Smash Burger Tacos

5 from 2 votes

These Smash Burger Tacos have juicy beef, melty cheese, pickles, lettuce, and Thousand Island dressing in a crispy golden tortilla. Ready in about 30 minutes!

Prep Time10

Cook Time20

Total Time30

Course: Main Course

Cuisine: American, Mexican

Total Cost: $8.77 recipe / $1.46 serving

Servings: servings

Calories: 430kcal

Author: Jennie Alley

Equipment

Large Bowl
Medium Skillet

Ingredients

1 lb. ground beef $5.93*
¼ cup yellow onion minced, (45g) $0.20
1 tsp Worcestershire sauce $0.02
½ tsp salt $0.02
¼ tsp garlic powder $0.02
¼ tsp black pepper freshly cracked, $0.04
6 small flour tortillas taco size, $0.64
1 Tbsp cooking oil $0.04
6 slices American cheese $0.62

To Serve

½ cup iceberg lettuce shredded, (40g) $0.23
½ cup pickle chips 100g, $0.62
¼ cup Thousand Island dressing $0.39**

Instructions

Gather all your ingredients.
Mix ground beef, minced onion, Worcestershire, salt, garlic powder, and black pepper in a large bowl. Divide into 6 equal balls and press each ball down onto tortillas.
Heat oil in a medium skillet over medium heat. Place a tortilla into the skillet, meat side down, pressing down with a spatula to cook. Cook for 2-3 minutes while pressing down, and flip when browned and crispy.
Flip the tortilla, top with a cheese slice, and cook 2 more minutes until the cheese melts.
Repeat with the remaining tortillas.
Top your smash burger tacos with shredded lettuce, pickle chips, and Thousand Island dressing. Serve and enjoy!

See how we calculate recipe costs here.

Notes

*I use 80/20 ground beef, which I found to be the most flavorful for the cost. I wouldn't use a fattier beef as it'll seep too much fat, but leaner beef should work just fine. You can also use other ground meat like chicken, pork, or turkey.

**Any burger or “special” sauce works well in place of the Thousand Island dressing! Ranch, BBQ sauce, mayonnaise, ketchup, or mustard are all good options too.

Nutrition

Smash Burger Tacos https://metabolic-life.news/smash-burger-tacos/%3C/p%3E%3C/div%3E%3C/div%3E%3Cscript%3Ewindow.wprm_recipes = {"recipe-138832":{"type":"food","name":"Smash Burger Tacos","slug":"wprm-smash-burger-tacos","image_url":"https:\/\/www.budgetbytes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/Smash-Burger-Tacos_Overhead.jpg","rating":{"count":2,"total":10,"average":5,"type":{"comment":2,"no_comment":0,"user":0},"user":0},"ingredients":[{"uid":0,"amount":"1","unit":"lb.","name":"ground beef","notes":"$5.93*","link":{"url":"","nofollow":"default"},"conversion_item_snapshot":{"amount":"1","unit":"lb.","timestamp":1777409597000},"unit_id":11950,"id":1754,"type":"ingredient","unit_systems":{"unit-system-1":{"amount":"1","unit":"lb.","unitParsed":"lb."}}},{"uid":1,"amount":"\u00bc","unit":"cup","name":"yellow onion","notes":"minced, (45g) $0.20","link":{"url":"","nofollow":"default"},"conversion_item_snapshot":{"amount":"\u00bc","unit":"cup","timestamp":1777409597000},"unit_id":11945,"id":1347,"type":"ingredient","unit_systems":{"unit-system-1":{"amount":"\u00bc","unit":"cup","unitParsed":"cup"}}},{"uid":2,"amount":"1","unit":"tsp","name":"Worcestershire sauce","notes":"$0.02","link":{"url":"","nofollow":"default"},"conversion_item_snapshot":{"amount":"1","unit":"tsp","timestamp":1777409597000},"unit_id":11942,"id":1905,"type":"ingredient","unit_systems":{"unit-system-1":{"amount":"1","unit":"tsp","unitParsed":"tsp"}}},{"uid":3,"amount":"\u00bd","unit":"tsp","name":"salt","notes":"$0.02","link":{"url":"","nofollow":"default"},"conversion_item_snapshot":{"amount":"\u00bd","unit":"tsp","timestamp":1777409597000},"unit_id":11942,"id":1103,"type":"ingredient","unit_systems":{"unit-system-1":{"amount":"\u00bd","unit":"tsp","unitParsed":"tsp"}}},{"uid":4,"amount":"\u00bc","unit":"tsp","name":"garlic powder","notes":"$0.02","link":{"url":"","nofollow":"default"},"conversion_item_snapshot":{"amount":"\u00bc","unit":"","timestamp":1777409597000},"unit_id":11942,"id":1101,"type":"ingredient","unit_systems":{"unit-system-1":{"amount":"\u00bc","unit":"tsp","unitParsed":"tsp"}}},{"uid":5,"amount":"\u00bc","unit":"tsp","name":"black pepper","notes":"freshly cracked, $0.04","link":{"url":"","nofollow":"default"},"conversion_item_snapshot":{"amount":"\u00bc","unit":"tsp","timestamp":1777409597000},"unit_id":11942,"id":5270,"type":"ingredient","unit_systems":{"unit-system-1":{"amount":"\u00bc","unit":"tsp","unitParsed":"tsp"}}},{"uid":6,"amount":"6","unit":"","name":"small flour tortillas","notes":"taco size, $0.64","link":{"url":"","nofollow":"default"},"conversion_item_snapshot":{"amount":"6","unit":"","timestamp":1777409597000},"id":10023,"type":"ingredient","unit_systems":{"unit-system-1":{"amount":"6","unit":"","unitParsed":""}}},{"uid":7,"amount":"1","unit":"Tbsp","name":"cooking oil","notes":"$0.04","link":{"url":"","nofollow":"default"},"conversion_item_snapshot":{"amount":"1","unit":"Tbsp","timestamp":1777409597000},"unit_id":11943,"id":1118,"type":"ingredient","unit_systems":{"unit-system-1":{"amount":"1","unit":"Tbsp","unitParsed":"Tbsp"}}},{"uid":8,"amount":"6","unit":"slices","name":"American cheese","notes":"$0.62","link":{"url":"","nofollow":"default"},"conversion_item_snapshot":{"amount":"6","unit":"slices","timestamp":1777409597000},"unit_id":12045,"id":13916,"type":"ingredient","unit_systems":{"unit-system-1":{"amount":"6","unit":"slices","unitParsed":"slices"}}},{"uid":9,"amount":"\u00bd","unit":"cup","name":"iceberg lettuce","notes":"shredded, (40g) $0.23","link":{"url":"","nofollow":"default"},"conversion_item_snapshot":{"amount":"\u00bd","unit":"cup","timestamp":1777409597000},"unit_id":11945,"id":11157,"type":"ingredient","unit_systems":{"unit-system-1":{"amount":"\u00bd","unit":"cup","unitParsed":"cup"}}},{"uid":10,"amount":"\u00bd","unit":"cup","name":"pickle chips","notes":"100g, $0.62","link":{"url":"","nofollow":"default"},"conversion_item_snapshot":{"amount":"\u00bd","unit":"cup","timestamp":1777409597000},"unit_id":11945,"id":16031,"type":"ingredient","unit_systems":{"unit-system-1":{"amount":"\u00bd","unit":"cup","unitParsed":"cup"}}},{"uid":11,"amount":"\u00bc","unit":"cup","name":"Thousand Island dressing","notes":"$0.39**","link":{"url":"","nofollow":"default"},"conversion_item_snapshot":{"amount":"\u00bc","unit":"cup","timestamp":1777409597000},"unit_id":11945,"id":15509,"type":"ingredient","unit_systems":{"unit-system-1":{"amount":"\u00bc","unit":"cup","unitParsed":"cup"}}}],"originalServings":"6","originalServingsParsed":6,"currentServings":"6","currentServingsParsed":6,"currentServingsFormatted":"6","currentServingsMultiplier":1,"originalSystem":1,"currentSystem":1,"favorite":false,"unitSystems":[1],"originalAdvancedServings":{"shape":"round","unit":"inch","diameter":0,"width":0,"length":0,"height":0},"currentAdvancedServings":{"shape":"round","unit":"inch","diameter":0,"width":0,"length":0,"height":0},"collection":{"servingsUnit":"servings","servingsUnitRaw":"servings","originalServings":"6","originalServingsParsed":6,"type":"recipe","recipeId":138832,"name":"Smash Burger Tacos","image":"https:\/\/www.budgetbytes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/Smash-Burger-Tacos_Overhead-500x500.jpg","servings":6,"parent_id":"138831","parent_url":"https:\/\/www.budgetbytes.com\/smash-burger-tacos\/","cachedAt":1778387154,"modifiedAt":1777883432}}}