(calm music)
- Hey there.
Welcome back to my channel.
If you're new here, my name is Taylor
and I'm The Girl on Bloor.
I make healthy recipes for busy people
and love sharing meal prep tips and tricks
designed to get you living your best life.
I am so pumped for today's video
because we're taking one of my favorite fast food meals
and turning it into a healthier weeknight option.
Who says dinner has to be boring?
Say hello to my copycat Cheesy Gordita Crunch recipe.
It's almost an exact replica of the real deal
but you'll be saving a few calories
using mostly whole food ingredients
and packing in more protein to make it a filling meal.
It's such a fun dinner idea that the whole family will love
and you just have to try it.
Okay, first things first,
you'll want to assemble all your ingredients.
For this recipe,
you're going to need some extra lean ground beef.
taco seasoning, four hard shell tacos,
four mini flatbreads, grated cheddar cheese, iceberg lettuce
and then sour cream ranch seasoning
and hot sauce for the spicy ranch sauce.
This recipe serves four
so if you know you're going to double it
then the option is there in my recipe card
for you to change the serving size
and ingredients accordingly.
Before you do anything,
you're going to want to preheat the oven to 400 degrees.
We need to melt the cheese onto the flatbreads
so it's best to get the oven going right away
so that it's ready when you are.
While you're waiting for that, you'll cook your taco meat.
I'm recommending extra lean ground beef for this recipe
so that you can still cut some calories
but also get that authentic Taco Bell flavor
but you can healthify this recipe even more
and use ground chicken or ground turkey
to shave off even more calories.
If all you have on hand is medium or lean ground beef,
that's totally fine.
It's usually cheaper at the grocery store anyway
but just be aware that it'll add a few calories
to the finished product.
So if you're wary of that,
choose wisely with your protein source.
So heat a large skillet over medium high heat
and then you'll add half a pound of ground beef.
You don't typically need any extra oil in the pan
since extra lean ground beef will still omit some fat
and prevent the meat from sticking to the pan.
I like using extra lean ground beef
because you don't really need to drain the fat
but there's just enough of it there
that it doesn't impact how delicious the taco meat will be.
Once that starts getting nice and browned,
you'll season with some salt and pepper to taste
and then add in one tablespoon of taco seasoning.
Now, what do I mean when I say to taste?
I just mean that you'll eyeball it.
Use your salt and pepper shakers
to add just a bit of salt and pepper at first
but you don't wanna overdo it
especially if you're using a store-bought
taco seasoning packet as it will contain extra salt.
You can actually make your own taco seasoning
at home super easily
and I usually make a huge batch ahead of time
that I just keep in my spice cupboard.
Just mix together equal parts chili powder,
cumin, coriander, paprika, onion powder, garlic powder
and just a pinch of chili flakes.
You'll probably already have
all of the spices on hand already
so this should be a no-brainer to keep on hand.
You'll be cooking your taco meat for about 10 minutes
over a medium high heat
until the beef is brown and cooked through
and then you'll set it aside.
Now, while the beef is cooking,
you should actually have a bit of extra time
to prep the cheesy flatbreads
and make the spicy ranch sauce.
You'll line a baking sheet with parchment paper
and then spread out the flatbreads.
Grate some cheddar cheese.
You'll need about one cup.
From there, you'll sprinkle about a quarter cup
of grated cheese onto each flatbread
spreading it out evenly.
Now they're good to go in the oven
for about five minutes or so
until the cheese starts to melt.
Next, you'll add half a cup of sour cream to a small bowl
then mix in two teaspoons of ranch seasoning
and one teaspoon of hot sauce,
preferably pepper sauce such as Tabasco.
If you don't have ranch seasoning on hand
or worry about all the chemicals, don't worry, I've got you.
It's pretty easy to make your own homemade
ranch seasoning blend too.
Mix together equal parts dried parsley,
onion flakes, garlic powder, dill and salt and pepper.
Bonus if you have dried buttermilk powder
or nutritional yeast on hand
to add a bit of that tangy flavor
that you're used to with ranch dressing
but I know that those ingredients
can be a pain in the behind to find.
So your pantry staple herbs and spices will work here.
You're only adding a tiny bit of the seasoning blend
to the sour cream so you'll be okay.
Another workaround would be adding two teaspoons
of actual ranch dressing to the sour cream instead.
I do use sour cream instead of straight up ranch dressing
for my version of a Cheesy Gordita Crunch
to save on calories
but there's nothing stopping you from being a bit lazy
and just adding some hot sauce to the ranch dressing.
So that's an option for you as well.
Now that you're done doing all of that,
all you have to do now is assemble your tacos.
Yes, it's that easy.
Divide your taco meat among the four hard shells.
I've got these fun taco holders off of Amazon
and I highly recommend them if you're like me
and could eat tacos every day of your life.
I get so much use out of them
and it surprised me how much I use them actually.
I've linked to them in case you wanna check them out
after this video.
I love just filling the hard taco shell
and then assembling a bunch of them
until they're ready to be added to the cheesy flatbread.
I do recommend the stainless steel taco holders
just because they're oven safe.
So if you want to melt the cheese a little bit more
after you add your taco, you can.
Once you've got the gang together,
you're ready to press your hard tacos
into your melted cheesy flatbreads.
The melted cheese should stick
right to the hard shell right away
and then you can place them back into the taco holders
until you're ready to finish them off
with your sauce and toppings.
If your cheese has had a chance to cool
and you want to get it a little more melted
so it can stick to the shell,
you can pop 'em back into the oven in the taco holders
for just another couple of minutes.
Just make sure that you choose oven safe taco holders,
not plastic ones.
When your tacos are assembled
and the cheese is melted to your liking,
you'll add about a tablespoon or two
of the spicy ranch sauce to each one,
finish off with some iceberg lettuce
and then another little sprinkling of cheddar cheese
and you are good to dive right in.
How delicious do these Cheesy Gordita Crunches look?
And they are so easy to make, am I right?
You can basically be doing a bunch of different steps
all at once so that they come together
in just a little over a half hour
and you know what that means, right?
It's actually faster to make these gordita crunches at home
than to head out and get them at the drive-through.
I know I'm just coming through clutch over here.
My homemade Cheesy Gordita Crunches will last in the fridge
for up to five days as leftovers
as long as you leave the spicy ranch and lettuce off
and you can reheat them wrapped in foil
in a 350 degree oven for 10 to 15 minutes
until they get all melty and crunchy again.
You can also freeze any leftover beef for later.
This recipe only calls for half a pound of ground beef.
So what you could always do is double the meat
and then freeze half of it for later.
The frozen beef will last for three months
and all you have to do is defrost in the fridge overnight
and then reheat in the microwave or in a skillet
to make another batch of these tacos fresh.
If you're looking for the full recipe and more pics
of these Cheesy Gordita Crunches in their glory,
I've linked to it below.
So head on over to the blog to make 'em tonight.
I've also linked to all of my other taco recipes on the blog
in case you're looking for more
delicious Tex-Mex inspiration.
Let me know if you're gonna give this recipe a try
and subscribe to my channel for more deliciousness.
Thanks for watching.