You already know how much I love tacos. “But Madeline, you can’t have tacos on a keto diet! Carbs!” Yes, you’re right – I certainly can’t have the conventional Mexican meal with beans, rice, and tortillas. What I won’t do, however, is give up tacos entirely, and so I set out to look for a way to make one of my favorite meals fit into my new diet (without having to completely deconstruct it and only eat the insides).
As it turns out, which I figured it would, there are a bunch of low carb and keto friendly options for all the taco lovers out there. Replacing regular flour with almond flour or coconut flour in a taco shell recipe is a popular low carb alternative (which is what I did in my homemade taco post a few weeks ago). I wanted to take it a step further, though, and make a truly keto friendly taco shell without using any variation of flours. Here’s how. Get your pen and paper ready for this long and complicated ingredient list:
Ingredients (taco shell):
- Cheddar cheese, shredded (I used one serving, 1/4 cup, per taco shell)
Directions:
- Preheat your oven to 400 degrees F
- Line a baking sheet with parchment paper
- Take 1/4 cup of cheddar cheese and dump it onto the parchment paper. Spread it out so that it makes a circle the size you’d like your taco shell to be. Try to make it so that there are as few gaps and holes as possible, because this will make your assembled taco less messy later.
- Arrange as many tacos on your parchment lined baking sheet as you want, making sure there’s about an inch between each one, as they will spread a little bit.
- Bake the cheese for about 12-15 minutes or until melty, bubbly, and gets a nice golden toasty color.
- Remove the sheet from the oven and allow the cheese to cool and set for about 10 minutes. You’ll know it’s set enough when you can get a thin spatula underneath it without the cheese being so gooey that it breaks apart. Play around with it when lifting it off the parchment, and be careful because you don’t want to tear your taco shells! (I used a metal cookie spatula for this because it’s thin and sharp enough to remove the cheese from the parchment without stretching it or breaking it.) Don’t let it cool completely while lying flat, though, because….
- When the cheese has set enough to get it off the parchment, transfer it onto something that will allow it to hang and fully set into the desired taco shape you want it to be in. I wrapped mine around a small bottle of vinegar that I had. You can also suspend a ruler across two cups and drape the shells over the ruler. The shells might drip some grease, so put something underneath them so your countertop doesn’t get too messy.
- While you wait for your taco shells to set, prepare your fillings. I sliced some cherry tomatoes, avocado, and spinach, diced a chicken thigh, and spooned some sour cream on my plate.
- Once the taco shells hold their shape, assemble and enjoy!
Does anyone have any other keto tips to share with me? I would love to hear from you guys! Leave me a comment or an email at LiftinLuxe@gmail.com! Also, please tag me in anything you make that my site inspires! @LiftinLuxe #LiftinLuxe. I’d love to see your creations 🙂
Stay fit and flavorful, all!
Maddie Danza 