Easy Navajo Tacos

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Navajo Tacos are fry breads topped with chili, cheese and all your favorite taco fixings. These tacos are popular in the Southwest region of the country and are absolutely delicious!

Try these other yummy recipes: BBQ Chicken Bacon TacosOven Baked Soft TacosSlow Cooker Shredded Beef Tacos and Bacon and Queso Breakfast Tacos.

Easy Navajo Tacos are Indian fry breads topped with chili, cheese and all your favorite taco fixings. Life-in-the-Lofthouse.com

Navajo Tacos are one of my most favorite comfort foods to make and devour. If you aren’t familiar with these then let me tell you all about them! They are Indian fry bread that is topped with chili, cheese and all your favorite taco fixings. These are very popular in the Southwest region of the country. Growing up, we ate Navajo Tacos at festivals here in Southern Utah. They are so delicious!

Traditional Navajo fry bread is made with simple ingredients and sometimes eaten with only honey, butter and jam. It is amazing and so delicious. But when you’re craving something savory these Navajo Tacos are the way to go.

There are many yummy recipes for the homemade fry bread dough all over the internet. I have tried a few and thought they were all delicious, but when I am wanting to make them a little easier I  just use refrigerated biscuit dough and it works perfectly every time. That is why I call this recipe easy!

Easy Navajo Tacos are Indian fry breads topped with chili, cheese and all your favorite taco fixings. Life-in-the-Lofthouse.com

Typically, I make these tacos during the fall season, especially around Halloween, but when I am having a strong craving for one I’ll whip them up any time.

One year I made these for a Halloween party we hosted at our house. Emma was only 2 months old, so I was going back and forth taking care of her, and frying 50 of these babies, ready to pull my hair out! Haha. In the end, they were a big success at the party!

Everyone needs a good Navajo Taco recipe in their life and this recipe I’m sharing I declare is the best!

WHAT PEOPLE ARE SAYING ABOUT EASY NAVAJO TACOS:

“Soooooo good I literally didn’t want to stop eating! I loved it!! We all did. Served it fried hominy which is amazing and Spanish rice. I will be making these at least 3-4 times a month!” -Lisa

“Made these tonight and they are fabulous!!!!” -Meliabeth

“We loved the chili topping on the fry bread. I used biscuit dough and it was so easy” -an email from Heidi

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Navajo Tacos
Easy Navajo Tacos are Indian fry breads topped with chili, cheese and all your favorite taco fixings. Life-in-the-Lofthouse.com
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5 from 4 votes

Navajo Tacos

Total Time 1 hour 30 minutes
Servings 8
Author Holly

Ingredients

  • Vegetable Oil for frying
  • 1 can (16.3 ounces) refrigerated jumbo biscuit dough

Navajo Taco Meat/Chili

  • 1 pound lean ground beef
  • 1 can (28 ounces) diced tomatoes undrained
  • 1/4 cup light brown sugar
  • 2 Roma tomatoes diced
  • 1 teaspoon onion powder
  • 1 packet (1 ounce) chili seasoning
  • 1 can (6 ounces) tomato paste
  • 1 teaspoon ground cumin
  • 2 teaspoons chili powder
  • 1 can (15 ounces) black beans drained then rinsed
  • 1 can (15 ounces) pinto beans drained then rinsed

Toppings

  • lettuce
  • cheese
  • sour cream
  • salsa
  • guacamole
  • sliced olives

Instructions

  • In a large cast iron skillet, pour in enough oil to fill it 2/3 full. Set heat to medium-low. Let oil heat up for at least 15 minutes before frying dough.

Navajo Taco Meat/Chili

  • Cook and crumble ground beef in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Once browned, drain grease. Add ground beef and all other chili ingredients to a large stock pot. Bring to a boil, reduce heat to low and simmer for 1 hour.
  • Once oil is ready, remove biscuit dough from can. Press dough into a flat circle. Carefully, place dough into the hot oil and fry for 2 minutes on each side, or until golden-brown. Carefully remove from oil, and lay fried dough onto a paper towel lined plate to let soak up grease. Repeat with all biscuit dough.
  • Place one fry bread onto a plate, and top with 1/2 cup of chili. Top with all your favorite taco toppings and enjoy!
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34 thoughts on “Easy Navajo Tacos

  1. Wowzers Holly…these look GREAT! I have the Okinawian Taco Rice on my menu plan this week, but I think next week, I will have to do this for our Mexican dish! Great, great job!

  2. These were one of my favorite things to eat when I lived in New Mexico. So.good! I love that you’ve used Rhodes dough. It tastes sooooo good and makes these seriously doable for me. Now, if I only had some Hatch chile to put on top, I would be all set. Thank you for sharing your recipe and bringing back such a wonderful food memory to me!

    1. 5 stars
      Try this taco meat with any Mexican food, so good!
      2 pounds ground beef
      1 teaspoon each- chili powder, garlic powder and salt. 2 teaspoons cumin, 1 onion, minced and beef broth.
      Put meat into a pot and use tater masher to break up meat, COVER MEAT WITH BEEF BROTH, add seasonings, onions and let simmer a few hours. Strain out excess liquid before serving. Save excess liquid to use when reheating any left overs..
      So good!

  3. These sound much better than regular tacos… almost like a southwest version of bruschetta?! I am definitely going to have to try making these babies!

  4. I love Navajo Tacos. I haven’t had them in at least a dozen years. I grew up in NM and one of my friends had a very cool mom that would make these for us whenever we asked. (I’m pretty certain that my own mother has never fried something in oil in her life. ha ha)

    I can’t believe they worked so well with the pre-made rolls! That is great. What a huge timesaver for you. I can’t even fathom frying up 50 of these!

  5. Anonymous- just thaw it. It will rise naturally as it thaws. The dough will deflate when you press the two dough pieces together to form one large one. Hope this helps and I hope you enjoy them! : )

  6. First time to your blog and I’m glad I landed here! I was looking for a great navajo taco recipe for a bday party for my daughter tonight and I think I’ve found it. Us Utah girls know a good navajo taco when we see one…Headed to the kitchen to work some magic! Wish me luck!

  7. Yum! It turned out so good! The scones were so easy I made them again today for my son for breakfast. Thanks for responding so fast and for a great recipe 🙂

  8. I made these last night, And I told my husband what I was making for dinner and he says, “But I’m not Navajo.” (He’s Apache). I said, “Neither am I! But we’re eating it anyways!” (I’m Cherokee) My 14 year daughter had a blast helping with the fry-bread. But she was more interested in “Tasting” the chili. It was soooooo good I literally didn’t want to stop eating! I loved it!! We all did. I served it fried hominy which is amazing and Spanish rice. I willbe making these at least 3-4 times a month!!! I have told everyone I can about your website. I have made 4-5 recipes of yours just this week., You rock!

    1. Lisa! I am so happy they were such a hit! They are one of our family’s favorites too! You’re sweet comment totally made my day. Thank you! 🙂

  9. 5 stars
    I have made these so many times per my kids request. And with the leftover meat we put it on nacho chips and have Navajo nachos. They’re amazing.

  10. 5 stars
    Made these Friday night to celebrate Native American month. The bean and meat mixture was easy to make and has wonderful flavor! I have made fry bread from scratch before but using biscuit dough was so much easier. The pillow bread was so soft and wonderful. Don’t think I will ever make fry bread from scratch again.

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