Easy Six-Layer Baked Taco Cups

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Mini Taco Cups — Fast, easy, and accidentally healthy! Your favorite taco fixings in individually-portioned taco cups!! Make these for your next game day party, holiday gathering, or July 4th barbecue!

Mini Taco Cups Recipe

Everything just tastes better when it’s baked in individual portions. The cute factor makes it hard to resist devouring the whole batch of these taco tortilla cups. 

Whip up the taco cups for a fast and easy dinner option on busy weeknights. Extras can be easily tossed into lunches for the next day. Or they’re perfect as an easy party appetizer that tastes more complicated than it really is!

The cumin-dusted beans, the gooey cheese, the juicy tomatoes, and the slight heat from the salsa with the cooling sour cream and creamy avocado made these an automatic hit with my family.

I just loved them because they literally have all my favorite savory ingredients in every bite. I could never get sick of these.



Ingredients in Mini Taco Cups 

The mini taco cups are ready in 30 minutes with ingredients you likely already have on hand:

  • Tortillas
  • Canned black beans
  • Tomatoes
  • Shredded cheese
  • Sour cream 
  • Salsa
  • Avocado

Note: Scroll down to the recipe card section of the post for the ingredients with amounts included and for more complete directions.

Ingredient Tip

You can bump it up to eight layers if you want to throw in some canned black olives or canned jalepeño peppers.

How to Make Baked Taco Cups

I love how quick and easy these crunchy taco tortilla cups are to prepare! Here’s an overview of the recipe: 

  1. Preheat oven to 350F. Spray a 12-cup regular muffin pan with cooking spray or grease the pan; set aside. 
  2. Add 6 tortillas to prepared pan, pressing them down lightly. 
  3. Add about 2 tablespoons beans to each cup. 
  4. Optionally, add a few olives and jalepeno peppers to each cup, to taste.
  5. Sprinkle each cup with a generous pinch of cumin.
  6. Add about 2 tablespoons tomatoes to each cup.
  7. Add about 3 tablespoons cheese to each cup.
  8. Bake until the cheese has melted and the tortilla shells are lightly golden browned around the edges.
  9. Garnish each cup with salsa, sour cream, and / or avocado! 

Recipe Tips

Recipe yield: As written, the recipe yields 6 baked taco cups rather than 12. I stagger the cups in the pan to allow each to have a bit more overhang room.

Removing the taco cups: Allow the crunchy taco cups to cool in the pan for about 5 minutes before removing; this helps them set up so they’re less prone to tearing or breaking.

When removing cups, even though you can lift them up and out with your fingers, use a spoon to lift them out because it gives support to the base so the bottoms don’t give way and break.

Easy Six-Layer Baked Taco Cups - Fast, easy, and accidentally healthy! Your favorite taco fixings in individually-portioned cups!! So fun!!!

Recipe Variations to Try

These crunchy taco cups are easy to customize based on your personal preferences and what you have in the fridge. Here are some variations of the taco tortilla cups you can try: 

  • Make them vegan by using vegan cheese and vegan sour cream.
  • Add shredded chicken or ground beef instead of (or in addition to) the beans.
  • Use canned refried beans instead of black beans. 
  • Use wonton wrappers instead of corn tortillas. 
  • Add sauteed veggies to the taco filling. 
Easy Six-Layer Baked Taco Cups - Fast, easy, and accidentally healthy! Your favorite taco fixings in individually-portioned cups!! So fun!!!

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5 from 1 vote

Easy Six-Layer Baked Taco Cups

By Averie Sunshine
Fast, easy, and accidentally healthy! Your favorite taco fixings in individually-portioned taco cups!! So fun!!!
Prep Time: 5 minutes
Cook Time: 25 minutes
Additional Time: 5 minutes
Total Time: 35 minutes
Servings: 6
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Ingredients  

  • six 5-inch tortillas, I used white corn tortillas
  • one 15-ounce can black beans, drained and rinsed
  • one 3.8-ounce can sliced black olives, optional
  • one 4-ounce can sliced jalepeno peppers, optional
  • cumin, for sprinkling
  • 1 medium ripe tomato, diced (Roma or vine-ripened)
  • about 1 cup shredded cheese, Mexican blend, Monterrey Jack, Pepper Jack, queso fresco, etc.
  • salsa, for garnishing
  • sour cream, for garnishing
  • 1 medium ripe avocado, peeled and diced for garnishing

Instructions 

  • Preheat oven to 350F. Spray a Non-Stick 12-Cup Regular Muffin Pan with cooking spray or grease the pan; set aside. Tip – Recipe as written yields 6 cups rather than 12 so I stagger the cups in the pan to allow each to have a bit more overhang room.
  • Add 6 tortillas to prepared pan, pressing them down lightly. The edges will naturally fold in.
  • Add about 2 tablespoons beans to each cup. (You’ll have a small amount of beans left over; save for a future use).
  • Optionally, add a few olives and jalepeno peppers to each cup, to taste.
  • Sprinkle each cup with a generous pinch of cumin.
  • Add about 2 tablespoons tomatoes to each cup.
  • Add about 3 tablespoons cheese to each cup.
  • Bake for about 25 minutes, or until cheese has melted and tortilla shells are lightly golden browned around the edges.
  • Allow cups to cool in pan for about 5 minutes before removing; this helps them set up so they’re less prone to tearing or breaking. Important tip – When removing cups, even though you can lift them up and out with your fingers, use a spoon to lift them out because it gives support to the base so the bottoms don’t give way and break.
  • Garnish each cup with salsa, sour cream, and avocado as desired. Serve immediately.

Notes

Storage: Cups are best fresh but will keep airtight in the fridge for up to 3 days (don’t garnish them if you plan to save as leftovers) and can be lightly reheated in the micro and garnished before serving.

Nutrition

Serving: 1, Calories: 418kcal, Carbohydrates: 50g, Protein: 16g, Fat: 18g, Saturated Fat: 6g, Polyunsaturated Fat: 11g, Cholesterol: 20mg, Sodium: 809mg, Fiber: 11g, Sugar: 1g

Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.

More Mexican Appetizers: 

ALL OF MY MEXICAN RECIPES! 

Layered Beef Taco Dip — A FAST and EASY layered dip with taco-seasoned cream cheese, sour cream, ground beef, black beans, cheese, tomatoes, and more!! Perfect for your next FIESTA and a guaranteed WINNER with everyone!!

Baked Corn Tortilla Chips — Making tortilla chips at home is FAST and EASY! Ready in just 20 minutes. These are BAKED not fried so they’re healthier, too!

Baked Tortilla Chips - Making tortilla chips at home is FAST and EASY! Ready in just 20 minutes. These are BAKED not fried so they're healthier, too! Perfect for salsa, guac, or anytime you need tortilla chips!

Mexican Shrimp Cocktail — Chilled shrimp, tomatoes, cucumber, onion, jalapeno, creamy avocado, and more are combined in a tomato-based sauce, along with a bit of Mexican hot sauce for some kick!

Mexican Shrimp Cocktail - Chilled shrimp, tomatoes, cucumber, onion, jalapeno, creamy avocado, and more are combined in a tomato-based sauce, along with a bit of Mexican hot sauce for some kick! Perfect for entertaining or as a no-cook lunch, snack, or dinner - especially when it's too hot to cook!

Cheesy Baked Mexican Corn Dip — A hot corn dip reminiscent of Mexican street corn!! Creamy, cheesy, spiked with lime juice, chili powder, and a serrano chile or jalapeno for a touch of heat!

Do-It-Yourself Guacamole Bar – Make your own guacamole bar and have fun taste-testing the options! Great party idea that everyone loves!

Easy Restaurant-Style Blender Salsa — Make your own salsa in minutes! Fast, easy, goofproof and tastes 1000x better than anything you’d buy!

Easy Restaurant-Style Blender Salsa - Make your own salsa in minutes! Fast, easy, goofproof and tastes 1000x better than anything you'd buy!

Beef Queso Dip — Caramelized onions, ground beef, taco seasoning, and CHEESE in this EASY queso dip everyone loves!! Great for game days, PARTIES, holidays, and events!!

This is a sponsored conversation written by me on behalf of Albertsons. The opinions and text are all mine.

5 from 1 vote (1 rating without comment)

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Please note: I have only made the recipe as written, and cannot give advice or predict what will happen if you change something. If you have a question regarding changing, altering, or making substitutions to the recipe, please check out the FAQ page for more info.

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Comments

  1. Accidentally healthy <– those are the best kinds of recipes! And yes, the cuteness factor makes me want to eat about 27 of these little guys. In the name of healthy and all that. ;)

  2. We love taco cups!! We put anything and everything in them but I have to say yours are definitely healthier – can’t wait to give them a try! So, SO cute! Pinned!

  3. Taco cups… with six layers?! You’re genius! I’m pinning this… because I NEED to make them.

  4. You nailed it…cute little food is just so much more fun to eat!!! I am all about portion control right now, so these are perfect. Well, unless I forget how many I ate :-) And I’m sure my kids would go nuts for these too!!! Pinned :-)

    1. Thanks for pinning and yes with cute food, it’s always entirely possible to lose track of things :)

  5. This couldn’t have been easier, and vegetarian refried beans worked perfectly as a substitute for the non-vegetarian beans my husband accidentally bought. Can’t wait to try again with black beans!

    1. Glad they came out great with the refried beans and the beauty of things like this is that they’re so flexible you can really mix and match!

  6. I made these for dinner ( with lots of jalapeños) and they were delicious. Thanks for the yummy, easy recipe!

  7. Do you think refried beans could be substituted for the black beans? This looks delicious and I really want to try it!!