Indian Tacos

The OG is my Traditional Bannock, which also forms the base for my Bannock Burgers and Jalapeno Cheddar Bannock.

Now that I’ve posted my Frybread Recipe, it’s time for my Indian Tacos recipe!

Served on a base of Indian fry bread, these open-face tacos are popular all over North America, and are also known as Navajo Tacos and Native American Tacos.

We had them in Winnipeg, my cousin posts her “Indian Taco Tuesday” (well, sometimes Thursday!) from her rez in VERY rural Ontario, and one of my fellow inmates/castmates on Masterchef made them as his audition dish - and he’s from Southern California!

It had been a LONG time since I’ve made them - before I met my husband, and we’ve been together 20 years now! - but I recently decided to make up a batch for him while camping.

“I didn’t grow up on Indian tacos, so I wasn’t sure exactly what to expect when you said you were going to make them.

I’ll definitely be requesting these more often in the future!”

Now, these may not be the healthiest thing ever, but if you squint your eyes at it and do some creative thinking... really, Indian tacos aren’t that far off from a taco salad, right?

It’s like a bread bowl taco salad. Just take a long walk afterwards, enjoy a campground trail or a beach, it’s all good!

Anyway, let’s get to that recipe:

Ingredients

This recipe uses super simple ingredients - you won’t have any trouble finding what you need in pretty much any grocery store!

As always, I have some ingredient notes for you:

Lean Ground Meat

I like to use ground Bison for my Indian Tacos when possible, but end up using lean ground beef - or extra lean ground beef - when we’re on the road.

Too hard to find ground bison in small town grocery stores!

Ground chicken, ground turkey, or even Beyond Meat can be used, if that better suits your dietary needs / preferences though.

I recommend sticking to lean meats, though. I find that regular ground beef makes for really greasy taco meat.

Fry Bread

I’ve posted my Fry bread recipe separately, but it’s the base for this recipe!

You’ll need all purpose flour, baking powder, and salt for the bread dough, then some vegetable oil to fry them in.

Note: I haven’t yet come up with a version that works with gluten free flours, but it’s on my to-do list this year!

Taco Toppings

I list Shredded Sharp Cheddar cheese, Shredded Lettuce, and a Large Tomato as my default base toppings, but you can customize these however you want.

Monterey Jack, Pepper Jack, Tex Mex Blend, etc are all great options for the cheese. Do what you like!

I’ll usually swap the chopped tomato out for a chopped red pepper for my husband, as he hates raw tomatoes.

Anyway, aside from these “base” toppings, you can add all of your own favorite toppings.

Some options we tend to use include Avocado, Black Olives, Cilantro, Corn, Green Onion, Hot Sauce, Jalapenos, Red Onion, and Sour Cream.

Everything Else

Rounding out this recipe, you will need:

Taco Seasoning (Store bought or homemade, see my recipe below!)
A Small Yellow Onion
Vegetable Oil

I don’t have anything else to add, as far as these last few ingredients go. Simple stuff!

My Homemade Taco Seasoning Recipe

2 teaspoon Smoked Paprika
1 teaspoon Garlic Powder
1 teaspoon Ground Black Pepper
1 teaspoon Ground Cumin
1 teaspoon Onion Powder
1 teaspoon Salt (or Smoked Sea Salt!)
1 teaspoon Smoked Serrano Powder, or swap it out for chili powder.
½ teaspoon Crushed Chilies
¼ teaspoon Dried Oregano

Mix all of the ingredients together, store in an airtight container.

How to Make Indian Tacos

The full recipe is in then printable recipe card at the end of this post, here is the visual walk through:

Frybread

Following my Homemade Frybread recipe, make a batch of fry bread.

Cook each flattened dough ball in the hot oil until golden brown, then place on paper towels to absorb the excess oil.

Cover them with a clean tea towel to keep them warm as you make your taco meat:

Taco Meat

Heat a little oil in a large skillet or cast iron pan over medium high heat, or a low camp fire.

Add ground meat and chopped onion to the pan and cook - breaking up with a spatula - until the ground meat is browned all around, and onion has softened.

Continue cooking until the water has cooked off, and has become more of a thick glaze, than a liquid sauce.

Remove meat from heat, and assemble your Indian Tacos:

Indian Tacos

Place a piece of fry bread on each plate.

Once the taco meat is ready, divide it between the warm frybread, and top with cheese, lettuce, tomato, and any other toppings, as desired.

Serve immediately.

Leftovers

Leftover fry bread, taco meat, and toppings should be stored separately, each in an airtight container in the fridge. 

Reheat the fry bread and the meat before assembling leftover Indian Tacos. Leftover taco meat will keep for 3-4 days in the fridge.

More Grilling Recipes for Camping

Looking for some great meals to cook on a campfire or grill? Here's a few of my favourites!

Bacon Venison Burgers with Whiskey Onions
Bannock Burgers
Bison Burgers with Bacon and Caramelized Onions
Campfire Calzones
Campfire Pizza
Elk Burgers with Bacon & Sauteed Mushrooms
Fajita Chicken Kebabs
French Onion Soup Burgers
Greek Chicken Souvlaki
Grilled Chicken Fajitas
Grilled Chicken Quesadillas
Lemon-Dill Fresh Salmon Burgers
Easy Grilled Shrimp Tacos
Grilled Tuna Tacos
Mediterranean Chicken Kebabs
Mediterranean Salmon Burgers
Pesto Chicken Skewers
Sesame Ginger Grilled Tuna Kebabs
Shrimp Boil Foil Packets
Thanksgiving Turkey Burgers

Be sure to check out our other Camping Recipes, including Camping Desserts, Camping Snacks, Make-Ahead Camping Mix Recipes, and a ton of delicious Camping Main Dish Recipes.

Also, we had SO much fun designing gourmet jerky recipes for our camping trips, we started a whole new blog for them! Check out Dried & Tasty for all kinds of fun recipes to make in your food dehydrator!