Rise N’ Shine, it’s National Taco Day! While you may have thought to celebrate national taco day for dinner, true taco fans know that tacos can be enjoyed at any time of day including breakfast.
This is a sponsored post by Old El Paso. All reviews and opinions expressed in this post are based on my personal view. I love the product, but I always want to make sure you all know when I’m doing a sponsored post.
A breakfast taco bar is a fun way to start any day with a protein-packed breakfast your whole family is going to enjoy. My family loves taco bars in general. It is a nice way for everyone to get what they want, but a breakfast taco bar takes it to a whole new level of successful meals in the Dwardcooks home.
A breakfast taco bar is easily customizable, but there are a few key ingredients that make any breakfast taco bar shine: eggs, your family’s favorite breakfast meat, “breakfast taco-taters” as my girls call them, and Ol El Paso Soft Tortilla Taco Bowls.
Because I’m extra like that, my breakfast taco bar also includes my quick pico de gallo, chipotle mayo (which I always have on hand), and my new turkey chorizo recipe which is zero WW SP.
These Old El Paso Soft Tortilla Taco Bowls have become our new favorite find. The mini bowls have become a bit of an obsession with my daughters.
Make-ahead ingredients for breakfast taco bar
This breakfast taco bar may seem like an ambitious morning, but there is almost no extra work compared to the average weekend breakfast made at home; several of my favorite components can be made ahead.
I’ve got chipotle mayo in my refrigerator pretty reliably because I use it so often. However, this can be made up to 5 days ahead of time to make your breakfast taco bar a breeze. I suggest making a double batch and putting my Chicken Biscuit Sandwiches on the meal plan earlier in the week. Then, you have an excuse to eat it all week long.
The pico and cheese can easily be purchased already prepared or made the night before. Two years ago, my oldest overheard a celebrity chef swear by only using cheese shredded by hand, and that was the end of our bagged cheese days.
With supervision, we let her help shred the cheese until about halfway through the block before I take over to protect those tiny, cheese stealing fingers of hers. Finally, my turkey chorizo can be mixed the night before and store in an air-tight container in the refrigerator until you are ready to use it the next morning.
Pro tip: store the pico, cheese, and pico in serving bowls covered in plastic wrap so you don’t even use the extra energy or dishes getting everything ready to serve.
Mornings are for coffee and contemplation, not standing at the stove all day
I don’t know about you, but my daughters like to wake up near dawn on weekends when we can sleep in. They also wake up with the kind of energy I wish my cup of coffee could give me. I like a breakfast I can set in the oven and let it do the work while I try to drink my coffee and be ready to take on their antics.
I cook the breakfast taco-taters and bacon in the oven at the same temperature, making the morning a breeze. I time it out by cooking the potatoes until there are about 12 minutes left before putting the bacon in, and then I start browning the turkey chorizo and eggs in the final five minutes everything is coming together.
If you haven’t cooked bacon in your oven, you really need to give it a shot. I now exclusively do so. The time and clean up alone makes this the best option. I don’t like having a bunch of pans going at once, and I love being able to set it and forget it.
Plus, if your house is anything like mine, you keep your bacon away from the bacon thieves. Any time I pan-fry bacon in batches, the five slices poach before the next five slices are done.
If I am meal prepping the same day I’m making family breakfast, I like to put the second round of bacon in the oven after I call the girls to the table for breakfast so my meal prep is going while we enjoy breakfast.
Breakfast Taco-Taters
Okay, this is going to blow your minds because of how simple this is. For some reason, it took me 31 years to try this out, and I regret how many times I ate hash browns other ways. Get yourself a bag of frozen hash browns and sprinkle a package of Old El Paso Taco Seasoning on them… that’s it. That’s the whole recipe.
The taco seasoning is a well-balanced seasoning that gives the potatoes a nice, smoky taco flavor that is not overpowering. My whole family devours these potatoes.
Now cooking times will vary depending on your frozen potatoes. The ones I use, the store brand potato gems don’t actually have an oven cooking method--only a skillet method that uses more oil and way more standing for my family’s breakfast than I’d like.
I give a baking sheet a spray of cooking spray, sprinkle the potatoes with taco seasoning, and bake them at 375 for 35-40 minutes. They come out crispy with a subtle smokey deliciousness that makes a great companion for your breakfast taco bar, but they are versatile enough that you can serve them at any breakfast even if it is not taco themed.
Let’s be real though, once you make a breakfast taco bar, it’ll be your new go-to family breakfast.
Homemade Turkey Chorizo
Turkey chorizo has been a recipe I have been working on for a while. The smokey, spicy sausage is my favorite to order in Mexican restaurants, but I’ve been trying forever to find a leaner alternative I could make at home. The day before I decided to make a breakfast taco bar, I finally found a balanced flavor I loved. It was fate. I was having chorizo with my breakfast tacos.
If you’ve never had chorizo, it is traditionally a pork sausage that has a higher fat content than your average sausage. It is packed with smokey, spicy flavor. It is a dream. This turkey chorizo still has all the smokey deliciousness. However, it uses lean ground turkey which is perfect for those of you following WW. In fact, it is so perfect it is ZERO POINTS.
If you’re a fan of my Zero Point Italian Sausage, you have to try this Spanish twist. It’s great with eggs and your breakfast taco bar will be incomplete without it.
Why we love these Old El Paso Soft Tortilla Bowls
Old El Paso has two soft tortilla bowls--regular-sized and mini. For those of you following WW, the regular tortilla bowls come in packs of 8 and are 3 WW SP for 1 and 5 WW SP for two. They are pretty big, grown man hand-sized tortilla bowls.
The mini tortilla bowls are 2 WW SP each and come in packs of 12. You can find these in most supermarkets and now even on Amazon! My daughters love the mini ones because they are just their size.
I like them because they are bowls that are perfect for holding all the taco deliciousness without spilling out. If you have kids, you have probably seen that tacos (although kid favorites) are hard for them to assemble and eat without spilling out everywhere.
I love the regular-sized tortilla bowls, and they hold a ton of food compared to regular tacos. I like to pile my tacos ridiculously high with filling, and they hold up to my monster-sized tacos.
The mini tortilla boats are great for desserts too. Don’t believe me? Check out my super simple and crowd-pleasing apple pie tortilla boats. These come together in under 20 minutes, and will be your new go-to quick dessert. Do yourself a favor and order them on Amazon immediately.
Assemble your taco breakfast bar like a pro
Like I said earlier, I like to make breakfast as simple as possible. As I do any time I serve tacos, I like to make a full taco breakfast bar. My kids choose their taco filling themselves. For someone trying to eat healthily, this allows me to customize my tacos for what works for me.
For someone trying to get a 2-year-old and 5-year-old to eat, this allows them to choose their own food since they sometimes decide they no longer like a certain food.
I like to put all of the taco filling out on a big platter. Then, I let everyone choose their own breakfast taco bar adventure. My personal taco of choice starts with a layer of breakfast taco-taters, a generous scoop of turkey chorizo, scrambled eggs, pico, and a dollop of chipotle mayo.
My oldest went for as much center-cut bacon she could grab, eggs, and a few handfuls of shredded cheddar. Because I let her make her own tacos and they were in the Old El Paso Mini Soft Tortilla Bowls, she was proud of her creation and ate 3 tacos.
While I was totally satisfied with one hefty taco, I went for another because they were that good. We managed to have just enough leftovers that I assembled two tortilla bowls for breakfast the next day. I was a happy camper.
Turkey Chorizo
Ingredients
- 1 lb lean ground turkey
- 1 tbsp smoked paprika
- 1 tbsp chili powder
- 1 tbsp ancho chili powder
- 1 tbsp oregano 1/2
- 1/2 tbsp garlic powder
- 1/2 tbsp cumin
- 1/2 tbsp kosher salt
- 1 pinch cinnamon
Instructions
- Mix ingredients together. This can be mixed the night before.
- Spray a frying pan or cast iron with cooking spray and cook on medium heat until fully cooked (about 5 minutes).
Dwardcooks Chipotle Mayo
Ingredients
- 1/2 c lite mayo
- 1/4 c fat free Greek yogurt
- 3 tsp adobo sauce the sauce in the can of chipotles
- 1 tsp chipotle peppers minced
Instructions
- Combine all the ingredients. Reserve the chipotle peppers until last, and taste after adding half to have better control of your spice preference.
Quick Pico de Gallo
Ingredients
- 3 tomatoes diced
- 1/2 red onion finely diced
- 1 jalapeno (optional - remove seeds for less heat)
- 2 cloves garlic minced
- 1/4 cup fresh cilantro chopped
- 1 lime zested and juice
- 1 big pinch kosher salt
- 1 tbsp apple cider vinegar
Instructions
- Mix and serve
Kristen
This is exactly what I need in my life right now 😀