Recipe Overview
Why you’ll love it: Taco cups are the perfect way to jazz up your Taco Tuesday routine! Fill crispy wonton wrappers with seasoned ground beef and tomatoes, then let your family add their favorite toppings. Taco cups are a quick and easy dinner that kids love. They make a great appetizer, too.
How long it takes: 40 minutes (but only 20 minutes is hands-on)
Equipment you’ll need: muffin tin, skillet
Servings: makes 18 taco cups
When you’re the parent of a picky eater, if you find something your kid will actually eat, you latch onto it and ride that horse until it will ride no more. Oh, you like tacos? Then you’ll also eat chicken taco soup, taco turkey burgers, and taco cups!
That’s how these taco cups were born, but whether or not you have a picky eater in the house (I have a VERY picky eater), you’re going to love them. Swapping the tortillas for wonton wrappers gives them an extra-crispy shell but the seasoned ground beef filling sticks with tradition—well, American taco tradition, at least.
My family devours taco cups for dinner or a hearty snack but they’re also a great appetizer, especially for game day get-togethers. Serve taco cups alongside other Tex-Mex faves like guacamole and restaurant style salsa, both of which complement the taco cups and double as toppings!
Reasons To Love These Taco Cups
- Highly customizable. Kids love any dinner where they can add their own toppings and this is a big part of the appeal of these taco cups. Set up a topping bar on the countertop and let your kids go to town!
- Easy to make. These taco cups require just 20 minutes of hands-on time so they’re fantastic for weeknight dinners. The ingredient list for them is short, too. If you make chicken enchiladas verde for dinner the next night, you can get two meals out of the toppings you buy!
- Super crispy. My original version of this taco cups recipe used tortillas, but I realized that swapping in wonton wrappers resulted in a much crispier shell. Bonus: Wonton wrappers are exactly the right size so there’s no trimming or cutting.
Cooking Tip
When I only want to buy enough toppings for a single recipe without any leftovers, I like to hit up the salad bar at the supermarket. I can grab exactly as much lettuce, tomatoes, and olives as I need.
Ingredient Notes
Refer to the recipe card below for specific measurements, instructions, and nutrition information in a printable format.
- Wonton Wrappers: You can usually find these in the grocery store refrigerated case near the tofu. This case is often in the produce section.
- Ground Meat: You can use either lean ground beef or ground turkey.
- Diced Tomatoes With Green Chiles: A common brand name you may be familiar with is Ro-Tel. This adds zippy flavor and makes the seasoned taco filling a bit saucier.
- Taco Seasoning: Buy a packet or use homemade taco seasoning.
- Mexican Blend Shredded Cheese: You can use any cheese you like or happen to have in your fridge for topping your tacos.
- Toppings: Shredded lettuce, sliced scallions, diced tomatoes, salsa, sour cream, avocado, etc. Anything you put on tacos is good on taco cups too! Pickled red onions are always a good choice!
How To Make Taco Cups
Prep shells. Preheat your oven to 375ºF and coat a muffin tin with nonstick cooking spray. Place a wonton wrapper in each cup of the muffin pan.
Prep filling. Brown the meat in a skillet, breaking it up into crumbles as you go; this should take about 10 minutes. Drain the grease, if needed. Stir in the tomatoes and taco seasoning, then continue to cook until most of the liquid is absorbed.
Remove the meat mixture from the heat and stir in 1 cup of cheese.
Fill cups. Spoon about 1 tablespoon of the meat mixture on top of each wonton. Add a second wonton on top and press down. Divide the remaining filling over the second wonton layer.
Top with cheese. Sprinkle each cup with the remaining cheese.
Bake until crispy. Bake for 8 to 10 minutes, or until the cheese is melted and the wonton wrapper is crispy around the edges. Remove the taco cups from the muffin tin and add your favorite toppings!
Recipe Variations
- Use tortillas. Cut tortillas into 4-inch rounds with a biscuit cutter or round cookie cutter. Press them into muffin tins. Instead of doing a double layer, divide the filling evenly between the cups.
- Make vegetarian taco cups. Make the recipe as written, but swap in your favorite plant-based meat for the ground meat. Instant Pot refried beans or even canned refried beans are another option.
- Try mini taco cups. For bite-sized appetizers, trim down the wonton wrappers and make these in a mini muffin tin.
What To Serve With Taco Cups
- Tex-Mex sides: Try cilantro lime rice, Mexican rice, or Instant Pot corn on the cob with southwest spice blend.
- Homemade salsas: A tasty topping for any taco recipe! I love this black bean corn salsa with ground beef tacos but chipotle salsa is fantastic too.
- Simple salads: Mango slaw or black bean avocado salad both pair well with Tex-Mex flavors.
- Go-along appetizers: For a southwestern-themed get-together, serve taco cups along with stuffed mini sweet peppers (like jalapeño poppers without the heat), Mexicali dip, jalapeño popper dip, or my ultimate 7 layer dip.
Prepare the filling up to 2 days ahead of time, then assemble and bake the taco cups when you’re ready.
Store leftover taco cups (store toppings separately) in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 3 days. They won’t be as crispy but they’ll still be delicious!
Reheat leftover taco cups in a 350ºF oven until warmed through, or in the air fryer or microwave. Add desired toppings.
More Taco Recipes
Taco Cups
Ingredients
- 36 wonton wrappers (see note)
- 1 pound lean ground beef or ground turkey
- 1 can (10 oz.) diced tomatoes with green chiles (such as Ro-Tel)
- 1 package (1 oz.) taco seasoning (or 3 to 4 tablespoons homemade taco seasoning)
- 1 ½ cups Mexican blend shredded cheese, divided
- toppings: shredded lettuce, sliced scallions, diced tomatoes, salsa, sour cream, avocado
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375ºF.
- Spray an 18 cup muffin tin (see note) with nonstick cooking spray. Place a wonton wrapper in each cup of the muffin tin. You'll use the remaining wonton wrappers for the second layer.36 wonton wrappers
- In a large frying pan, cook the ground beef or turkey, breaking it up into crumbles, until browned and cooked through, about 10 minutes. Drain grease if necessary.1 pound lean ground beef or ground turkey
- Add tomatoes and taco seasoning, stir to combine. Continue to cook until most of the liquid is absorbed.1 can (10 oz.) diced tomatoes with green chiles, 1 package (1 oz.) taco seasoning
- Remove from heat. Stir in 1 cup cheese.1 ½ cups Mexican blend shredded cheese, divided
- Place about 1 tablespoon of meat mixture on top of each wonton. Add a second wonton and press down. Divide remaining filling up on top of the second wonton wrapper. Sprinkle each cup with the remaining cheese
- Bake for 8 to 10 minutes or until cheese is melted and wonton wrapper is crispy around the edges.
- Carefully pop taco cups out of the tins and serve with all your favorite taco toppings!toppings:
Notes
- Pan notes: If you don’t have an 18 cup muffin tin, you can use any combination you have, such as three 6 cup muffin tins, one 12 cup with one 6 cup, etc. If you don’t have enough muffin tins, bake the taco cups in batches.
- With tortillas: If you want to use tortillas instead of wonton wrappers, cut large tortillas into rounds about 4-inches in diameter. Press into muffin tins. Instead of doing a double layer, simply divide up the filling evenly between the cups. Baking time remains the same.
- Vegetarian taco cups: Omit ground beef. Fill the taco cups with refried beans and shredded cheese instead. Bake as directed.
- Nutrition information is calculated for 1 taco cup made with 90/10 ground beef and does not include toppings.
- This recipe was originally posted as a vegetarian taco cup. Retested and revised 3/2024.
Video
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Did You Make This?Share a comment and rating below! I love hearing what you think!
I LIKE THE IDEA,,USEING MUFFIN TINS,, A PARTY TIT BIT….I WILL TRY IT..
I hope you love them!
I’m such a fan of bite-sized food!
Love this idea. I will have to check to see if Azteca makes any gluten-free tortillas so I can make these!
Oh yum! This sound so good and is almost like a nacho cup too! I can’t wait to try these, Rachel!
This is right up my alley! Although I would have to fight for them, my boys would make them disappear in 2 seconds.
I have evenings like that at least once a week, and I don’t have two toddlers. LOL. It just happens. Little cups like this of any sort are one of my favorite things, and I’m thinking the tortilla scraps left over after you cut out the rounds could be use for chillaquiles!
These little cups are so cute and the tortillas baked in the muffin tin is a clever idea. Also, these being veggie, they are definitely on the cards!
Oh yeah, I’m definitely putting these on the rotation. I’m in a dinner rut and am in need of new ideas.
yummy
These are the cutest dinner ever! Great for Meatless Monday!