Healthier Oven Baked Tacos

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Easy and delicious Healthier Oven Baked Tacos are super simple to make, feed a crowd and use ingredients that you can already find in your pantry. Perfect for watching the BIG GAME and feeding the hungry football fans!

Try our Hatch Chile Guacamole on these babies, it’s delicious!

Are you ready for some football?  Sorry I couldn’t help myself.  After last weekend’s playoff games, it has now been determined who is playing in the BIG GAME, and we are so excited over here!  Now I am very much into football as much as I am the food and the commercials, so bring it on!

With it still being January I wanted to create something that was a little on the healthier side.  Now don’t get me wrong, I love a GOOD game day spread, but it can sometimes be a little on the indulgent side.  So I set out to create something that would be a little bit on the lighter side.  I also wanted to create something that could feed a crowd, since we expect quite a number of people at our house and I don’t want to be stuck in the kitchen cooking all the food and missing all the action in the living room.

So, these Healthier Oven Baked Tacos were born and you wanna know the best part?  I already had everything in my pantry!  SCORE!

I knew I could whip up a batch of tacos, pop them in the oven right before our guests got here and they’d be ready to eat come game time.  12 tacos all made at once, with a taco bar so guest can fill their own and I’m not slaving away in the kitchen, amazing.

We always have the main staples for tacos in our house. Shells, refried beans, canned tomatoes and meat are always on hand around here.  We probably eat tacos at least once a week.  It’s a sure-fire dinner my kids will devour. What I didn’t have on hand was fresh produce for our taco bar. I headed to Wal-Mart to peruse produce section to see what my guests might like to add to their tacos once they were baked.

After I picked up some avocados, red onions and cilantro in the produce aisle, I headed over to the international aisle to see what else I could grab for our spread.  Instead of having a side dish of refried beans, I decided I would place the refried beans on the bottom of the taco.  I was delighted when I saw Rosarita had a no fat version so I went with that.  I also decided to pick up a can of No Salt Added Ro*TEL tomatoes to add to my ground turkey.

I decided I would make them for dinner so that my family could be my guinea pigs before trying these out on game day.  I first started by browning the extra lean ground turkey breast.  When it was cooked through, I added homemade taco seasoning.  I learned a long time ago to make my own seasonings so that I can control the ingredients and amount of salt is added.  (I add no salt to my taco seasoning)  It’s very simple and if you’d like for me to share my recipe, let me know.  Then I added in my can of No Salt Added Ro*TEL tomatoes and my filling was finished.

Next, I placed the refried beans on the bottom of the tacos shells.  Here’s a kitchen hack for you.  Don’t you hate it when you can’t get your tacos to stand upright? Not all taco brands have a flat bottom and the ones we preferred do not, so here’s a little tip.  Use a fork and place the tines inside of the taco shell, and it’ll stand up, freeing you to fill the tacos as you please.  No more mess of taco filling all over the counter!

After the beans were in the shells, I topped them with meat and cheese then popped them into the oven for 10 minutes.  After 10 minutes the cheese was all melted, bubbly and the house smelled amazing!

Mmm… look at that gooey cheese!  The best part about these tacos was the creamy refried beans paired with the slightly spicy taco meat.  They were so delicious.  I was telling my husband at dinner that they were made healthier and he looked at my puzzled.  So I explained that they were made with ground turkey and he couldn’t even tell the difference.  I was so pleased at how well these turned out and I was able to make 12 of them at one time.  I could easily double the recipe and the whole crowd could have 2, because face it, you’re not finishing at just one.

I set up the topping bar with shredded lettuce, homemade guacamole, extra cheese, because who doesn’t like extra cheese and pico de gallo (which I used RO*TEL Mexican style tomatoes with lime and cilantro, drained and then added red onion)  I absolutely loved the ease and quickness of this meal.  All it took was browning the meat + cans of beans and tomatoes + fresh produce = a delicious game day spread or quick dinner that feeds a crowd!

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Healthier Oven Baked Tacos

Prep 10 mins

Cook 10 mins

Total 20 mins

Author Strawberry Blondie Kitchen

Yield 12

Easy and delicious Healthier Oven Baked Tacos are super simple to make, feed a crowd and use ingredients that you can already find in your pantry. Perfect for watching the BIG GAME and feeding the hungry football fans!

Ingredients

• 1 lb extra lean ground turkey (or ground meat of choice)
• 5 tablespoons taco seasoning (can be homemade or less sodium packet)
• 1/2 cup water
• 1 can Ro*TEL Original, No salt Added Diced tomatoes & green chilies
• 1 can Rosarita No Fat Traditional Refried Beans
• 12 Crunchy Taco Shells
• 3/4 cup Fat Free Shredded Cheddar Cheese
• Assorted toppings (shredded lettuce, pico de gallo, guacamole, cheese, sour cream)

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees
2. Brown ground meat in a large skillet.
3. Add taco seasoning and water and bring to a boil, stirring to combine.
4. Add in can of Ro*TEL tomatoes and mix to combine.
5. Place forks inside of your taco shells, to hold them upright, and place 2 tablespoons of Rosarita refried beans into each shell. Smooth out to completely cover bottom.
6. Add 2 tablespoons of taco meat mixture and then top with 1 tablespoon of cheese.
7. Bake in the oven for 10 minutes
8. Top with your favorite taco toppings

Notes

*Nutritional information is based on ingredients as written and homemade taco seasoning containing no salt. Nutritional stats do not include toppings.

Courses Dinner

Cuisine Mexican

Nutrition Facts

Serving Size 1 taco

Amount Per Serving
Calories 115
% Daily Value
Total Fat 5 g		8%
	Saturated Fat 1 g	5%
Cholesterol 24 mg		8%
Sodium 399 mg		17%
Total Carbohydrates 10 g		3%
	Dietary Fiber 1 g	4%
	Sugars 1 g
Protein 10 g		20%

* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet. Your daily values may be higher or lower depending on your calorie needs.

*Compared to your standard ground beef taco, these Healthier Oven Baked Tacos have fewer calories, fat and sodium.  They are also higher in protein by using ground turkey breast over ground beef.

Healthier Oven Baked Tacos are a great way for you to tackle your to do list this game day season.  You could prepare these tacos in advance, pop them in the oven 10 minutes before guests arrive and they’ll have piping hot and fresh tacos out of the oven as soon as they walk in the door.  It can’t get any simpler and tastier than that!

How do you plan to celebrate the BIG GAME?  Are you in it for the teams, food, commercials or all 3?  As for me, I’d love to see a great game, hilarious commercials and some darn good cooking, starting with these Healthier Oven Baked Tacos.

Check out more tips, tricks and recipes on ConAgra Food’s Yes You Can page.  It’s chocked full of awesome ideas on how you can make great game day recipes using canned goods and fresh produce right from your local Walmart store.

Enjoy and if you make this recipe, please share a photo on social media and hashtag it #strawberryblondiekitchen I ♥ to see your versions!  Happy Eating!