Oven-baked tacos are a great meal for a crowd and allow everyone to top with their choice of condiments. Baking tacos in the oven is a great way to make and serve tacos in bulk, and the taco shells stay intact when you bite into them if they have been heated with the filling inside.
Brown ground beef and onion over medium-high heat in a large skillet. Drain off any fat and/or liquid.
Return to skillet and add green chilies, refried beans, tomato sauce, and taco seasoning.
Mix well and simmer for about 5 minutes.
Spoon the taco beef mixture into the taco shells and place into a 9x13-inch baking dish, propping shells against one another or using a taco rack (affiliate link) to keep shells upright.
Sprinkle taco meat with cheese in each shell.
Bake at 400ºF for 10-12 minutes (or until the cheese has melted and tacos are hot).
Serve with optional condiments of your choice.
Notes
Variations:
Substitute taco-seasoned shredded chicken to make oven-baked chicken tacos, or shredded leftover roast beef to make oven-baked shredded beef tacos.
Add a can of refried beans to the tacos.
Use your favorite salsa or enchilada sauce instead of tomato sauce.
Add a can of drained fire-roasted tomatoes to the meat mixture.
Add cojita cheese after baking.
Switch up your cheeses and try quesadilla cheese, cheddar cheese, or pepper jack.
Serve with chipotle sour cream (add 2 tablespoons chipotle sauce to ½ cup sour cream).
Gluten-free. Store-bought hard taco shells are usually made with corn and are gluten-free, but check the labels to be sure. If you want to make your own, be sure to use corn tortillas, not flour tortillas.Vegetarian. Try our lentil taco filling for a vegetarian version, or substitute your favorite plant-based crumbles for the ground beef. I'm partial to Beyond Ground (if you sign up for Beyond's mailing list, they send out coupons frequently).Nutrition data does not include optional toppings.