Loaded Walking Tacos
A walking taco to the extreme with homemade queso, queso fresco, and Valentina hot sauce over flaming hot Cheetos or sweet chili Doritos.
My conclusive result from maximizing this classic ballpark recipe is that tacos built in a Fritos bag are just good tacos. Tacos built-in Flaming Hot Cheetos bags with the works? WORLD CLASS. It’s been a dream of mine to recreate walking tacos with different bases and the works when it comes to toppings. I layered the taco meat over your favorite bag of chips, with a spoonful of homemade queso, shredded lettuce, diced onion, fresh cilantro, pickled jalapenos, more chips, more meat, more queso, sour cream, diced tomato, sliced green onion, and finished with crumbled queso fresco and Valentina hot sauce. When I tell you this is a LOADED walking taco, you better believe it. It’s more like a loaded walking burrito than a walking taco.
First, you have to pick your chips. Now don’t just go out and buy those tiny bags of chips for your next party without buying bigger bags. Let the tiny bags be the base of the taco, then set out a bowl of the bulk chips to add for toppings. They can mix and match, it’s a fun choose-your-own-adventure.
Let’s talk about the taco meat. Don’t overseason your meat. For every pound of ground beef, only use half a packet of taco seasoning. There is lots of salt in the chips and cheeses already, so be conscious. My trick to making ground taco meat go far is by breaking it up very fine. The trick is to add broth or water to the pan when you’re cooking your taco meat. This will help thin the ground beef particles as it cooks instead of seizing up in big clumps without any liquid.
The homemade queso is an optional step, that I of course LOVE! It’s a LOADED walking taco after all and who doesn’t love homemade cheese sauce with their nachos? The secret to this component is keeping it warm and the jalapeno brine. Use a small crockpot set up next to the chips to keep it nice and loose. You may have to triple the queso recipe to make enough for the crock, but the good news is you still only need one jar of jalapenos. Reserve the brine and besides adding to the recipe, it helps to thin the cheese sauce out as it sits.
Let’s bring this taco party back to our summer barbecues. Have a BYO nacho night and make it interesting with a crock of homemade hot cheese sauce and put out bowls of fun chips to mix in with your tortilla chips. This is fun food, so remember to make sure you’re having fun.
Loaded Walking Tacos
Allergens: Milk
Diet: Gluten-Free
For taco meat:
- 2 lbs. Ground beef
- 1/2 cup chicken stock
- 1 oz. taco seasoning
- Kosher salt and freshly cracked black pepper, to taste
For queso:
- 1 (12 oz.) can evaporated milk
- 5 slices American cheese
- 2 cups sharp cheddar cheese, grated
- 2 tablespoons pickled jalapeno brine
- a dash of ground cumin
For assembly:
- 2x (2 oz.) bags sweet chili Doritos, jalapeno and flaming hot Cheetos
- 3 cups shredded lettuce
- 1 cup diced white onion
- 1 cup chopped cilantro
- 1 cup pickled jalapenos
- 2 cups sour cream thinned out with milk
- 1 cup green onions, sliced thin
- 2 cups diced tomato
- 2 cups queso fresco, crumbled
- 1 bottle Valentina hot sauce
Preparation
- Make taco meat in a saute pan over medium high heat by combining all ingredients, breaking up all the ground beef, and slowly cooking mixture until liquid is evaporated. Season with salt and pepper to taste, then set aside.
- Make queso in a sauce pan over medium heat by combining all ingredients and stirring until all cheese is melted and mixture is smooth. Season with salt and set aside
- For assembly: Remove half of Fritos, Doritos or flaming hot Cheetos and unfold bag. Add one scoop of beef, a spoon of queso, then a handful of lettuce, then onion, cilantro, jalapenos, then top with reserved chips.
- Top with another spoon of beef, a drizzle of queso, a spoon of sour cream, diced tomato, green onions, and queso fresco and a few squirts of Valentina hot sauce.
- Enjoy!