These Taco in a Bag (Walking Tacos) are essentially deconstructed tacos served in a single-serving bag of chips. They’re perfect for parties, picnics, game days, or just a fun way to enjoy a taco without the fuss of plates, utensils, or cleanup.
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Why this Walking Tacos Recipe is a Keeper
The beauty of walking tacos lies in their simplicity. There are no hard rules – just toss your favorite taco fillings into a bag of chips and enjoy!
- 30 Minute Meal: A quick meal or snack anytime, you eat it right in the chip bag, simply supply a fork.
- Easy Ingredients: All found in pantry or fridge. Use what you have.
- Family Friendly: It is fun so kids will love it, plus they can build their own.
- Adaptable: Can make it low-carbohydrate, meat free, dairy free, you can use any vegetables or topping you like.
If you’re looking for more taco inspired recipes, try these Taco Stuffed Meatballs, Slow Cooker Mexican Shredded Chicken Tacos and Loaded Taco Bites.
Are Tacos and Nachos the same thing?
While they share a lot of the same ingredients, the taco is considered a whole meal and a nacho is usually an appetizer or sharable snack.
Ingredient Notes for Taco in a Bag
- Ground Beef: Also try ground turkey, pork or chicken, one pound.
- Taco Seasoning: One tablespoon is recommended but use more if you like.
- Fritos Corn Chips or Doritos
- Black Beans: Use Pinto Beans or Kidney Beans if you prefer.
- Salsa: Store bought or make your own Homemade Pico de Gallo.
See the recipe card below for a complete list of the ingredients with measurements.
Variations and Substitutions for Walking Taco Recipe
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Ideas to include: ingredient variations, ingredient substitutions, dietary variations, cooking variations, etc..
- Replace the Lean Ground Beef: Use ground chicken or turkey or even shredded chicken.
- Homemade Taco Seasoning: Control the salt by using your own special blend of seasonings.
- Sour Cream: Replace the sour cream with Greek yogurt.
Pro Tip: Make a Walking Taco Bar
Make the taco meat in the slow cooker to keep hot, set out bags of Doritos and then just have dishes of your favorite toppings and they can build their own.
How to Make Walking Tacos in a Bag Recipe
These are a a fun, portable, and utterly delicious twist on classic regular tacos. A great way to switch up taco night.
These are the basic steps for making walking tacos bags. Refer to the full, printable recipe card below for detailed instructions.
1. Brown Ground Beef in a Skillet
First, brown the hamburger in a large skillet over medium-high heat, then drain off excess fat. Next, stir in taco seasoning and water; stir to combine. Simmer for 5 minutes.
2. Prep your Bags to Make the Taco
Meanwhile, open the snack size bags of Fritos; squeeze bags to crush the chips. Add about 1/4 cup of cooked taco meat to Fritos bag.
3. Finish and Assemble this Easy Walking Tacos Recipe
Finally, top with cheese and add your favorite toppings such as shredded cheese ( Mexican blend, pepper jack or nacho cheese), shredded lettuce, diced tomatoes, or minced green onions.
Easy Walking Taco Recipe FAQs
Truly, I doubt there will be any but if there are you can use the leftovers for taco night, make a taco salad or use them in a casserole.
Potlucks, Taco Tuesday and Cinco de Mayo, birthday parties, this easy recipe for a deconstructed taco is sure to be a hit. Just serve with your favorite taco ingredients. They are a big hit for camping and a fun idea for high school football games and for serving a crowd.
Don’t overfill the bag: Leave room for all the yummy toppings without risking a chip explosion.
Crush strategically: Crush the chips slightly before adding the filling to prevent them from getting soggy.
Expert Tips for Making This Taco in a Bag Recipe
Make your next taco tuesday a success with this versatile recipe. Just supply your favorite taco toppings and you are ready. It is the perfect party food too. Great for football games.
- Add Heat: Use your favorite hot sauce to make your taco fix extra spicy.
- Short cut tip: Buy pre cut and pre shredded vegetables for toppings to save time.
- Alternate ingredient: Use tofu or other impossible meat for a vegetarian version.
- Alternate cooking method tip: Cook meat in a crock pot so it stays warm in the slow cooker and people can build their own as they like.
- Types of Tortilla Chips: Cool Ranch doritos, Flaming Hot or any variety you like.
What to Serve on Your Walking Taco Bar
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Taco in a Bag (Walking Tacos)
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Ingredients
- 1 pound Ground beef
- 1 tablespoon Taco seasoning
- ½ cup Water
- 4 Snack size bags Fritos, or Doritos
- Shredded cheddar cheese
- Shredded lettuce
- Diced tomatoes
- Minced green onions
- Black beans
- Salsa
- Sour cream
Instructions
- Brown the ground beef in a skillet over medium high heat.
- Drain off excess fat.
- Add taco seasoning and water; stir to combine.
- Simmer for 5 minutes.
- Remove from heat.
- Open bags of Fritos; squeeze bags to crush the chips.
- Add about 1/4 cup of taco meat to Fritos bag.
- Top with cheese and any other topics you prefer.
Christina’s Notes
- Add Heat: Use your favorite hot sauce to make this recipe extra spicy.
- Short cut tip: Buy pre cut and pre shredded vegetables to save time.
- Variation tip: Feel free to add as many tips as you need in this section
- Alternate ingredient: Use tofu or other impossible meat for a vegetarian version.
- Alternate cooking method tip: Cook meat in a crock pot so it stays warm and people can build their own as they like.
- Types of Chips: Cool Ranch, Flaming Hot or any variety you like.
- Scale the recipe: Simply adjust the serving size in the recipe card and the ingredients will update automatically.
- Make your own All Purpose Seasoning: When a recipe calls for All Purpose Seasoning, you can use my homemade All Purpose Seasoning recipe or substitute salt and pepper to taste.
- Meat doneness: I always use a meat thermometer to test for doneness when cooking meat.
- Use unsalted butter: I use unsalted butter so I can control the salt level in the recipe.
- Preheat the oven: Unless otherwise noted, always preheat your oven before baking.
For more helpful information about this recipe, such as variations, substitutions and other pro-tips, check out the blog post.
Nutrition
The nutritional information provided are estimates. It is recommended that you verify this information with your own trusted resource.
We love honest feedback, but to keep reviews helpful for everyone, we reserve the right to remove star ratings if it is clear the recipe has not been made, if the comment does not provide meaningful input, or if significant substitutions or alterations were made. Please note that ratings should reflect the original recipe as written to avoid confusing other readers.
This recipe is my personal adaption of an ethnic-inspired recipe. It is not intended to be an authentic recipe. I’ve recreated this recipe because I enjoy the flavors and I want to encourage my readers to expand their tastes and try new flavor combinations. The recipe, ingredients, and processes may have been adapted to make the recipe accessible to the average American. I have provided links to authentic versions of the recipe in the post above. I encourage you to visit these pages and learn more about the traditional version(s) of this recipe.
Thank you so much for sharing this very helpful tacos recipe! It tasted really good and super easy to make! Will surely have this again! Highly recommended!
My son loved these. I think I will use them as a birthday party dinner for him and his friends. They are so fun!
Fun, quick, easy and yummy!!!
is the snack size Fritos, 1.3 oz or 2oz bags?