Healthier Baked Tacos – Everyone in my house loves them! I’ve been using Jennie-O turkey burgers crumbled up in place of ground beef for our taco meat and the guys have been gobbling it up! My Publix grocery store has the Jennie-O Turkey Burgers on sale Buy One, Get One several times a year. I can almost always find coupons to go with it, usually from Coupons.com a week or so before the sale starts.
Remember, you can stack coupons on BOGO – use 2 manufacturer and 2 store coupons on every deal. I usually pick up 6 boxes at a time and use the frozen patties in place of most recipes calling for browned ground beef. Even if you can’t find coupons for the Jennie-O deal, it’s still worth it these days to get 3 lbs. of meat for under $4. 🙂
Baking these tacos in the oven loaded with meat and cheese totally changes and enhances the flavor in a wonderful way. Unless I’m in a raging hurry, I’ll never go back to serving the old crunchy tacos that fall apart with the first bite.
Healthier Baked Tacos
- 1 box Jennie-O Turkey Burgers, thawed
- 2 packages taco seasoning mix
- 1 package crunchy corn taco shells
- 2-4 cups of reduced-fat shredded Mexican cheese blend
Optional toppings:
- 2-3 large tomatoes, chopped & divided
- 2 ripe avocados, peeled, seeded, & smashed, mix with half of the chopped tomatoes (please don’t ruin it with lime juice!)
- 1/2 head lettuce, shredded
- Sour cream
- 1 large chopped onion
- Taco sauce
- Jalapenos, seeded & diced
Preheat oven to 350°F. In a large skillet, crumble and brown the turkey burgers until cooked through. Do not drain. Stir in the two packets of seasoning mix. Simmer, stirring occasionally, for 5-7 minutes, until most of the liquid has evaporated.
Stand the taco shells up in a baking dish lightly sprayed with oil, propping against each other as best as you can. Fill the bottom of each shell with 2 heaping tablespoons of meat mixture. Sprinkle the top of each with about one heaping tablespoon of shredded cheese–more or less to suit your tastes.
Bake in oven for 7-8 minutes, or until cheese is completely melted.
Pile on any of the optional toppings and enjoy!
Top them anyway you like. We keep it quick and simple with just the basics. I usually warm up a package of burrito shells so the guys can stuff them with some of the taco fixin’s. They like having some of both. This time I had those new Stand N’ Stuff soft shells. They taste great, but they’re not so easy to eat. Be prepared to take a big bite! 😃
Happy eating! 😊
Culinary Craftiness 