This Taco Braid is only five ingredients, making it a really simple and easy dinner. This is perfect for picky eaters and makes a great appetizer too!
If you are on the hunt for easy dinners, this is going to be a big hit for your family. Made simple with taco meat, salsa, and cheese, it is a great twist on Taco Tuesday that even picky eaters will love.
This is a spin on my super popular Chicken Pot Pie Crescent Braid, another home-run recipe that your family will love.
Taco Braid Ingredients
- Crescent Dough
- Ground Beef (or Ground Turkey)
- Taco Seasoning
- Salsa
- Cheese
Crescent Dough
In the United States, remade crescent dough is found in the refrigerated section of your grocery store. You can buy seamless crescent dough that is perfect for this recipe.
If you can’t find crescent dough or want to go completely homemade, you can use pizza dough. Roll out the same amount of dough you would for one pizza, but work to roll it into a rectangle.
Grab my recipe for pizza dough. It has tons of great reviews and is a recipe we make about once a week in my house.
Taco Seasoning
I always encourage readers to make my homemade taco seasoning. It is perfect for recipes like this that call for a packet of taco seasoning. Make a big batch of my recipe and replace the packet with 3 tablespoons of homemade.
When you make your own you can control things like sodium and how spicy it is. Though, I will tell you, we make it as written and use it several times a week.
Toppings
You can eat this just as is, but I think it is delicious with some additional toppings.
- Olives
- Chopped Lettuce
- Diced Tomatoes
- Pickled Jalapeños
Other Great Twists on Taco Night
Taco Braid
Ingredients
- 1 seamless crescent roll dough (or pizza dough)
- 1 pound ground beef
- 1 packet of taco seasoning
- 1 cup salsa
- 1 1/4 cup cheddar cheese divided
- fresh tomato and lettuce and jalapeños for topping
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 375 degrees.
- In a large skillet over medium heat, cook the ground beef until no longer pink. Drain the fat. Stir in the taco seasoning and the salsa. (Do not add water.) Set aside.
- Spread the crescent roll dough out on a silicon mat or parchment paper and place that on a baking pan. Leaving three inches in the middle, make cuts down the side of the dough an inch apart on both sides.
- Spread the beef mixture down the middle of the braid. Top with 1 cup of the cheddar cheese. Take a strip of dough from one side and fold it over the middle mixture. Then take a strip from the other side and fold it over the middle. Continue down the dough, alternating sides until it is completely folded over.
- Pinch the ends of the dough to keep the filling inside while it bakes.
- Sprinkle the remaining cheddar cheese over the top of the braid.
- Bake for 20 to 25 minutes so that the top is nice and golden brown.
- Let stand about 10 minutes before topping with your favorite taco ingredients, cutting into it, and serving.
Barry Cramer says
Lisa:
Hi let me introduce myself my name is Barry Cramer, I’m kind of a foodie and I came across your recipies for a new twist on TACOS I would just like to take a minute of your time to thank you for the work you do by providing new and wonderful ways to make dinner time a little more exciting. Thank you Lisa God Bless and good eatings .
Judie says
This looks absolutely wonderful and such a beautiful presentation! I do wish, though, that your “print” function would bring in a picture instead of just the plain recipe. I’ll do a copy/paste into Word, but it’s more of a pain.
Martha Detweiler says
do you think you can make,bake,and freeze
This isn’t one that I would bake and freeze. If you wanted to do that, I would suggest using your own dough.
Maria E Markiewicz says
I would like to subscribe to your newsletter and recipe shares.
Your recipes are awesome.
Thank you!
Maria
Hi Maria! There is a pink box toward the top of my blog right under my first row of pictures where you can enter your email address.
Sarah says
I use Pillsbury pizza crust for this and it’s great. I’ve made this three times now.. this time I spread some refried beans on the dough under the meat mix. Delicious! Kids didn’t even notice.
I’m so happy you like it Sarah!
Lois says
Look good can’t wait to try it.
I hope you enjoyed it!
Joann says
My Family Loves the Taco Braid!
Easy Dinner Night!
I’m so glad to hear that!
Lynn says
Can you make a few braids and then freeze them? How would you bake them. ? Im have a party this idea would be great !
I would say yes except that I really don’t like the refrigerator dough after it’s been frozen. You might feel differently about it and find that it works well. But for that reason, I’ve never tired freezing these.