Taco Meatballs are perfectly easy, ready in 30 minutes, and packed with flavor from taco seasoning, green chiles, cilantro, and tomato paste.
These homemade meatballs are a wonderful and versatile dish inspired by classic Beef Tacos. You can serve them on a party platter for a fun Appetizer, or enjoy them dressed up with your favorite taco fixings for a fun twist on taco night.
TACO MEATBALLS
This Taco Meatballs recipe gives you the classic taco flavor but made into a completely new dish. Just like taco meat, mini taco meatballs are made with delicious ingredients like ground beef, taco seasoning, tomato paste, and green chiles. You can use a store-bought taco seasoning package or easily make your own Taco Seasoning Mix for even more fresh flavor. Just combine the simple and flavorful ingredients, form them into meatballs, and bake.
Once they’re done, the Taco Meatballs are the perfect dish to serve for a variety of occasions. One option is serving the meatballs as an appetizer at a party. You can stick toothpicks in each meatball so they’re easy for your guests to pick up. Then, put out your favorite dipping sauce recipes for some extra flavor. They’d taste great dipped in Salsa, Queso, Guacamole, or even hot sauce.
You could also turn the recipe into the main course of your meal. You can serve them with rice, beans, corn chips, and cheddar cheese for a delicious burrito bowl. Or, serve the meatballs in soft-shelled tacos with beans, veggies, and cheese for a fun take on a classic taco experience.
MORE MEATBALL RECIPES
Jalapeno Popper Stuffed Meatballs
Meatloaf Meatballs
BBQ Bacon Meatballs
Bacon Meatballs
COOKING TIPS
- Prep time: Start the recipe by preheating the oven and spraying your baking sheet with nonstick spray. If you don’t have cooking spray, you can line the sheet with parchment paper so that the meatballs don’t stick to the pan.
- Ground beef mixture: Add the taco seasoning, tomato paste, green chiles, eggs, bread crumbs, and fresh cilantro to a large mixing bowl and whisk the ingredients together until well combined. Then add the ground beef and gently combine the meat mixture.
- Form: Roll the mixture into golfball-sized circles, and place them on the prepared baking sheet. To easily get them all in the same shape, you can use a cookie scoop to form the mixture into meatballs.
- Baking time: Place the sheet in the preheated oven and bake for 20-22 minutes until the meatballs are cooked through.
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VARIATIONS
- Vegetables: There are some delicious vegetables that you can add to the meat mixture. Try slicing up a bell pepper or yellow onion to the add-in. To make them extra flavorful, sauté the onions until fragrant before adding them to the meatball recipe.
- Spices: You can also add your favorite spices to experiment with the flavor. Black pepper, garlic powder, chili powder, or paprika would all complement the meaty flavors.
- Taco Ranch Meatballs: Along with the taco seasoning, you can add a tablespoon of Ranch Dressing Mix to make taco ranch meatballs. The finished taco ranch meatballs would taste amazing served with ranch dip.
- Chicken: If you don’t want to use beef in the recipe, it would also taste amazing with ground chicken. Make sure the chicken is cooked through before serving.
- Cheese stuffed taco meatballs: To make meatballs with a melty cheese center place a cube of cheese at the center of each meatball. You want the cheddar cheese cubes to be completely covered by meat before baking.
FUN TACO RECIPES
Easy Taco Soup
Oven Baked Beef Tacos
Taco Casserole
Taco Salad
HOW TO STORE
- Serve: Don’t leave Taco Meatballs at room temperature for more than 2 hours at a time.
- Store: Let the meatballs cool completely before you seal them in an airtight container to store in the fridge for 3-4 days.
- Freeze: Flash freeze the meatballs for 2 hours on a baking sheet. Then you can transfer them to a freezer bag to store in the freezer for up to 3 months.
Ingredients
- 2 packets taco seasoning , about 6 tablespoons
- 2 tablespoons tomato paste
- 1/4 cup green chiles , chopped
- 2 large eggs
- 3/4 cup plain breadcrumbs
- 1/4 cup cilantro , chopped
- 2 pounds ground beef , (85/15)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees and spray a 9x13 baking dish with vegetable oil spray.
- In a large bowl whisk together taco seasoning, tomato paste, green chiles, eggs, breadcrumbs and cilantro until well combined.
- Gently mix in beef until combined.
- Roll into 1 inch balls and place into baking dish.
- Bake for 20-22 minutes.
Nutrition
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You can buy Taco meat (Wampler) in a bulk 1 lbs roll. It’s pork sausage but still delivers a great taste without needing the dry seasoning mix. Scrambled eggs and Mexican meatballs in the morning for breakfast is a great alternative.
These look delicious. Do you freeze them cooked or uncooked; and do you reheat them direct from the freezer or defrost them first?
Flash freeze the cooked meatballs for 2 hours on a baking sheet. Then you can transfer them to a freezer bag to store in the freezer for up to 3 months. If you don’t plan to serve the meatballs with sauce or gravy, reheat them in the oven at 300°F. Place the meatballs in a single layer on a baking sheet or in a baking dish, then cover them with foil to prevent drying, and heat until warmed through.
These were so good and so easy to make. I added 3/4 cup of shredded Mexican cheese and they were perfect. Thanks for a great recipe.
These meatballs are fabulous. I didn’t have 2 lbs of ground beef so I used 1 lb gr beef and 1 lb ground pork. The rest of the recipe I followed to a “t” and we loved them!!! Will be making them quite often…YUM!
Can these be frozen? If so, how do I do it?
Flash freeze the meatballs for 2 hours on a baking sheet. Then you can transfer them to a freezer bag to store in the freezer for up to 3 months.