This Tuesday, the tortillas are doing overtime.
National Taco Day falls on Tuesday, October 6, this year. If you remember celebrating it on October 4, your memory is perfectly sound. In 2024, the celebration moved to the first Tuesday in October, bringing it into permanent alignment with Taco Tuesday. Finally, a calendar adjustment that makes dinner easier. www.tacobell.com
Here at Chewing The Fat, we’ve never needed much encouragement to put something delicious inside a warm tortilla. Over the years, our taco fillings have ranged from spice-scented shrimp to golden potatoes, from chorizo hash to fish brightened with ginger and turmeric. For this year’s celebration, I’ve brought together four recipes worth another visit.
What I particularly like about this collection is its range. There’s a quick sheet-pan supper, a fish taco with a Vietnamese accent, a hearty breakfast that is equally happy being dinner, and a meatless combination that gives roasted vegetables their moment in the spotlight. Choose whichever suits your appetite. The holiday may belong to Tuesday, but these recipes are useful all week.
Shrimp Tacos: A Sheet Pan Does the Work
My enthusiasm for shrimp tacos began at El Mitote, our neighborhood taqueria on the Upper West Side. The combination of tender shrimp, a little heat, something crunchy, and a generous squeeze of lime was enough to send me looking for a version to make at home.
This recipe puts the oven to work. Shrimp seasoned with cumin and chili powder roast in minutes, while the corn tortillas warm alongside them. Optional red onion wedges get a head start before the shrimp join the pan. Add crunchy cabbage slaw, sliced avocado, and sour cream, and dinner is ready with remarkably little fuss.
The slaw can be wonderfully straightforward: shredded cabbage tossed with a creamy chipotle ranch dressing. It supplies the crunch and a little smoky heat without turning a quick supper into an afternoon’s project. Finish with lime, keep a napkin close, and accept that the occasional escaping shrimp is part of the experience. chewingthefat.us.com
Get the Shrimp Tacos recipe
Sizzling Turmeric-Dill Fish Tacos: A Bright Change of Pace
These fish tacos take a particularly delicious detour. Ginger and turmeric flavor the fish, dill brings its distinctive freshness, and a lively Nuoc Cham salsa ties everything together.
The salsa combines tomatoes, lime juice, fish sauce, onion or shallot, garlic, chile, and cilantro. It delivers that irresistible balance of salty, tart, spicy, and just a little sweet. When I first wrote about these tacos, I called them the best fish tacos I’d made at home. The salsa deserved equal billing.
This is the one to choose when you want a taco supper with a different personality. Let the seasoned fish and salsa carry the flavor, adding a little cabbage if you like some crunch. And remember the salsa when you’re looking for something to wake up another meal—it has possibilities well beyond a tortilla. chewingthefat.us.com
Get the Sizzling Turmeric-Dill Fish Tacos and Nuoc Cham Salsa recipes
Chorizo Breakfast Tacos: Too Good to Save for Morning
Here’s a very persuasive argument for breakfast at dinner. Fresh chorizo, onion, garlic, and grated potato cook into a hash with golden, crunchy edges. That alone would make a satisfying meal. Tuck it into warm corn tortillas, add lightly pickled onion and crumbled cotija, then crown it with a fried egg, and things become considerably more interesting.
The contrast is what makes these tacos so appealing: crisp potato, savory sausage, tangy onion, and a rich yolk that becomes part of the sauce. A squeeze of lime keeps the whole combination bright.
The original recipe serves two and takes about 30 minutes. Whether you make it for breakfast, brunch, or supper is entirely up to you. I wouldn’t let the name dictate the hour. chewingthefat.us.com
Get the Chorizo Breakfast Tacos with Potato Hash and Fried Eggs recipe
Roasted Broccoli and Potato Tacos: A Meatless Supper with Plenty Going On
Kay Chun’s recipe, which I discovered in The New York Times, gives broccoli and potatoes a thoroughly appealing assignment. They roast on a sheet pan with scallions, garlic, and smoked paprika until tender and charred in spots.
The paprika adds a smoky note, while roasting brings out the vegetables’ sweetness and gives them those irresistible browned edges. Divide the filling among warm corn tortillas, add avocado, and top each taco with a fried egg.
Salsa, sour cream, cilantro, and lime wedges finish the dish beautifully. It’s a substantial meatless supper, ready in about 45 minutes, and a useful reminder of how much flavor a pan of roasted vegetables can deliver. These are generously filled tacos, so a knife and fork are perfectly respectable companions. chewingthefat.us.com
Get the Roasted Broccoli and Potato Tacos with Fried Eggs recipe
One Tuesday, Four Excellent Possibilities
There’s no need to make all four, although I admire the ambition. Pick the recipe that appeals, warm your tortillas, and have the toppings ready before you sit down. A few lime wedges on the table will earn their keep.
And if Tuesday gets away from you, make them Wednesday. I have yet to meet a taco that checks the calendar.
