Easy Taco Recipe (with Frozen Barbacoa Hack)

Connie’s Coronavirus Cooking Chronicles – Recipe 3 – Tacos 

I am a huge fan of simple, easy, healthy and delicious recipes. This taco recipe definitely falls into all of those categories. I always thought tacos would be a little time-consuming to make because of how many ingredients can go into them but you can actually simplify the ingredients and even pre-cook and freeze some of them ahead of time so that when you crave tacos you can whip them up in no time.

Here are a few taco hacks to save yourself time:

• Use whole avocados instead of buying or making guacamole
• Use jarred salsa instead of making salsa from scratch
• Use ingredients you probably already have in your kitchen, like onions and eggs
• Pre-cook barbacoa or carnitas ahead of time and freeze it in appropriate portions in zip-loc bags so that you can just reheat the meat in a microwave or skillet instead of having to cook it from scratch. If freezing, I like to add some of the cooking liquid to the bag of meat or freeze the liquid in a separate container and defrost with the meat to prevent the meat from getting dry when reheating, especially in a skillet.
• Pre-cook some mango “salsa” ahead of time and freeze to defrost later if you want to include it on your tacos. My “salsa” is just diced and cooked mangos. Period. Nothing added. It tastes great on tacos!

The above flavor combination tastes amazing on its own without added cheese, lettuce or sour cream (with or without mango) and is also healthier without all the added fat. However, you can always add these optional ingredients or any other ingredients you may want, especially if you happen to have them on hand when craving tacos. I guess these could be considered breakfast tacos, since they contain eggs. I think they taste great any time of day though!

Easy Tacos

• Servings: 2-4
• Print

Ingredients

• tortillas, homemade or store-bought
• 1 jar salsa (or homemade)
• 1 onion
• 1 avocado
• 2 eggs
• cooked seasoned meat like ground beef, ground pork, barbacoa, carnitas, etc. (see note 1)

Optional Ingredients:

• mango “salsa” (see note 2)
• corn
• beans
• shredded lettuce
• shredded cheese
• sour cream

Directions

1. Open the jar of salsa and set it at your taco station.
2. Cut and scoop out the inside of the avocado into a bowl. Set at taco station.
3. Cut onion into slivers and saute with some olive oil until slightly caramelized. Put into a bowl and set at taco station.
4. Pull cooked meat from the freezer and reheat in a skillet on medium-low heat until heated through (steaming hot). While meat is heating up, scramble the eggs in a bowl. Put cooked meat into a bowl and set at taco station.
5. Add a little oil into the skillet, heat, and cook the scrambled eggs. Put eggs into a bowl and set at taco station.
6. Put any other ingredients you may want at the taco station.
7. Cook the tortillas in the skillet per packaging or recipe instructions.
8. Assemble your tacos and eat!

Notes:
1. Pre-cook seasoned barbacoa or carnitas ahead of time and freeze it in appropriate portions in zip-loc bags so that you can just reheat the meat in a microwave or skillet instead of having to cook it from scratch. If freezing, I like to add some of the cooking liquid to the bag of meat or freeze the liquid in a separate container and defrost with the meat to prevent the meat from getting dry when reheating, especially in a skillet. I will upload my barbacoa recipe some other time and include a link here when I do.
2. Pre-cook some mango “salsa” ahead of time and freeze to defrost later if you want to include it on your tacos. My “salsa” is just diced and cooked mangos, nothing added.