Savory, slightly spicy ground beef with corn and black beans can be used as the base to create all sorts of meals. Or, if you’re like Olivia, you’ll sprinkle some cheese on it and eat it by the bowlful. This is the way I learned how to make taco meat from my sister.

How to Make Taco Meat

Here is where I ask for Olivia’s thoughts on the recipe we use for making taco meat. She gives the answers. Sometimes, we laugh. Sometimes, you laugh. In the end, everyone wins.

What would you rate this recipe? 

9.5/10. But only because I can’t rate any of them 10/10. Have I rated any of them 10/10? I hope not. Because, if so, this one deserves first place instead. 

How would you describe the flavors and experience of eating this dish with someone who has never tasted it before?

It is a salty and savory bite of ground beef mixed with the nice and subtle sweet of the corn, and the texture is all woven together by the soft, creamy black beans. Probably my favorite thing that my dad makes, not including his chili. 

What part of making this dish did you enjoy the most, and why?

I like breaking apart the ground beef with this tool that we bought. I don’t know what it’s called. But, it has like an x shape on the bottom and makes it easier to break it up. 

Did you feel like you learned anything while making it? 

I feel like we’ve made this so many times that I already know everything there is to know about it. It’s also really simple. Ground beef, corn, black beans. Just put it in a bowl and eat it. I’m not weird for that, right?

If we made it again, what would you want to do differently next time?

Nothing. Just give it to me with cheese. It’s so good it doesn’t need anything else.

Dad’s Notes

I was shocked the first time my sister showed me her recipe for taco meat. That would have probably been ten years ago, now. But, it was unbelievable to me that you can make something so tasty, so easily.

I’ve made this meat for my girls since they were very little, and they adore it. Olivia will eat it by the bowl with nothing but cheese on top. Every time they come in and smell it sizzling on the stove, they get excited.

They like it in tacos and as a filling for burritos. They also eat it over white rice, and sometimes just snack on it after school. Olivia will eat it plain, but she prefers this (and everything else) with cheese.