I told you that I am a sucker for tacos. It’s no joke, and I often reiterate to my wife that if I could eat anything any day of the week it would probably be tacos (or pizza). Once of my most recent taco findings was the Mexican Potato Taco. You would never think that something so simple could be so flipping delicious. As I was thinking about making another batch of tacos de papas (potato tacos), I decided to go another route and marry two ingredients that I knew would really work well together for my taco Monday. Kidding, I am not sure what day I made these but I can probably say it was not on a Tuesday. Not that there is anything wrong with eating tacos on a Tuesday!
Chorizo and Potato Tacos Recipe
These are not the prettiest of tacos, but having been around chorizo for many years I can guarantee there really is no great picture of cooked Mexican chorizo. Taste, however, well that is on a whole other level!
Start by adding water to a pot. Add in your diced potatoes and bring to a boil. Cook the potatoes until fork tender, about 15 minutes. Once tender, strain and set the potatoes to the side.
While the potatoes cook, add the chorizo to a large skillet on medium-high heat.
Remove the chorizo from the casing and squeeze it into the skillet. Start breaking up the chorizo with a wooden spoon. Add in the diced onions and cook, continuing to break the chorizo along the way.
It will look a bit oily. Don’t worry as the cooked potatoes will soak up all of that spiced goodness.
Add the drained potatoes to the skillet, and give this a good stir. Reduce the heat to low, cook for about 5 minutes, then load your taco.
Take a couple of warmed corn tortillas, spoon in some of the chorizo and potato mixture, and top with avocado, as squeeze of lime, and a wedge of avocado and you have yourself one heck of a great taco. Not only is this super affordable, but it is a nice twist on a standard taco night. Hope you enjoy!
I often find it funny on all of the posts for ‘Taco Tuesday’. Granted I love the name and the idea of it all, especially if you are planning out the weekly meals, but I feel that Monday (Meatless), Wednesday, Thursday, Friday (Fish Fry in Wisconsin), Saturday, and Sunday get left behind. I’m sure those days are out there in terms of identifying food to a day but that is not how it goes down in our house. Sure, we try to get a meatless Monday in (and any day of the week for that matter), and hump day or Thursday results in (at least for me, ‘I’m tired of cooking) a let’s order something kind of night, but for tacos, heck, I could eat those every day of the week. So upon my wandering around the house looking for something to do or cook as I was bored, I came across a lonely poblano pepper.
Yep, one poblano pepper resulted in this Taco Thursday. The idea of the poblano made me think of the chicken poblano recipe that my wife loves, but I had just recently made that for her, hence the lonely poblano. So I came across a nice looking chuck roast that was calling my name, as was the pressure cooker for that matter.
These pulled beef tacos were super simple to make, and quick (due to the pressure cooker), and made everyone’s Thursday a very happy one.
I left this one pretty generic as the taco game is pretty diverse. The idea here is to get your shredded beef ready and you load however you want. This particular evening I went with hard shelled tacos with cheese, onion, and garden tomatoes, along with some hot sauce.
If you do not have a pressure cooker (I highly recommend that purchase) then feel free to use a slow cooker with less water, and cooking that on low for 6-8 hours. The pressure cooker however will get you done and ready within 45 minutes if that.
To the pressure cooker, heat 2 tablespoons of the canola oil on medium-high heat. Season both sides of the chuck roast with salt and pepper. Once the oil begins to shimmer, add the chuck roast and sear it on both sides, about 4 minutes per side. You want some good browning so let it sit there, do not disturb it, then flip until both sides are seared.
Once seared, add in the garlic, onion, and poblano pepper. Cover the roast with water or beef stock, cover, and cook for about 45 minutes. Let your pressure come down before taking off the lid (follow your pressure cooker instructions). The roast should be fork tender and should easily shred with a couple of forks.
Pulled Beef Tacos Recipe
Discard the onion, garlic, and pepper.
Remove the roast onto a cutting board, and reserve a couple of cups of the liquid.
Using two forks, shred the beef and discard any of the weird fat that may still be intact. No one likes that stuff, trust me.
Next, heat a large skillet on medium-high heat. Add in the oil, and once shimmers, add in the beef. Season with a pinch of salt, then the berbere spice. Give that a good toss, and sear the shredded beef. Something about those slightly crispy strands of beef get me every time.
Once the beef is slightly seared to your liking, add in just a bit of remaining liquid, to your liking, to moisten the beef.
Once your remaining taco ingredients are ready, it’s taco time!
Load in the beef into your desired shell whether that be hard, or soft, and load in your fillings.
The result is super tender shredded beef with awesome flavors from that berbere spice, and just all of those goodies from your taco fillings. This shredded beef taco is not only easy to make, loaded with flavor, and perfect for any day of the week, but it also is a nice change to that classic American ground beef mixture that we grew up to love. Hope you enjoy!
I left this one pretty generic as the taco game is pretty diverse. The idea here is to get your shredded beef ready and you load however you want. This particular evening I went with hard shelled tacos with cheese, onion, and garden tomatoes, along with some hot sauce.
If you do not have a pressure cooker (I highly recommend that purchase) then feel free to use a slow cooker with less water, and cooking that on low for 6-8 hours. The pressure cooker however will get you done and ready within 45 minutes if that.
To the pressure cooker, heat 2 tablespoons of the canola oil on medium-high heat. Season both sides of the chuck roast with salt and pepper. Once the oil begins to shimmer, add the chuck roast and sear it on both sides, about 4 minutes per side. You want some good browning so let it sit there, do not disturb it, then flip until both sides are seared.
Once seared, add in the garlic, onion, and poblano pepper. Cover the roast with water or beef stock, cover, and cook for about 45 minutes. Let your pressure come down before taking off the lid (follow your pressure cooker instructions). The roast should be fork tender and should easily shred with a couple of forks.
Discard the onion, garlic, and pepper.
Remove the roast onto a cutting board, and reserve a couple of cups of the liquid.
Using two forks, shred the beef and discard any of the weird fat that may still be intact. No one likes that stuff, trust me.
Next, heat a large skillet on medium-high heat. Add in the oil, and once shimmers, add in the beef. Season with a pinch of salt, then the berbere spice. Give that a good toss, and sear the shredded beef. Something about those slightly crispy strands of beef get me every time.
Once the beef is slightly seared to your liking, add in just a bit of remaining liquid, to your liking, to moisten the beef.
Once your remaining taco ingredients are ready, it’s taco time!
Load in the beef into your desired shell whether that be hard, or soft, and load in your fillings.
Lately my daughter has been really into mushrooms. So I typically pick up a couple of large containers of whole mushrooms during the week, and her and I will clean them and she will cook them down however she wants. This past week was no exception, plus they were on sale which makes it all the better. As these cooked down into a lot of mushrooms, I knew I had to do something with them as I think she was mushroomed out after a couple of servings. That’s when I threw out some bait to my wife stating that I was going to serve up some mushroom tacos this week. Her response was ‘Mushroom tacos? C’mon!’. I don’t think she really believed me, but as we are trying to eat a lot less meat during the week, this I knew would be a real winner, and it was.
Mushroom Tacos Recipe
I knew these would be a big hit, and seeing as though my boys were up north fishing, I knew that my wife and daughter would devour these. These mushroom tacos are way too easy to make, and make for a fast and delicious meal any day of the week.
Let’s get started.
Ingredients:
16 oz whole mushrooms, cleaned and quartered
1 tbsp canola oil
1 clove garlic, minced
1/2 whole onion, diced
1 whole jalapeno pepper, seeds removed, diced
1 tomato, diced
salt, to taste
cracked black pepper, to taste
1 package corn tortillas, warmed
1 package of queso Chihuahua, optional
1 bunch fresh cilantro, chopped, optional
Start by heating a skillet on medium heat. Add in the canola oil, onion, and garlic. Give that a good stir and cook for a few minutes. Add in the mushrooms, and continue to stir.
Cook until the mushroom caramelize, about 20 minutes or so, stirring along the way. Add in the jalapeno, salt, pepper, and diced tomatoes. Cook for another 5 minutes or so.
Mushroom Tacos Recipe
Once the mushrooms begin to caramelize, heat another skillet, and add in the corn tortillas. Continue to flip the tortillas until they are completely warmed through. To be honest, I like a little bit of char on mine so I let them go a little longer.
I also like to add the slices (or shredded) cheese directly on top of my mushrooms, allowing it to melt. Also if you have never had queso Chihuahua, try it. It could possibly be one of my favorite melting cheeses.
Take two tortillas, if using corn, and fold in the cheesy mushrooms. Shower with a bit of cilantro and dig in.
Mushroom Tacos
The end result is one darn good taco. It’s ‘meaty’ in the sense because of the mushrooms, and it’s just loaded with flavor. You know what would also be good is the Mexican mushroom salad I made a handful of years ago. Shove some of that in some tortillas to kick start your day and you would be all set!
The slow cooker rarely gets put away in our house. Based on our busy schedules is pretty much the reason why, and I am typically the one hustling around trying to feed four hungry people every day. Not that I have a problem with that, but the slow cooker always comes to the rescue, and typically anything I throw in there is a real winner. This particular recipe known as Mexican Barbacoa is a real winner, and is something that is only typically served in our our Mexican restaurants on the weekend. This homey doesn’t have time for that, plus I typically stay away from local tacquerias on the weekend.
Mexican Barbacoa Recipe
For one, we are big fans of shredded meat, especially when it comes to tacos, and this one is no exception. You are going to love the texture, flavor, and simplicity of this Mexican barbacoa.
Let’s get started.
Ingredients:
4 lbs beef chuck roast
3 tbsp canola oil
8 oz can of chipotle chilies in adobo
6 cloves garlic, minced
1 small red onion, thinly sliced, or chopped (your call)
2 cups of beef stock
2 tbsp cumin powder
2 tbsp ground Mexican oregano, crumbled
1 1/2 tsp salt, to taste
1 tsp ground black pepper
2 limes, juiced
flour or corn tortillas, warmed
black beans, cooked, optional
fresh jalapenos, thinly sliced, optional
Start by adding the 2 tablespoons of oil to a large dutch oven or large skillet. Bring this to a medium heat. The goal is to add the beef in batches to get a nice sear on all sides before placing it into your slow cooker.
Once browned, add each piece to the slow cooker, and repeat with any remaining beef. Once the beef is added, rinse out the skillet or dutch oven, return back to the stove, let the water evaporate, then add in the additional oil bringing it back to a medium heat.
Add in the onion, garlic, and chipotle chilies in adobo sauce. Add in the beef stock, and let this come to a quick boil. Add in the cumin powder, oregano, salt, pepper, and lime juice, and give a good stir Add the mixture to slow cooker, and add to your high setting. Cook this for about 6 hours.
Mexican Barbacoa Ingredients
After 6 hours, check on the beef and make sure it is fall apart tender. If not, continue to cook until it is and shred all of the beef, making sure everything gets nicely incorporated. Cover and let this cook for about 20 minutes longer to all of that shredded beef and soak up all of that delicious stock.
During this time, cook your beans, and warm up your tortillas. Slice up any additional things such as limes, jalapenos, or onions.
Mexican Barbacoa Recipe
Now it’s ready to serve. I like getting a bit rustic, laying out some barbacoa, beans, chilies, and have things on standby like fresh cilantro, and salsa.
Layer your tacos to your desire and dig in like it’s no one’s business. Forget about waiting for the weekend for this Mexican barbacoa. Go for Tuesday, because who doesn’t love a Tuesday, right?
