Taco Pasta! Change it up on Taco Tuesday with this dish. Use Egg Noodles or other short Pasta with Taco Seasoned Ground Beef and Sauce.
Taco Pasta in One Pot
This is a dish where you can do it Hamburger Helper style. The extra starch that comes off the pasta will assist in thickening the sauce as well. You start off with more liquid than you would if boiling separately.
When the Pasta is almost done, you can raise the heat to Max to evaporate any excess water and reduce the Sauce and concentrate the Flavors. It looks like a lot of liquid, but it does reduce and the flavors concentrate. Creating a nice sauce thickened slightly by the pasta. However, you can run into complications if not done correctly and requires a bit more effort.
If you choose to go by this method. Follow these instructions
- Add 3 Cups Of Water along with the other liquids and Pasta after the Ground Meat is cooked.
- Bring to boil, reduce the heat and cover. Keep at a simmer, mixing once in a while. Add more water if necessary.
- When the Pasta is almost done. Remove the cover and turn the heat up to max to reduce the sauce. Mix it often and add more Liquid if necessary until the Pasta is tender.
- It’s a balance of the amount of liquid and evaporation and the time it takes for the pasta to become tender. For this reason the recipe below boils the pasta separately.
Ground Beef Texture
If you want the Taco meat like a refried bean texture. Add 1/2 C Water or Stock to 1 lb of Ground Beef and Mix really well prior to cooking. Cook in a sauce pot on medium-high, mixing once in a while to keep the Ground meat in small re-fried bean texture. Once the water has evaporated. Then proceed to cook as you normally would for Taco Meat.
Taco Meat
Variations
There are so many combinations you can do with this.
- Use Seasoned Cooked Pulled Pork, Chicken or Pork instead of Ground Beef
- Re-fried Beans added to the sauce at the end.
- Adding Red Taco Sauce in place of Tomato Juice or on top of the pasta.
- Cheddar Cheese for a cheesy Taco Pasta
- Taco Chip Dip for a creamy Taco Pasta, added at the end.
- Place into an Au Gratin Dish with Cheese On top for a Pasta Bake Taco.
- Swap out the Egg Noodle Pasta with other Short Pastas.
- Crushed Nachos or Hard Shell Tacos on top
Added Vegetables
Chop up some vegetables like Onions, Tomatoes, Garlic, Peppers, etc. And Cook along with the Ground Beef.
Taco Pasta Vegetables
Toppings
Top off with some Sour Cream, Guacamole, Cheese, Tortilla Chips. Drizzle sauce on top. Use Cilantro Cream Sauce, Red Taco Sauce.
Equipment
- 1 Large pot or Wok with Lid
Ingredients
- 1 Pack Egg Noodles
- 1 lbs Ground Beef
- 1 Pck Taco Seasoning - depending on taste you can add more at the end.
- 1 C Pork Broth or other Broth
- 3/4 C Tomato Juice
- 1/2 C Salsa - or more
- 1/4 C Sour Cream or more
Instructions
- Combine the Tomato Juice and Broth into a bowl and set aside.
- Boil the Pasta separately according to instructions. Cool Down with Cold water to stop the cooking process and Strain.
- Brown Ground Beef over medium heat in a sauce pot. Add Taco Seasoning and Cook 30 seconds.
- Add Liquids, mix well and scrape the bottom of the Pot. Turn the heat up to Max and bring to boil. Reduce the sauce until desired consistency. This will also concentrate the Flavors.
- Stir in Pasta, Salsa & Sour Cream and remove from heat. Adjust the Seasoning & Serve.