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Taco meat cookingTacos - Beef, Pork, Turkey or Chicken

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Tacos are a popular and easy to make dish, most kids like them, and they can be made even more healthy with ground turkey or ground chicken instead of ground beef. Costco, Sam's Club, BJ's and your local grocery store all have ground meats year round.

Total time: about 45 minutes

Cooks for about: 30 minutes
Yield: 12 servings per 3 lbs

You can scale this recipe up or down as much as needed.

Easy to make!

Ingredients

  • Ground meat (beef, turkey, chicken and/or pork)

Seasonings: 

This makes a mild taco. If you like it hotter, feel free to increase the seasonings, especially the chili or chipotle pepper.

Seasonings for (per pound of ground meat):  1lb meat 2 lbs meat 3 lbs meat 4 lbs meat 5 lbs meat 6 lbs meat
Cumin  1 tsp  2 tsp  1 Tablespoon 4 tsp  5 tsp  2 Tablespoons 
Chili powder 1/2 tsp 1 tsp  1.5 tsp 2 tsp  2.5 tsp  1 Tablespoon
Ground chipotle pepper  1/2 tsp  1 tsp  1.5 tsp  2 tsp  2.5 tsp  1 Tablespoon
Coriander  1 tsp  2 tsp  1 Tablespoon 4 tsp  5 tsp  2 Tablespoons
Oregano 1/5 tsp  1 tsp  1.5 tsp  2 tsp  2.5 tsp  1 Tablespoon
Minced garlic  1/2 tsp  1 tsp  1.5 tsp  2 tsp  2.5 tsp  1 Tablespoon 
Diced onions (1 medium onion = 1/2 cup diced) 1/2 cup 3/4 cup 1 cup 1.25 cups 1.5 cups 2 cups

Sauce Ingredients

How many cans of each per lb of meat:

Tomato sauce (number of 14.5 oz 411g cans) 1 2 3 4 5 6
Diced tomatoes (canned or fresh) (number of 14.5 oz 411g cans) 1 2 3 4 5 6
Tomato paste (number of 6 oz 170g cans) 1 1 1 2 2 2
Taco seasonings

Canned tomatoes

Equipment

Diced onoins
  • Large pot (12 to 16 qt)
  • Wooden or silicon spatula, spoons
  • Cutting board, knife

  

Directions

Step 1 - Dice the onions

Finely dice 2 onions.

I measure all the spices and put them in a container, ready for later.

 

Step 2 - Brown the meat Browning the ground meat (turkey in this photo)

Put 2 tablespoons of vegetable oil in a large non-stick pot.

Heat over medium-high heat, and before the oil starts to smoke or burn, add the ground meat and diced onions.

Browning the meat with the onions helps to keep the meat from sticking together.

Cook, stirring every minute or so until the meat is completely browned.  

This will take about 10 minutes.

 

 

 

 

 

Browned ground meat 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Step 3 - Add the Tomato sauce, diced tomatoes, tomato paste

Add the tomato sauce, diced tomatoes, tomato paste and stir well. 

Continue heating over medium heat

 

Step 4 - Add the seasonings.

Simple, just stir them in!

Continue simmering over low heat for another 15 to 30 minutes to blend the flavors, stirring occasionally.

Step 5 - Serve

Then serve hot with salsa, tortillas or taco shells, guacamole, sour cream, rice or beans.

 Taco meat cooking