These 17 Taco Recipes Will Make You Want Every Day to Be Tuesday

So dang good they deserve to be made more than once a week.

By
Mimi Young
Mimi Young
Mimi Young
Editor
Mimi Young is an editor and pastry chef. She has also curated and written numerous recipe roundups for Serious Eats.
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Updated February 21, 2025
Overhead view of four Baja fish tacos on a parchment-lined tray with guacamole and lime

Serious Eats / Qi Ai

While the phrase "Taco Tuesday" has been around since at least the early '80s, my love of tacos did not begin in childhood. Back then my exposure was limited to fast food tacos (you know the one) and the dry taco seasoning packets and boxed hard shells that mom occasionally picked up on sale at the grocery store. Frankly, I just didn't get what the big deal was with tacos—that is until I ventured into San Francisco's Mission district as a young adult and had soft tacos for the first time. The tortillas were warm and pliable enough to wrap around the fillings—juicy, tender morsels of smoky pork that had been griddled until the pieces were crispy around the edges, savory cotija cheese, and pickled onions—without shattering in my hands with each bite. Mind blown.

A well-made, perfectly executed taco is something to be celebrated—and not just one day a week but every day. We've rounded up 17 of our most popular taco recipes to help with that, so whether you're a carnivore, pescatarian, vegetarian, or vegan there's a taco (or four) with your name on it.

  • Easy Mexican Chorizo Tacos

    Three chorizo tacos plated with lime wedges

    Diana Chistruga

    Get your Tuesday taco night off to a quick start with these super easy-to-make Mexico chorizo tacos. They take only about 30 minutes to put together, from cooking the filling to setting up the fixings—store-bought fresh chorizo streamlines the process. If you have a little time the day before, you can make the chorizo yourself and let the meat rest in the fridge overnight.

  • Crunchy Fried Fish Tacos

    Overhead view of crunchy fish taco

    Serious Eats / Jen Causey

    I'll never say no to perfectly fried fish, especially when it's coated in extra crunchy beer batter crust and enveloped in double-stacked warm corn tortillas with crisp shredded cabbage, fresh pickled red onion, and a drizzle of spicy mayo. We first dip white fish chunks into a beer batter, then coat them in seasoned cake flour before deep-frying. A little bit of the batter drips into the flour to form nubby bits that adhere to the fish, giving it a super crunchy texture when fried.

  • Tacos Gobernador (Sinaloan Shrimp Tacos)

    Tacos gobernador plated with salsa and lime wedges

    Serious Eats / Lorena Masso

    A specialty of Sinaloa, Mexico, tacos gobernador is a winning combination of crunchy exterior and melty cheesy interior, stuffed with tender shrimp stewed in a thick ranchera-style salsa of tomato, onion, and chile. Carefully toasting the assembled tacos in a skillet ensures a perfectly crisp, cracker-like shell.

  • Crispy Potato and Chorizo Tacos

    Crispy potato and chorizo tacos

    Serious Eats / Eric Kleinberg

    The best chorizo and potato tacos are deeply browned and flavorful, each crisp cube of potato coated in a thin layer of bright-red fat packed with spicy, meaty flavor. To achieve an extra-crispy texture on the potato, we par-cook the potato in vinegar-spiked water. Whether the Mexican chorizo you choose is pork-based or fully vegan, cooking it past the point where you think it's finished leads to crispier, better browned, tastier results. 

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  • Baja Fish Tacos

    Four Baja fish tacos plattered on a parchment-lined tray with lime and guacamole

    Serious Eats / Qi Ai

    What distinguishes these Baja fish tacos from other styles of fried fish tacos is their characteristic touch of sweetness. Here the sweetness comes from store-brought pancake mix (though you can also use a homemade mix), lightened with seltzer water. We also briefly soak the firm fish in a vinegar and salt solution before battering to help tenderize it and guarantee that it's deeply seasoned throughout.

  • Cochinita Pibil (Yucatán-Style Barbecued Pork)

    Cochinita pibil served up as tacos with pickled red onion

    Serious Eats / J. Kenji López-Alt

    Looking for a showstopper for your next big taco feast? This Yucatán-style barbecued pork will earn you some serious bragging rights...and you won't even have to dig a pit in your backyard or cook it for 14 hours. With our method, you wrap the seasoned meat in banana leaves, set it on a rimmed baking sheet, and cook it low and slow on the cooler side of the grill with a few wood chips for smoky flavor. Just be sure you've got a hungry crowd because cochinita pibil is the kind of dish best made in large quantities.

  • Homemade Tacos al Pastor

    Tacos al pastor viewed from the side

    Serious Eats / Melissa Hom

    This recipe proves you can make al pastor tacos that taste like the real deal taqueria variety at home—no trompo necessary. Layering bacon with well-seasoned, marinated pork and baking it in a pan produces a loaf that's easy to slice and crisp up. While the overall process takes a couple of days, the active time is remarkably low, and most of it can be done in advance, making it a great choice if you're planning a taco party.

  • Whole Grilled Fish Tacos

    Whole grilled fish made up into a taco with fresh salsa

    Serious Eats / J. Kenji López-Alt

    Grilled fish taco often gets a bad rap for being a sad, dry replacement for the juicy fried variety. The problem stems from grilling pre-portioned fish, which runs a higher risk of drying out.  Since fish is very often better when grilled whole, grilling whole fish for tacos makes total sense—plus, there's less chance of whole fish sticking to the grill than fillets. Not only is it easier and cheaper to leave the fish whole, but the skin and bones act as a heat buffer to give you a wider window to take the fish off the grill before it overcooks.

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  • Easy One-Pot Chicken Tinga (Mexican Shredded Chicken Stew)

    Chicken tinga made into two tacos served with lime and radishes

    Serious Eats / J. Kenji López-Alt

    This smoky, spicy shredded chicken Mexican stew is the ultimate one-pot taco filling. The built-in salsa means it barely needs any accouterments to shine. A little squeeze of lime juice and a scattering of chopped white onion and cilantro for freshness are all you need.

  • Tacos de Castacán Con Queso (Yucatán-Style Pork Belly and Cheese Tacos)

    Tacos de castacan on a yellow plate with lime and cilantro

    Serious Eats / J. Kenji López-Alt

    Mention the words pork belly and I'm all in! For our version of Yucatán-style pork belly, we cook it low and slow in a cast iron skillet nestled with aromatics like orange, garlic, cinnamon, and clove, then finish it in a blazing hot oven to crisp up the skin. Topping the chopped pork with shredded cheese while it's on the griddle gives the cheese a chance to brown and crisp, lending an extra dimension of nutty flavor and texture to the finished taco.

  • Braised Lamb Shoulder With Dried Chiles and Dates

    Braised lamb shoulder taco with Cotija cheese and avocado

    Serious Eats / Vicky Wasik

    This braised lamb shoulder is the kind of set-it-and-forget-it dish that takes only a few minutes of simple prep—the Dutch oven does most of the work. Packed with flavor from smoky morita chiles, fruity guajillo chiles, and sharp tomatillos, all tempered by sticky-sweet dates, it's perfect on tortillas for an inspired taco night.

  • Sous Vide Carnitas for Tacos (Crispy Mexican-Style Pulled Pork)

    Sous vide carnitas cochinita pibil tacos with lime wedges

    Serious Eats / J. Kenji López-Alt

    Moist, juicy, and ultra porky, with the rich, tender texture of a French confit and plenty of well-browned, crisp edges, carnitas is the undisputed king of the taco cart. While our oven method offers an easy alternative to the traditional method of simmering chunks of juicy pork in rendered lard inside a large copper vat, we think cooking it sous vide yields even better results. You don't have to heat the oven or worry about leaving it on all afternoon—plus, there's no real chance of overcooking. Win-win!

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  • Tacos Árabes (Pita-Wrapped, Cumin-Marinated-Pork Tacos)

    Tacos Arabes lined up on a white platter

    Serious Eats / Vicky Wasik

    Who says a taco shell needs to be made of a tortilla? Tacos árabes, a Pueblan specialty with Middle Eastern influence, features juicy cumin-marinated pork in a warm pita-bread wrapper. Similar to our al pastor taco meat, for this recipe we layer smoky bacon with the pork in a loaf pan to simulate the flavor of charcoal-roasted meat on a spit.

  • Jamaican Beef Tacos With Tropical Slaw

    Jamaican Tacos with lime wedges on a bright blue plate

    Serious Eats / Morgan Eisenberg

    Something magical happens when you combine tacos and Jamaican beef patties. For our flavor-packed filling, we cook ground beef with classic Jamaican spices, onion, scallion, and Scotch bonnet pepper. To get that signature patty color, we brush the tortilla with a turmeric- and curry-infused oil. A bright tropical slaw made with mango and pineapple adds a fresh fruity flavor.

  • Fried-Avocado Tacos With Chipotle Cream, Cabbage, and Pickled Red Onions

    Fried avocado tacos on a white plate with radishes and lime wedges

    Serious Eats / J. Kenji López-Alt

    These fried avocado tacos just might be the most luscious vegetarian tacos you've ever eaten—golden battered avocado slices tucked into warm corn tortillas with cabbage, salsa verde, pickled red onions, and a creamy chipotle sauce. Beer in the batter makes for a light, very crispy exterior that contrasts beautifully with the creamy interior.

  • Tacos de Canasta (Basket Tacos for a Party or Potluck)

    Canasta tacos spread out on plates over a red and white stripe table cloth

    Serious Eats / Vicky Wasik

    Tacos de canasta—basket of tacos—could very well be your answer to the question of what to bring to a potluck. Invented by intrepid Mexican street vendors, pre-assembled tacos are packed in lined baskets and wrapped to gently steam and keep them warm. Using taco filling on the drier side and homemade chile oil to add flavor to the tacos without introducing extra moisture guarantees they come out perfect.

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  • Sweet Potato, Sage, and Fried Egg Tacos

    Tacos with sweet potato, sage, and fried egg on a white plate

    Serious Eats / J. Kenji López-Alt

    For those who want to start their taco Tuesday first thing in the morning, these tacos with sweet potato, sage, and fried egg make for a satisfying vegetarian breakfast. Fried sage and sweet potatoes are a naturally delicious flavor combination that works well in tacos.

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