My new favorite taco night calls for a platter of these crispy brisket tacos, and you fellow BBQ lovers will agree! Corn tortillas are stuffed with tender brisket, caramelized onions and melted smoked cheddar and then baked or fried to crunchy perfection. Now let's pour ourselves a margarita, grab a bowl of salsa and devour some tacos.
Fried or Baked Brisket Tacos?
You have options here, but that also means you have a decision to make. Should you fry or bake your brisket tacos?
Honestly, I love both methods, and they each have the benefits. This comes down to personal preference.
- Baked tacos: No oil splatter or oil disposal and you can make a ton of tacos at once. That’s always great for parties, and it means you’ll likely spend less time in the kitchen.
- Fried tacos: Both cooking techniques produce delicious tacos, but I give frying a slight edge here. You also don’t have to turn on your oven, which so many people avoid during the summer months. In a 12-inch skillet, I can only make three at a time to avoid overcrowding.
Ingredient Notes
Tortillas: We want corn tortillas here. As delicious as flour tortillas are, they don’t work as well for baking. Corn tortillas get super crunchy.
Brisket: I love using my leftover smoked brisket. Of course, you’re welcome to use an oven brisket or slow cooker brisket, but you can’t beat the flavor the smoker adds.
Fillings: I went with caramelized onions and shredded smoked cheddar. The sweetness of the caramelized onions adds a nice contrast to the smoky flavors, but you’re more than welcome to customize your fillings to suit your own taste.
Toppings: You can’t have a taco night without toppings. I love salsa, sour cream, guacamole, chopped cilantro and lime juice. If you’d like some extra smoky flavor, my smoked salsa is awesome.
Step-by-Step Instructions
Step 1: In a large skillet, we melt some butter and add a sliced onion to caramelize (photo 1). This generally takes about 45 minutes so plan ahead. Fortunately, it doesn’t require much hands-on work. Since we want the onions to caramelize to a nice brown color, we don’t want to mess with them much.
Step 2: We warm the tortillas one at a time in the microwave for about 10 seconds to make it pliable. For baked tacos, we first brush the tortilla with oil, which gives the tacos that crispy texture. We then fill the tacos by spooning the filling on one side.
To make sure the tacos stay together, we want to fold the other side over and firmly press down like so.
Step 3: Now to cook. To fry the tacos, we place them in a large skillet with a layer of hot oil and fry on one side until golden brown. We then carefully flip the tacos and fry on the other side.
For baked tacos, we place them on a baking sheet and flip them mid-way through cooking.
Just like that, our tacos are ready for toppings and devouring.
Favorite Tip
⭐️ No leftover brisket? No problem. You can get some brisket from your favorite local BBQ joint. ⭐️
Perfect Pairing
A dark Mexican lager, like a Modelo Negra, is wonderful on the side. This beer features a malty backbone that stands up to the heavier brisket, and it comes with some nutty notes that pair well with the caramelized onions. At the same time, it's light enough for patio sipping on a hot summer night, and we all know those are the best nights for tacos.
If wine is more your style, I'm always a big fan of a syrah to go with brisket. This is a bold wine that can stand up to brisket, and it has some nice spices that play with the smoky notes and any additional salsa.
And let's not forget our tequila on taco night. For a margarita, I have so many options, like my fresh cherry margarita, blood orange margarita or blackberry margarita. If you'd prefer another tequila cocktail, try my tequila sour or triple citrus tequila smash.
So bust out the tequila and let's enjoy taco night the best way we know how. These brisket tacos will be your new Tex-Mex obsession.
Cheers!
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📖 Recipe
Brisket Tacos
Equipment
- Cast-iron skillet
- Large sheet pan for baking tacos
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons salted butter
- 1 sliced sweet yellow onion
- Pinch of sugar, salt and pepper
- Canola oil
- 8 corn tortillas
- 1 cup chopped or shredded brisket
- 8 tablespoons shredded smoked cheddar slightly more than ½ cup
- Favorite toppings such as sour cream, guacamole, salsa, cilantro, lime slices, etc.
Instructions
Pan-Fried Brisket Tacos
- Add butter to a large cast-iron skillet over medium-low heat. Once it melts, add the onion slices and sprinkle the pinch of sugar, salt and pepper on top. Cook until the onion slices caramelize, stirring only occasionally. Reserve.
- Heat a corn tortilla in the microwave just until it's pliable, about 10 seconds, depending on the microwave.
- Spoon about 2 tablespoons brisket onto one side of the tortilla and top with a couple caramelized onion slices and about 1 tablespoon smoked cheddar. Fold the other side of the tortilla on top, gently pressing to adhere the tortillas to the brisket mixture. Repeat with the remaining tortillas and filling.
- Add enough oil to a large cast-iron skillet so that there's a layer on the bottom over medium-high heat. Once the oil begins to simmer, carefully add three to four tacos to the skillet. Cook on one side until the tortillas brown, about three to five minutes. Carefully flip the tacos and cook on the other side until also brown, another three to five minutes. If necessary, adjust heat as frying. Repeat with remaining tacos. Serve with your favorite toppings. Enjoy!
Baked Brisket Tacos
- Add butter to a large cast-iron skillet over medium-low heat. Once it melts, add the onion slices and sprinkle the pinch of sugar, salt and pepper on top. Cook until the onion slices caramelize, stirring only occasionally. Reserve.
- Turn oven to 450 degrees. Heat a corn tortilla in the microwave just until it's pliable, about 10 seconds, depending on the microwave.
- Using a pastry brush, coat one side of the tortilla with olive oil. On the uncoated side, spoon about 2 tablespoons brisket onto one side of the tortilla and top with a couple caramelized onion slices and about 1 tablespoon smoked cheddar. Fold the other side of the tortilla on top, gently pressing to adhere the tortillas to the brisket mixture. Repeat with the remaining tortillas and filling.
- Place filled tortillas on a large baking sheet. Bake until the tacos start to brown on the bottom side, about five to seven minutes. Flip the tacos and bake until the other side browns and the cheese melts, about another five minutes.
- Remove from oven. Serve with your favorite toppings. Enjoy!
Notes
- I love to use my leftover smoked brisket for these tacos. If you don't have a smoker, you can always pick up brisket from your favorite local BBQ joint and use another cooking method, such as the oven or slow cooker.
- Nutritional information is only an estimate. The accuracy of the nutritional information for any recipe on this site is not guaranteed.
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