Chimichurri “Street” Tacos
Oh yeah, I went there. STREET tacos. Because, well, they’re pretty thug. And yes, they are THAT good. I like to think that by calling them “street” I lend them some credibility. Being from California, we have no shortage of delicious Mexican food and I wanted to invoke some of those flavors into this dish. It’s recipes like this that I make me not miss any of the foods I used to eat. It’s hard to believe these are paleo AND Whole30 compliant. (I added a tiny bit of queso fresco, mostly for the photograph’s sake, but obviously that’s easy to leave out. You can also sweeten the chimichurri with date paste or a touch of apple juice. Or leave it out all together!) If you’re going to make any of the recipes on my blog, I suggest you start with this one as it’s quickly becoming my favorite.
The flavor combinations in these tacos are crazy. The zip of the chimuchurri, the spice of the chili power and earthiness of grass fed beef and mushrooms all rrreeeaallllyy like each other. And I can guarantee you will too.
Finally, what I really like about this recipe is that you can easily serve it to those who DON’T follow a paleo diet and they’d never know it follows Paleo guidelines. And since I’m all about options, if a guest (or husband or kid) wants a tortilla, then you can give them a tortilla and leave the lettuce wrap for yourself. As you may know, I’m not a fan of preparing more than one meal for everyone but slight modifications, like adding a tortilla, make sense. But a second meal? Heck no, I’m not cooking more than I have to.
I chose to make these tacos with ground beef. We had some ground beef in our last shipment from US Wellness Meats so I decided to use that up. But you could easily substitute chicken, ground turkey, grilled flank, etc. in yours if that’s what you have on hand. Just use the spices to create a marinade for the steak with some olive oil and lime juice. If anyone needs some help with one, comment below and I’ll create one for you!
And guess what? Once again they are super easy to make!
Chimichurri Street Tacos
Ingredients
- 2 lbs. ground beef
- 2 Tbsp bacon grease substitute with butter, ghee or olive oil
- 1/2 onion chopped finely
- 2 Tbsp. chili powder
- 1.5 Tbsp. smoked paprika
- 2 tsp. cumin
- 1.5 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp. pepper
- 1.5 lbs. crimini or baby bella mushrooms diced
- 1 head of romaine lettuce
- 2 Tbsp. butter ghee or olive oil
- Chimichurri sauce see link in blog post for recipe!
- 1 sweet pepper sliced
- 1 C. diced tomatoes
- 1/2 C. guacamole
- 1/4 C. queso fresco optional
Instructions
- In a large skillet heat butter, ghee or olive oil on medium high heat.
- Once melted, add the mushrooms, salt to taste and sauté for approximately 10 minutes.
- Remove mushrooms with a slotted spoon and set aside.
- In a separate skillet heat bacon grease (or other cooking oil of your choice) in a large skillet on medium high heat.
- Once the oil is hot add your onions and cook for roughly 5 minutes and add ground beef and begin to brown.
- After 5 minutes add the chili powder, smoked paprika, salt and pepper and thoroughly combine all ingredients and cook until done, another 5 minutes or so.
- Once ground beef is cooked and browned add previously cooked mushrooms and combine.
- Serve meat and mushroom mixture in cleaned leaf of romaine lettuce (or tortilla for the infidels 😉 ) and top with additional ingredients to your liking, especially the chimichurri sauce! Eat like a taco and get your grub on!
I’m definitely feeling the street! 🙂 And I rrrreeeeaaaalllllyyy am liking the zipply flavors and amazing toppings, especially the guac and fresco!