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.
Mini taco bites are easy to make and can be customized to your liking. You can 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.
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Why You’ll Love This Mini Taco Bites Recipe
- Yummy: Mini taco bites are made with all the flavors of a traditional taco, but they are in a bite-sized form that is easy to eat.
- Quick and Easy to Make: The recipe for mini taco bites is very simple, and it can be made in just a few minutes if you have taco meat on hand.
- Versatile: The recipe for mini taco bites can be customized to your liking. You can 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 your consideration! 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: For the seasoning, I used my DIY Taco Seasoning. Feel free, however, to use store-bought taco seasoning.
- 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 like to rub it with my hands to break the cooked beef into small pieces.
I know that some people will criticize the rinsing of ground beef because I’m removing flavor. However, I’ve consistently found that the real flavor comes from the added ingredients.
- 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 on to making 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 of the Scoops.
- I topped each of the filled Scoops with some 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.
To say that these Mini Taco Bites were 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!
Frequently Asked Questions
In this recipe, you can substitute chicken, refried beans, black beans, pinto beans, or even scrambled eggs.
One of the beauties of 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 if the Velveeta cheese is omitted.
You can substitute Tostitos Crispy Rounds for the Scoops. Also, you can 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 when they are still warm from the oven.
You can substitute Monterey Jack cheese, Colby Jack cheese, Pepper Jack cheese, Mexican blend cheese, or Queso Fresco in this recipe.
Recipe Tips and Tricks
- If you have a favorite recipe for taco meat, feel free to use it. I’ve included my recipe for anyone who might be interested to try it.
- I like to use my homemade taco seasoning in this recipe instead of store-bought. The main reason is that I can control the salt level in the taco seasoning. However, I’ve also used store-bought taco seasoning in the past, 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.
- It’s important not to overfill the mini taco bites. The reason is that 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. I know that some would criticize this because I’m rinsing away flavor from ground beef, but I’m also rinsing away excess grease. In my experience, what really adds flavor to the dish are the seasonings and other ingredients that are added to the recipe.
- When I make taco meat, I like for the meat to be as finely crumbled as possible. 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 taco meat leftover when I make recipes that call for some type of taco meat, like 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 choices for appetizers.
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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) 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) 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) shredded Cheddar cheese (See Tip 4)
- 2 Tablespoons (1 ounce) 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 as much grease as possible. (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 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 cheese, Colby Jack cheese, Pepper Jack cheese, Mexican blend cheese, or queso fresco in this recipe.
- Rinsing the cooked ground beef in hot water is a personal preference of mine. You can omit the rinsing of 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.
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