Mini taco bites are a delicious and easy-to-make appetizer perfect for game day, parties, or any time you want to get your taco fix without making a full-sized taco. These little bites are made with store-bought Tostito Scoops, taco meat, cheese, and your favorite taco toppings. They are sure to be a hit with everyone. For another easy party bite to round out your spread, try my Easy Pretzel Bites with Raspberry Honey Mustard Dip. They're just as quick to make.
Mini taco bites are easy to make and can be customized to your liking. Use your favorite taco meat and top your mini taco bites with your favorite taco toppings. I like to use sour cream, shredded lettuce, and diced tomatoes.
Watch How Easy It Is to Make These Mini Taco Bites
Jump to:
- Watch How Easy It Is to Make These Mini Taco Bites
- Why You'll Love This Mini Taco Bites Recipe
- My Favorite Taco Meat - The Ingredients
- Steps - How I Made My Favorite Taco Meat
- Mini Taco Bites - The Ingredients
- Steps - Here's How I Made the Mini Taco Bites
- In Case You Were Wondering
- PudgeFactor's Test Kitchen Tips
- Other Delicious Mexican-Themed Appetizers
- Recipe
Why You'll Love This Mini Taco Bites Recipe
- Yummy: Mini taco bites have all the flavors of a traditional taco, but in a bite-sized form that is easy to eat.
- Quick and Easy to Make: This recipe is simple and can be made in just a few minutes if you have taco meat on hand.
- Versatile: You can customize the mini taco bites recipe to your liking. Use your favorite taco meat and top your mini taco bites with any of your favorite taco toppings. This makes them a great option for parties or potlucks, as everyone can customize their mini taco bites to their own taste.
- Kid-friendly: Mini taco bites are a great finger food for kids. They are easy to eat and fun to get kids involved in cooking.
My Favorite Taco Meat - The Ingredients
I'm including my favorite taco meat for you to consider! However, you can use your favorite taco meat in this recipe.
Here's what I use.
- Ground Beef: I used ground round in this recipe. However, you can use whatever ground beef you like.
- Seasoning: I used my DIY Taco Seasoning. Feel free to use store-bought taco seasoning instead.
- Liquids: I like adding a can of undrained Rotel tomatoes with green chilies and some water.
- Cheese: You might think it odd to add cheese to taco meat. However, I started adding Velveeta cheese to my taco meat years ago. It adds creaminess and taste to the taco meat.
- Thickening: With the melted Velveeta cheese, I like to add a bit of cornmeal to thicken the taco meat to the desired consistency.
Steps - How I Made My Favorite Taco Meat
- I started by breaking up and browning the ground beef in a skillet over medium heat.
- Once the ground beef was cooked, I transferred it to a colander to drain the grease. I like to rinse the ground beef well with hot water to remove as much grease as possible. Once the drained ground beef has cooled a bit, I rub it with my hands to break it into small pieces.
- Next, I returned the cooked ground beef to the skillet over medium heat. I added the taco seasoning, Rotel tomatoes, and water. After stirring everything together, I covered the skillet and cooked the mixture until most of the liquid had evaporated. This took about 20 minutes.
- When most of the liquid had evaporated, I stirred in cubed Velveeta cheese. I covered the skillet until the cheese had melted. This took about 5 minutes.
- As a final step, I like to add several tablespoons of cornmeal to thicken the taco meat to the desired consistency.
At this point, I sometimes refrigerate the taco meat for later use or continue to make the Mini Taco Bites.
Mini Taco Bites - The Ingredients
Steps - Here's How I Made the Mini Taco Bites
Making the Mini Taco Bites is super quick and easy.
- First, I placed some Tostitos Scoops on a baking sheet lined with nonstick aluminum foil.
- Then, I added about half a teaspoon of taco meat to each Scoop.
- I topped each filled Scoop with shredded Cheddar cheese. I baked the taco bites at 350°F until the cheese had melted. This took 6 to 7 minutes.
- Once the cheese was melted, I removed the Mini Taco Bites from the oven. I topped them with a dollop of sour cream, some shredded lettuce, and some diced tomatoes.
Calling these Mini Taco Bites delicious is a huge understatement.
They are the perfect appetizer for your next party, or anytime you want an amazing treat. So what are you waiting for? Start making these awesome Mini Taco Bites today! Yum!
In Case You Were Wondering
In this recipe, you can substitute chicken, refried beans, black beans, pinto beans, or even scrambled eggs.
One of the best things about this simple recipe is its versatility. In addition to sour cream, lettuce, and/or tomatoes, consider topping them with guacamole, Pico de Gallo, salsa, or jalapeño peppers.
Feel free to omit the Velveeta cheese when making your taco meat. I like to add it for its creaminess. However, the taco bites will still be good without the Velveeta cheese.
You can substitute Tostitos Crispy Rounds for the Scoops. You can also use flour tortillas or Wonton Wrappers cooked in a mini-muffin pan for this treat.
You can certainly make your taco meat ahead of time. However, the Mini Taco Bites are best eaten warm, right out of the oven.
You can substitute Monterey Jack cheese, Colby Jack cheese, Pepper Jack cheese, Mexican blend cheese, or Queso Fresco in this recipe.
PudgeFactor's Test Kitchen Tips
- If you have a favorite taco meat recipe, feel free to use it. I've included my recipe for anyone who might be interested in trying it.
- I like to use my homemade taco seasoning instead of store-bought in this recipe. The main reason is that I can control the salt level. However, I've also used store-bought taco seasoning, and it works fine.
- A typical package of taco seasoning contains 1 ounce or two tablespoons of seasoning mix. I generally use three tablespoons of taco seasoning per pound of ground beef in my taco meat.
- Don't overfill the mini taco bites. Overfilling the Scoops can make this tasty treat difficult to eat.
- When I make ground beef dishes such as these Mini Taco Bites, I drain the cooked ground beef and rinse it well with hot water. Some would criticize this because I'm rinsing away flavor from the ground beef, but I'm also rinsing away excess grease. In my experience, the seasonings and other ingredients add flavor to the dish.
- I like taco meat to be as finely crumbled as possible when I make it. The best way to achieve this is to rub the cooked ground beef between the palms of my hands before adding it back to the skillet.
- I often have leftover taco meat when I make recipes that call for some type of taco meat, such as tacos, quesadillas, enchiladas, etc. This recipe is an excellent way to use the leftover taco meat.
Other Delicious Mexican-Themed Appetizers
If I had to pick my favorite themed recipes, they would probably be Mexican-themed ones. Here are some of my top appetizer choices.
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Recipe
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Mini Taco Bites - Quick and Easy
Ingredients
My Favorite Taco Meat (May Use Your Favorite Recipe) (See Tip 1)
- 1 pound (16 ounces, 454 grams) ground beef (See Tip 2)
- 3 Tablespoons Taco Seasoning (See Tip 3)
- 1 10 ounce can Rotel Original Diced Tomatoes & Green Chilies, Undrained
- ½ cup water
- 1 cup (4 ounces, 113 grams) cubed Velveeta cheese
- 2 Tablespoons cornmeal for thickening (optional)
Mini Taco Bites
- 24 Tostitos Scoops
- ½ cup Taco meat (from the above recipe or your favorite)
- ½ cup (2 ounces, 57 grams) shredded Cheddar cheese (See Tip 4)
- 2 Tablespoons (1 ounce, 28 grams) sour cream
- 1 Tablespoon shredded lettuce
- 1 Tablespoon diced tomatoes
Instructions
My Favorite Taco Meat
- Brown and crumble ground beef in a large skillet over medium heat. Drain the cooked ground beef in a colander to remove excess grease. If desired, rinse with hot water to remove more grease. (See Tip 5)
- Return the ground beef to the skillet over medium heat. Add taco seasoning, undrained Rotel tomatoes, and water; stir to combine. Cover and cook over medium heat until most of the water has evaporated, around 20 minutes.
- Add the cubed Velveeta cheese; cover and heat until the cheese is melted, about 5 minutes. Add cornmeal to thicken the taco meat to the desired consistency, if desired. (See Tip 6)
Mini Taco Bites
- Preheat oven to 350°F. Line a rimmed baking sheet with nonstick aluminum foil.
- Place scoops, cup-side up, on the prepared baking sheet. Place about ½ teaspoon of taco meat in each scoop and top with about ½ teaspoon of cheese.
- Bake in a preheated 350°F oven for 6 to 7 minutes or until the cheese has melted.
- Remove from the oven. Top with a dollop of sour cream, some shredded lettuce, and diced tomatoes. Serve warm.
- Yield: 24 Mini Taco Bites. (See Tip 7)
Video
Tips/Notes
- My Favorite Taco Meat recipe makes more of the mixture than you need for the Mini Taco Bites. You can use the leftovers in other dishes.
- I used ground round in this recipe. However, you can use whatever ground beef you have on hand.
- I like to use my homemade taco seasoning. However, you can also use store-bought taco seasoning. Generally, a package of store-bought taco seasoning contains two tablespoons. You might want to increase the amount to one and a half packages to reach three tablespoons.
- Feel free to substitute Monterey Jack, Colby Jack, Pepper Jack, Mexican blend, or queso fresco.
- Rinsing the cooked ground beef in hot water is a personal preference of mine. You can omit rinsing the cooked ground beef if that is your preference.
- Adding cornmeal to the taco meat is optional to achieve the desired consistency. Feel free to omit this.
- This recipe can be easily doubled or tripled.
Polly says
What recipes can you suggest for the leftover taco meat?
Chula King says
Polly,
I use the leftover taco meat for quesadillas (taco meat topped with shredded cheese on a flour tortilla), taco salads, plain old tacos. I've also added it to Rotel Cheese Dip.
Chula