11 Best Leftover Taco Meat Recipes

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Who doesn’t love a good Taco Tuesday? But what do you do when Wednesday comes, and you have a bunch of leftover taco meat? You get ideas from this list of leftover taco meat recipes!

When you have meat that is already seasoned with taco seasoning, you have to find ways to use it for recipes that flavor works with. From tacos to burritos to casseroles and more, there’s no shortage of possibilities when it comes to spicing up your taco leftovers! You could always make traditional tacos again, but if you would rather do something different, try one of these leftover taco meat ideas!

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 with a base of crescent roll dough layered with taco-seasoned meat, cheese, and baked in a casserole dish. It is typically served topped with sour cream, guacamole, and fresh salsa but you can use any traditional taco toppings you like!

You can also make a taco tot casserole with crispy tater tots on top, so delicious!

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. Nachos

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 verde or homemade 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. Quesadillas

A quesadilla is a super-easy recipe. Simply layer 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.

11. Queso Dip

Leftover taco meat can easily be added to our famous spicy queso dip, which is always the hit of the party when we serve it up. Simply replace some of the ground beef or sausage with the taco beef as you are assembling the dip in the slow cooker.