We love a taco night. Who doesn’t? Fatima and I had one of those weeks where we wanted the best, dirty-delicious takeout food. We were stressed, our kids were sick, and all we wanted was Smashburger, Taco Bell, nachos, and every fried blooming onion I could find. Instead, Fatima whipped up these cheesy gordita tacos to keep our cravings at bay.
If you don’t know, you buy cheesy gordita tacos from Taco Bell, is a soft taco wrapped around a hard one (held together by cheese). You fill these up with all your favorite things. We keep ours simple: seasoned ground chicken, lettuce, tomatoes, and a spicy mayo. These tacos satisfied those takeout cravings.
Cheesy Gordita Tacos
These are really easy to make and super kid-friendly because they’re so fun to put together. Fatima and I prefer an oversized soft taco to contain everything. However, I think the “street taco” size is about the same size.
To make the soft-hard shell container, turn on the oven. Lay your soft shells on a baking pan and sprinkle cheese over the surface of the soft tacos. You don’t need to overload them, but you don’t need to be sparse with it either. Place them in the oven. Pull out the same number of hard shell tacos and place to the side. When you see all the cheese has melted, take them out of the oven and quickly put the tacos together.
I find it easier to place the hard taco in the middle and pull each side of the soft shell up around the hard taco. Be gentle, but press firmly to adhere the soft taco to the hard one. Work fast and put all the tacos together. It’s that simple. Get your kids involved, get your parents to help, make it a family affair.
Cheesy Gordita Tacos
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Loading...Ingredients
- 8 street taco or regular taco-sized tortillas
- 8 hard shell tacos
- 2 cups Mexican-blend shredded cheese
- Toppings
- Seasoned ground chicken
- Lettuce, chopped
- Tomatoes, diced
- Spicy Mayo
- 1/4 cup mayonnaise
- 1/2 cup sour cream
- 1 tbsp hot sauce
- 1/2 tsp garlic powder
- 1/4 tsp paprika
Instructions
Prepare your toppings ahead of time: cook your ground chicken (or beef or vegetarian substitution), chop the lettuce, tomatoes and set aside.
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
On a baking pan, lay out soft shell tortillas. You may only be able to fit a few at a time and that's ok!
Sprinkle shredded cheese all over the tortillas. Be generous, but not too much. The goal is to make this cheese the glue to your hard shell taco.
Place the pan with the tortillas in the oven for 5-10 minutes or until the cheese is melted.
While the tortillas are in the oven, take out the hard shell tacos and have them at the ready.
Take out the baking sheet and set down. Immediately lay the hard shell tacos on the tortillas. The opening of the hard shell tortilla should face the edge of the soft shell. Fold the other side of the soft shell so it covers the exposed hard shell tortilla. Gently apply pressure so the cheese adheres to the tortilla.
Do this with the remaining tortillas and work fast before the cheese hardens.
Once assembled, put your tacos together and enjoy!
Spicy Mayo
Combine all ingredients and mix well. Set aside.
