Tacos de papa (crispy potato tacos), also known in Spanish as “Taquitos Dorados de Papa”, are among the most popular vegetarian dishes that young and old love. You don’t need many ingredients to make them; they can even be prepared ahead of time. They’re usually eaten for dinner and are a very popular meal during the lent time when some families restrain from eating meat.
Crispy Potato Tacos with Pico de Gallo Salsa - Tacos Dorados de Papa
This easy potato taco recipe brings back fond memories of my mom and grandma making “taquitos de papa,” either folded or rolled tortillas filled with the creaminess of the potatoes. I couldn’t wait for the tacos to cool down just a little to take the first bite. On top of being delicious, they are quick and very affordable.
In addition to being the best crispy tacos in Mexico, they are very popular around Lent season. Right after Mardi grass and Ash Wednesday has passed. During the following Fridays and until Easter Sunday, people eat fish, seafood, legumes, and vegetable dishes. Cooks get creative preparing meatless dishes, and these crispy potato tacos (as well as potato patties) are some of the many dishes we enjoy in the lent season.
Frequently Asked Questions about Crispy Tacos Dorados.
Before I share my recipe, here are a few questions I would like to answer about tacos de papa.
What are potato tacos?
Also known are “Tacos dorados de papa” which are crispy tacos that are rolled or folded corn tortillas filled with mashed potatoes. Traditionally the filling is just mashed and seasoned potatoes, but nowadays, you find recipes with cheese, sour cream, and other ingredients.
After the tortillas are filled and folded or rolled, the tacos are fried and topped with shredded cabbage, salsa, queso fresco, and other trimmings.
Where do tacos de papa come from?
Sometimes the best meals are created with inexpensive and easily accessible ingredients like potato tacos. This dish originated in Mexico and is among the most popular taco all over the country. These crispy tacos de papa are found in humble kitchens where potatoes are more affordable than other proteins. They also can be found at taquerias, restaurants, and fancy vegan restaurants.
On top of being famous and delicious, potatoes provide a lot of nutrients like potassium, vitamin C, vitamin B6, and iron.
Can I make this recipe in advance? What about leftovers?
Yes, you can easily make this tacos de papa recipe ahead of time. You have a few options; you can cook the mashed potatoes and save them for another time. The second option is to fold, fill, and store them in your refrigerator to fry later. Lastly, if you fry them and store them for another day. Let them cool off on a rack with a paper towel under them. Then, store them in an airtight container and place them in your refrigerator for up to 3 to 4 days.
To reheat your tacos de papa, place them in your oven at 350 degrees for about 10 minutes or until hot. If you are in a hurry and decide to use your microwave for about 2 minutes.
How to make Tacos Dorados de Papa
Ingredients for Tacos de papa:
- Medium size red potatoes (or any kind of potatoes)
- Salt and pepper to taste
- Vegetable oil, more if needed to fry the tacos
- Corn tortillas
For de salsa:
- White onion diced
- Tomato chopped and seeded
- Cilantro finely chopped
- Serrano peppers diced
- Lime juice
- Salt to taste
Garnishes for tacos de papa:
- Cabbage finely shredded
- Cotija cheese or crumbled Queso Fresco**
Optional toppings:
- Avocado optional
- Mexican cream
- Red salsa
DIRECTIONS:
Making the Potato Filling
- Place whole potatoes in a large pot and cover with cold water.
Note: DO NOT peel or cut the potatoes. We don’t want the potatoes to absorb too much water because then that water will be released in the form of bubbles during the frying process of the potato tacos, and the oil will splatter.
- Turn heat to medium-high and boil them until fork tender. Drain potatoes and move to a bowl. Wait until they’re cool enough to handle and discard their skins. (Please check the ingredients list below)
- Season potatoes with salt and pepper, and mash until you have a smooth paste. It won’t look exactly like a puree but more like a potato paste. Set aside.
- Heat about ½ cup of oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Adding the rest of the oil as needed.
- While waiting for the oil to heat, slightly warm the tortillas one by one on a hot griddle to make them more pliable. Cover them with a kitchen napkin.
Crispy Potato Tacos | Tacos de Papa
- Now, add 2 tablespoons of the mashed potatoes over half of each tortilla and fold. Secure the sides of the tortilla with two toothpicks. Sometimes, I don’t use the toothpicks, but that requires some skill of firmly pressing down the edges while frying; if this is your first time making them, and to be on the safe side, use the toothpicks.
- Place the folded taco into the frying pan with hot oil, and cook for about one and a half minutes per side until golden brown and crispy. Since you will work in batches, have a large plate ready and covered with paper towels to absorb the excess oil. Repeat the process until you finish cooking all the tacos.
Salsa for Potato Tacos:
- Mix the salsa ingredients in a medium-sized bowl and season with salt. Set aside. You can have all the ingredients ready a day in advance and combine them before serving.
To serve your potato tacos, remove the toothpicks and garnish them with shredded cabbage (or lettuce), cotija cheese, and Pico de Gallo salsa. Avocado and cream are also great as toppings.
Provecho
Mely,
More Mexican Recipes To Enjoy
If you enjoyed this recipe for Potato Tacos, take a look at some of these other authentic Mexican recipes:
Huitlacoche Tacos
How to Make Tacos al Pastor at Home
Shredded beef for tacos
For more recipes, follow Us on Facebook, Instagram, and Pinterest. in español Visit Us at Mexico en mi cocina
📖 Recipe
Crispy Potato Tacos | Tacos de papa
Ingredients
- 3 Medium size red potatoes About 18 oz.*
- Salt and pepper to taste
- ¼ cup Vegetable oil, more if needed to fry the tacos
- 12 Corn tortillas
TOOLS:
FOR THE SALSA:
- ½ cup white onion diced
- 1 cup tomato chopped and seeded
- ½ cup cilantro finely chopped
- 2 Serrano peppers diced
- 1 tablespoon lime juice
- Salt to taste
GARNISHES:
- 2 cups Cabbage finely shredded
- ⅓ cup Cotija cheese or crumbled Queso Fresco**
- Optional toppings:
- · 1 Avocado optional
- · ½ cup of Mexican cream
- · Red salsa
CHECK THE RECIPE VIDEO
Instructions
Making the Potato Filling
- Place whole potatoes in a large pot and cover with cold water.
- Note: DO NOT peel or cut the potatoes. We don’t want the potatoes to absorb too much water because then that water will be released in the form of bubbles during the frying process of the potato tacos, and the oil will splatter.
- Turn heat to medium-high and boil them until fork tender. Drain potatoes and move to a bowl. Wait until they’re cool enough to handle and discard their skins.
- Season potatoes with salt and pepper, and mash until you have a smooth paste. It won’t look exactly like a puree but more like a potato paste. Set aside.
- Heat about ½ cup of oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Adding the rest of the oil as needed.
- While waiting for the oil to heat, slightly warm the tortillas one by one on a hot griddle to make them more pliable. Cover them with a kitchen napkin.
Crispy Potato Tacos
- Now, add 2 tablespoons of the mashed potatoes over half of each tortilla and fold. Secure the sides of the tortilla with two toothpicks. Sometimes, I don’t use the toothpicks, but that requires some skill of firmly pressing down the edges while frying; if this is your first time making them, and to be on the safe side, use the toothpicks.
- Place the folded taco into the frying pan with hot oil, and cook for about one and a half minutes per side until golden brown and crispy. Since you will work in batches, have a large plate ready and covered with paper towels to absorb the excess oil. Repeat the process until you finish cooking all the tacos.
To make the salsa for your potato tacos
- Mix the salsa ingredients in a medium-sized bowl and season with salt. Set aside. You can have all the ingredients ready a day in advance and combine them before serving.
- To serve your potato tacos, remove the toothpicks and garnish them with shredded cabbage (or lettuce), cotija cheese, and Pico de Gallo salsa. Avocado and cream are also added as toppings.
- Provecho
Video
Notes
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Cristina
Made these last night for my family. They absolutely loved them my 2 little picky eaters ate 3 apiece usually they turn their nose up at just the sight of my food, my oldest asked how come I have never made these before and went back for seconds. I made the tortillas and blended the onion, tomatoes and chilies pour them in a pan to simmer. Top with at rest of the ingredients and warm salsa also I used parmesan cheese since that’s what I had on hand. Served with refried beans and rice. Definitely making these again.
Juanita
Or you can make them with leftover mashed potatoes.
Barbara
A long time ago, my husband and I lived in Guadalajara for 3 years,and have fond memories of eating these tacos in a local "garage", cooked by the people whose garage it was. Que delicioso!
Mom24
Making these tomorrow and I have a question. In your recipe you say to close tacos while you fry them with toothpicks, which results in a pretty tightly closed shell that would be difficult to stuff toppings into. Yet your pictures show a wide open taco shell. Can you stuff these and then fry them open? How would you do that? Thank you!
Mely Martínez
Hello Mom24,
You can skip the toothpicks if you want.
Ingebjørg Monstad
Some of the best tacos I have ever eaten.
Margaret
So crispy and yummy ! Can they be fried in air fryer?
Mely Martínez
Hello Margaret,
I do not own an air fryer but if you do and try them let me know.
Margaret
I made these for this Friday after lent. I made homemade corn tortillas so I have everything ready for dinner tonight. I had to sample 2 tacos. They were very good I loved them. I remember we had these growing up. My sister also makes them she calls them poor man tacos. We laughed cause we loved them growing up.
Esther
Ah, one of my all time favorites! This was in our Friday Lenten rotation, as a kid. My mom also added grated cheese to the potatoes. The cheese would melt into the potato mixture. The BEST! Thanks for reminding me of the power of simple cooking!
g
Hi Mely,
I really like this recipe because we are vegetarian, so i cannot wait to try this!! Thank you for sharing. Also, as we really do not eat many fried foods, would you be so kind as to suggest how i can crisp these up in the oven and at what temperature. Thank you in advance for your help..
mmartinez
Hello G,
Usually, for roasting veggies in the oven, drizzle a little bit of olive oil and heat oven at 400F, the time will depend on each vegetable type and the size you cut them.
Unknown
Yum! We mix a melty cheese in with the papas and top with crema, along with the rest of the toppings. And we include the cabbage in the pico de gallo so that it gets marinated with the limon.
mmartinez
Great to here we are not the only ones mixing the cabbage with the pico de gallo. Love the idea of adding cheese!
Anonymous
We have always made these but we actually smash cotija cheese in the potatoes and garlic powder or onion powder. When cooked we also top with sour cream and all the veggies you have there alonv with some avocado. Its so good!
Anonymous
YUMMY 4 MY TUMMY!!!! ☺☺☺☺
Eboni
Grrrr, I forgot to put my Cojita on them... now they're all gone!
junglepitts
I remember when I was younger if we didn't have much in the house to eat but but left over mashed potatoes and corn tortillas I'd make tacos like this. Nice and crispy. Good to know it is an actual dish and not one of my made up dishes. Lol thans for all these recipes! I can now cook dishes that remind me of my childhood without calling my dad and asking him for the recetas. 🙂
Chris
I love everything about this! Completely different than the usual taco, I'm going to HAVE to make this.
Tifferella
I made this for dinner and it was delicious. I only used the toothpicks on a couple of the tacos. I didn't need them. I will make these again. Thanks Mely for sharing and providing helpful photos.
mmartinez
Hello TIfferellla,
Thank you for trying the recipe. I'm so glad you like them.
anukampa dubey
delicious and so colourful....am surely gonna try soon. Your recipes always inspire me to cook 🙂
mmartinez
Hello anukampa,
Thank you for trying the recipes. Happy cooking!
Velva
This is a great way to enjoy an authentic taco. Love it!
Velva
Larry M
it looks so goooood
mmartinez
Hello Larry,
Thank you fro stopping by. Nice to hear about you, and indeed these are some really good tacos!
Maria Soto
wow, this is what we are having for dinner at home tonight. a family favorite for sure
mmartinez
Hello Maria,
Kids love this combo of a crunchy taco and potatoes!