Everyday can be Cinco de Mayo with these Mini Taco Bowls. Made with wheat tortillas, the shells are baked, making them high fiber + low-fat!

I’ve been in this country for more than 3 years now, and not once have I eaten at a certain {popular}Mexican fast food chain. Not intentionally, of course, just that I never got a chance to go. So last Saturday, after a long night of picking up groceries after dark (something I do to avoid the crazy weekend traffic), I decided that that was the day I get my first taste of this huge chain I’ve missed out on for so long. Big mistake.

To give them the benefit of the doubt, I walked in at around 10:30 p.m. Maybe it’s a better experience during the day, or maybe that was the one day the staff slipped up, but the whole place smelled soooo greasy, that it was nauseating. The order (one taco and one quesadilla) took about 30 minutes to come out of the kitchen, coz they were serving the drive-through folks ahead of the customers sitting inside the joint. The cashier was refusing to cancel/refund orders of two women ahead of us in the waiting queue, who had clearly run out of patience.  And when the order finally came, it was as greasy as the air around us. Anyway, long story short, the night ended with angry me filling out a customer service form on their website.

Now I had been craving nachos all week, and I was ready to settle for any Mexican food, but after that monumental disappointment, my need for some decent guac and chips just intensified by a factor of a thousand.

As luck would have it, while looking for something else on top of the fridge, I found a few forgotten tortillas that were rapidly approaching their expiration date. Normally when that happens, I just make myself some quesadillas with roasted onion, bell peppers, corn, cheese and generously seasoned with garlic powder, red pepper flakes and cilantro – yumm! But today, was not a quesadilla day. TODAY I wanted TACOS!

So I cut each tortilla (the large burrito sized ones) into quarters and put each quarter into a muffin tin. Then I lightly brushed it with oil and seasoned with salt. And in they went into a hot oven.

10 minutes later, tadaaaa! Mini tortilla bowls, just waiting to be turned into Mini Taco bowls! How adorable are they? Ok not that much, but wait till you see how they look filled!

We always buy wheat tortillas (so we can trick ourselves that all the cheese in the quesadillas is somehow magically negated) here and that’s what I used in this recipe. All you folks in India who can’t get your hands on tortillas, just know that essentially, they’re just thinly rolled Rotis. So, there you have it, another way to recycle old rotis.  Speaking of which, this stir-fried roti is my usual favorite way of recycling old rotis.

I filled it with lettuce, onions, tomatoes, corn, beans, freshly made guacamole and more cilantro. Shredded cheese and sour cream was up for grabs too, but if you’re Vegan, just skip over that! And just have at your Mini Taco Bowls! Yes, my cravings are now appeased!

A few variations for your Mini Taco Bowls

1. Mix and match the toppings so each mini taco bowl feels brand new.
2. If using shredded cheese, add it last and place under the broiler for 1-2 minutes until the cheese melts. Top with fresh cilantro.
3. Instead (or with) the guacamole, a touch of salsa ( my 5 min marinara also works) is amazing, especially when combined with the melted cheese option above.

Happy Cinco de Mayo everyone! Did you know that Cinco de Mayo is NOT the Mexico’s Independence day? A lot of people make that mistake, but it’s actually a commemoration of the day when Mexico won a battle against the French. Ironically, a century and a half later, all we remember is the food. Seriously guys, food ultimately wins. It’s the long con. Now go get your Taco ON!

When you make these (which I really think you SHOULD!), be sure to SHARE YOUR PHOTOS with me through Facebook, Instagram or Twitter. I’d love to see what you cook from here!