These smash tacos with pork mince are brushed with a simple glaze in the last minute of cooking so the meat is golden and juicy with an extra tasty finish. A quick and easy dinner that gets devoured in minutes!
Nicky’s Notes
Smash tacos have been big on social media for a while now and I finally got on board! I’ve been testing lots of flavours, and these pork tacos are the ones we’ve eaten on repeat the most!
I have to admit, the raw minced (ground) pork on the taco took me a little while to get behind. I know it gets fully cooked, It just weirded me out a little.
But then I realised that cooking sausage rolls requires raw sausage meat to be wrapped in pastry, and sausage rolls are THE BEST! So I did a complete 180 and now I’m a HUGE fan!
What makes these smash tacos so good:
- They work well with low fat minced pork! So they’re high in protein without being too high in calories!
- The glaze is what takes it over the top. It’s simple simple – just stir a few ingredient together and brush on the tacos in the last minute of cooking.
- Although you can only fit 2 in a frying pan, they keep well in the oven while you’re making further batches (especially since they’re cooked so quickly). So a batch of 8 tacos only needs 1 frying pan and a large baking tray.
📋 Ingredients for Smash Tacos
***Full recipe with detailed quantities in the recipe card below***
Glaze Ingredients
The Fixings
Tacos
Use small, soft, corn or wheat tacos, around 15cm (6-inches) in diameter.
Pork Mince
I use 5% fat pork mince, which is still enough fat to make these tacos juicy (along with a little sesame oil, spray oil and the sticky glaze). You can use a higher fat percentage, but I wouldn’t go above 12% fat, as it would release lots of excess fat when frying – that may splatter.
Abbreviated Recipe
***Full recipe with detailed steps in the recipe card below***
Mix the the glaze ingredients together and put to one side. Mix the pork with the seasonings, form into 8 balls and squash them onto 8 small soft tacos. Fry meat-side down until golden, turn over, brush the meat with glaze, then cook for 30 seconds each side. Top with your favourite toppings and serve.
Recipe Tips
- Really push pork mince (ground pork) flat onto the tacos, right to the ends. The meat will shrink back a little when cooking, so you need to get right to the ends to start with.
- Place cooked tacos in a warm oven on a tray while you work your way through cooking them (I cook them two at a time).
This is one of the high protein meals I’ve been loving lately. 223 cals with 22g protein per taco. I find two per person is perfect. Go for three for really hungry people, or serve two with a side.
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🍽️ What to serve it with
Two tacos are usually enough per person, but for people with bigger appetites, you could serve with a side:
Make the glaze
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Mix together the glaze ingredients then put to one side for later
1 tbsp honey, 1 tbsp dark soy sauce, 1/2 tsp lemongrass paste, 1/2 tsp ginger paste, 1 tbsp brown sugar
Make the pork tacos
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In a large bowl mix together the pork, sesame oil, garlic and onion powder, salt, pepper, paprika and cornflour until everything is incorporated.
500 g (1.1 lb) pork mince, 1 tsp sesame oil, 1 tsp garlic powder, 1 tsp onion powder, 1/2 tsp salt, 1/2 tsp pepper, 1 tsp smoked paprika, 1 tsp cornflour (cornstarch)
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Form the mixture into 8 equal meatballs
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Squash one of the meatballs onto one of the corn tortillas making sure you press it firmly onto the tortilla and spread it to a single thin layer covering all of the tortilla. Then repeat with the remaining 7 meatballs and tortillas.
8 mini tortillas
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Spray the pan/flat griddle with a couple of squirts of the spray oil and heat the pan over a medium/high heat.
8 squirts spray oil
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Add the meat covered tortillas to the hot pan meat side down and cook for 3 minutes until golden brown. Depending on the size of your pan you may need to work in batches.
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After 3 minutes carefully turn the tortillas over in the pan and lightly brush the top of the meat with a little of the glaze we mixed earlier.
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Turn them back over and cook for 30 seconds to caramelize that glaze to the meat
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Turn them back over for another 30 seconds to allow the tortilla side to soak up any remaining glaze from the pan.
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If making in batches, place them on a baking tray lines with baking parchment and put in a low oven to keep warm whilst making the remaining smashed tacos.
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Once they’re all cooked then top with your favourite toppings and serve.
pickled red onions, shredded lettuce, fresh coriander (cilantro), mayo, hot sauce, spring onions (green onions)
Nutritional information is approx, per taco, not including the toppings of lettuce, coriander, onion, hot sauce and mayonnaise.
Calories: 223kcal | Carbohydrates: 9g | Protein: 22g | Fat: 5g | Saturated Fat: 1g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 0.3g | Monounsaturated Fat: 1g | Sodium: 367mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 4g
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
🍲 More fantastic handheld dinners
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