Hola, amigos, and Happy Cinco de Mayo! Did you know Cinco de Mayo is more popular in the U.S. than in Mexico? And it actually has nothing to do with Mexican Independence Day, which is September 16th.
Personally, though, I don’t need a reason to make or consume Mexican food. I could eat it every day, even the Fourth of July, because I’m fairly certain that tacos are an essential food group.
Jim and I like to reminisce on our favorite childhood snacks/appetizers, and we both agreed store-bought, frozen aisle taquitos were high ranking snacks, indeed. I’d also add tater tots and mozzarella sticks.
What’s great about these taquitos is that they are baked, not fried. No screwing around with a candy thermometer or having your kitchen, clothes, and hair reeking of vegetable oil. You just brush the taquitos with corn oil and bake them for 18 minutes.
I have a confession, by the way. I was a bit perplexed by the geometry of taquitos when I started my taquito-making venture. Taquito translates to “small taco,” right? But tacos are folded, not rolled. Yet taquitos are always rolled.
Things got more confusing when I started rolling the taquitos because they ended up being quite large–like the size of a fat Cuban cigar. These were not “small tacos.” They were…regular-sized tacos that were rolled. I have no idea what the Spanish word for that would be. Google says it is “taco normal enrollado,” but ya don’t see that at Costco.
These are really easy to make. You don’t even have to drain fat, and the beans cook in the same pan as the ground beef. No need to wash in between uses.
In addition, I made my own taco seasoning blend here which is really helpful if you’re out of taco seasoning mix. This is good because if you realize half way through that, in fact, you don’t want to make taquitos anymore, at least you have a perfectly good pan of taco meat ready to go. Alternatively, if you’d rather just use a taco mix, by all means save yourself from pulling out all the spices at the back of the spice cabinet!
The setup is really easy for this dish. Fry ground beef, add spices, place in a bowl. Fry beans, add spices, mash beans and spices, add to the same bowl. Add cheese to the bowl and mix it all up. Spoon meat into corn tortillas, roll, place in a baking dish, brush with oil, bake, and eat. Not much to them, really, but gosh they taste like my childhood! Hope you enjoy!
Cheesy BAKED Beef and Bean Taquitos
Ingredients
Taco Meat
- 1½ lbs Ground beef 85/15
- 1½ tsp Salt
- ½ tsp Ground cumin
- ½ tsp Chipotle powder Red cayenne pepper can substitute
- ½ tsp Garlic powder
- ½ tsp Onion powder
- 2 tsp Chili powder
- ½ tsp Dried oregano
- ½ tsp Turmeric
- 1 tbsp Tomato paste
Refried Beans
- 15 oz Cooked pinto beans drained if from a can
- 3 tbsp Corn oil
- ¼ tsp Ground cumin
- ¼ tsp Salt
Assembly
- 1 cup Shredded Mexican-style cheese
- 16 Corn tortillas ~6" in diameter
- Corn oil for brushing
Instructions
Taco Meat
- Place ground beef in a large skillet on medium-high heat. 85/15 Beef should have enough fat where you do not need to add oil. Break apart the meat into small, ground up pieces.
- Combine salt, cumin, chipotle powder, garlic powder, onion powder, chili powder, oregano, and turmeric in a small bowl. Sprinkle all of it onto the ground beef. Add in the tomato paste and continue to stir until beef is no longer pink, about 7 minutes.
- The beef fat will absorb the spices and there should not be anything to drain. Transfer the seasoned beef into a large bowl. Using the same skillet, prepare the refried beans.
Refried Beans
- In the same skillet used to fry the taco meat, pour in corn oil and heat on medium heat. Dump in cooked pinto beans and mash to a paste with a fork. Sprinkle in salt and cumin and stir, about 3-5 minutes. Transfer to the same bowl as the taco meat.
Assembly
- Preheat the oven to 400°F / 205°C. Brush a 9" x 13" pan with corn oil.
- Add cheese to the bowl of beef and beans and combine thoroughly with your hands or a spatula.
- Take 2 tbsp of the filling and spread it onto a tortilla along the diameter. Roll the tortilla up around the filling and place in the pan. Repeat for remaining tortillas. Brush with more corn oil and bake for 18 minutes. Serve with salsa.
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