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Aerial view of mini beef taco cups, topped with sour cream, tomato, cheddar cheese, green onion and cilantro on a striped napkin.

Mini Beef Taco Cups

You'll love how easy these mini beef taco cups are to make - they're gluten-free and perfect for entertaining and potlucks. From start to finish, your mini beef taco cups can be on the table in under 30 minutes. You'll love how versatile they are with different options for toppings and they look so cute on the appetizer table!
5 from 4 votes
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Course: Appetizer
Cuisine: American, Mexican
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 20 minutes
Total Time: 30 minutes
Servings: 36 mini cups
Calories: 64kcal
Author: Megan

Ingredients

  • 12 corn tortillas
  • 1 lb ground beef
  • 1/3 cup water
  • 2 tsp chili powder
  • 1 tsp cumin
  • 3/4 tsp garlic powder
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 1/2 tsp ground black pepper
  • 3/4 cup shredded cheddar cheese
  • 1/4 cup sour cream or plain greek yogurt (for topping)
  • 1/4 cup tomatoes (diced (I used one Roma tomato))
  • 2 tbsp green onions (sliced, for topping)
  • 2 tbso chopped cilantro (for topping)

Instructions

  • Preheat oven to 350F.
  • Add the beef to a skillet over medium heat. Brown for 5-6 minutes, until no pink remains. Drain fat.
  • Add 1/3 cup water to the skillet along with chili powder, cumin, garlic powder, salt and pepper. Stir to combine. Simmer for 2-3 minutes. Set aside.
  • Spray mini muffin tins with cooking spray.
  • Stack three corn tortillas and place on a paper towel or plate. Heat tortillas in microwave for 20 seconds. Remove from microwave and immediately cut three 3-inch circles out of each corn tortilla with either a cookie cutter or a glass. It's okay if they overlap a bit and you don't get exactly 3 inches for each circle.
  • Gently press in the muffin tin to get a cup shape. Repeat with remaining tortillas, working in batches.
  • Add a spoonful of ground beef to each muffin cup. Top with one teaspoon of shredded cheese.
  • Bake at 350F for 10 minutes, until cheese is melted and tortilla is crunchy. Let sit for 2-3 minutes in the muffin tin before removing carefully with a knife. Set on a paper towel for a minute to absorb all the excess oil and grease.
  • Top mini taco cups with diced tomatoes, sour cream, green onions and cilantro. Serve. 

Notes

  • You MUST microwave the corn tortillas before stuffing them into the muffin tin. If you don't, they will break and you will be sad.
  • Work quickly. The tortillas cool down after being in the microwave in a few minutes, so be ready to go and have your muffin tin sprayed and prepared.
  • Work with only 3 tortillas at a time. If you work with more, your tortillas won't be as pliable or they will cool down too fast before you can finish cutting them. Stack all three tortillas on top of each other and cut through them with the cookie cutter or mason jar lid to save time!
  • Use round cookie cutters or the top of a mason jar lid to make perfect little circles for your muffin tins.
  • You will have some scraps left over which can be saved and used to make baked tortilla strips for gluten-free chicken tortilla soup. However, if you don't like the idea of saving corn tortilla strips for later, you can cut the corn tortilla with a knife into three wedges. You'll have pointy edges after you press the tortilla into the muffin tin which makes for a cute look, too!
  • I always get asked why I include individual spices in my taco recipes instead of a taco spice mix from a packet. Often times, those spice packets are NOT gluten-free! They include wheat as some sort of binding agent. So while it seems like a bit more work, it only takes about a minute to portion out all of these spices.
  • Make ahead! To make these mini beef taco cups for entertaining, make the ground beef ahead the day before. You'll love how easy it is to stuff your muffin cups with the beef before baking. The tomatoes, cilantro and green onions can also be cut ahead of time.
  • Freeze and reheat. While I think it is better to make these fresh and instead just make the ground beef component ahead of time, you can also bake the mini beef taco cups ahead of time, cheese included, and then reheat in the oven before serving.

Nutrition

Calories: 64kcal | Carbohydrates: 4g | Protein: 3g | Fat: 3g | Saturated Fat: 1g | Cholesterol: 12mg | Sodium: 95mg | Potassium: 61mg | Vitamin A: 90IU | Vitamin C: 0.2mg | Calcium: 29mg | Iron: 0.4mg
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