11 Best Leftover Taco Meat Recipes

1. Taco salad

Taco salad is a great leftover ground taco meat recipe because it hardly requires any cooking if the meat is already cooked, so it makes an easy meal.

Just reheat the meat, toast up your taco salad shells in the oven for that nice crunch, and add your salad mix and toppings of your choice. If you want to add traditional taco salad toppings, sauté some onions and green peppers, and add fresh tomatoes, taco sauce, sour cream, and guacamole.

2. Cheesy taco pasta

Cheesy taco pasta is your favorite taco flavor in a filling and super satisfying cheesy pasta dish! It consists of cooked pasta, your leftover taco meat, maybe a little extra taco seasoning, fresh tomatoes, black beans, and cheese. You can serve it with sour cream, guacamole, and tortilla chips, or just eat it as is with nothing else. Try our taco macaroni recipe.

3. Taco soup

Make some taco soup with leftover taco meat, tomatoes, chilies, beans, and other Mexican-inspired ingredients. It is usually served with tortilla chips, shredded cheese, sour cream, and other garnishes.

4. Taco casserole

Who doesn’t love a casserole? They’re so easy, and this one is even easier since you already have your cooked taco meat!

Taco casserole is a dish made from layers of flour tortillas or tortilla chips, taco-seasoned meat, cheese, and other ingredients, like refried beans, tomatoes, onions, peppers, and black olives, all baked in a casserole dish. It is typically served topped with sour cream, guacamole, and fresh salsa.

5. Taco Mac & Cheese

This is a delicious way to use leftover taco meat, and it can be as simple as combining your leftover taco meat with some gooey mac and cheese. If you want to get a little fancier, you can bake homemade mac and cheese and taco meat together for a twist on baked mac and cheese. 

6. Taco nachos

Taco nachos are such a great way to use that leftover meat on busy weeknights. I like to warm up tortilla chips in the oven, then top them with queso and all your favorite taco toppings like lettuce, sour cream, black beans, tomatoes, green onions, and a little salsa or guacamole. The whole family will love this as a meal or even a snack for movie night!

7. Taco stuffed peppers

Taco stuffed peppers are a super easy dinner recipe! Stuff a green, red, or orange bell pepper with leftover taco meat, black beans, diced tomatoes, corn, and shredded cheese. They can also include other ingredients such as onion, garlic powder, bell peppers, and olives.

8. Cheesy taco quesadillas

A taco quesadilla is a super easy recipe. It combines two popular Mexican dishes with great taco flavor. It is made by layering a flour tortilla with taco-seasoned meat, cheese, and sometimes salsa, and then topping it with another tortilla, and then cooking it in a pan until the cheese is melted and the tortillas are golden brown and crispy.

9. Baked taco eggrolls

These are really fun and different ways to use taco meat leftovers! You probably never thought you’d put a Mexican spin on eggrolls, but you’ll be surprised how delicious these are!

You can make them as a meal or snack. Just combine taco-seasoned meat, cheese, and salsa in an eggroll wrapper, then bake them in the oven until they’re golden brown. You could dip them in sour cream, salsa, or guacamole!

10. Taco dip

Taco dip is a great recipe for an appetizer or snack! It’s made with layers of refried beans, taco meat, cheese, salsa, and sour cream. Serve it with tortilla chips or corn chips.