Although they may be small, these Loaded Taco Bites are bursting with flavor! These fun and festive beef taco appetizers are perfect for game day or a party.
SAVE THIS RECIPE!
Enter your email below and we’ll send this recipe straight to your inbox.
Taco Bites Appetizer: A Cinco De Mayo Snack
While this finger food may not exactly be authentic Mexican cuisine, it’s still a great snack for Cinco de Mayo, a holiday most commonly seen as a celebration of Mexican culture in the United States.
What many US Americans don’t know is that Cinco de Mayo is not actually Mexico’s Independence Day, but rather a commemoration of their unlikely victory against the French during the Battle of Puebla in 1861. While it’s a fairly small holiday in Mexico, the United States celebrates Cinco de Mayo with Mexican (and Mexican American) food, drinks, music, and cultural parades.
Why This Mini Taco Bite Recipe is a Keeper
These homemade taco bites are the perfect appetizer for game day or your next party. Just like a full-sized taco, these little bites are made with beef, cheese, and all your favorite toppings.
- Make Ahead: You can make this easy taco bites appetizer ahead of time. Just fill the phyllo tarts with beef and refrigerate, then bake and top when you’re ready to serve them.
- Easy Ingredients: All of the ingredients can likely be found in your pantry or fridge.
- Party Favorite: Mini taco bites are a fun party food that will be gobbled up at your next party or gathering.
If you’re looking for more taco recipes, try these: Carnitas Pulled Pork Tacos, Instant Pot Chicken Tacos, and Black Bean Taco Stuffed Peppers.
With over 200 easy and delicious dinner ideas, you'll never have to worry about what to make for dinner again.
How Far in Advance Can I Make Taco Bites?
You can make these appetizers about a week in advance by filling the dough shells and refrigerating them. Just make sure to add the rest of the toppings right before baking.
Taco Bite Ingredients
This easy to prepare appetizer can be made with leftover taco meat. They are easy to eat and feel free to use any type of meat you enjoy in traditional taco.
- Taco Meat: 80/20 ground beef works best for this recipe, meaning it’s 80% lean and 20% fat.
- Taco Seasoning: Try making our taco seasoning recipe or use your favorite recipe for taco meat.
- Phyllo Shells: While tacos are typically made with flour tortillas or corn tortillas, this recipe uses phyllo shells, which you can bake in the oven. Fill these dough shells with the ingredients, then bake them.
See the recipe card below for a complete list of the ingredients with measurements.
Variations and Substitutions for Taco Cups with Taco Meat for this Party Food
- Tostitos Scoops Tortilla Chips: Instead of phyllo shells, you can fill tostitos Scoops chips with the taco ingredients for a crunchy variation on these mini bites.
- Muffin Tin: Instead of a baking sheet, you can bake these bite-sized homemade tacos in a mini muffin tin.
- Fillings and Toppings: Fill and top these taco little bites with whatever you want. Some ideas include cilantro, black olives, and chopped onion. As for the cheese, use Mexican blend cheese, cheddar cheese, or pepper jack cheese.
- Ground Turkey: Ground turkey is a healthier alternative to beef for these mini tacos.
- Make Taco Shells: Make your own shells with wonton wrappers or cut flour tortillas into bite-sized form or use a cookie cutter to cut. Place small pieces into the opening of a mini muffin pan, brush both sides with oil and bake.
How to Make Mini Taco Bites
SAVE THIS RECIPE!
Enter your email below and we’ll send this recipe straight to your inbox.
These are the basic steps for making loaded taco bites. Refer to the full, printable recipe card below for detailed instructions.
Step 1: Cook Ground Beef and Break Beef into Small Pieces
Add ground beef to a large skillet over medium heat, along with diced onions and garlic. Simmer until no longer pink and stir to combine.
Step 2: Add Taco Sauce
Stir in taco sauce. You can use hot or mild taco sauce for this step, cook over medium-high heat.
Step 3: Season
Add taco seasoning, cumin, salt, and pepper.
Step 4: Fill Phyllo Shells
Place phyllo shells on a prepared baking sheet and fill them with cooked ground beef.
Step 5: Bake
Place shredded Mexican cheese on top of the taco filling and bake.
Step 6: Top
Top each bite with the rest of your toppings, such as lettuce, tomatoes, and sour cream.
Favorite Taco Bites Frequently Asked Questions
Expert Tips for Making Easy Taco Bites
Everyone will be thanking you for sharing this delectable appetizer. A pound of ground beef and a few other bits and you are the hero of the party.
- Freeze Extras: Keep these delicious beef taco bites on hand by freezing them. Simply prepare them to the point where you’re ready to bake them. Instead of baking, pop them in the freezer. When you’re ready to eat them, simply bake as many as you’d like and top with your favorite taco toppings.
- Get Creative with Toppings: Shredded lettuce, diced tomatoes, and sour cream are classic, but you can also top them with your favorite avocado guacamole, refried beans, or jalapenos.
- Diced Shrimp: Try replacing the ground beef with diced shrimp.
What to Serve with Loaded Taco Bites
Loaded Taco Bites
Ingredients
- 12 ounces Ground beef
- ½ cup Onion, chopped
- 1 teaspoon Garlic, minced
- ½ cup Taco sauce
- ½ teaspoon Ground cumin
- ¼ teaspoon All Purpose Seasoning Blend
- 30 Mini phyllo shells
- ½ cup Mexican cheese blend, shredded
Toppings:
- ¼ cup Lettuce, chopped
- ¼ cup Guacamole
- 1/4` cup Sour Cream
- 10 Black Olives, chopped
- 15 Cherry Tomatoes, sliced
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F.
- Heat large nonstick skillet over medium heat.
- Add ground beef, onion and garlic in large nonstick skillet over medium heat 8 to 10 minutes, breaking up beef into small crumbles and stirring occasionally.
- Add taco sauce, cumin, salt and pepper; cook and stir 1 to 2 minutes or until mixture is heated through.
- Place frozen phyllo shells on rimmed baking sheet.
- Spoon beef mixture evenly into shells; Top with cheese.
- Bake 9 to 10 minutes or until shells are crisp and cheese is melted.
- Top tarts with your favorite taco toppings such as lettuce, tomatoes, guacamole, sour cream, and olives, as desired.
Expert Tips
- Freeze Extras: Keep these delicious beef taco bites on hand by freezing them. Simply prepare them to the point where you’re ready to bake them. Instead of baking, pop them in the freezer. When you’re ready to eat them, simply bake as many as you’d like and top with your favorite taco toppings.
- Get Creative with Toppings: Lettuce, tomato, and sour cream are classic, but you can also add guacamole, black olives, jalapenos, or any of your other favorite taco toppings.
- Diced Shrimp: Try replacing the ground beef with diced shrimp.
Nice recipe
Thanks
Super easy to make! My kids LOVED these. Thanks for the recipe!
I absolutely love how convenient this is! And who doesn’t love tacos?
These beef taco tarts are my new favorite go-to party food recipe. This is so easy to make and they literally fly off the plate!! Thanks for a great recipe!
This sounds like a delicious Latin alternative to pizza rolls. What a yummy twist!
Oh my gosh, my mouth was watering from the very first picture! I am putting these on my menu for this week!
Love how convenient these are! Made them for a party and it was a hit.
What a fun recipe, and so cute. These are perfect for football Sunday!
Bite-sized tacos — genuis! Perfect party food. Thanks for the recipe!
This looks good and easy to make. Making this recipe this weekend.