The Simple Water Swap That Makes Taco Meat 10x More Flavorful

On Tuesdays, or honestly any day, nothing hits quite like tacos for dinner. Seasoning mixes, basic prep time, and a few personalized tweaks make taco night a fast option for busy people. Unfortunately, despite the convenience of hard-shell tacos, some may find the Tex-Mex creation a little bland, leading them to seek out ways to kick things up a notch. The best solution is to make the taco meat filling more flavorful by substituting the water with broth when mixing the seasoning packet.

First, select the best kind of meat for your tacos — ground beef, turkey, or pork all work well. When you arrive at the step of adding water to your ground meat and seasoning mix, simply use that much broth or stock of your preference instead. You can also add a little tomato paste if you want a more acidic zing. Then, simply cook your tacos as usual and adorn them with your preferred toppings.

What you'll get is richer, tender, and more luxurious-tasting meat than if you used just water. It will be deliciously salty, though if you use a low-sodium broth or stock, you can cut down on the saltiness. You can try this method with the Taco Bell copycat ground beef, too.

This method isn't exactly novel, as more traditional tacos, similar to street tacos you may find, often use meat slow-cooked in broths as the filling. Birria tacos, in particular, rely on adding broth to the meat. 

For one thing, it brings an extra umami flavor to the party. They make meat very savory, and you can also match the type of broth with your protein, making ground beef taste beefier or contributing more chicken flavor to ground poultry. The fats from the broth create a succulent mouthfeel as they rehydrate the spices and thicken into a sauce, adding extra decadence to leaner meats. To put it simply, broth or stock makes seasoning mix packages taste like an ingredient made from scratch.

Taco seasoning mix works for more than just tacos, so that means you can use broth with those recipes as well. Use the pair as a marinade for chicken or steak. Create taco-flavored soups and sauces that offer a comfy Mexican-inspired vibe. And of course, experiment with your tacos, trying out different proteins, vegetables, and other mix-ins for the filling. The broth swap will enhance the depth of your filling, no matter what other alterations you decide to make.