Crockpot Taco Meat – This taco meat makes dinner super simple! Only a handful of ingredients for delicious taco meat made right in the slow cooker and ready to go at supper time!
Whew, you guys! We just got back from our trip to Chicago really late on Sunday night. Ok, fine, it was 10:00.
BUT it felt soooo much later after a busy weekend and a long day of travel. Know what I mean?
We had a blast – it was the kiddos first time in Chicago and they absolutely loved everything about it.
Basically, we just did all the touristy stuff possible. We also ate A LOT of delicious food.
I was really hoping to take the kids to swim in Lake Michigan, but it was surprisingly cool while we were there!
Of course snap back to reality that it is actually July when we got back to Kansas and 100 degree, humid, sweaty weather.
Back to reality also means a heap and a half of laundry to do after our trip, and just getting caught up on everything work/life related in general.
So, here I was all sad on Monday because I had to cook dinner and I really just wanted one more slice of Chicago deep dish pizza.
No pizza for me.
That’s ok. This taco meat is delicious and saves my life when I really am just so busy that cooking is an afterthought.
And everyone in my house loves tacos, so no complaining, woohoo!
Let’s get down to taco meat business (taco meat business, what??) shall we?
I make two pounds of meat at a time. This gets the four of us two meals, so we usually do tacos one night, then another night during the week we can do burritos, nachos, taco salad – use your imagination!
I like my taco meat to have a little garlic flavor, hence the garlic powder. It’s not a requirement at all for this recipe if you want to leave it out and keep it even more simple.
I use the leanest ground beef I can get my hands on for this recipe. But, you’ll notice that the mixture is somewhat liquidy when it’s finished cooking because of the salsa.
That’s ok, just drain it in a colander, put it back in the crockpot on warm until you’re ready to eat. Just don’t rinse the meat or you’ll take all that tasty flavor away!
Enjoy!
~Nichole
Crockpot Taco Meat
Ingredients
- 2 Pounds Lean Ground Beef
- 1 Teaspoon Garlic Powder
- 2 Packages Taco Seasoning, About 4 Tablespoons
- 2 Cups Salsa
Instructions
- Place ground beef into slow cooker. Top with the taco seasoning, garlic powder, and salsa. Cover and cook on low for 6 hours or high for 3 hours.
- When the meat is finished cooking, drain any liquid from the crockpot and break up the beef as desired with a fork.
- Serve with your favorite taco shells, burrito shells, tortilla chips, and toppings!
Love, love, love this recipe!!!!! And so easy. Yummy reminds me of our favorite Mexican restaurant. I’ve made it at home for my husband and I, then freeze the leftovers. We have a family vacation planned and this is definitely on the menu. Perfect for dinner after a day on the beach.
Hi,
Can I cook this on low heat for 8 hours? Or should I stick to the 4 hours on high?
I cooked this on low overnight for 8hrs and it was perfect. This was so delicious. I will definitely be making this again.
What about 8lbs and no salsa??? My son loves tacos but not salsa ..
I hate salsa, but this was delicious! I did drain the extra salsa after it was cooked.
Can u cook the meat in the skillet to speed the process ?
Yes 🙂
This was amazing! In the future, do you think you can freeze this afterwards? Two pounds is a lot for us to eat.
This turned out great and received rave reviews from my family. Will definitely do it this way again. For our taste, I did add about a teaspoon or more of onion powder and, yes, added about 1/4 cup of water. I had halved the recipe, so it was really thickening up at the bottom of the slow cooker. The water thinned it out, and the taste was still delicious. Thanks to The Salty Marshmallow for posting such a great recipe!
Nicole,
Can you please tell me how I would alter the recipe for 4lbs of ground beef please? Thank you!
You can change the number of servings above the recipe, that will change the requirements for all ingredients automatically.
For 4lbs you would select 16 servings
Just double all of the ingredients.
A Great tasting recipe, my local Walmart had 4lbs of ground beef for sale, can cook up enough for a party
How did you alter the recipe for the 4 lbs of meat did you just double the other ingredients? TIA
Thanks so much for your recipe. I used it to cook for 10 people to have for dinner after footy training. I put on when I got home from work then it was ready and waiting when all the kids got home training. I found it so easy, quick and was delicious. I used 2kg of mince (4 pounds) 2 packets of taco seasoning and two jars of taco sauce! I have leftovers which I have frozen for another meal! I will never use the fry pan again! Thanks again for making dinner for a busy mum a breeze. ☺️
What kind of taco sauce?
Would frozen meat work too
I’m sure it would. I cook from frozen all the time.
Can I put frozen hamburger in the crockpot and start from there? Think it would work?
Looks great! Any idea if this works with ground turkey, too?
any recipe that uses ground beef you can substitute ground turkey for.
How much salsa should you use?
1 cup per pound
Can I mix in raw beef and pork together or would that be a health concern? Cuz normally I fry up beef and pork together and do it with the taco seasoning but I want to try the Crock-Pot. Do you think that I should just do the beef and then prep the pork later and add it all together or would it be okay to cook them both together in a Crock-Pot with the seasoning and salsa?
We just had the best taco night. Thank you! I had to sub some things, bc I didn’t want to use all of my salsa. So I used a can of petite diced tomatoes and a packet of taco sauce, packet of taco seasoning. Just 2 tablespoons of salsa. Came out great. What I like is that I feel like you’re making best use of your meat bc it’s not all clumped up. So you’re stretching it. This taco night was so much easier bc all I needed to do was focus on prepping the toppings.
I think your substitutions sound great! So glad you enjoyed this 🙂
Update: 4 pounds of ground beef was fully cooked after for hours on low setting. I stirred it about 2 1/2 hours of cooking and broke up the chunks. The result was beautifully seasoned, perfectly cooked, moist and juicy taco meat. I may never use a frying pan again!
Did you double the rest of the ingredients? Did you use 4 packets of taco seasoning
Seems like a lot salsa. Does the salsa overtake the taste?
My family loved this recipe for crock pot taco meat! I followed the recipe exactly and it was delicious. Looking forward to leftovers during the week.
I was looking to see if taco meat could be done in the crockpot because we are getting ready for trick-or-treating, and thought it would be better than trying to cook. I found your recipe as the highest rated with the greatest number of reviews, and read over all the comments. I have 4 pounds of ground beef and a homemade taco seasoning recipe that I’ve used for years. It makes a substitute for the packet you would buy in the store. I have a picky eater who won’t eat tomatoes so I omitted the salsa. I put 2 pounds of ground beef in the bottom of the crockpot sprinkled with half the seasoning, then layered another 2 pounds of ground beef and the remainder of the seasoning. Put the cover on with no liquid and turned it on low. I will check again in six hours And if it still seems fairly pink, I will turn it up to high for a couple of hours to finish cooking. I am excited to see how this turns out!
Jill Nissen can you share your taco seasoning recipe?
Hello do I have to add water with taco seasoning or does the salsa cover that need for water . Thank you for a easy good recipe for dinner. Single working mom with 2 kids. Really appreciate it
Hi! No water necessary, just the salsa and taco seasoning. Hope you love the recipe! 🙂
What measurements would you use for 3# of meat and for how long? Thank you!
Hi there!
Can I add liquid taco seasoning to the crockpot with the meat? Instead of having it with salsa?
Sure, I think that would be fine! 🙂