taco night?

We are having taco salad tonight. We do salad instead of just tacos because I don't want to eat the shells. We do turkey meat and I mix in a can of rotel for flavor and some moisture. Black beans, olives, onion, FF sour cream, avocado, and low fat cheese. Another thing we do a lot of is fajitas and I just eat the meat and veggies with no tortilla.

Tacos aren't that bad - I usually make a base salad and add the taco meat and crush up one of the shells for the crunch - I just find it easier to eat as a salad

You could substitute ground turkey or chicken and low fat cheese as others have pointed out but once cheese is shredded it seems like there is more than you think and you won't actually use that much - just make sure you measure and weigh what you put on your plate - I replace the sour cream with 0% greek yogurt and can't tell the difference.

Lots of great ideas already to make taco night even easier to manage. I also like fajitas with all the veggies and to substitute plain Greek yogurt instead of sour cream. Do you like taco salad and lettuce wraps at Chinese restaurants? If so then you also might enjoy a fusion idea where you use a large, sturdy lettuce leaf instead of a taco shell (but if not, they're not to hard to fit in either!)

Taco night is easy to be healthy and low calorie. Taco shells (the crunchy kind) aren't really that bad nutrition wise. Use half lean beef half turkey for the meat. Low fat cheese, plain greek yogurt as a replacement for sour cream. Low sodium taco seasoning, salsa lettuce and BOOM Thanks for the idea I am having tacos tomorrow for dinner.

I have taco night a lot. I use La Fe tortillas (90 calories per tortilla) and use lean ground turkey for the meat with bell peppers and red onions. Light sour cream, lettuce, tomato, and make up some guacamole. It's not all that bad calorie wise. I think two comes out to about 500 calories, if that. You can also do street tacos and use corn tortillas and lean sirloin steak.

Lean meat, lettuce wraps and dice some mushrooms/ onions/ tomatoes/ kidney beans in with the meat to fill it out.

I use ground turkey or chicken and usually turn mine into salads using flavored tortilla chips (chile lime is good). I crunch the chips up to add a nice crunchy texture. I also found flat bread wraps that make a large burrito and they're only 90 calories for the whole wrap. They make great flat bread pizzas too!

Sub lentils for ground beef. Cook 1 cup lentils & 1 package of taco seasoning in 2.5 cups vegetable/chicken broth for 30 minutes. Skip the taco shells for taco salad. Use greek yogurt in place of sour cream. Guacamole is also very good and healthy. Salsa is low in calories, but high in flavor. This is making me hungry....I might have to make this for tonight!

For everyone saying lean beef and low fat cheese, sour cream etc, what makes that any healthier?

I agree they aren't "healthier" by their nature, but they can definitely be handy when you need to hit certain macros, or stay under calorie goals.

Now if you have an issue with people subbing lettuce for taco shells - we can form like Voltron and agree on that. I used to do that too, until I realized taco shells are' like 50 cals (regular old el paso crunchy, 65cals in stand and stuff).

Yumm Tacos. I now use ground turkey add taco seasoning to the meat, lots of lettuce, peppers, onions and salsa all wrapped in a low carb tortilla. I don't even miss the cheese and sour cream anymore

We love taco night here too!

I make my own taco seasoning mix to lower the sodium content. Just add paprika, garlic powder, cumin, pepper and a squeeze of lime juice to your beef or chicken and you have a delicious low sodium taco filling.

I don't buy the premade packets of seasoning anymore. This is the list of ingredients from the Old El Paso website for their taco seasoning.

Salt, Maltodextrin, Chili Pepper, Red Pepper, Monosodium Glutamate, Corn Starch, Yellow Corn Flour, Spice, Sugar. Contains less than 2% of: Citric Acid, Natural Flavor, Partially Hydrogenated Soybean Oil, Silicon Dioxide (Anticaking Agent), Yeast Extract, Ethoxyquin (Preservative)

You can save money buy purchasing the big bottles of pure seasonings from Sam's/Costco and add your own seasonings to your mix.

Enjoy your tacos!

I do taco chili usually. Tonight I'm making cauliflower "tortillas" to go with. I know those aren't everyone's cuppa, but I like them and they end up 33 calories per "tortilla".

But usually I just make the taco meat with seasoning and add black beans and tomatos like I would for chili. Sub plain greek yogurt for sour cream if you like it. Cheese, guac, and salsa are optional.

ETA: I don't think there's anything unhealthy about "normal" tacos. Wheat and corn and I don't get along that well, so that's why I skip it. Tacos can be made lower calories though if that's what the OP is looking for. The meat and the tortillas are the highest calories items, unless you use a ton of cheese or sour cream. Beans can also easily be omitted if you're trying to lower cals.

Not that there is anything wrong with beef (I eat it, my husband doesn't) but last night we had yummy TVP tacos.

La Tiara shells are very light and crispy, and low carb which probably appeals to a lot of people.

I like them with shredded lettuce and a bit of shredded cheddar. We were out of lettuce last night so my husband whipped up an awesome mixture of cooked spinach, light cheese wedge, and FF sour cream. It was different and good. I like a little taco sauce or picante on them too.

Other options: chopped tomato, green onion, avocado, beans...options are endless.

I think the key is using less meat and cheese and more of the other stuff. And layering on the toppings instead of having like 6 tacos you can have 2-3 super loaded ones :-)

I just started making tacos with ground turkey instead of beef and they are SOOO yummy!! You really can't tell a difference in the taste. Also, if you want to use sour cream, go for the low fat or fat free. Again, you really can't tell a difference in the taste. And instead of hard shells, try a corn or whole wheat tortilla to make a soft taco.