Mexican Taco Cups
These Mexican Taco Cups are quick and easy to assemble and just plain fun! Crispy wonton taco shells are filled with delicious taco meat and topped with melted cheese plus all of your favorite taco toppings. Serve these as an easy appetizer or fun dinner for taco night.
These Mexican Wonton Taco cups are a fun twist on traditional tacos. The meat is cooked with the perfect combination of spices and mixed with beef stock and tomato paste to give it an extra boost of flavor. You then take wonton shells, line a muffin tin, fill them with the mixture, and top them with your favorite toppings. The result is golden brown and crunchy mini taco cups that are so unbelievably addictive you’ll have a hard time not eating them all yourself. My kids love these crunchy tacos so much, so I love to make them whenever I get the chance because I know they’ll be devoured. I love to serve these crunchy taco cups with homemade guacamole and fresh salsa.
Why You Will Love These Mexican Taco Cups
- These quick and easy mini tacos can be ready to serve in 30 minutes or less.
- This is a great appetizer to feed a crowd or serve as part of a game day spread
- The simple ingredients for these little taco cups can be found at any local grocery store.
- These taco cups are so much fun to eat! If you are a fan of finger food, these Mexican cups should be top of your list to try.
- Make a double batch of these easy taco cups! This crowd favorite will get devoured every time
- You can make the crispy wonton shells with the ground beef and leave a selection of toppings for everyone to
- You can easily meal prep all the components early in the week and assemble them when ready to serve.
Ingredients You Will Need To Make These Mexican Taco Cups
- Olive oil: Olive oil is a great neutral oil for this recipe, but you can also use avocado oil or refined coconut oil.
- Ground beef: I prefer high-quality, organic, lean ground beef for this recipe. You could also use ground turkey or ground chicken.
- Seasonings: Chili powder, ground cumin, dried oregano, garlic powder, sea salt, and black pepper make the perfect, classic spice combination.
- Beef stock: I love to use homemade beef stock if I have any on hand, but store-bought is just as amazing. You could also use beef broth if you don’t have stock on hand.
- Tomato paste: This works to thicken everything a bit when added in with the beef stock and adds an acidic punch to everything.
- Wonton wrappers: Wonton wrappers are traditionally made with wheat flour, but you can buy gluten-free wonton wrappers.
- Toppings: I love to go simple with shredded cheddar cheese or Mexican cheese blend, sour cream, diced tomatoes, and scallions, but you can use your favorite taco toppings and have fun with it. You could also use a variety of toppings like fresh cilantro, fresh pico de gallo, black olives, refried beans and more.
You can find detailed step-by-step instructions in the recipe card below
Kitchen Tools You Need
These are the kitchen tools that you need to make these wonton tacos:
- Frying Pan or Pot
- Measuring Cups
- Measuring Spoons
- Muffin Tray
How To Make These Mexican Taco Cups
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Add a bit of olive oil to your hot pan in a large skillet on medium heat and saute the ground beef, breaking it into a crumbly consistency with a wooden spoon. After 4 minutes of cooking, add all of the spices plus the tomato paste and beef stock and continue to cook until the beef is browned and there is no excess liquid in the bottom of the pan.
- Using nonstick cooking spray, lightly grease 12 cups of a muffin tray. Press a wonton wrapper into each cup, and then place a second wonton wrapper into the cup, ensuring that the two squares don’t line up perfectly (so that the eight corners don’t overlap and create a secure cup to hold the filling). Press down so both wonton wrappers tightly fit into the muffin cup.
- Place a spoonful of the ground beef mixture in each of the muffin cups. Top with a sprinkle of grated cheese and then transfer to the oven to bake for 10-12 minutes until the wonton cups are golden brown in color and crispy and the cheese has melted.
- Serve the taco cups topped with a dollop of sour cream, a sprinkle of diced tomatoes, and chopped scallions/green onions.
How To Modify These Mexican Taco Cups
This is a great recipe that can be modified to everyone’s tastes for the best crispy taco cups. You can make a great topping bar to make this easy dinner that much better.
- Use shredded chicken for chicken tacos instead of ground beef, or use ground turkey or ground chicken.
- Add diced onions with your meat or add diced fresh yellow onion or red onion on top.
- You can make these even more bite-sized by using a try for mini muffins
- Serve with your favorite dipping sauce, like salsa, guacamole, or your favorite hot sauce.
Dietary Customizations
This recipe can easily be modified to accommodate the following diets:
- Gluten Free: use gluten-free wonton wraps or you can swap the wonton wrappers for gluten free tortillas (such as almond flour or corn tortillas). They won’t get as crispy as the wonton wrappers but will do a great job of holding all of the filling.
- Dairy Free: Swap the cheese for your favorite dairy free cheese.
- Paleo: Use a paleo tortilla (such as siete) in place of the wonton wrappers and skip the cheese topping.
- Vegetarian: There are lots of different types of vegetarian ground meat that you can find in most stores. Simply swap the ground beef for the same amount of vegetarian ground meat and use the same spices specified in the recipe.
Can I Make These Mexican Taco Cups in Advance?
This is a great meal prep recipe. The best thing to do with this is to do all the prep work with the components and store them in separate airtight containers in the fridge until you’re ready to assemble everything. Brown the meat, chop the tomatoes and scallions, and if you’re adding more to it, make your guacamole, salsa, black beans, slice your lime wedges, and more.
What About Leftovers?
If you happen to have any leftover wonton tacos, you can store them in an airtight container in the fridge for 2-3 days. You do risk having a soggy bottom of the wrappers when storing, so it is best to reheat these in your air fryer at 350 degrees for 5 to 7 minutes or in the oven at 350 degrees for 10-15 minutes.
Here are a few more finger food recipes you might enjoy:
- Whipped Ricotta Dip with Hot Honey
- Prosciutto, Pear and Gargonzola Bites
- Balsamic Zucchini and Pepper Crostini
- Thai Fish Cakes
- Jalapeno Cottage Cheese Dip
If you make these wonton tacos let me know in the comment section below, I would love to hear what you think or take a photo and tag me (@everylastbite_) on Instagram, I love seeing your photos!
Wonton Taco Cups
Ingredients
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 1 lbs lean ground beef
- 1 tsp chili powder
- 2 tsp cumin
- ½ tsp oregano
- ½ tsp garlic powder
- ½ tsp salt
- ½ tsp black pepper
- ¼ cup beef stock
- 2 tbsp tomato paste
- 24 wonton wrappers
- Cooking spray
- ¾ cup shredded cheddar cheese
Toppings
- ⅓ cup sour cream
- ¼ cup diced tomatoes
- 3 tbsp chopped scallions
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 400 degrees fahrenheit
- In a skillet on medium heat, add the olive oil and once hot, saute the ground beef, while using a wooden spoon to break the beef up into a crumbly consistency. After 4 minutes of cooking add in all of the spices plus the tomato paste and beef stock and continue to cook until the beef is browned and there is no excess liquid in the bottom of the pan.
- Using cooking spray lightly grease 12 cups of a muffin tray. Press a wonton wrapper into each cup, and then place a second wonton wrapper into the cup ensuring that the two squares don’t line up perfectly (so that the 8 corners don’t overlap and create a secure cup to hold the filling). And press down so both wonton wrappers tightly fit into the muffin cup.
- Place a spoonful of the ground beef mixture in each of the muffin cups. Top with a sprinkle of grated cheese and then transfer to the oven to bake for 10-12 minutes until the wonton is golden brown in color and crispy and the cheese has melted.
- Serve the taco cups topped with a dollop of sour cream, sprinkle of diced tomatoes and chopped scallions.
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