Spicy Ground Beef Taco Ring With Homemade Salsa

Everybody loves Tex-Mex food, and for good reason! The spicy, fresh ingredients for tacos, burritos, fajitas, and quesadillas bring the perfect combination of satisfying flavors and textures to every dish. We can't get enough of this crowd-pleasing cuisine, so we decided to come up with a recipe for an appetizer featuring none other than the taco! But we'd never settle for making just regular old tacos – we're serving them up on a fiesta-ready platter positioned around an edible tortilla bowl filled with homemade salsa. Each and every taco is stuffed to the brim with a spicy ground beef filling and topped off with cheddar, sour cream, and avocado. Guests can decide how adventurous they want to be with the salsa, but one thing's for sure: this taco ring is about to spice things up!

Yield: 12
Prep Time: 25 minutes
Cooking Time: 25 minutes
Difficulty Level: Easy

You'll Need:

For the ground beef filling:

  • 1 lb ground beef
  • 1 red onion, diced
  • 2 jalapeños, diced
  • 2 garlic cloves, minced
  • 1 tsp paprika
  • 1 tsp salt
  • ½ tsp cumin
  • 56 tomatoes, chopped
  • ½ tsp pepper
  • vegetable oil for frying

For the tomato salsa:

  • 1 can diced tomatoes
  • 2 scallions, chopped
  • ½ red onion, diced
  • 1 garlic clove, minced
  • 1 jalapeño
  • 2 tbsp chopped cilantro
  • ½ tsp sugar
  • salt & pepper to taste
  • 2 tbsp lime juice

For the taco ring:

  • 4 x 10-inch tortillas
  • 2 x 8-inch tortillas 
  • 2 red onions, diced
  • 1½ cup grated cheddar

For the topping:

  • chopped cilantro
  • chopped avocado
  • sour cream

Extra:

  • 5-inch oven-safe bowl
  • 6-inch oven-safe bowl

Here's How:

1. Preheat the oven to 350°F. For the ground beef filling, fry the ground beef in a small amount of vegetable oil. Once it starts to brown, add in the diced red onions, diced jalapeños, minced garlic, paprika, cumin, salt & pepper. After the mixture has cooked for a few minutes, add in the chopped tomatoes, bring everything to a simmer, and cook the ground beef filling on low heat for about 10 minutes.

2. Flip the 5-inch oven-safe bowl over onto a 10-inch tortilla and trace the bowl with a knife. Use this same technique to cut out 3 circles from all 4 of the 10-inch tortillas.

3. Fill the small tortilla circles with the ground beef filling and arrange them in a ring around the edge of a large oven-safe skillet.

4. Grate cheddar cheese on top of the tacos and sprinkle the diced red onion on top.

5. Position the 6-inch oven-safe bowl in the center of the skillet, place both 8-inch tortillas on top, and press the 5-inch bowl down on top of the tortillas so that they sink into the larger bowl.

6. Transfer the skillet to the oven and bake at 350°F for 15 minutes.

7. For the homemade salsa, stir together the canned diced tomatoes, chopped scallions, diced red onion, minced garlic, chopped cilantro, sugar, salt & pepper in a medium-sized mixing bowl. Squeeze in the lime juice and stir the salsa until everything is combined. Transfer the salsa to the refrigerator and let it chill until the rest of the dish is ready to be served.

8. Once the tortilla ring is done baking, take the skillet out of the oven and remove the oven-safe bowls from around the tortilla bowl. Once the tortilla bowl has cooled, pour in the chilled salsa.

Garnish the tacos with sour cream, chopped avocado, and fresh cilantro. Let your guests decide how much of your delicious homemade salsa they want on top, and watch this delicious ring disappear before your very eyes!

Get the recipe for the Chicken Avocado Fiesta Salad featured in the bonus video.

Comments

Also hefty