Easy Taco Boats Hybrid Recipe with Black Beans
This Easy Taco Boats Hybrid Recipe with Black Beans is easy, versatile, quick prep, and ingredients could be easily swapped out for something else. This is a great meal for families who have a split table where some members are vegetarian and some are meat-eaters because it's easy to customize and make some boats with the chicken meat and some meatless. This is a great meal for family dinner, lunch, or as a snack.
Ingredients
- 10 ounces diced tomatoes and green chilis can, drain
- 4 1/2 ounces green chilis, chopped can, drain if possible
- 15 ounces black beans rinsed and well drained
- 1/2 cup creamed corn or regular corn, drained
- 1/4 cup jalapenos chopped from a can or jar
- 1 cup cheddar cheese shredded
- 10 tablespoons sour cream
- 10 taco shells hard taco shells in the shape of a boat, Fiesta Flats, by Ortega
- 1/3 cup taco sauce smooth
- 3/4 cup ground chicken brown chicken in pan
- 1/2 ounce taco seasoning about half of a taco seasoning packet
- 1/3 cup water to mix with browned ground chicken and taco seasoning
Instructions
- Brown 3/4 cup (just less than half of a pound) ground chicken in a frying pan. Add about 1/3 c. water and 1/2 ounces of taco seasoning (about half of a packet). Set aside. I often do this step the day before.
- Open all the cans: diced tomatoes and chilis, chopped green chilis (drained if possible), jalapeños, creamed corn (or drained corn kernels), and black beans (rinsed and drained) and combine in a bowl. Add shredded cheddar cheese. Stir to mix. Split the mixture into two bowls, keeping one half a bit larger for the vegetarian taco boats. To the smaller half, add the 3/4 cup of ground chicken browned in taco seasonings.
- The key is to drain the ingredients well so as not to soak the taco shell boats with liquid. But, even if you don't and they get a bit soggy, the boats are still yummy. I recommend using a spatula to scoop them off the pan.
- To finish, top each boat with drizzles of taco sauce and a tablespoon of sour cream. I usually only top the ones we are eating, if some will be saved as a leftover, I don't add the toppings until they are going to be eaten.
Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!