This easy walking taco recipe is the easiest way to make your bag tacos look and taste oh-so-good for parties, game day and beyond!
Get all the best tips and tricks to create walking tacos! If you’ve never had a taco in a bag, you’re missing out on all the fun.
Walking tacos are a no fuss, no mess taco in a portable chip bag. No plates, no bowls, no dishes to clean up! Just incredible, customizable tacos your whole family will love!
It’s an easy way to feed a crowd, because they are easy to customize – and everyone loves tacos. Eating your taco in a bag means that you can literally walk around, socializing while snacking…what could be better than that when it comes to party food?
We often enjoy them on the dock at the lake cottage, while trick or treating or for game day.
They’re also great for camping, bonfires, outdoor picnics, and everywhere in between – not to mention Taco Tuesday and Cinco de Mayo. Is there ever an occasion that doesn’t call for tacos?
Made with our favorite beef taco meat, you can customize these in a variety of ways.
Walking Tacos Recipe
It’s the perfect party food.
Why You’ll Love It
This walking taco recipe is a single-serving bag of Doritos or Corn Chips filled with your favorite meat, cheese and traditional taco toppings – how easy is that?
Ingredients and Substitutions
- Ground Beef – 93/7 Lean is what we tend to like because its the perfect ratio – just greasy enough, without being too greasy.
- Taco Seasoning – Use your favorite taco seasoning, make your own or simply substitute a little red pepper, cumin and onion flake if you prefer.
- Corn Chips – In individual serving bags. We also like to use Doritos to mix it up – your call! Nacho Cheese and Cool Ranch Doritos are both amazing. You can even use Cheetos! It’s fun to provide options of chip bags for guests when you’re serving a crowd.
- Monterey Jack or Colby Jack Cheese – Freshly shredded from a block for the creamiest, melt-in-your-mouth flavor. You can also substitute with crumbled queso cotija, or chihuahua cheese. Learn more about the best cheeses for tacos and learn how to grate cheese here!
- Sour Cream – Sour cream is a Midwestern staple and walking tacos just wouldn’t be the same without it! Add a little fiesta ranch seasoning for an extra dose of delicious flavor, or try this Cilantro Crema.
- Customize Your Toppings – We’ll guide you through all the best options below!
Variations
- Spice up the Ground Beef – Want to get a little fancy with your ground beef? Add a can of diced green chiles and a small diced onion as you’re browning. It’s a big flavor reward for very little effort!
- Season your Sour Cream – While we like to add fiesta ranch to ours (as noted in the recipe card) you can also just add more taco seasoning or even this chipotle seasoning.
How to Make
- Brown Beef – Cook ground beef in a skillet over medium heat, breaking it up with a masher or base of a wooden spoon, and stir in taco seasoning until just brown.
- Prepare Toppings – While ground beef is cooking, chop, slice and grate your chosen toppings to your heart’s content.
- Top – Squeeze open bag of chips to crush and top with ground beef, shredded cheese and sour cream, plus so much more!
Tips
- Shred Your Own Cheese – I know it’s easy to purchase a bag of pre-shredded cheese, but shred your own! This is one of the best ways to make your walking taco night so much more delicious. The best cheese is usually reserved for blocks, has less preservatives and remains intact, making it much so much creamier than pre-shredded cheese.
- Make Ahead – You can prep everything ahead and simply warm the beef to serve or keep the beef warm in a slow cooker with 1/4 cup of water so that it’s ready when you are. These are best constructed just before serving to prevent soggy chips.
- Disposable Utensils – If you can throw the bag away, you might want to throw the fork out too. One of the most frequently-asked questions I receive: “Where are those cute little wooden forks from?” I love these disposable wooden utensils. So much cuter (and earth-friendly) than plastic!
How to Make a Walking Taco Bar
- Arrange chips on a platter.
- Add toppings to individual bowls with serving spoons.
- Have spoons and forks in a cup at the end so guests can enjoy!
One of my favorite ideas for walking taco night? Serve all your toppings in these adorable taco bowls! They are so easy to make and they create the cutest presentation for serving to guests!
Taco Toppings
There are so many fun ideas to top a taco in a bag! You can be as complicated or as simple as you like for your walking taco bar, in fact.
There’s probably no such thing as a gourmet walking taco recipe… but you can certainly elevate the whole concept with the taco toppings you choose!
- Shredded Lettuce – Here’s an area where I think it’s totally fine to save some time. You can buy shredded iceberg lettuce and that works perfectly here.
- Chopped Tomatoes or Pico de Gallo
- Chipotle Corn Salsa – Oh my goodness, this is so good! It’s amazing as a dip or serve it on top of all your favorite Mexican dishes.
- Sliced Olives
- Diced Onions
- Salsa (mix it up with Pineapple Salsa)
- Guacamole or Sliced Avocados
- Beans – Try the Cream Cheese Bean Dip I mention below as a dip. It works as a side dish or a topping- so good!
- Lime Crema
- Creamy Salsa Guacamole
- Creamy Jalapeño Dip – Why not give your taco in a bag a little kick? Yum!
Serving Suggestions
You can serve these bag tacos all on their own. I mean… there’s lettuce and guacamole, so I am pretty sure that covers all the food groups for a solid rounded meal.
However, adding a plethora of sides, dips and cocktails will make your walking taco night one for the memory books! Depending on whether we serve these for a family night or a football game, I like to switch what I serve accordingly.
Here’s a few of my favorite super easy recipes that we like to serve for bag taco night!
Side Dishes for Tacos
- Mexican Street Corn
- Mexican Pasta Salad
- Make an easy side salad with my Cilantro Lime Vinaigrette Salad Dressing
Drinks
- Lime Popsicle Margaritas
- Classic Homemade Margarita Recipe
- Skinny Margarita Recipe
- Watermelon Margarita
- Mango Margarita Float
Dips
How to Store
- Room Temperature – The taco filling and toppings can sit out at room temperature for up to two hours while serving.
- Refrigerator – Store any leftover taco meat (separately from toppings) in an airtight container for up to three days in the refrigerator.
- Freezer – You can freeze any leftover ground beef from your walking taco recipe in an airtight container or freezer bag. It will store well for up to three months – just defrost overnight in your refrigerator, and then heat through in the microwave (or stovetop) to serve.
More Tex Mex Inspiration
Walking Taco Recipe
Ingredients
- 8 ounces Monterey Jack cheese shredded
- 1 pound ground beef lean 93/7
- ½ package taco seasoning
- ½ bags Fritos Corn Chips
Optional
- 8 ounces sour cream
- ¼ packet Hidden Valley Fiesta Ranch Dip optional
Instructions
- Cook ground beef in a skillet over medium heat, breaking it up with a masher or base of a wooden spoon and stir in taco seasoning until just brown.
- Optional: combine ranch mix and sour cream.
- Fill chip bags for walking tacos with ground beef, shredded cheese, fiesta sour cream and so much more.
Julie’s Tips
Substitutions
- Ground Beef – Sub with beans to make it vegetarian, use baked chicken, chorizo or carne asada.
- Corn Chips – Sub with Doritos, (even Cool Ranch Doritos are great), or tortilla chip bags.
- Taco Seasoning – Use your favorite taco seasoning, make your own or simply substitute a little red pepper and onion flake if you prefer.
- Monterey Jack – Substitute with Colby Jack Cheese, Crumbled Cotija, or Chihuahua Cheese.
- Sour Cream – Add fiesta ranch seasoning for an extra dose of flavor. Skip if you don’t like sour cream.
Additional Topping Suggestions
- Shredded Lettuce – Here’s an area where I think it’s totally fine to save some time. You can buy shredded iceberg lettuce and that works perfectly here.
- Chopped Tomatoes or Pico de Gallo
- Chipotle Corn Salsa
- Sliced Olives
- Diced Onions
- Salsa
- Guacamole or Sliced Avocados
- Beans
- Creamy Salsa Guacamole
Tips
- Make Ahead – You can prep everything ahead and simply warm the beef to serve or keep the beef warm in a slow cooker with 1/4 cup of water so that it’s ready when you are. These are best constructed just before serving to prevent soggy chips.
- Disposable Utensils – If you can throw the bag away, you might want to throw the fork out too. One of the most frequently-asked questions I receive: “Where are those cute little wooden forks from?” I love these disposable wooden utensils. So much cuter (and earth-friendly) than plastic!
Video
Estimated nutrition information is provided as a courtesy and is not guaranteed.
I grew up with these! We called them Frito Pie!
YES! Love that name for them. Brilliant.
We love walking tacos! So fun and absolutely delicious!
Hi Taylor! I totally agree- the perfect party food, right? Have a beautiful week!
This was a total mom win for me! My kids thought this was the funnest dinner we ever had. Thank you!
Walking tacos are awesome for having company over! So easy and simple to make. I’ve only ever had these with Fritos before, I love the idea of Doritos, too…and for my kid that doesn’t like regular ones I could use the extra hot Doritos or the Ranch ones!
I love the name! It’s perfect for this recipe! We love these for entertaining! Everyone can add what they want & they are always a hit!