Copycat Taco Bell Beef Recipe

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There's really not that much of a secret to how restaurants make their food taste so good. From a fine dining establishment to a fast food chain location, restaurants rely heavily on four things to make food taste great: cream, butter, sugar, and salt. You'll find a decent amount of each of the latter two in this copycat Taco Bell beef recipe, and that's why it tastes oh-so-good.

Thanks to the rich blend of spices used here, you get a lot of Taco Bell flavor in this seasoned beef. But how does Taco Bell make its ground beef so moist and tender? Okay, so that one is a bit of a secret, but it's a secret that chef, food writer, and registered dietician Kristen Carli is happy to share. "The original Taco Bell beef actually uses oats in order to retain moisture," she says. "This works at home as well, and you cannot even detect the oats in the texture." So, let's gather our spices, beef, and, yes, oats — and get cooking.

To cook up this copycat Taco Bell beef recipe, you'll need olive oil, ground beef, oats (rolled oats, also known as old fashioned, to be precise), MSG powder such as Ac'cent (don't judge too fast, we're going to talk about this shortly), chili powder, salt, sugar, ground cumin, onion powder, and garlic powder. You're also ideally going to want a large cast iron skillet on hand, but any good pan will serve you fine.

There are basically three types of oats (not counting whole oats, which are more suited to horses than humans). First, you have minimally processed steel-cut oats, where the hulled groat is chopped into two or three pieces. Then you have rolled oats, where the groat is steamed, thus partially cooked, and flattened out in a roller for quicker cooking. Finally, you have quick oats, which are even more crushed and broken down than rolled oats.

As you'll be breaking the oats down until they are quite pulverized, really any oat will do, but make it a bit easier on yourself and consider rolled oats. Place the oats in a food processor and pulse them until they are ground into a flour.

In a large skillet over medium heat, heat up the olive oil. Once the oil is hot (but before it reaches its smoke point), add the beef and two tablespoons of oat flour. (Note that you will likely have a little left over. You can use this in a wide variety of other recipes, so don't throw it out.)

Cook the copycat Taco Bell beef recipe, breaking up any chunks with the back and sides of a wooden spoon, and don't let that ground beef sit around unattended while you brown it.

As soon as the meat for your copycat Taco Bell beef recipe is cooked through, reduce the heat to medium and add the Ac'cent (or whatever MSG you choose), chili powder, salt, sugar, cumin, onion powder, and garlic powder. Simmer over medium heat, stirring occasionally, for about five minutes. If the beef seems to be drying out, reduce the heat slightly and drizzle in a bit of oil.

And that's it, you did it! Use your copycat beef in tacos, burritos, salads, fancy Sloppy Joes, and so on. And you can "store the beef in an airtight container for up to five days in the fridge," says Carli, adding that it "re-heats in the microwave easily."

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MSG is an ingredient that's often approached with a great deal of caution, especially in the U.S. In the late 1960s, the New England Journal of Medicine published an anecdotal letter attempting to link Chinese restaurants (and their use of the ingredient) to symptoms such as headaches and dizziness, thus birthing the phrase "Chinese Restaurant Syndrome." This MSG myth mistakenly solidified into accepted scientific fact. As with many unfounded fears, this one spread and stuck around a while, perpetrated by false and racist assumptions.

In fact, MSG, which stands for monosodium glutamate, was created by Japanese biochemist Kikunae Ikeda in 1908 in a quest to recreate that elusive umami flavor that's found in seaweed, miso, some cheeses and vegetables, and many other foods. And, in fact, none of the rumors of ill effects proved to be true, and now the FDA classifies MSG as "generally recognized as safe." Take a look at ingredient lists, and you'll see American food producers have taken advantage of MSG's umami power in products ranging from chips to condiments, sauces, to spice blends, and hot dogs to Taco Bell's seasoned ground beef. So go ahead and add it to your spice rack and see how it can transform a wide range of dishes.

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