It is that time of year, Football!!! As I am from the Deep South, football is a way of life. Labor Day weekend is the unofficial start to football season in my house. There are a few recipes that I make at the start of every season and these Taco Bites are one of them.
Football Taco Bites are a very easy and tasty addition to add to any football game tradition. To begin making these bites, you add 1 pound of ground beef, 1 medium diced onion and 3 packages of taco seasoning into a skillet and cook until browned.
You can use any type of taco seasoning, but it is important that you use more that you usually would for this amount of meat. Do you not like using store bought seasonings and you have your own? Feel free to use it! As for me, I ain’t got time for that, so I used 3 packages of Old El Paco (low sodium) taco seasoning. This keeps it from getting too salty.
Since you are adding the taco seasoning in at this step, it is important to make sure you cook your meat thoroughly, as it will be difficult to know when all the pink is gone.
Once you have your meat browned, you will then move onto the layering step. To begin this step you will need to cover a baking sheet with parchment paper. You will add the tortilla scoops, making a single layer on the baking sheet.
You will then add a small bit of the meat mixture to each cup. On top the the meat mixture, will be the Rotel. If you are adding jalapenos, they go on third. Once all your layers are added, you will then cover it all with the whole bag of cheese. Do not be stingy with the cheese. I am a firm believer that there is no such thing as too much cheese!!!
Once all the layers have been added, you will bake the bites at 375 degrees for 5 minutes, just long enough to melt the cheese. Once the cheese is melted, cut the boiler on in the over to 450 degrees and boil for an additional 6 minutes or until the cheese is golden brown. It is important to keep an eye on the bites while they are under the boiler, as they can burn very quickly.
Once the cheese is golden brown, take the bites out of the oven and enjoy! Remember all that cheese you put on? Well you will now have some nice “burnt cheese” left after you remove the Taco Bites. You are welcome!! Cause let’s be honest, there isn’t much better than “burnt cheese”. As you can tell below, I can never resist “burnt cheese”.
You can also take that “burnt cheese” (no idea why I feel the need to put that in quotations) and use it as crackers to dip into the left over meat mixture. This makes a very good KETO friendly option for those of your guests who may need a low-carb option (there are you happy Julye).
Football Taco Bites
Ingredients:
- 1 Bag Scoop Tortillas
- 1 Pound Ground Beef
- 1 Onion (Diced)
- 3 Packages Taco Seasoning (Use your favorite, mine is Old El Paso)
- 1 Can Rotel Tomatoes (Drained)
- 1 Medium Jalapeno (Sliced)
- 1 Bag (8 ounces) of Mexican Cheese
Directions:
- Preheat over to 375 degrees.
- Add ground beef, onions, and taco seasoning into skillet and brown over medium high heat.
- Lay out unbroken scoop tortilla chips on a parchment paper cover baking sheet.
- Spoon a small amount of meat mixture into each scoop.
- Add a small amount of Rotel on top of the meat mixture for each scoop.
- If desired, top scoops with a slice of jalapeno.
- Evenly cover all scoops with a layer of cheese, use the whole bag.
- Bake the scoops at 375 degrees for 5 minutes.
- Turn on over broiler to 450 degrees and finish the taco bites under the boiler for 6 minutes or until the cheese is golden brown, keeping a close eye on them to make sure they do not burn.
Enjoy!
Note:
Lettuce can be added before baking. I choose not to do so as I have strong feelings regarding cooked lettuce.
VIDEO COMING SOON!
Southern Fried Fusions 