Portable and perfect as a snack, appetizer or party dish, Walking Tacos are all the rage and totally delicious! Just pile taco toppings on top of your favorite bag of chips!
What's In This Article
What is a walking taco?
I had no clue when I first heard the term. I figured it referred to a taco cartoon character with legs. But I was corrected and now I’m here to share my portable taco knowledge.
Walking tacos are simply all the ingredients for tacos, ground beef seasoned with taco seasoning, in a convenient bag. They are eaten with a spoon, fork or spork, if you are lucky enough to get your hands on some! Almost like a Frito Pie.
This makes them superior to the classic crunchy taco. We’ve all been there. You nosh into your hot , crispy taco shell to find fresh, luscious lettuce, taco meat and more and what happens?
The whole shell breaks. Not just into your mouth, but the rest of it too and now you’ve got a taco salad. Not a bad thing, but not what you wanted.
Walking Tacos prevent the inevitable from happening and just start with a deconstructed taco from the very beginning.
Taco Meat
I like to use ground beef, but ground chicken or turkey works well too. Feel free to use my homemade taco seasoning or store bought. Make it on the stovetop, but also think about Instant Pot or slow cooker versions if you are feeding a crowd for football games.
Or just a lively Taco Tuesday…
Chips
The type of chips you use is totally up to you and if you are making a walking taco bar (more on that below) you can use a variety.
Fritos and Doritos seem to be the most popular, but try other flavors like Cool Ranch or even Spicy Cheetos!
Individual snack size bags work best because you can just cut off the top and be ready to assemble, but if you are serving a crowd you can also set up a taco bag station.
Offer individual plastic bags and place your chips of choice in bowls. Just make sure your bags are big enough to include lots of yummy toppings! Then people can make their own tacos in a bag and mix and match chip options.
I’ve even seen walking taco bags for sale online. They come in a range of different chip options like Tostitos, Doritos, Fritos and more.
Walking Taco Bar
Making a walking taco bar is exactly like making a regular taco bar, but instead you can offer snack size bags of chips, or as described above, other baggie options with a mix-and-match feature.
Some of our favorite taco toppings include:
- Shredded cheese- Cheddar, Colby, Jack
- Sour cream, Crema Mexicana, Sweet Sriracha Sour Cream
- Lettuce- iceberg works best
- Tomatoes- chopped roma or beefsteak
- Black beans- rinsed and drained
- Fresh or Pickled Jalapenos
- Green onions (scallions)
- Sliced Black Olives
- Avocado (toss in lime juice to prevent browning)
- Salsa
- Pico de Gallo
- Fresh Cilantro
- Refried Beans
- Mexican Rice
- Taco Meat- Recipe below or use the crockpot or Instant Pot
- Chili Cheese Dip
- Salsa Verde
- Ranchero Sauce
Once you’ve got your toppings figured out, it follows like an assembly line from there. You start with your bag of chips. Put your taco m eat on top (you could even use shredded chicken instead of or as well as beef.)
Then load that baby up with all of the toppings your heart desires! And voila! You’ve just made your first walking taco.
This is a great option for a fun way to mix up taco night at home. But it’s also perfect for parties and picnics.
It’s not exactly easy to walk around and mingle while trying to eat a taco. But if you can eat it with a fork out of a bag? Genius!
More fun ways to mix up taco night:
Walking Taco
Ingredients
Tacos:
- 16 Small bags of Fritos or Doritos
- 1 pound ground beef
- 2 tablespoons taco seasoning or 1 packet (1 ounce)
- 1 1/2 cups thick and chunky salsa
Toppings:
- Cheese
- Sour cream
- Lettuce
- Tomatoes
- Black beans
- Jalapeno , sliced
- Green onions
- Black olives , sliced
- Avocado
- Salsa
- Pico de Gallo
Instructions
- Add ground beef to a large skillet, using vegetable oil, if needed. If using lean beef (turkey or chicken) oil will be necessary. Cook until no pink remains.
- Drain and return to the skillet.
- Add beef back into pan and mix with taco seasoning and salsa, stir well until fully coated.
- Serve immediately with bags of Fritos or Doritos and toppings of your choice.
Any suggestions on how to keep the taco meat warm?
Slow cooker on low!
I am so excited to make this!
These used to be my favorite growing up! So yummy!
That’s called a frito boat
I’ve never hear dit called that before- I love it!
LOVED this recipe!! It reminded me of Frito boats 🙂 These are so fun and can’t wait to make them again!
My kids loved this because it was tasty and fun. I loved this because it was so easy with very little clean up.
How fun are these!! I love how easy they are and they are perfect for eating and watching TV!
My kids are absolutely going to love this! Such a fun twist to our Taco Tuesday dinner routine.
Now this is my kind of crazy! LOVE the idea!