Walking Tacos (Easy Tacos In a Bag!)

Walking tacos are fun dinner that is perfect for a party or group, and easy to customize. Savory taco meat is layered with beans, cheese, lettuce and your favorite toppings for a delicious dinner or snack. These tacos in a bag are easy to eat for camping, tailgating, pool parties and parties.

 

Why We Love Walking Tacos

• Great Dinner For A Group– Not only is this dinner really tasty, it’s great to serve to a group because everyone can customize their own favorite toppings. It’s also easy to accommodate multiple diets, and to make for camping or parties.
• Clean Up Is Easy– No plates are needed, everyone enjoys dinner right in the bag.
• Kid Pleasing Dinner– Kids get really excited about walking tacos, and love changing out the toppings. Plus the savory toppings are delicious on top of the crunchy chips.

Ingredients For Walking Tacos

Ingredients For The Taco Meat

• ground beef
• onion diced
• taco seasoning
• black beans one can, about 1 1/2 cups cooked beans
• salsa
• Individual Bags  corn chips – You can also use Doritos (cool Ranch Doritos and Nacho Cheese Doritos were both popular with our friends), flavored corn chips, restaurant-style tortilla chips, or whatever type of chips you like. See more notes in the recipe card.

For The Toppings

(All toppings are optional to your own taste, see further down the page for more topping ideas. You can also use your favorite taco ingredients.)

• cheddar cheese shredded
• lettuce shredded or chopped
• sour cream
• salsa
• green onions sliced

How To Make Walking Tacos

Walking tacos only take a little bit of prep as you use the chip bag as your plate.Then you set up the toppings as a walking taco bar and let each person build their own taco. It’s the perfect party food for birthday parties, game day or and a quick meal for camping trips. The best part is almost everyone loves taco night!

To Make The Taco Meat

1. Place the ground beef and onion in a skillet on medium heat. Brown the meat for 5-7 minutes or until the meat is fully cooked. Drain any excess liquid from the meat.

2. Add in the taco seasoning, black beans, and 1 cup of salsa to the ground beef. Heat for 2-3 minutes or until warm all the way through then place in a serving bowl.

Assembling Walking Tacos With Toppings

1. Open the bags of chips. To each bag add about 1/4 cup of the warm meat mixture.

2. In each bag of chips top the meat mixture with shredded cheese, lettuce, sour cream, extra salsa, and green onions as desired. Eat out of the bag with a fork and enjoy!

Variation Ideas

Swap The Meat– You can use ground turkey or ground chicken with this recipe. You can also use the same ingredients to make a diced or shredded chicken breast or chicken thigh to add to these walking tacos.

Make The Beans Separate – Not everyone loves beans. If I am unsure if my crowd will like beans I will warm up the beans separately with a teaspoon or two of taco seasoning. Then when we layer the walking tacos guests can choose to add beans or not to their own tastes.

Try The Snack Size– You can use 1 ounce bags of chips for a smaller snack size version of these walking tacos. Expect the meat will be split between about 12 bags for the smaller 1 ounce size bags and adjust the toppings accordingly.

Swap The Chips– I’ve used Fritos for these but a lot of people like to use Doritos. You can also use any kind of tortilla chip or corn chip.

Make A Dip – These individual seven-layer dip mini cups are a similarly delicious appetizer that are great for a group to enjoy!

Walking Taco Toppings Ideas

• Tomatoes– Diced small
• Avocado – Diced or made into guacamole
• Corn– You can warm up a side of corn or make this easy ten minute corn and black bean salsa
• Fajita Vegetables – Peppers and onions with Mexican-inspired spices are delicious on these walking tacos. I recommend dicing the vegetables up small so they fit in the bag easily. You can also try making my sheetpan chicken fajitas which has chicken with peppers and onions, and could easily reheat for a walking taco topping.
• Cheese- I’ve used a simple shredded Mexican-inspired blend of cheeses, but you can use cheddar, Monterery jack, queso blanco or even warm and melty queso sauce or cheese sauce on top.
• Beans – Black beans are used in the recipe, but pinto beans, kidney beans or refried beans can also be used as toppings.
• Jalapenos– Fresh diced jalapenos or pickled jalapenos are a yummy way to add a little kick to these tacos.
• Black Olives– I’m not the biggest fan of black olives, but I know a lot of other people really like black olives on top of Mexican-inspired dishes. Black olives are always a hit on my beefy seven layer taco dip.

Tips To Make Walking Tacos For A Large Group

Walking tacos are a great meal to make for a group whether you are camping, having a party or tailgating. While this recipe makes six individual dinners or twelve snack size deconstructed tacos, here are some tips for scaling this meal for a larger group.

I’ve served walking tacos at girl scout campouts to a large group and it works great, and I’ve also had them from the concession stand at a football game in Ohio. I’ve also made them for parties to watch the game and they were a big hit.

• How To Estimate Amount Of Meat– Assume 5-6 people per pound of ground beef.
• Serve BYO Style – Serve build your own style letting everyone pick their own toppings
• Place Warm Toppings In Slow Cookers– Even if you didn’t cook the meat and beans in the slow cooker, you can place them in a warm slow cooker to keep them warm while you are serving.
• Separate the Beef and the Beans– This can help accommodate vegetarians and pickier eaters. If you have a lot of vegetarians, adding extra beans to the side can make the meal more filling for vegetarians.
• Adding A Kick For Those Who Like Spicy Food – Try adding a choice of a mild salsa and a spicier salsa to accommodate more tastes when needed. Hot sauce can also be added to the table to add a kick to individual bags.
• Try Portioning Chips Yourself – You can buy larger bags of chips and then portion them into zip-top bags. This also can make it easier to accommodate small kids who may have trouble eating out of the smaller bag and other dietary needs like people who eat low carb and gluten free.

How Do I Accommodate Vegetarians, Gluten Free, Vegan And Other Special Diets?

This meal is great for a crowd, and is easy to adapt to many special diets. Here are a few tips if you have a few people at your table who also have special diets. This is not meant to be an all inclusive list, when adapting for people who have special diets or sensitivities it is always best to ask if you are unsure what they can eat.

Adapting for Vegetarians And Vegan Diets

For most vegetarians and vegans, offering extra beans cooked with taco spice along with the other toppings works in place of the ground bean mixture. You could also add an option of crumbled plant based protein or veggie burgers for vegetarians or vegans. I also recommend adding a few of the fresh vegetable toppings like some diced tomatoes or avocado.

For vegans keep in mind toppings like sour cream and cheese aren’t things they can generally eat so more fresh toppings, vegetable toppings and salsa options are helpful.

Adapting For Gluten Free Diets

Most corn chips are naturally gluten free, however it can vary based on the brand of chips and the person’s gluten sensitivity if they are able to eat regular corn chips. A chip like Siete Foods Grain Free chips are a great way to offer an additional option for a wider range of special diets.

Adapting For Low Carb Diets

Most tortilla chips aren’t low carb, but you can offer L=low carb tortillas so they can wrap their toppings in a tortilla. You can also offer bowls so they can layer the ingredients a little easier. Those eating low carb will usually want the protein options like the beef and will eat cheese, sour cream and veggies, but often won’t eat beans, corn or chips.

How Long Will Walking Tacos Last?

Store any leftover meat and toppings in individual airtight containers in the refrigerator for about three days.

I recommend adding the meat and toppings per person. The chips will get soggy if you try to store leftovers with the meat mixture and toppings on top of the chips.