home. I’m always on the lookout for a new twist or a new dish to use those wonderful combination of flavors. There’s just something about that avocado, cilantro and fresh toppings paired with bold flavors and melty cheese. So when I came across these baked tacos, I knew they would be a hit in our house. These were everything I had hoped for, cheesy, melty goodness wrapped in a crispy shell. I mixed some refried beans in with the meat, but this would totally work with just ground beef & regular taco seasoning too. Also, I made my own tortilla shells from corn tortillas which were crispy but not so much that they cracked apart on you.
Oven Baked Tacos
Source: One Good Thing by Jillee, originally Lynn’s Kitchen Adventures
Makes 8 to 9 Tacos
Ingredients:
8 to 9 Corn Tortillas or Prepackaged Taco Shells
1 lb. lean ground beef
1/2 can refried beans*
8 oz. can tomato sauce
1/2 packet taco seasoning, or 1 1/2 tbsp. homemade taco seasoning
Approximately 1 1/2 cups shredded cheese
Directions:
For the Crispy Taco Shells:
Preheat oven to 375 and remove one of the racks from the oven so you can work with it while it’s not hot.
Spread 4 tortillas onto a microwavable plate and cover with a slightly damp paper towel. Microwave for 20 to 30 seconds, until the tortillas are pliable. Lay out the tortillas onto a cutting board and spray each side with cooking spray. Repeat for remaining tortillas.
Drape each tortilla over two rungs on the oven rack that you removed from the oven. Place the rack back into the oven and bake tortillas for approximately 7 to 9 minutes, until they are crispy. Use tongs to remove them from the oven, very carefully. Set each taco shell on a plate or cooling rack to cool.
For the Baked Tacos:
Preheat oven to 400 degrees and spray a 9 x 13 glass baking dish with cooking spray, set aside.
In a large skillet, brown ground beef. Drain off any excess grease. Add in the tomato sauce, refried beans and taco seasoning to the browned ground beef. Stir to combine. Heat over medium low heat until everything is fully incorporated, approximately 3-5 minutes. Remove skillet from heat.
Take one of the prepared taco shells and fill with the meat mixture. Repeat for each shell. Place each filled shell standing up into the prepared baking dish and top each taco liberally with cheese.
Bake for 10 to 12 minutes, until cheese is melted and bubbly. Top with your favorite taco toppings and serve.
Notes:
*Don’t worry about just using half a can of refried beans, heat the remainder of the beans in a microwavable dish in 30 second increments and serve them on the side with tortilla chips.
**Can just use a mixture of the browned ground beef with the taco seasoning, though you may want to add a tad more seasoning and a little water and let it simmer for a bit.
***To reheat: Bake in a 350 degree oven for approximately 20 minutes or until meat mixture is hot and shells return to crispy.
****If you use premade crispy taco shells, you will want to bake this in a smaller dish (8×8) as those shells are more narrow and take up less room in a dish.
Welcome! I'm Stephanie, a thirty something girl loving life with my husband Adam and our two little miracles living in gorgeous Southeast Tennessee. I'm passionate about Jesus, traveling, sports (Go Titans!), and of course food! Read more about me 
mmm! i totally want to try this asap. looks delicious!
Thanks so much Sarah!
Whoa, these look AWESOME! Do the shells stay nice and crispy? If so, I’ll be trying these ASAP.
Thanks Amy! The homemade shells do stay crispy, but they still have a bit of softness to them which I liked, but you could definitely go the route of buying the crispy taco shells and I’m sure they would stay completely crispy.
It’s been too long since I’ve made Mexican food at home. This recipe looks like a great one to try!
Thanks so much Becca! Hope you enjoy them if you try them!
when I have leftover refried beans, I mix them with a can of chili beans, stir 1/2 cup of shredded cheddar through them and heat the mixture in the microwave till the cheese is melted. it’s good as a side, a dip, or as a base for one of those layered meal in a dip recipes. Hope you’ll try it.
That sounds delicious! I will definitely have to try it! Thanks so much!
And if you are hungry for tamales and don’t want the labor intensive kind: make a 2 Cup batch of corn meal mush cereal without the sugar. Pour half into the bottom of a well buttered casserole pan. Heat a can of chili without beans for coney dogs and spread it over the mush and top it with the last cup of mush. Press parchment paper on it and set another casserole pan on top. Set all of this into a long cake pan that has 1″ of water in it. Bake for 45 minutes at 375* When you remove this from the oven: 1.take it out of the pan of water, 2. Remove the top pan. 3. Remove the parchment paper. 4. Let cool on a rack in the casserole pan. 5. Slice it into 1 1/2″ x 3″ rectangles. 5. Pour a small can of enchilada sauce over it all. 6. Chill overnight. 7. Heat and serve with your favorite Mexican sides. (mine are the bean & cheese casserole I submitted earlier and a simple shredded lettuce salad with thousand Island Dressing) I love to make this for my grandkids cause they devour it!
Thank you so much! They sound delicious!
I tried these tacos….. I love them!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
So glad that you loved them Beth!