How to make cheesy taco pasta

If you’re looking for a way to mix things up on the next Taco Tuesday — this is the perfect meal to do it. Cheesy Taco Pasta allows you to keep the best parts of your favorite meal without becoming too predictable come dinnertime.

The best part is, much like actual tacos, this recipe can be built upon to create a dinner to suit your cravings. Want to swap beef for chicken and add salsa verde to the recipe? Go for it!

It can also be customized when it gets to the topping portion of the meal. You can fix one dish for dinner, and then your family members can feel free to top their portions with cotija cheese crumbs or add fresh jalapeños for more of a kick. One dinner, many different tastes satisfied. Because that’s the beauty of tacos, right?

You can feel free to let your imagination run wild, but this recipe from Delish is great to use as a base for your many different combinations, or even just on its own. It calls for little more than onions, jalapeños, ground beef, cheese and pasta to create a dish that’s cheesy and reminiscent of a taco — but edible with a fork. Some would say it’s the best of both worlds!

This video from Delish’s YouTube channel shows you how you can combine the meat and added onion, jalapeños and more to create a sauce that’s going to pair incredibly well with al dente pasta noodles:

And there you have it — a taco night that’s far from average.

Now that you’ve got the basics down, it’s time to add the fun and get creative with your ingredients.

This recipe from Dinner Then Dessert encourages you to add your favorite salsa into the mix. That way, your pasta can be as spicy and garlic-y as you want it to be:

A recipe from Chelsea’s Messy Apron calls for corn and uses scallions as a garnish, which sounds absolutely delicious:

If you’re looking to use chicken instead of ground beef, this recipe from Fox and Briar is just the trick. It calls for chicken breast, bell pepper, corn and beans for a truly authentic taco take on pasta:

Using enchilada sauce will make your pasta more creamy and packed with flavor. This recipe from Craving Home Cooked will guide you to create something that looks like this:

Considering that these aren’t technically tacos, you don’t have to wait until the next time Taco Tuesday night rolls around to serve this up! So, taco pasta for dinner, everyone?