Slow Cooker "Browns-in-the-Crockpot" Spicy Ground Beef for Tacos, Burritos, or Taco Salad

By á-29897

Makes enough highly seasoned spicy ground beef to make about 9 taco salads, 9 burritos, or 12 tacos. Recipe created by Kalyn with inspiration from Mexican Restaurant taco meat and several posts on various blogs about browning ground beef in the slow cooker.)

Equipment:
I used my 6 quart Ninja Cooker to make this, but it was barely over half full, so any 4 or 5 quart slow cooker will do. (I froze most of my meat, and if you have a really large slow cooker you might even want to increase the recipe.)

Ingredients

• 3 lb. lean ground beef
• 1/2 - 3/4 cup Cholula hot sauce (Buy the big size bottle at Costco or at a Mexican market for this recipe. For kids, I would definitely use the smaller amount of hot sauce.)
• 2 T ground cumin
• 2 T garlic powder
• 2 T onion powder
• 1 tsp. coarse grind black pepper (or less, to taste)
• salt to taste (I used about 1/2 tsp.)
• 1/4 cup water (plus 2 T more water as needed if you're using the smaller amount of hot sauce

Details

Adapted from kalynskitchen.com

Preparation

Step 1

Instructions:
Thaw ground beef overnight in the fridge, or if you forget to plan ahead, thaw in hot water for about 20-30 minutes. Spray cooker with non-stick spray, then put the thawed ground beef into the slow cooker, breaking it apart with your hands.

Mix Cholula hot sauce, ground cumin, garlic powder, onion powder, black pepper, salt, and water. Pour the hot sauce mixture over the ground beef and use a large spoon to stir it into the meat.

Cook the meat and spice mixture on high for 3-4 hours. After each hour, remove the lid and use an old-fashioned potato masher to mash the meat mixture about 8-10 times, so that by the time it is done the meat will be finely crumbled. If you're using the smaller amount of hot sauce, you might want to add a couple of tablespoons of water part way through the cooking time. (You can probably cook this for 6-8 hours on low and mash it every couple of hours, but I haven't tried that.)