Creamy Taco Shells
My favorite 30-min weeknight meal! Made with hamburger meat and everyone’s favorite taco flavor goodness. Everyone will LOVE THIS!
It feels so good to be home! Although I do miss all the roosters and chickens roaming around the streets of Maui. Oh, and the fish tacos! I could live off of those fish tacos.
But I’m home now, reunited with Butters, and we have been stuffing our faces with this, straight from the skillet. There’s no plating here. Why bother, right?
Because we have the creamiest shells loaded with ground beef, homemade taco seasoning, cheesy goodness, and fresh cilantro. All made in 30 minutes or less.
Oh, and in case you’re wondering, we use pasta shells here so they can catch all the creamy sauciness.
Genius, I know.
Creamy Taco Shells
Ingredients
- 8 ounces medium pasta shells
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 pound ground beef
- ½ medium sweet onion, diced
- 1 small poblano pepper, diced
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 ½ teaspoons chili powder
- ¾ teaspoon ground cumin
- 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
- 2 cups beef stock
- 1 (15-ounce) can tomato sauce
- ¾ cup heavy cream
- ⅓ cup chopped fresh cilantro leaves
- Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
- 6 ounces shredded extra-sharp cheddar cheese, about 1 1/2 cups
- 1 Roma tomato, diced
Instructions
- In a large pot of boiling salted water, cook pasta according to package instructions; drain well.
- Heat olive oil in a large skillet over medium high heat. Add ground beef and cook until browned, about 3-5 minutes, making sure to crumble the beef as it cooks; drain excess fat. Set aside.
- Add onion and poblano, and cook, stirring frequently, until tender, about 2-3 minutes. Stir in garlic, chili powder and cumin until fragrant, about 1 minute.
- Whisk in flour until lightly browned, about 1 minute.
- Gradually whisk in beef stock and tomato sauce. Bring to a boil; reduce heat and simmer, stirring occasionally, until reduced and slightly thickened, about 6-8 minutes.
- Stir in pasta, beef, heavy cream and cilantro until heated through, about 1-2 minutes; season with salt and pepper, to taste. Stir in cheese until melted, about 2 minutes.
- Serve immediately, topped with tomatoes.
Did you make this recipe?
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Outstanding meal! Directions are easy to follow and it was really tasty. Will definitely make it again.
Made it many times, it is so delicious!
Delicious, satisfying, and easy to make. What more could you want from a recipe? I didn’t change any ingredients, just added 1/2 lb more ground beef. I recommend two Roma tomatoes (such a fresh, perfect topping and one just wasn’t enough). Also freezes great. After defrosting I just add a little beef broth to the pot to “juicy” it up.
Fantastic comfort food with such a nice flavor! The only adjustment I made was to sprinkle a bit of Worcestershire on the meat while it was cooking. Everyone on the family loved this with no leftovers! Thank you for sharing this recipe!
The only changes I made were subbing a jalapeño for a poblano pepper and dividing the meal into 6 servings instead of 4. It turned out great! So incredibly tasty and easy to make.
Oops forgot to make this 5 stars!
How would you suggest reheating this? I’m making it ahead of time and delivering it to my sister who just had a baby.
Excellent! I really, really like this. Only change I made was to use pepperjack cheese instead of cheddar. It was so good and, as is, would make again and again. But, both husband and I thought something was needed…maybe more cheese, maybe some hot sauce. We weren’t sure but like I said it was great as it is.
I love this recipe! Yum! I also love to add a bit of Chipotle Powder– it makes it taste like I’m using a yummy chipotle cheddar cheese!
Made this too but did it all in one pot. After cooking the beef and adding the onions and spices, I upped the liquid by 50% and cooked the pasta with the meat. I like when the flour from the pasta goes into the water and thickens it. Thanks for the recipe. I made it today to accompany my drinko for el cinco.
I am not familiar with poblano peppers, could you please suggest a substitute? The recipe meets my requirements… quick, easy and I am sure, delicious.
In my opinion, they are very similar to green bell peppers. You prep them the same way as well. They DO have just a very very slight spice to them- but no where near a jalapeno 🙂 Hope this helps!
This sounds yummy! I’m planning on making it for my family this week and was wondering what low fat substitute for heavy cream do you recommend?
I make nearly all of Chungah’s recipes exactly as written and they always come out better than what I can get in any ABQ restaurant. Queens represent! Nobody cooks like a NYer.
I tend to try to make beef a rare-occasion type of thing but these taco shells are 100% certified spouse crack. If I dropped a bowl of this on the floor, my husband would still eat it. Made this about 5x now and going to make it again tonight.
Do you pre-cook the pasta? Or boil it in the sauce? Thanks!!
Hi Mia! The pasta is first cooked in step #1:
1. In a large pot of boiling salted water, cook pasta according to package instructions; drain well.
This is really good! I made it with venison. I missed the part where it said “set aside” and ended up boiling my meat with the sauce. Oops. I will have to make it the right way next time!
I’m so glad it still turned out well for you! The venison sounds amazing! 🙂
I just made this tonight for the first time. I decided to cook the meat with the onion and garlic because I hate the taste of unseasoned meat. I substituted fresh parsley for the cilantro since my family is divided on cilantro’s flavour. I also made double the noodles and still had a lot of extra sauce so I could have probably made the whole bag if I wanted to stretch the recipe. Despite my changes it turned out great and was requested to be made again. I love how simple and delicious your recipes are!
Thank you for sharing!
As soon as I saw this recipe I knew I had to try it. Made it for dinner and it tastes exactly the way I thought it would: yummy! I’ll definitely be making it again and again.
It’s definitely a keeper! Thanks for sharing 🙂
Could you switch the beef stock and beef for veggie stock and tofu or chicken/chicken stock?
What a great idea! But unfortunately, without having tried this myself, I cannot answer with certainty. As always, please use your best judgment when making substitutions and modifications.
I made it with tofu and vegetable broth tonight for dinner! Obviously I don’t know what the beef version tastes like, but my family liked it!!
That’s all that matters!
Made it with chicken and chicken stock and came out perfect!
If a taco and Mac and Cheese had a baby,this would be it.Super yummy and easy.My very picky 6 yr.old loved it.Thanks for a new favorite.
Haha thank you, Molly!
What a wonderful re4ad, not good when you have not eaten the whole morning, yes it is morning here in South Africa and i am literally drooling over this meal, Will have to work out the ounces into metric system so i can duplicate this as I thing it looks absolutely awesome!
Well done!