January 1, 2012

My Favorite Ground Beef Tacos From Paula Deen

Let's start the new year right this time.  How do we do that?  Well . . . by making MY FAVORITE ground beef tacos.  I used to think all you needed for tacos was some hamburger, onion and taco seasoning and that's it.  Then, one day I discovered this recipe.  What had I been eating all of those years?  These tacos are loaded with flavor!  

Not only do these taste amazing, but you can have them to the dinner table in less than 30 minutes.  These will become your families favorite tacos!  I am always getting requests to make "Paula Deen Tacos" for dinner.  Seriously - So Good!
Paula Deen Tacos

1 Lb. ground beef
1/4-1/2 an onion, finely chopped
2 (8 oz.) cans tomato sauce
2 Tbl. fresh cilantro, minced
1 Tbl. ground cumin
1 tsp. garlic powder
1 tsp. chipotle chili powder (or regular chili powder if you want less heat)
juice of 1 lime
salt and pepper
8-10 taco shells
shredded cheese
salsa
sour cream
shredded lettuce, opt.

Brown ground beef in a large skillet; add onion and saute a few minutes or until tender.  Add tomato sauce, cilantro, cumin, garlic powder, chili powder and fresh lime juice.  Season with salt and pepper, to taste.  Simmer for 5-10 minutes.  If mixture starts to look too dry, add 1 or 2 Tablespoons of water and stir to combine.  Serve in crunchy or soft taco shells with shredded cheese, salsa, sour cream and lettuce and more chopped cilantro, if desired.  Yield 8-10 tacos.

Jenn's Notes: I make 1/2 a recipe and get 5 tacos.  Chipotle chili powder is pretty spicy, so if you want less heat, make sure to use regular chili powder.  DO NOT leave out the fresh lime juice, it really takes these up to another level.    

39 comments:

  1. Tacos are my go to recipe..havent tried Paulas yet..but everything she does is scrumptious

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  2. I have to say that I LOVE how you always put your notes at the end in red. That's always my fave part to read what you thought of the food or how you changed it. Looking forward to reading more in 2012!!!

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  3. We just had tacos last night. Always a fave with the fam. I am a big fan of Paula Deens. I was tickled to be in a cook book of hers in association with Philadelphia Cream Cheese.
    I would love for you to join my weekly linky, friday - monday come strut your stuff at Bacon Time.

    http://bacontimewiththehungryhypo.blogspot.com/

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  4. Look good I love a little kick to my mexican food. Yummy cant wait to try them

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  5. I love taco night! I will have to give this recipe a try next time we have it. I have never tried a Paula Deen recipe I haven't liked.

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  6. Okay, I too have only ever used the seasoning packet. These look really good. I'm going to have to try them soon!

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  7. I'm just making my menus for the week. This looks like a recipe I need to make. Thanks.

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  8. Love tacos and those made my mouth water :) Will have to try this recipe. Happy Blogging.

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  9. These sound fabulous! I love your blog~found it at Tempt my Tummy Tuesday. Looking forward to whipping some of your recipes up! Thanks for sharing!

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  10. Looks amazing... Tacos are one of my favourite foods... EVER! I like your use of lime and cilantro. I usually will do that with other tacos and burritos, but for some reason never did that with regular ground beef tacos.

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  11. These sound so good...I gotta give them a try. Thanks for sharing. I just started following you.

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  12. I LOVE Paula Deen!!! Everything she makes is soooo good!!! I will be trying this one!!! I can not wait!

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  13. Yum! I adore tacos. Definitely pinning these to try.

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  14. This looks great! I would love to quit using those little packets of taco seasoning.
    I noticed you have mexican rice in the picture; do you have a good go-to recipe?

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  15. @Laura C. - The rice in this photo is actually a packaged kind, but when I make homemade I have two recipes I like. One is a green mexican rice http://eatcakefordinner.blogspot.com/2011/07/mexican-green-rice.html
    and the other is a spanish rice from Sweet Pea's Kitchen.

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  16. I am a fan of Paula's and all of her butter, cream cheese, and fatty goodness. I have to keep her recipes to a minimum:)

    Erika
    It’s a Wrap Link Party at Artful Rising

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  17. Okay, everything you linked looks soooo great, and I'm definitely a taco lover. So I WILL be trying these too. : )

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  18. Looks great--I love the idea of the spice directly in the meat!

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  19. I was directed to your blog from Once a Month Mom site and just made this dish. You're right, the lime juice totally makes the dish. I left out the jalapenos but there's tons of flavor. I like that the flavor is still great without the tons of sodium in the packaged seasoning I usually use. Thanks for sharing.

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  20. Amazing dish... seriously the best tacos I had in my life! This recipe gonna be the classic i my house since now!

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    Replies
    1. I am so glad you loved them! Thanks for letting me know! - Jenn

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  21. I will never make tacos any other way again. This recipe is great!

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    1. Yay!! I am so glad you like them! - Jenn

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  22. Tacos are my favorite too! I like how you can stuff it with anything you want. Yours looks really, really yummy! The beef and salsa will definitely make the difference in taste.

    Liz Peters

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    1. You have got to try this recipe. We can't get enough of it! - Jenn

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  23. I found this recipe on Pinterest and finally got around to making them last week. They were so amazing that I am making them again this week!!

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  24. Saw this on Menu Plan #15 and had to pin it!! Thanks!!

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  25. This is now my new favorite taco recipe. Thanks for the great recipe!

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    Replies
    1. I am so glad you found a new favorite recipe!! Thanks :)

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  26. Hello!

    I made these tacos last night, and they were absolutely FANTASTIC! I did have two questions, though.

    Question #1:

    At the beginning of your recipe you mention that this particular recipe has been "slightly adapted from Cooking With Paula Deen Sept/Oct 2011 issue." What were the slight adaptations that were made?

    Question #2

    I found that before I could spoon the taco meat into the taco shells, I had to place the prepared meat into a colander in order to drain out all of the excess tomato sauce. Otherwise, the meat mixture would have been too "soupy." I allowed the meat to simmer for longer than 10 minutes, so that the liquid would be soaked up, but even this did not work.

    I'm just wondering if Paula Deen's original recipe called for two 8-ounce cans of tomato sauce. Maybe I just wasn't simmering the meat at a high enough temperature? As I mentioned earlier, the tacos were FANTASTIC, but I did find that I had to drain the meat before serving because of the tomato sauce.

    Your thoughts?


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    1. No response? Really? :(

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    2. Hello. Sorry for the delay. I originally made this recipe back in 2012, so I could not remember what the adaptations were from four years ago off the top of my head and therefore, I had to look for the magazine. The measurements in the original recipe are actually quite different than what I prefer and what I typed above. Her recipe calls for 2 lbs. of ground chuck and one 8 oz. can of tomato sauce. When I make this recipe I always use 1/2 Lb. of extra lean ground beef and one can of tomato sauce. I usually only cook for two people, so I cut the recipe in half. I do not find it's soupy at all. You can always change the recipe to your family's taste and add one can of tomato sauce. Also, something that could make a difference in the amount of liquid is the type of ground beef you use and if it has a lot of excess grease that is not drained. Hope that helps?

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    3. Hello!

      Thanks for getting back to me! I think this explains a lot. I actually DOUBLED the recipe because in our house, we really load up the tacos with meat. I used 4 8-oz. cans of tomato sauce with 2 lbs. of ground beef, and that's probably why I ran into a slight problem with too much liquid that had to be drained. I think that Paula Deen's original recipe of using only 1 8-oz can of tomato sauce per 2 lbs. ground chuck sounds more like what would work for me.

      This was a fantastic recipe! Thanks for posting it! I do believe that my former taco recipe is but a thing of the past!

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    4. Thank you :) I always love hearing feedback with the recipes I post!

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