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Need quick easy dinner ideas for tonight? These simple 5-minute tacos actually deliver in minutes. Prepare to be amazed!
Hello, hungry eater in need of a quick and easy dinner idea! We’re obsessed with finding meals that are three things: fast, simple, and delicious. Here’s a question: Is a 5-minute dinner recipe possible?
Well, we think we’ve nailed it with this recipe. Try these 5 minute tacos, filled with a hearty filling that really does come together in minutes. WOW. You’ve got to try these.
Our top quick dinner idea
What’s for dinner tonight? It all started with a challenge from my sister. I asked her what kind of recipes she’d like to see on our website. She asked, “Can you make a 5-minute dinner recipe?” Of course, that got our wheels turning. Because the question we’re asked again and again is: What are your top quick and easy dinner ideas?
- The format: a taco. We often make tacos or quesadillas as weeknight dinners, and they’re a good format for quick and easy dinners.
- The filling: a taco-spiced scramble. Adding cumin, chili powder, and garlic powder to scrambled eggs and cooking them on low heat magically forms a meaty substance that’s perfect for tacos. The texture looks oddly similar to chorizo.
- The verdict: so good. We whipped up a batch and served our 5-minute tacos to my sister. Her response: “Whoa. These are SO good.”
Can you really make them in 5 minutes?
That’s a good question. 5 minutes is pretty ambitious, right? Our answer: Yes, these tacos can be made in 5 minutes. Depending on your environment, it may take you between 5 and 10 minutes to finish this recipe. But either way: it’s one of the quickest dinner ideas you’ll make. Here’s what you need to pull it off in 5 minutes:
- A quick chef who’s confident in the kitchen.
- No children or pets interrupting things!
- Memorizing the recipe before you start. We’ve made it easy to memorize using ½ tablespoon of all the spices and olive oil.
How to keep tortillas warm
A warm tortilla is key to a good taco. You can warm them over a flame on the stovetop, in a skillet, or in the microwave (see How to Warm Tortillas). Tortillas start cooling the moment they’re off the flame, so they can end up cold within minutes.
Luckily, there’s an invention for this problem: a tortilla warmer! It’s an insulated pouch traps in the heat and keeps them perfectly heated. It’s optional, but we like having one around at the rate we eat tacos!
More topping ideas
Of course, you can use any toppings you’d like for these 5-minute tacos! This quick dinner idea is completely customizable to what you have in your kitchen. If you have some things laying around in your refrigerator, this is the perfect way to use them! Here are a few more adders we’d suggest: but only if you have them on hand:
- Sour cream or cashew cream
- Avocado slices
- Chopped tomatoes
- Shredded cheese
- Pickled red onions
- Sliced cabbage
- Lime juice
Dietary notes
This 5 minute tacos recipe is vegetarian and gluten-free.
Quick Dinner Idea: 5-Minute Tacos
Need a quick easy dinner idea for tonight? These simple 5-minute tacos actually deliver in minutes. Prepare to be amazed!
- Prep Time: 2 minute
- Cook Time: 3 minutes
- Total Time: 5 minutes
- Yield: 2 servings (4 tacos) 1x
- Category: Main Dish
- Method: Stovetop
- Cuisine: Mexican Inspired
Ingredients
- 4 eggs
- ½ tablespoon chili powder
- ½ tablespoon garlic powder
- ½ tablespoon cumin
- ¼ teaspoon kosher salt
- ½ tablespoon olive oil
- 4 taco sized tortillas or 8 mini tortillas
- Purchased salsa fresca or pico de gallo
- 1 handful thinly sliced red onion
- Torn cilantro leaves
- Hot sauce
Instructions
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the 4 eggs. Add the chili powder, garlic powder, cumin, and kosher salt, and whisk until combined.
- In a skillet, heat the olive oil. Add the eggs and cook over medium low heat, scraping as the eggs solidify, about 3 to 4 minutes total. As you scrape, they’ll start to form together into a meat-like texture. Don’t scrape too much or you’ll make too small of pieces: just enough for that it comes together!
- If time, warm and char the tortillas by placing them on an open gas flame on medium for a few seconds per side, flipping with tongs, until they are slightly blackened and warm. (See How to Warm Tortillas.)
- Top with salsa fresca (drain extra liquid before serving), thin sliced red onions, torn cilantro leaves, and hot sauce.
Notes
The filling for these quick tacos we call taco-spiced eggs. We stumbled on this trick and we use it all the time. In addition to this quick dinner idea, you can use taco-spiced scrambled eggs for a tasty breakfast or brunch, filling for a breakfast burrito or breakfast sandwich, protein for a burrito bowl or rice bowl, or in place of taco meat in a taco salad.
More fast and easy dinner recipes
Here at A Couple Cooks, we love fast and easy dinner recipes! Here are some of our favorite seriously fast recipes and collections:
- Try our favorite easy dinner ideas or dinner ideas for one
- Make a chickpea salad sandwich, this easy quesadilla recipe, or a 5-minute seared tuna recipe
- Go for this easy gnocchi sauce or a pita pizza
These were a big hit in our house! I was prepared to made a separate egg for my toddler, but he liked them, too! We will definitely make this again.
Amazing recipe! I’m always looking for quick, simple & delicious recipes to add to my family’s meal rotation! Actually I could eat tacos everyday and these are perfect.
So glad you enjoyed!
Not only are these tacos quick and easy, they are amazing. They are great for breakfast, lunch or dinner, but also excellent for camping. I’m always looking for healthier camping meal ideas that don’t take too much effort, these tacos are perfect for that. Thank you for this great recipe!
I love this idea for camping! So glad you enjoy :)
Just made this tonight for myself and my 2 year old – I actually laughed out loud when you listed the caveat to this being a 5 minute meal……”if you have a toddler!” I will attest to the fact that it took closer to 15 minutes, we turned them into quesadillas and actually the 2 year old preferred the eggs by themselves! They’re that good. Also he thought it was chicken :P thank you for saving my sanity and making dinner happen tonight!
:) Glad you enjoyed!
Who doesn’t need a great 5 minute taco recipe? This is a favorite for breakfast, lunch, and dinner!
I made these to surprise my husband for breakfast this morning! We live in Arizona and eat a lot of Mexican food. This recipe is fantastic!!! We both loved it!! You suggested topping it with salsa fresca. I didn’t have it so I made pico de gallo- for the first time! That made this recipe longer, but it tasted so delicious paired with the charred corn tortillas stuffed with these incredibly spiced eggs!!! A real winner!!! I’m new to your site and LOVE how many recipes you’ve created that I’m planning to try next!!!
This recipe makes a whole lot of promises and magically delivers on every one — super quick, simple, delicious and a really satisfying meat substitute. The way the texture comes together is actual magic. I definitely look forward to keeping this one in the rotation, thanks for a great recipe!
Ha! So glad you enjoyed as much as we do :)
I’m glad I saw your reply from my phone because I could see the video right where you said it would be, looks like my ad blocker interfered with it on the desktop page. I’ll make sure I turn that off for your site. I was able to watch it in time and it definitely helped. It was sooooo yummy! We loved Torchy’s breakfast tacos when we visited Austin and I was ready for the “egg-rizo” to be a similar breakfast taco experience, but was blown away that all the spices change not only the flavor but also the texture so much that you really can’t tell that it’s egg. Amazing! My meat loving boyfriend even said he’d be happy to add this to our meal planning rotation. :)
I’m so glad you enjoyed it!
Have you all considered doing this or the burrito bowl that has the same style eggs as one of your YouTube recipes? I am excited to try the eggs, but anxious because I’m prone to doing entirely too much or too little when it comes to stirring for recipes. For example, I didn’t know that peaked egg whites meant whip to the point that it literally forms a mountain in the bowl until I watched a video and it was a game changer for waffles and baking. Would love to see what your technique is for something unique like this!
Hi! There’s actually a video for this one at the bottom of the recipe card (or in the little video popup on the post!). The scraping of the eggs is shown in the video. Hope you make them and enjoy!
OK … I am from Texas so I know Tacos and Chorizo … I am not a vegetarian … so I was very skeptical, but as a foodie who was searching for new ideas I thought “what the heck”. These are FAN-freakin’-TASTIC … simple and quick to boot … There are very few things that pretend to be something meat related (no offense at all of vegetarians) that even come close, but this nails it. Highly recommend!!
Haha! Now that’s an endorsement! So glad you enjoyed.
I love them!!!!!!!!!!!!!
These look fabulous, and I love how easy they are!!