These oven baked Crispy Beef and Cheese Tacos are stuffed with a flavorful ground beef mixture and cheese, and baked until crispy making them a healthier taco option that is sure to please! They are super quick and easy to make, and the recipe can easily be doubled to freeze some for later.
I absolutely love Jack in the Box tacos. While I try not to eat fast food too often, I have to admit, they are one of my favorite guilty pleasures (especially late at night after a couple of drinks). But if I’m being honest, I know they are horrible for me. I mean, the entire taco is deep fried, and is that even real meat in there?
These Crispy Oven Baked Beef & Cheese Tacos are my attempt at taking the traditional Jack in the Box taco, and healthifying it up a bit to something I can feel good about eating (and something that leaves me feeling good!). As a healthier crunchy taco, these baked crispy tacos are a perfect dinner for any weeknight. You can also make extra and keep them in the freezer, perfect for when a late night craving hits!
These oven baked Crispy Beef and Cheese Tacos are healthier than your typical crunchy taco, and in my opinion tastier too! For one, these crispy tacos are made by baking soft corn tortillas instead of deep frying tortillas or using crunchy taco shells. Soft corn tortilla shells usually have less than a third of the fat found in most crunchy taco shells. I also added in some onion and peppers for extra nutrition, and use extra lean ground beef. But with so much flavor and crunch, you won’t miss any of the fat.
How Do You Make Oven Baked Crispy Beef and Cheese Tacos?
The best part about these tacos is that they are baked instead of fried, so they are healthier than your typical deep fried taco shell. The process to make these oven baked Crispy Beef and Cheese Tacos may seem complicated at first, but I promise it is really quite simple after you do it once. The secret is to gently warm the tortilla shells in just a bit of oil before filling and baking them. This will allow tortillas to soften and become more pliable preventing them from cracking and falling apart. The oil will also ensure the taco shells to get nice and crispy in the oven.
To make these crispy oven baked tacos, just takes a few steps:
- Make the Filling: First sauté up the veggies. Next, you mix together the ground beef with some water spices. I know this sounds strange, but trust me. Mixing a little water with the meat before cooking will help it break up more and give an overall softer texture. The mixture may look strange at first, but the meat will eventually mix with the water. You then cook the meat mixture with the veggies, and it’s ready to go.
- Warm the Tortillas: It is important to warm the tortillas in a little bit of oil to prevent breaking and ensure they bake up crispy. One at a time, add each tortilla to a small skillet with a little oil and cook about 15 seconds until the tortilla begins to soften.
- Build the Tacos: As each tortilla is warm, remove from skillet and place oil side down on a plate or cutting board. Fill half of each tortilla with about 2 tbs of the meat mixture and a generous pinch of the cheeses. Fold in half, gently pressing to close, and place each taco on a greased baking sheet. Repeat until all tortillas are filled.
- Bake: When all of the tacos are built, stick them in the oven and bake about 15 minutes (flipping after 10 minutes). As they bake, the cheese may slightly run out of the tacos a bit, but don’t worry. This just leaves you with some extra a crispy, crunchy cheese bites around the outside of the taco (similar to that cheese that runs out of a grilled cheese), and it’s delicious!
How Do You Serve These Oven Baked Crispy Tacos?
For these Crispy Beef and Cheese Tacos, I like to keep the toppings simple. I stuff in some lettuce, spread on a dollop of sour cream or Greek yogurt, and sprinkle on some salsa, taco sauce, or hot sauce and these are good to go. If you want to fancy them up even more, this Pineapple Habanero Hot Sauce would be awesome in these tacos to add some spice and sweetness. You could also add in all kinds of other taco toppings such as:
- Jalapeno slices
- Sliced avocado
- Fresh cilantro
- Pico de gallo
- Chopped onions or pickled red onions
If you like these Baked Crispy Beef and Cheese Tacos, be sure to also check out my Brussels Sprouts and Ricotta Crispy Tacos, which also use corn tortillas to make a crispy taco shell, but with a slightly different technique as these are pan fried instead of baked.
Let me know your favorite fast food guilty pleasure in the comments down below, and I might just make up a healthier version of your favorite too!
Oven Baked Crispy Beef and Cheese Tacos
Ingredients
- ½ white onion (chopped)
- 1 jalapeno (seeds removed and chopped)
- ½ green bell pepper (chopped)
- 2 clove garlic (minced)
- 1 lb 93/7 ground beef
- 1/2 cup water
- ½ tsp each paprika, onion powder, chili powder, salt, and cumin
- 1-2 tbs olive oil (plus extra for sautéing)
- 12 6-inch corn tortillas (thin white corn tortillas work best)
- 1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
- ½ cup shredded monterey jack cheese
To Serve:
- Lettuce
- Sour Cream
- Salsa
- Taco Sauce
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 425°
- In a large skillet, add a small amount of oil and sauté onion, jalapeno, and green pepper over medium-high heat for several minutes until they begin to soften.
- While that cooks, in a large bowl gently stir together ground beef, water, and all of the spices. Stir just until the water is absorbed. The mixture may look strange at first, but the meat will eventually mix with the water.
- Add the minced garlic and ground beef mixture to the pan. Cook an additional 7-10 minutes until the liquid cooks off and the beef is browned through, stirring the mixture frequently to break up the meat.
- To build the tacos: In a separate small skillet (about 7 inches in diameter), add 1 tbs oil and heat over medium heat. One at a time, add each tortilla to the skillet, cook for 15 seconds. When tortilla is warm, remove from skillet and place oil side down on a plate or cutting board. Fill half of each tortilla with about 2 tbs of the meat mixture and a generous pinch of the cheeses. Fold in half, gently press to close, and place each taco on a greased baking sheet. Repeat until all tortillas are filled, adding more oil to skillet if it becomes dry.
- Bake tacos for 10 minutes, flip and bake another 5 minutes (checking near the end to make sure they don’t burn).
- Serve immediately filled with lettuce, salsa, sour cream, and taco sauce.