Shredded Beef Taquitos {Easy, Healthier, Baked Taquitos} (2024)

4.81 from 26 votes

Shredded Beef Filling

• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• ½ cup onion, minced
• 2 cups Mexican Shredded Beef, drained *see notes (about 1 pound)
• 4 ounce canned green chiles, un-drained (I used fire roasted)
• 2 cups finely shredded cheese (about 4 ounces, I used Monterey cheese)
• ¼ teaspoon salt, or to taste

Shredded Beef Taquitos

• oil cooking spray (or oil for brushing on)
• 20 corn tortillas (I used Mission Super Soft Yellow corn tortillas, which are about 6". See notes if using flour tortillas.)

Shredded Beef Filling:

• (This step is to cook down and help dry out the meat-mixture, see notes if you want to skip to save time.)

• Heat olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Once hot, add the onions and cook about 2 minutes.

• Add the shredded beef, green chiles, and salt. Cook about 7-10 minutes, or until most of the liquid has evaporated.

• Remove the pan from the heat, and set aside to let cool. Once cooled a bit, you can stir in the shredded cheese.

Shredded Beef Taquitos:

• Preheat oven to 400ºF.

• Line an extra large baking sheet with foil. Generously spray the foil with cooking spray (or brush with oil).

• Place 12 tortillas in one layer onto the baking sheet. (If using regular sized baking sheets, you can fit 8 at a time). Spray the tops of each tortilla with a good amount of cooking spray (or brush the tops with oil). Bake for 4 minutes to soften the tortillas.

• Remove from the oven, and stack the tortillas on top of each other into one pile. Then, flip the stack so you have the sprayed tops down. (Stacking keeps them from drying out while filling.)

• Line up about 2 heaping tablespoons of shredded beef mixture towards the bottom third of the tortilla. (I use a cookie scoop for measuring out mixture, and easy scooping.). Tightly roll up the tortilla, and place back on the baking sheet, seam side down. Leave a little space between the rolled taquitos when placing on the sheet pan.

• Bake 15 minutes, (you can add an extra little spritz of cooking spray before putting in the oven the first time, if it looks a bit dry.)

• Remove the tray from oven, and flip the taquitos. Bake an additional 10 minutes, or until lightly browned and crisp.

• Repeat this process with remaining tortillas/filling to make the rest of the taquitos. Or, you can bake them all at the same time if you heat the rest of your tortillas while you are rolling the first batch of taquitos!

• Dip the taquitos in some homemade guacamole, or Hot Sauce!

  Or serve them with toppings (as shown in the photos in blog post and video). I topped ours with these layers: guacamole, shredded lettuce, shredded cheese, diced tomato, and Healthy Mexican Crema. And served with a side of our hot sauces! So good! 🙂

Mexican Shredded Beef

You can use our super EASY and popular recipe for Mexican Shredded Beef, or any that you have. If it was previously refrigerated, just be sure to warm it a bit so that you can drain out any excess liquids. (I just pop mine in the microwave, in a covered bowl, and heat until slightly warmed.)

Shredded Beef Filling:

If you are in a hurry you can skip the step of cooking the beef filling. The taquitos will just come out with more breakage, due to the extra moisture inside (see blog photos for comparison)! But, the taquitos will still have some crunch, and be just as delicious!

If skipping this step:

• Drain the can of green chiles, and add them to a large mixing bowl along with drained Mexican Shredded Beef. Then, pat down the beef and chiles with a couple of paper towels to dry up some of the moisture.
• Add in the onions, cheese and salt, and stir to combine.

Tortillas:

I have had great luck with the Mission Super Soft Corn tortillas! Just need to make sure to spray a generous amount of cooking spray on them so they stay moist and "oven-fry" well.

If you prefer to use flour tortillas, they work great too!

If using flour tortillas:

• Warm a stack of about 10 flour tortillas at a time in microwave, wrapped in a paper towel, for about 30 seconds.
• Fill with prepared meat mixture, and tightly roll.
• Place on a foil lined baking sheet that has been sprayed (or brushed) with cooking oil.
• Spray a good amount of cooking spray over the tops of the taquitos.
• Bake for 10 minutes. Flip, then bake an additional 5 minutes, or until taquitos are lightly browned and crisp to your liking.

*Nutritional Info is for 1 taquito out of a batch of 20 (without toppings). Also, using Mission Soft Corn Tortillas, and canola oil cooking spray.