I love a good burger, even if it’s fast food and these viral Smash Burger Tacos capture the essence of one. I feel like the method of cooking the protein along with the condiments really creates the best flavor. These tortilla smash burger tacos are a great creative twist on a burger. I’ve made them for dinner for the family and they gobbled them up as fast as I set the table.
The beef is cooked and seasoned directly on the tortilla, which actually makes it much easier to eat. It’s almost like a taco smash burger. I lay out the toppings buffet style so everyone can use what they like and as much of it as they like. I use everything because I like the creamy and tangy sauce balanced with the sharp onion and juicy tomatoes.
If you like easy and creative burger recipes, you will love Cheeseburger Egg Rolls with Bacon and Double Cheeseburger Pizza.
Why You’ll Love These Smash Tacos
- Easy to make: This is such an easy recipe to prepare. It’s perfect when you don’t feel like cooking!
- Budget-friendly: All of the ingredients are super affordable. This is a great meal on a tight budget.
- Ready in 30 minutes: Including prep and cooking time, these smash tacos will be on the table in less than 30 minutes.
Ingredients
Below is everything you need to make the cheeseburger tacos as well as the homemade burger sauce. It’s optional, but it’s so good!
- Ground beef: I use 80% lean ground beef for most recipes, including this one, because it has a great fat ratio. If you go leaner, I find the beef to become dry faster. If you go less lean, there’s a lot of excess grease.
- Spices: The beef is seasoned simply with garlic powder, salt, and pepper. This is so the tacos aren’t bland but still simple.
- Tortillas: Flour tortillas are best for these smashed tacos. I find that corn tortillas fall apart more easily.
- Cheese: I love the flavor of sharp cheddar here but you can go with classic American slices if you want.
- Toppings: I chose shredded lettuce, pickles, tomatoes, and diced onions. These are traditional burger toppings but you can omit what you don’t like or add additional toppings.
- Mayonnaise: This is the creamy base for the burger sauce.
- Pickles and juice: The combo of chopped pickles and pickle juice adds enough tangy flavor and texture to the sauce.
- Ketchup: For sweetness and acidity. Feel free to use any variety of ketchup that you like.
- Mustard: I feel like adding mustard to the sauce helped it to feel more like a classic cheeseburger.
- Spices: I added garlic powder, onion powder, and black pepper. You may use fresh minced onion instead of onion powder.
See the recipe card below for exact ingredient amounts, nutritional information, and detailed instructions.
Variations
- Pizza Smash Tacos: Spread your favorite marinara sauce after you melt the mozzarella cheese. Finish it with some pepperoni slices.
- Spicy: Trade the cheddar cheese for pepper jack and use jalapenos as a topping to bring the heat.
- Mexican Smash Tacos: Try these hamburger tacos with sliced avocado, sour cream, and pico de gallo or salsa for a Mexican twist.
How to Make Smash Burger Tacos
Here are the instructions on how to make this smash tacos recipe. Preheat your griddle before you make the tacos so it’s nice and hot. This will give you the best crust on the beef!
Step 1: Prep the ingredients and make the sauce. Divide up the beef into six balls and chop up all the veggies. Combine all of the sauce ingredients into a medium bowl. Whisk until they are well mixed and set that aside as well.
Step 2: Add the meat to the tortilla. Add a ball of ground beef to one of the tortillas and press it until it’s flat and covering an entire side of it.
Step 3: Season. Sprinkle salt and pepper over the meat side and place it onto the hot griddle.
Step 4: Cook the burger. Leave the burger face down without touching it for 3 minutes or until the tortilla starts crisping.
Step 5: Flip and add cheese. Flip it tortilla side up and add a slice of cheese. Cook it for an additional 2-3 minutes or until the cheese is melted. Repeat this process for the remaining tacos.
Step 7: Serve. Add your favorite toppings and enjoy!
⭐️ Hint: Prepare all of your toppings and the homemade sauce before you start cooking and store them in the refrigerator until you’re ready to eat.
If you love recipes like this one, you may also enjoy these Big Mac Tacos, Rotisserie Chicken Tacos or our Salsa con Queso.
Serving Suggestions
- Serve them with a side of Air Fryer Steak Fries or tangy Apple Slaw.
- Try these smash tacos with Copycat Big Mac Sauce.
- If you prefer ketchup and mustard on your burger, try Ketchup with Onions and Honey Mustard Dip.
Recipe Tips
- Use a cheese that melts quickly: I use cheddar or American cheese for this recipe. This ensures that it doesn’t cook for too long.
- Not ideal for leftovers: The smash tacos have better texture and flavor when made fresh. They tend to dry out when reheated.
- Prep ahead: The best way to prepare this dish ahead is to make the sauce and chop the produce for the toppings. The actual Big Mac smash tacos are best cooked fresh.
Recipe FAQs
Any ground meat may be used for these tacos. Ground turkey or chicken are fine just don't overcook them. A vegan meatless option like Impossible Meat works great as well.
Of course. If you don’t have a griddle, cook these on a skillet. Just don't crowd it. Cook them in small batches if needed.
I don't recommend saving leftovers, especially in the freezer. They don’t reheat well.
Video
More Delicious Taco Recipes
Do you like tacos of all types? Here are some taco recipes you may also like to try!
Ready to get cooking? Remember that you can print this recipe if you would like.
Smash Burger Tacos
Ingredients
- 1 pound fresh ground beef
- ½ teaspoon garlic powder
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon black pepper
- 6 6-inch flour tortillas
- 6 slices sharp cheddar cheese
- shredded lettuce
- sliced pickles
- diced tomatoes
- ½ cup diced onions *optional
Smash Burger Taco Sauce:
- ½ cup mayonnaise
- 2 tablespoons finely diced pickles can substitute relish
- 1 tablespoon pickle juice Can substitute vinegar If you like a thicker sauce use less pickle juice.
- 1 tablespoon ketchup
- ¼ teaspoon yellow mustard
- ¼ teaspoon garlic powder
- ¼ teaspoon onion powder can substitute fresh minced onion
- ¼ teaspoon black pepper
Instructions
- Preheat a griddle or large nonstick skillet to medium heat.
- Divide the ground beef into 6 equal portions and form them each into a ball.
- Chop up any burger toppings that you would like to use and set aside. We used diced tomatoes, shredded lettuce, and pickle chips.
- Prepare the smash burger sauce. Mix the mayonnaise, finely diced pickles, ketchup mustard, garlic powder, onion powder, and black pepper until combined. Set aside.
- Place a tortilla on a plate and a meat ball on top of the tortilla. Press the meat down to cover the entire tortilla using your hands or the back of a large spoon. Season the meat with salt, pepper, and garlic powder.
- Place tortilla meat side down on the preheated griddle. Cook for about 3 minutes. You will notice the tortilla starting to get crispy.
- Flip the tortilla, add a cheese slice over the meat, and cook the other side for another 2-3 until the cheese has melted.
- Top with your favorite toppings and drizzle with the smash burger sauce. Serve warm!
Video
Notes
- Use a cheese that melts quickly: I use cheddar or American cheese for this recipe. This ensures that it doesn’t cook for too long.
- Not ideal for leftovers: The smash tacos have better texture and flavor when made fresh. They tend to dry out when reheated.
- Prep ahead: The best way to prepare this dish ahead is to make the sauce and chop the produce for the toppings. The actual Big Mac smash tacos are best cooked fresh.
Leave a Reply