~ Taco Cones are the perfect way to transform your family-favorite taco night into a quick, portable, grab-and-go meal! Our DIY Ta-Cones can even be prepped ahead – an easy make-ahead dinner recipe that you can rewarm all week long, whenever your family is ready to eat! Such a creative, fun twist on traditional tacos – great for taco bar parties and tailgates, too! ~

This Recipe Is:   •  Ready in 30 Minutes or Less  •  Make-Ahead  • 

* As you’ll see in our photos, we originally photographed this pinwheel recipe using Flatout flatbreads (sponsored by that company). However, you can easily substitute a soft, flour tortilla instead of the Flatouts. For the best nutrition boost, we recommend choosing a whole grain tortilla.)

Need a family-fave dinner that’s totally able to head right on out the door on busy evenings? Wanna take “Taco Tuesday” on the road?

I hear ya!

No doubt – when it comes to keeping families happy at mealtimes, tacos are a slam dunk. There are so many ways to switch ’em up, which means everybody’s happy! Yay, tacos!

Here at THK we have enough inspiration to keep your family noshing through many a Taco Tuesday (and most other days of the week, too!). No kidding … we’re talking Crock-Pot Chicken Tacos, Mediterranean Tacos, Shrimp Tacos … even a 7-Layer Taco Salad and cute little Taco Burger Sliders. Plus a jaw-dropping showcase of ultra-unique, seriously different tacos. And don’t even get me started on our list of taco-related Mexican recipes like skillets, pizza and hummus!

But all those taco recipes are missing one shiny little attribute: portability.

Convenient, grab-and-go, I’m-hurrying-as-fast-as-I-humanly-can portability.

Tacos simply don’t dash out the door to soccer practice very well – unless you love spot-cleaning salsa off your kids’ uniforms and shampooing the minivan seats (#NotMeThanks).

For sure, I’ve noticed the clear trend: you guys love portable! Take a classic, fam-fave food and make it minivan-friendly, and you’re happy, happy!

Our Chicken Parmesan Wraps blew the doors off as instant, runaway hits. Noted. And those loaded-up Peanut Butter Sandwich Wraps have been crushing it on Pinterest from day one. Heard that. Oh – and portable Chicken Pot Pies? Classic comfort food to go … you guys loved them!

So, it’s time. Time to take the taco obsession and set it free to roam … to roam out the door and onward toward all your busy-night activities.

Heck, these Ta-Cones are even happy roaming around a campout or backyard party. Set up a taco bar with plenty of fixins, let everyone customize their own with those handy pre-made DIY cones, and the party is on! (Mariachi band entirely optional.)

So, how do we turn plain ol’ tortillas into perfect DIY Taco Cones? Easy!

A Step-by-Step Guide to Easy Taco Cones

As we note on the recipe card, this recipe is set up to be adjustable.

The exact number of cones you’ll want to make and how far you can stretch the taco meat will depend on how tightly you wrap your cones, how many additional toppings you layer in there with the taco meat, and how high you pile on the toppings (hint: for maximum, mess-free portability, don’t pile them on too high).

So, let’s just take this one cone at a time, one step at a time. And trust me: after you’ve done this once, you’ll be able to crank these cones out in no time! They’re super easy!

1) For each taco cone, you lay a tortilla on a microwave-safe plate and sprinkle it evenly with a Mexican-inspired blend of spices.

2) Next, you sprinkle reduced-fat cheese on top of the spices.

3) As you’re sprinkling the cheese, try to get most of it toward the outer edges of the tortilla.

4) After a quick tour through your microwave, that cheese is now melty-gooey, and ready to act as your edible cone glue! Brilliant!

5) As soon as you pull the tortilla from the microwave, and while the cheese is still very melty, you shape the tortilla into a cone, rolling two edges toward each other and pressing gently but firmly around the edges to make sure the edges seal.

6) At this point, your taco cone will be warm and floppy. To help it hold its shape, stuff a balled-up wad of parchment paper inside. Note that paper towels, aluminum foil and wax paper are all a big no-go here, for a variety of reasons. Go with parchment so you don’t spark a fire in your microwave and so you’re able to pull it back out of the sticky cheese inside your cone.

7) To make sure no yummy taco drippings escape out the bottom of the cone and onto that spic-and-span soccer jersey your kiddo’s wearing, take one quick moment to seal up the bottom (with that magical, cheesy food glue, of course!). Just sprinkle a tiny bit of cheese near the tip of the taco cone, and …

8) … after another quick tango with your microwave, you can “glue” the tip into place, all sealed up and drip-proof!

We recommend letting each cone sit for at least five minutes, before you remove the parchment and add the filling. That allows the cheese to firm up so the shape holds better.

You Can Even Make These Ta-Cones Almost Entirely Ahead!

If you’re making the cones ahead … say, to have on hand so you can whip out dinners, as needed, all week long, or so you can have a big pile of cones at-the-ready for a fun taco bar … simply let the cones cool completely, then wrap them tightly in plastic and refrigerate them for up to two or three days.

You can gently reheat them, if you want, when you’re ready to serve them – just to take the chill off – but that’s not necessary if you’re laying them out for a taco bar.

You can make the taco meat mixture a day or two in advance, as well. Just cover it and stash it in the fridge. Then, you can either reheat the entire skillet all at once, or you can portion out a little bit at a time, to whip up just the right number of Taco Cones for any family members that come hungrily through your door, scouting for dinner. Just thrust a Ta-Cone into their hands, and they’re heading off to their next activity – with great nutrition to power them through!

Why These Fun Tacos Are So Nutritious

• Well, for one thing, you can easily jam in some more nutrition by using a tortilla that has some fiber-rich whole grains (even flax!). Lotsa bang for your nutrition buck.
• Then, there’s the taco meat itself. We recommend using the very leanest ground beef you can find. I typically opt for 93% lean beef, but I’ll grab 96% on days I can find it. If you prefer, you can swap in ground turkey, but be sure to check the nutrition label: some ground turkey is actually notably higher in fat than extra-lean ground beef, so be sure you know what you’re buying.

• Plus, we strrrrrrrretch that taco meat by adding in loads of healthy veggies: garlic and lots of onions, an entire can of black beans, plus some corn and a jar of lycopene-rich salsa.
• And that’s before we even start talking about toppings. To really amp up the nutrition, use plenty of fresh veggies to finish off your Taco Cones. Diced tomatoes are a great bet, and plenty of thinly sliced lettuce, for sure! We generally prefer not to use the traditional iceberg lettuce, opting instead for more nutritious varieties. We think romaine is a perfect choice – it’s texturally pretty similar to the iceberg most people are used to eating with tacos, but it’s also more nutritious.

So, How Do You Eat a Taco Cone?

We nibble on these just like we would an ice cream cone – no fork required!

If you want, to keep things extra tidy, you can wrap each finished Ta-Cone in some parchment or a paper towel, even a sandwich baggie.

Of course, if you really want to involve cutlery, you can place each cone in a tall glass (or a party-perfect red Solo cup!) and offer forks alongside. But honestly … where’s the fun in that?!? We vote forks-free all the way!

So simple!

And just like that … the taco is reinvented!

Everything you love about tacos, but with all the the great nutrition and on-the-go portability you need to take on the world (or … ahem … the soccer mom carpool line). Taco night will never be the same!