Tacos and burritos are one of our favourite family meals. These beef tacos are super delicious. The boys just gobbled up this dinner. I think they really enjoyed eating with their hands and not getting too messy. Oliver and Daddy loved theirs with cheddar cheese but you can have without if you’re not a fan or are dairy-free.

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You do need a bit of time to make the sauce as it tastes better when the meat has been cooked for a few hours and so breaks down. If you don’t have time in an afternoon to keep checking on it in a pan, you could try making it in a morning and leaving in the slow cooker on a low setting all day.

This recipe serves two adults and two small children with one portion left over for lunch the next day.

Ingredients

500g pack of Beef Mince (we use Sainsbury’s Organic as we prefer the flavour to other beef we’ve tried)

12 Crunchy Taco Shells

1 tbsp olive oil

1 small red onion

2 cloves garlic

1 medium carrot

1 courgette

1 small glass of red wine

1 400g can of chopped tomatoes

1/2 a small jar/carton of passata or 1 tbsp tomato puree

1 beef stock cube (we use Kallo Organic)

1 tsp oregano

1/2 tsp paprika

1 tsp cumin

1/2 tsp chilli powder

1 jar/carton black beans (optional)

Grated Cheddar cheese to top (optional)

Salt & pepper

Method

Add the olive oil to a large, deep frying pan. Once the oil is warm add the chopped red onion and carrot and fry on a low heat for about five minutes until soft. Add the garlic and courgette and fry for a further five minutes.

Add the beef mince and fry until brown, stirring and breaking up the mince so it doesn’t all stick together. Add in the red wine and after a couple of minutes add in the chopped tomatoes, pasta/tomato puree, stock cube, oregano and spices.

Stir, put the lid on the pan and leave to simmer on a low heat for at least three hours checking every half hour and adding water if necessary to not let it stick to the bottom of the pan.

Once the sauce has reduced and the meat has broken down, it should look like the below.

If using the black beans, add a few minutes before serving just to warm through. Taste and season with salt and pepper.

Heat the taco shells in the oven according to the packet instructions and serve with some green vegetables. This time we had wilted spinach with garlic and nutmeg.