Taco Filling

Taco Filling

The taco filling is arguably the most important part of the taco. Since it makes up the bulk of the dish, it does have a lot of responsibility. This sugar-free, low-carb recipe is an excellent source of protean, as well as being incredibly tasty.

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Prep Time 10 minutes mins

Cook Time 30 minutes mins

Equipment

• Knife
• Cutting Board
• Frying Pan
• Stove Top
• Measuring Tools (teaspoon/tablespoon/cup)
• Bowl
• Strainer

Ingredients

  

• 2 Tablespoons Extra Virgin Olive Oil (divided)
• 500 Grams Minced Meat (1 lb)
• 2 Tablespoons Soy Sauce
• 250 Grams Spinach (8 oz)
• 1 Egg
• 2 Tablespoons Tomato Paste (18 grams)
• Taco Spice (linked below in the notes)
• ½ Purple Onion (roughly diced)
• 1 Sweet Bell Pepper (roughly diced)
• ¼ Cup Water
• 1 Clove Garlic (minced)
• ½ White Onion (finely diced)
• ½ White Onion (thinly sliced)
• 1 Chili Pepper (thinly sliced)

Instructions

 

• Cut the spinach roughly and set aside.
• Add one tablespoon extra virgin olive oil to the frying pan and let it heat up.
• Add the minced meat, roughly stirring it so it breaks up into smaller pieces.
• Add the soy sauce to the meat, and stir well.
• Once the soy sauce has been incorporated, start adding the spinach. Don’t worry if it doesn’t all fit in the pan. It will cook down and reduce.
• Keep stirring spinach and meat. Make sure the spinach gets well incorporated.
• As the meat is cooking, dice and slice the other ingredients. Set them aside for later.

  *keep the purple onion separate from the other vegetables.
• Once the meat has been browned and the spinach has been reduced, strain the oil and fat out of the meat.
• Add one tablespoon extra virgin olive oil to the frying pan and let it heat up to medium.
• Add the garlic, white onions, and the chili pepper to the frying.
• Let the vegetables cook over medium-low heat for about ten minutes.
• While the vegetables are frying, transfer the meat from the strainer to a bowl.
• Add the egg, tomato paste, and taco spice to the meat and mix well.
• Then add a ½ cup of water, diced purple onions, and diced bell pepper to meat mixture. Stir well and set aside.
• When the vegetables have been slightly browned, add the meat mixture to the frying pan.
• Cook for another 5 minutes.
• Remove from the heat and let stand for 5 minutes before eating.  

Notes

Taco Spice Recipe

Taco Filling That Is Not South of the Border

The first thing you probably noticed about my taco filling is that it is not traditional. It’s not even close. This recipe is more of a fusion Mexican-American-Japanese. That might seem like a strange combination, but the Japanese have their own spin on the Mexican taco, called taco rice. What I’ve found is that soy sauce lends itself well to tacos, which is surprising.

Not all soy sauce is created equally. We wouldn’t recommend using Chinese soy sauce. You might have a few plastic packets from Chinese take-out sitting in your fridge. Instead, get some Japanese soy sauce, which is not as salty. Kikomon is a good brand.

• Kikomon (Amazon US)

• If you’re in Japan, you don’t need a recommendation.

Other “Interesting” Ingredients

There are a few other additions that might raise some eyebrows. Most notably, spinach. This might seem completely unholy, but if you do it right, no one know it’s even in there. A bushel of spinach will cook down and be hardly visible. The taste is also quite mild, and will be entirely overshadowed by the taco spices. It will, however, infuse lots of vitamins and minerals, making the dish a healthy powerhouse. It gives so much and asks so little.

There is also the addition of an egg, which is another great healthy addition. It adds a lot of protean and helps thicken up the mixture. Much like a cake, you won’t taste it.  

The other thing you probably noticed is the lack of a taco shell. Since we are creating a carb-free Mexican experience, we have eliminated the biggest source of empty calories, the bready shell. It might be sacrilege, but taco shells are vastly overrated. Hear me out. They are full of carbs, have a lot of empty calories, and don’t have a lot of taste. Getting rid of the shell reduced what makes a taco fattening without purging most of the flavors we are craving. It is a small sacrifice, but creating healthy dishes does require some trade offs.  

All the additions and subtractions end up equaling a substantially healthier meal that tastes better than great. You will need a spoon to eat it.

Slave To The Kitchen

Does it matter if you strain the meat or not? YES! Don’t be lazy. I am very guilty of doing this in the past as well, so I’m expert of how disastrous this can be. If the oil and fat isn’t strain out, the taco filling will be very soggy and excessively greasy. Nothing will come together right and it will look like a pile of slop on your plate. It won’t taste much better either. This is doubly worse if it’s being put in a taco shell, as will just ooze out everywhere.

The best way to lighten the work load is to use a pasta strainer for the meat. Dump the entire contents of the frying into the strainer and let gravity do most of the work. Now, here is the trick; don’t wash the frying pan. Most of the oil is gone already, so it will be fine. Put it back on the stove, add the olive oil, and get the next part going. This will really save you a lot of time, and only adds a strainer to the cleaning list.

Meat Matters For Great Taco Filling

What kind of meat should you use in your taco? That’s entirely up to you. There isn’t a wrong choice, and it comes down to your own personal preference. We usually use a combination of ground pork and ground chicken breast, which we grind ourselves. The pork adds some nice flavor notes while the chicken is leaner and healthier. A 50/50 split gives the best of both worlds. You could go with all beef, or all chicken. If you access to Mexican chorizo meat, that would work really great, as well being much more authentic.

It’s really fun to experiment with different meats, to see how the taste will differ.

Building your Plate

Obviously, the taco filling is the base.

You could create a separate section for the REFIRED BEANS, or you could layer it right on top of the taco filling.

You could add some extra fixings at this point, based on your own preferences.

• Ice Berg Lettuce

• Green Olives

• Black Olives

We’re finally here. We have all the condiments and side dishes we need to build our carb-free Mexican plate.

Next add the RED SAUCE.

Top it off with some GUACAMOLE.

Lastly, some fresh cilantro.

Some people absolutely love cilantro, while others can’t stand it. The great thing about cooking from home; the choice is yours.

Realistically, if you’re going to put all this together, expect to be in the kitchen for about an hour. If you have someone helping, you can get this down to about 45 minutes. Considering how good all this is, it’s really a small investment in time.

Make it a family event and cook together. Call it Mexican Monday, Taco Tuesday, or Fiesta Friday.

You need some Mexican music if you’re going to make it an event. Enjoy!