Crispy potato tacos
Cheesy mashed potatoes folded into corn tortillas and pan-fried until crackly, then stuffed with crunchy cabbage, the Mexican street favorite made from almost nothing.
- 40 min total
- 30 min hands-on
- Follow-a-recipe easy
- Serves 2
- About $2.13 a serving
- 900 calories
- Vegetarian
- Gluten-free
Dolly says: Read the steps once before you start. Everything goes smoother after that.
Ingredients
For 2 servings.
- 2 russet potatoes, peeled and cut into chunks
- 1 cup cheddar cheese, grated
- 1½ cups green cabbage, finely shredded
- 8 corn tortillas
- ½ cup salsa (optional)
- ¼ cup sour cream (optional)
From your pantry
- 1 tsp salt, divided
- ½ tsp ground cumin
- ½ tsp garlic powder
- ½ tsp chili powder
- 1 tbsp white vinegar
- ¼ cup vegetable oil, divided
Each serving has about 900 calories, 25 g protein, 93 g carbs and 50 g fat, and costs about $2.13 at typical US grocery prices. Both are estimates from what the recipe uses.
Missing something?
- No russet potatoes? Yukon gold potatoes work.
- No cheddar cheese? Shredded cheddar or monterey jack cheese or mexican blend cheese works.
- No green cabbage? Red cabbage or coleslaw mix works.
- No corn tortillas? Flour tortillas work.
- No salsa? Pico de gallo works.
- No sour cream? Plain greek yogurt works.
Steps
Tap an underlined word for a quick explanation.
Put the potato chunks in a medium pot, cover with cold water, and add ½ teaspoon salt. over high heat, then 12 to 15 minutes, until very soft.
Bring to a boil. It means heating a liquid on high until it’s fully boiling before you move on. A lid on the pot gets it there faster, which makes it a good moment to chop something.
How you’ll know: Big bubbles break all over the surface, and they keep coming when you lift the lid.
Simmer. Simmering means keeping a liquid just below a boil, with small bubbles rising gently. It cooks food evenly and lets a sauce thicken without scorching on the bottom.
How you’ll know: Small, lazy bubbles break the surface every second or so, and nothing is churning.
Medium heatTimer: 13 min 30 sec
the potatoes and mash them with the cumin, garlic powder, chili powder and ¼ teaspoon salt. Stir in the cheddar.
Drain. Draining means pouring off liquid, like tipping pasta into a colander or spooning extra fat out of the pan. Pour hot grease into a can or jar, not the sink, where it hardens and clogs the pipes.
How you’ll know: Only a few drips are left, and the food isn’t sitting in a puddle.
the cabbage with the vinegar and of salt and set it aside.
Toss. Tossing means gently lifting and turning food so everything gets coated, like pasta in sauce or vegetables in oil. It coats every piece evenly without mashing anything.
How you’ll know: Every piece looks glossy or evenly coated, with no dry spots hiding underneath.
Pinch. A pinch is what you can hold between your thumb and two fingers, less than an eighth of a teaspoon. It’s a small, forgiving amount, so there’s no need to measure.
How you’ll know: It’s a light sprinkle you can barely see on the food, not a little pile.
Wrap the tortillas in a damp paper towel and microwave 45 seconds, so they bend without cracking.
Dolly’s tip: Cold corn tortillas crack when you fold them. Warm and steamy is what you want.Spread 2 tablespoons of potato over half of each tortilla and it over. Press gently to seal.
Heaping. Heaping means a rounded mound piled above the rim of the spoon or cup, not leveled off. It’s a little more than the measure, on purpose.
How you’ll know: The pile sits above the edge of the spoon, and you leave it there instead of scraping it flat.
Fold. Folding means mixing gently by scooping from the bottom and turning it over the top, instead of stirring hard. It keeps light mixtures airy and soft things like berries or herbs in one piece.
How you’ll know: You use slow, wide strokes and stop as soon as there are no streaks left.
Heat 2 tablespoons oil in a large over medium-high until it . Fry 4 tacos at a time, 2 to 3 minutes per side, until and .
Skillet. A skillet is a frying pan: wide and flat with low, sloped sides. The shape lets steam escape, so food browns instead of stewing.
How you’ll know: It’s the pan you’d fry an egg in, and a 10 or 12 inch one handles most recipes.
Shimmering oil. Oil shimmers when it’s hot enough to cook: its surface looks rippled and wavy, like heat over a road. That’s your cue to add the food, just before the oil would start to smoke.
How you’ll know: The oil looks wavy and runs thin like water when you tilt the pan, with no smoke yet.
Golden brown. Golden brown is the color of good toast, somewhere between yellow and light brown. It means the outside is cooked and crisp but not burnt.
How you’ll know: It looks like toast and smells toasty; dark brown with a bitter smell means it went too far.
Crispy. Crispy means the outside is dry, firm and crunchy. It comes from high heat, a little oil and room in the pan, because crowded food steams and goes soft.
How you’ll know: It sounds crunchy when you tap or bite it, and it doesn’t flop when you lift it.
Medium-high heatTimer: 2 min 30 sec
Dolly’s tip: Lay each one in so it falls away from you, and any splatter goes the other way.them on paper towels, then add the rest of the oil and fry the second batch.
Drain. Draining means pouring off liquid, like tipping pasta into a colander or spooning extra fat out of the pan. Pour hot grease into a can or jar, not the sink, where it hardens and clogs the pipes.
How you’ll know: Only a few drips are left, and the food isn’t sitting in a puddle.
Medium-high heat
Open each taco a little and stuff in the cabbage. Serve with salsa and sour cream.
Plan this in Dollop, and get the grocery list
Dollop puts this dinner on a night that suits your week, lists only what you still need to buy, and walks you through each step while you cook.
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