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Homemade Taco Salad Shells are a delicious, affordable, and healthier version of deep-fried bowls. These crispy baked tortilla bowls can be made ahead of time and don’t require any special equipment.
Nobody orders a taco salad at a restaurant for the salad. We all know we’re in it for that delicious crispy taco bowl.
Now you can skip that sub-par taco salad, and make your own crunchy tortilla bowls at home.
These DIY taco bowls are baked, not fried. They’re so fun for taco bar night at home, and you can make them without any special equipment. You’ll simply need a plate, baking sheet, and a few oven-safe soup bowls.
How to store
Storing leftovers: all the taco shells to fully cool before storing them in an air-tight container at room temperature for 2-3 days.
Reheating leftovers: these are fantastic served at room temp, but if you want to reheat them, pop them back into a 350˚F oven for 3-4 minutes.
What to Serve With This recipe?
As far as the fillings, the sky is the limit! Start with shredded lettuce or cabbage, and then add things like: Air Fryer Fish Tacos, Air Fryer Shrimp Tacos, Instant Pot Cilantro Lime Rice, Instant Pot Mexican Rice, Spicy Instant Pot Black Beans, Air Fryer Tofu, and Pressure Cooker Shredded Chicken.
I like to season the protein I use with homemade Gluten-Free Taco Seasoning.
For toppings, I love Mango Pico de Gallo, Southwest Chipotle Sauce, Encurtido (Spicy Pickled Vegetables), and Avocado Ranch.
Pro Tips/Recipe Notes
- I recommend using burrito-sized tortillas.
- Double-check that the bowls you plan to use are marked as “oven-safe”.
- You can use corn tortillas for a gluten-free version, but the taco bowls will be much smaller. You should also microwave the tortillas for 15 seconds to make them pliable before dipping them in the water/oil mixture.
More Tasty Weeknight Dinners You’ll Love
Taco Salad Shells
Equipment
Ingredients
- 3 tbsp water
- 2 tbsp olive oil {divided}
- 4 flour tortillas {burrito size}
- olive oil spray
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 425˚F.
- Place 4 shallow bowls with the opening facing up on a rimmed baking sheet. Spray the bowls lightly with olive oil.olive oil spray
- Place oil and water in a shallow dish.2 tbsp olive oil, 3 tbsp water
- Dip each tortilla in the water and oil mixture, coating each side. Allow the excess to drip back into the dish.4 flour tortillas
- Place each tortilla into a bowl, and "mold" it into a bowl shape.
- Bake for 8-12 minutes depending on how crispy you like your shell.
Notes
- For best results, use burrito-sized tortillas.
- To prep: Allow them to fully cool and then store in an air-tight container at room temperature for up to 3 days.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
My cats want to know what you have against cat poop, as does my puppy who is quite happy to eat it!!!!
I do something similar, but use an oven safe bowl to push the tortilla in, so it forms the tostada shape. I’ll have to try the oil/water mix.
Awesome idea -I love this blog too! My friend made me read, and now I too recommend it to friends!!
First off I love you blog, I have told you this before but its been awhile. I look forward to your post everyday. I have followed many blogs and always find myself unsubscribing to them all, all but yours. I also am always telling my friends to follow you. I mentioned your blog to a friend today and she said “that’s right the blog you are always telling me about” and I was like yeah!!! why haven’t you subscribed yet? Can you tell I grew up in a valley 🙂 Anyway please keep doing what you are doing, just the way you are doing it. When I read your blog I always come away with a smile, a funny line to tell my husband and a bit of motivation. THANK YOU!!!!!
Awww, you’re so sweet! Thanks for pimping me out to your friends. I’ll do my best to keep the poop jokes coming!
A true statement. Before I had to give up gluten, I would always get the taco shell salad at our local restaurant despite the fact that it was GIGANTIC and there was no way I could eat it all. I usually ate the shell and brought the salad home…
We just found a new grain free dough recipe (primalgirl.com) that I might have to see if I can make it work with this. Awesomeness all around.
Love this idea, thank you very much. I was checking the contents of my freezer the other day and realised I have two packets of wraps that need to be used up as they’ve been there for a while. Now I have a couple of ideas of things to do a few nights in a row. Yum.
Had to come back to tell you how fabulous this was. I combined it with some carrot, cumin and kidney bean falafel type things that were posted on another blog a couple of days ago ( ), topped with some heated up passata that I put up last year and with a bit of salad on the side. Have eaten way too much but soooo good! Won’t forget about this idea, I can see it featuring often.
Bahaha.
If one lacks canning jars, what can be used instead? I’ve seen cupcake molds for smaller appetizer-sized shells, but no idea about a bigger one. Now I want to make some fajitas and have them in crunchy taco shells. Sigh.
Any smallish oven safe bowls? I bet a tin can (from canned food) might even work in a pinch, as long as it was washed out and the glue was removed. Or wrapped in foil or parchment paper. Just a guess though.
Yep, any smallish glass jars or I wonder if an oven-proof mug would work?
Or just glass jars that you were going to recycle that you could scrub before you throw out?
Have I mentioned how much I love your blog? I live in Texas and grew up on a farm so all the stuff you talk about makes sense and is not unheard of on my portion of our country. Keep up the good fight girl, your not alone!
This came at the perfect time because today is Taco Tuesday and before we were just going to have burritos, now we are having salads. This is awesome.
Oh and speaking of your canning jars, did I tell you that I got a whole set of canning stuff for Christmas? You’ll be disgusted to hear it’s still all in the box because I don’t know what the hell to do. One of these weekends I am coming over with 9 thousand pounds of apples so that you can get me started with applesauce.
Let me know how the fam liked them!
And to the canning, yes, let’s plan that. Pick a weekend in September, and hopefully we can secure apples!
I love this! No need for that fancy pan that would take up lots of room in the cabinet. I can’t wait to try it. 🙂