Taco Pasta
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Easy Taco Pasta is the best one pan dinner! Healthy, cheesy, and delicious, this recipe for taco pasta is great for a quick 30 minute dinner. This post is sponsored by my friends at ButcherBox.
This Cheesy Taco Pasta is going to be your new favorite weeknight dinner. It’s made with only 10 basic ingredients that you probably already have on hand AND it’s cooked in one pan!
Ground beef and pasta get cooked together in a rich cheesy sauce to make the perfect cozy one pan dinner.
This one pot Taco Pasta Recipe is a must try – here’s why we love it:
why You’ll Love this Recipe
- One Pan: This beef taco pasta is made in one pan. The beef, pasta and sauce all cook together which means easy clean up and only one dish to wash! If you want more one pot meals, check out these Healthy One Pot Meals!
- Budget Friendly Ingredients: Taco Pasta is an affordable dinner to make with basic pantry staples!
- Great for meal prep: This dish is great for meal prep, it’s one of the few meals that actually taste even better the next day after the flavors have melded together.
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Ingredients:
To make cheesy taco pasta you’ll need:
- ButcherBox Ground Beef – you can use ground turkey or lean ground beef too!
- onion, garlic
- red bell peppers – feel free to double the peppers for more veggies!
- taco seasoning – I like to make my own
- shells pasta
- tomato paste
- beef broth
- water
- cheddar cheese – sharp cheddar is best! We always grate it fresh because it melts better.
Substitutions
Ground Beef: We love using ButcherBox ground beef in this recipe. You can use ground turkey or ground chicken in this recipe as well, but it will not be as flavorful. If you prefer chicken breasts, try this Chicken Taco Pasta.
Onion/Garlic: Feel free to use more or less onion and garlic. If you don’t have fresh onion/garlic, add 1/2 teaspoon dried onion powder and garlic powder.
Bell Peppers: Bell peppers are optional, but a great way to add extra veggies. Feel free to add more peppers or add some chopped spinach in at the end to amp up the veggies.
Taco Seasoning: I like to make my own taco seasoning because it’s lower in salt and has less preservatives. Be mindful if making this with store bought taco seasoning and broth as it could be very salty! If you want a more mild flavored dish – try our Hamburger Helper.
Pasta: Shells work the best in this recipe, but you can use rotini or farfalle (cook time is all similar). We don’t recommend gluten free pasta for this recipe. This recipe is a one pan pasta recipe and gluten free pasta can get very mushy. Use at your own risk! If you prefer rice, try our Chicken Taco Rice.
Broth: Any broth or stock (broth and stock are the same) can be used in any soup recipe. Beef Broth, Chicken Broth, or vegetable broth all work interchangeably. I always use low or no salt broth.
Tomato Paste: Tomato paste helps to add flavor to this recipe. You can skip it, but the flavor will not be as rich.
Lower Sodium: Be mindful of store-bought taco seasoning and broth as they can be very high in sodium.
Cheddar Cheese: You can omit the cheese from this recipe to make it dairy free if you’d like, but it really does add flavor! We haven’t tried this recipe with other types of cheeses but I think pepper jack or Monterey jack cheese would be delicious. Pro Tip: We recommend using a block of cheddar cheese and grating it yourself as pre-shredded cheeses don’t melt as well.
Other Mix Ins: Feel free to add black beans, corn, cream cheese or jalapenos to your dish!
We’ve been ButcherBox customers for many years and absolutely love it. Here are a few reasons why I always recommend it!
- Convenient: Every month all the meat we need arrives right at our door!
- Affordable: Grocery store meat is expensive. Per pound, I find it’s cheaper to get organic meat from ButcherBox (check out this post to see is Butcher Box worth It where I did a ButcherBox Price Comparison)
- Delicious: You really can taste the difference with ButcherBox meat!
Want free ground beef? Right Now when you join ButcherBox you can get free ground beef for a year and $10 off! That’s up to 24 pounds of ground beef for free!
How To Make Cheesy Taco Pasta
Making taco pasta is SO easy! Here’s how to do it:
- Brown the ground beef, onion, garlic and peppers in the pan until cooked through- about 10 minutes.
- Add the pasta, taco seasoning tomato paste, broth, and water. Stir, cover and bring to a boil.
- Once boiling, remove cover and reduce to a simmer, stirring occasionally until pasta is done and liquid is reduced.
- Move the pan off the heat and add in shredded cheese. Stir until combined and enjoy!
Here’s a link to our favorite nonstick pan for one pot meals!
How to Make Your Own Taco Seasoning:
Making your own homemade taco seasoning is so easy! Check out our Healthy Taco Seasoning Recipe.
- 3 tablespoon paprika
- 2 teaspoon black pepper
- 2 teaspoons chili powder
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 2 teaspoon onion powder
- 1 teaspoon cumin
- 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
Can you use leftover taco meat?
Yes! You can totally make this recipe with left over taco meat.
Warm your leftover meat in a pan, and skip directly to step 3 . You can skip the extra taco seasoning!
How to Serve This Recipe
Taco Pasta is a complete meal in itself and it really doesn’t need anything to go with it. However, if you’re looking for ideas on how to serve it try:
- Adding toppings: Extra cheese, sour cream, chopped cilantro or diced olives are all delicious additions
- Serve with a salad: If you’re looking for a yummy salad to serve with this try Avocado Ranch Salad, Blueberry Salad, Taco Salad, or Easy Kale Salad
- Add Extra Veggies: Feel free to add more peppers, chopped spinach or chopped broccoli into this pasta dish to amp up the veggies
You can use taco meat for so many things! Use it in Taco Skillet, Taco Casserole, Taco Stuffed Peppers, a taco salad, Baked 7 Layer Dip, or Taco Dip.
Storage, Freezing & Reheating Instructions
Storing: This taco pasta will last in the refrigerator for up to 4 days in an airtight container
Freezing: You can freeze this recipe for up to 3 months. We like these containers for freezing! The pasta might get a little soggy in the freezer, but it will still be delicious!
Reheating: You can reheat this recipe in the microwave or on the stove. If the pasta feels dry, add a splash of water or broth when reheating.
Other healthy one pan dinner recipes:
If you want more easy Healthy Recipes for Dinner, click here to grab our free healthy 30 minute dinners cookbook! Here are some of our favorite one pan dinners:
Taco Pasta Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 lb. ButcherBox Ground Beef
- 1/2 cup onion chopped finely
- ½ tablespoon minced garlic (2 cloves)
- 2 cups red bell pepper diced
- 2 tablespoons taco seasoning low sodium
- 3 cups medium shells pasta 10 oz
- 1 tablespoon tomato paste
- 2 cups beef broth
- 2 cups water
- 1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
Instructions
- Spray a large pan or pot with olive oil spray. Heat the pan over medium-high heat for 3 minutes.
- Add ground beef, onion, garlic and bell peppers in the pan. Cook for 10 minutes or until beef is cooked through and no longer pink.
- Add the dry pasta, taco seasoning, tomato paste, broth, and water to the pan. Stir together. Cover the pan and bring to a boil. It should take about 5 minutes to come to a boil.
- Once boiling, remove the cover from the pan and reduce the heat to medium. Stir every few minutes for 10-12 minutes or until pasta is cooked and liquid has reduced.
- Move the pan off the heat and add in shredded cheese. Stir until combined and melted.
Video
Notes
- Storage: This taco pasta will last in the refrigerator for up to 4 days in an airtight container.
- Use other pasta shapes: Rotini, penne or farfalle all work in this recipe.
Just made this for my family for mother’s day, hands down the BEST one pan pasta recipe we’ve ever eaten. Absolutely devoured this dish and will be making again soon!!!
Quick, easy and my kids love it
So delicious! Has been added to my comfort food list!
Easy and really delicious!! Will make again. Added mushrooms otherwise made to recipe.
This is a favorite in rotation….it super simple and makes weekly lunches easy or a family meal.
We made the taco pasta and it was delicious! It had the perfect blend of spicy and cheesy. We got four large portions out of the recipe as written. We will definitely make this recipe again.
This was really tasty. We used homemade salt-free taco seasoning. Next time we’re adding beans and corn and serve with low sodium tortilla chips. This could become a go-to meal for me!
Loved this family friendly meal! It was perfect for teaching my macros and super easy to make with almost no prep. I substituted a chickpea pasta for a GF option! Pro tip…make a double batch for easy meal prep for the week!
Taco pasta is a great, easy, one pot dinner!! Have made it a few times. My husband and I love it! Thanks for sharing! 💜
One pot yummy dish! I just added some red pepper flakes. It was a big hit. Thank you! 💜
A new favorite in our house! It’s delicious and very easy to prepare. The first time I made it, I questioned whether there was enough taco seasoning. I followed the recipe and found it to be the perfect amount. It also tastes great the second day. We fight for the leftovers!
I have made this before , but tonight I substituted chicken! I diced it up very small and cooked it like if it were beef. Chefs kiss!
Very tasty! Easy meal or bowls for the week. On rotation 🙂
I made this recipe for my boyfriend’s kids to have something to eat when they got home from school. It was so good they requested it the following week too. 😊
This recipe slaps! Truly. I made it once as a comfort meal for someone grieving, and now I have made it 3 times since. Cannot rave about it enough. I add a ton of veggies (every color bell pepper, mushroom, I did zucchini once). It’s all diced small and is a good way to sneak veg in. Have done ground Turkey and beef, both good.
Top with green onion and parsley for color, and a little dollop of sour cream too!
Made this tonight for dinner and it was so easy & quick! Will definitely be added to my regular rotation of dishes!
This has become one of our dinner favorites. I have probably made this already a few times and passed on the recipe to my sister for a quick comfort food 🙂
Yep made this tonight and my son in law said it was a keeper!!! I chopped the veggies finer so my daughter would eat it. Next time I’ll chop larger sothe color pops. Also I’m not sure I reduced it enough as it was a wee bit soupy. I just added more cheese. Sprinkled with parsley and saved with a delicious salad. Yummmmm
Made this for lunch today. It was abig hit! Thank you for sharing.
This was seriously so good!! It’s probably my new favorite pasta dish. I added cilantro when I added the cheese and it was amazing. It was also delicious left over, I added some water and a little extra cheese when reheating and it was as good as if it was fresh 🙂 so yummy!!!!
Made it for dinner. Delicious. I did use unsalted beef broth and it was still full of flavor.
This recipe is a keeper. We love tacos and pasta. My family of 2 boys and husband ate it up! I did too, as it was tasty and easy to make. Yummy!
I find this dish bland, so I added a full packet of taco mix as one reviewer suggested. Gave it some flavor.
I wouldn’t recommend doing this because it adds a ton of salt, but I’m glad you liked it!
This recipe was a huge hit with my picky eaters… I did use ground Turkey instead of beef and chickpea pasta (that’s just the one I had in hand). My kids each had extra servings, definitely a recipe to add to the book of go tos
It was easy an we really enjoyed it. Mine was not as red as the picture. Still delicious. Will make again.