70. Big Mac Tacos

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All right.  I know what you're thinking.  Don't laugh!

Well . . . you can.  I did.  Yes, this is what it's come to.  I'm bound and determined to finish my project successfully and reach my one hundredth taco recipe by August 2nd!

I got this idea from my youngest sister.  As soon as she said, "Big Mac tacos?"  I knew that had to be a thing?  Why not?  There was a time in my life that I loved Big Macs.  I lived in New York City for a short time during my early twenties and spent lots of time eating at McDonald's and never paying the price because I walked everywhere!

Then I went through an eight-year vegetarian period where I wouldn't even consider eating at McDonald's.  Even after I was no longer a vegetarian, I steered clear.  In general, I still do.  Last summer, I went on a family vacation involving two little boys under the age of four.  Where did we stop on the road?  You guessed it!  What did I order?  Yep.  A Big Mac value meal.  If I'm going to do it, I'm going all out.  I'm not getting a salad at McDonald's.

You know what?  It was pretty good.  I didn't die.  I didn't feel great, but it was pretty tasty, I'll admit that.  :)  

My sister and I had slightly different ideas about the execution of this idea.  I thought these tacos would be great in crunchy taco shells.  She thought I should use a rolling pin on a hamburger bun and flatten it out, then use that as the shell.  Hmm.  I could see that being disastrous.  I did think about flattening a hamburger bun, using the taco shaper, and deep frying it, but . . . I really thought they would be better in a taco shell.

I texted Steve to see what he thought.  When I mentioned the hamburger-bun-in-the-taco-shaper idea, he just texted back, "No!"  With the exclamation point.  Ha ha.

I basically followed the recipe from the old commercial.  You know - two all-beef patties, special sauce . . . etc.  I made a sauce from scratch, because I just can't help it.  Well, it wasn't really from scratch.  It used pretty much every condiment in our refrigerator.  You'll see.  And I used colby jack cheese.  Not American.  I just couldn't do it.  :)

These were fun!  Here's the recipe:

Big Mac Tacos

Serves 3-4 (about 12 tacos)

Ingredients:

For the special sauce:

1/2 cup mayonnaise
4 tsp. sweet pickle relish
1 heaping tbsp. finely minced white onion
2 tsp. red wine vinegar
2 tsp. ketchup
1 tsp. sugar
1 tsp. white vinegar
1/4 tsp. dijon mustard
1/4 tsp. Worcestershire sauce
1/4 tsp. chile powder of your choice
1/4 tsp. cayenne pepper

1/8 tsp. salt

For the ground beef mixture :

1 tbsp. olive oil

1 lb. ground beef

3/4 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. garlic powder
1/2 tsp. onion powder
1/4 tsp. freshly ground black pepper

12 high-quality crunchy taco shells

6 slices colby-jack cheese

1/2 cup finely chopped white onion, rinsed and drained

Shredded iceberg lettuce

1/2 cup chopped dill pickles (I diced up these sandwich slices from Trader Joe's.)

Sesame seeds, for garnish

Instructions:

1.  Make the special sauce:  Place all of the sauce ingredients in a small bowl and stir until well-combined.  Taste and adjust seasonings.  Cover and set aside.

2.  Make the ground beef mixture:  Heat the olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat.  Add the beef, salt, garlic powder, onion powder, and pepper and cook, breaking the pieces apart with a spatula, until done, about 10 to 12 minutes.  Set aside and keep warm.

3.  Heat the shells:  Cut the cheese slices in half and place half a slice into each shell.

Toast briefly (a couple of minutes) in a 350 degree oven until the cheese is melted and the shells are hot and fragrant.  Watch them - they can go from toasty to burned pretty quickly!

4.  Assemble the tacos:  For each taco, place a taco shell on a plate.  Fill with some of the beef.  Top with a small amount of the chopped onion.  Add some lettuce and some of the chopped pickles.  Spoon on some of the special sauce.  Finish the presentation with a sprinkle of sesame seeds.  Enjoy!

As I said before, these were fun.  They were also quite delicious.  I will definitely be keeping the special sauce recipe.  It would be great on a salad or Rueben sandwich!  Steve actually said that the sauce "didn't work" for a taco.  He said it tasted like "a really great thousand-island dressing".  The rest of the conversation was kind of like this:

"So it tasted like Big Mac sauce?"

"Yes."

"They're Big Mac Tacos."

"Yeah, but . . . it didn't taste like taco sauce."

Ha ha.

He added some Cholula to his and seemed to enjoy them more.  If you like Cholula, you could give that a try!

I tried to keep the seasoning on the meat very simple, the way a hamburger would be.  I think it worked out well.  I added a little more salt than I usually do.  I think it needed it.  If you're conservative about salt, you could start with 1/2 tsp. and see how you like it.  :)

As you can see, I used my trusty taco holders, which are very similar to the ones featured below.  With these crunchy taco shells, it does help to have something to make them stand up!



It definitely helps make the pictures turn out better!  :)

I really enjoyed these.  If you have a fast food craving, this will fix you up!  I know the bun is missing, but . . . just use your imagination.  The taco shell is the bun, OK?

Thanks for the recipe idea, Jennifer!  :)

Feel free to comment on this recipe!  Did you try them?  What did you think?

Thanks for reading!