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Who loves tacos? 🙋♀️ I do! Making tacos low carb usually involves making your own tortillas, or going with store-bought options that often contain questionable ingredients. But these keto taco cups are made with a crunchy cheese shell, are super easy, and can be either dinner food or appetizers for your next party or game day!
Keto Taco Cups
Last year I showed you how to make Low Carb Nachos, but it’s a little putzy having to make the chips. These keto taco cups are stupid easy, which makes them one of my favorite types of recipe. Plus they look impressive so bonus points!
The cheesy shells are made with straight up cheese and are so much easier than they look.
Just line a couple of sheet pans
with parchment paper
, make 6 round piles of shredded sharp cheddar on each sheet, about 4 inches across.
Then you throw these into a hot oven– 400°F (205°C)– for 5-10 minutes. I can’t give you an exact number because it’s going to depend a lot on your oven and you MUST keep a close eye on these. In my oven, it took about 8 minutes.
You’re looking for the cheese to just start turning golden brown around the edges.
Remove from the oven, but leave the oven on. Let these cool for just a minute or two– just enough that you can lift them using an offset spatula. Place each round into one of the cavities of a muffin tin
and gently press to fit all the way in. There will be some folding along the edge.
Once you have all the cheese in the muffin tin, place the tin back into the oven for a couple minutes more, until the cheese is more evenly golden. This will make for the crispest cheese cups.
Assembly
As for the filling, you have loads of options! I went the super easiest route and just browned up some ground beef with taco seasoning. But you could also make some shredded chicken, or my personal favorite, carnitas!
A note about taco seasoning: Most prepackaged taco seasonings are full of things like maltodextrin or thickeners that are definitely not low carb. You can easily make your own taco seasoning mix or buy a clean one like this one
.
Then I added pico de gallo, shredded lettuce, sour cream, and cilantro. I was planning to add some guac as well, but as usual I underestimated how long it would take the avocado I picked at the store to ripen. So. No guac for me this time.
Here’s the beauty of these things– they’re perfect for parties, but they’re also so easy that you can make them for your Tuesday night dinner and if you have kids they can customize them for their picky little tastes.
My kids thought these were fantastic and we had four clean plates by the end of the evening!
Keto Taco Cups
Perfect as an appetizer or a fun mea, these taco cups remove the carbs but none of the flavor!
Ingredients
- 8 oz (227g) shredded sharp cheddar cheese
- 1 lb (.45 kilo) ground beef (or other meat of choice)
- 1/4 cup finely diced onion
- 1 Tbsp taco seasoning
- Toppings of choice: shredded lettuce, diced tomatoes, salsa, guacamole, sour cream, cilantro, etc.
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400°F (205C°).
- Line two sheet pans with parchment paper. Make 12 equal piles of shredded cheese on the pans, spreading evenly into circles about 4 inches across.
- Bake for 5-10 minutes, keeping a close eye on the cheese. Rotate pans after a few minutes. Remove from oven when the cheese begins to get golden brown around the edges.
- Allow to cool for a minute or two, just long enough that you can remove each cheese round from the parchment with an offset spatula.
- Gently press each cheese round into one cavity of a muffin tin to create twelve cups. Put the muffin tin into the oven and allow the cheese to bake another 2-5 minutes or until evenly golden.
- Allow to cool enough to hold their shape, then remove cheese cups from tin and allow to cool completely.
- Brown ground beef along with onion in a large skillet. Once fully browned, add taco seasoning and mix through.
- To assemble, layer meat with other toppings as desired.
Nutrition Information:
Yield:
12Serving Size:
1 cupAmount Per Serving: Calories: 203Total Fat: 16.3gSaturated Fat: 7.7gSodium: 199mgCarbohydrates: 2.9gNet Carbohydrates: 2.6gFiber: 0.3gSugar: 1.3gProtein: 11.3g
