15 Recipes to Spice Up Taco Night

This quick taco filling is perfect for weeknight dinners, Poblano chiles bring rich, earthy flavor but little to no heat. (Every once in a while you can get a hot one, though.) If you want to add a little spice, add some crushed red pepper when you sauté the mushrooms.

These tacos are a perfect blend of Mexican street corn (also called elote) and quick-cooking skirt steak. If you have frozen corn, blister the kernels in a skillet over high heat first.

We like warm taco filling, but if you're going for something a little cooler and more refreshing, skip step 1 and drizzle the salsa over assembled tacos. Add even more color and personality to the tacos with additional toppings like avocado, red onion, or Cotija cheese.

The pork gets a big flavor boost from achiote paste, a mix of ground annatto seeds, vinegar, salt, and spices. Find it at Latin markets.

In Latin cuisine, a little bit of blistering on tortillas, peppers, onions, and garlic adds pleasant smoke and incredible complexity to a dish. The marinade for our Steak Tacos depends on this for bold taste that can stand up to the Toasted Chile Salsa.

If you're ready for a real game changer, make your own homemade tortillas instead of buying the bagged kind. If you're in a pinch, the La Tortilla Factory corn tortillas are the next best thing to homemade.

These bold and smoky tacos provide the perfect route to reinventing some leftover chicken. Serve them up with a crisp green salad for a light and refreshing weeknight supper.

Mexican crema is similar to sour cream in appearance, but it’s sweeter, tangier, and has a thinner consistency. When combined with mango, you get a burst of sweet and sour that makes this taco dish shine. If you can't find crema at the grocery store, thin sour cream with ½ teaspoon lime juice.

We took the finger-licking beauty of a Buffalo wing experience and wrapped it in a tortilla—because that's how you win a weeknight.

A little bit of the black bean liquid brings the chunky mash together. The mash also helps to hold all the filling in place.

Swap the rotisserie chicken for leftover turkey in this healthy taco recipe. A probiotic-rich stand-in for sour cream, yogurt offers creaminess and helps bind the toppings. Look for BBQ sauce varieties with less than 250mg sodium and 5g sugar. We like Annie's Original BBQ Sauce.

Cooked greens and crispy potatoes are great as a base for a skillet hash, but why not try something new? Pile into lightly charred corn tortillas, and top with vibrant toppings like fresh cilantro and radishes to turn a one-note leftover into a tasty, satisfying main. Our trick for crispy potatoes without the added fat: spread on paper towels after boiling and draining to remove any extra moisture, and then stir occasionally as they sauté for even browning on all sides. If you’re starting without a batch of collard greens, wilt or sauté any hearty green like kale or chard.

Firm tilapia can stand up to the simple yet robust spice rub here. Double the basil-mayo mixture and use as a veggie dip or sandwich spread for lunch.

The pork is especially flavorful if you rub on the spices well ahead of time and let the roast stand in the refrigerator overnight. We used Arrowood smoked lager for this recipe, but you can use any smoked beer; if you can’t find one, try a nut ale, a porter, or just 1 1/2 cups chicken stock. Though the oven method here produces tastier results, you can also make the pork in a slow cooker; brown the meat on the stovetop first, and cook with the beer on LOW for 6 to 8 hours.

Cabbage and red onion offer plenty of prebiotic fodder for the probiotics in Greek yogurt to flourish. (This is the difference between pre- and probiotic foods.) Use the spice rub on tofu or tempeh for a plant-based option that also boosts fiber.

A half-pound of pork is a gracious plenty for these tacos, which are beefed up with pinto beans, Greek yogurt–amped avocado crema, and a crunchy slaw topped with pumpkinseeds. The plant protein sources make up about half the total amount.