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Crunchy on the outside and creamy inside, these Potato Tacos are filled with Mexican-spiced mashed potatoes and lightly fried until golden and perfectly crisp. Serve them with lettuce, tomato, guacamole, salsa, and extra cheese for major taco deliciousness! Easy to make gluten-free, vegetarian or even vegan!
We love tacos in my house, I make them almost every week. From chickpea tacos to tofu tacos, you can’t ever go wrong! This potato version is the newest addition to our Taco Tuesday rotation and it’s a good one!
I’m always looking for new ideas to jazz up taco night, and these potato tacos have quickly become a family favorite! They’ve got all of the best Mexican flavors wrapped up into corn tortillas and fried until crisp and golden brown perfection!
What are potato tacos?
Mexican-style potato tacos are also known as tacos de papa. This potato taco recipe is similar to traditional tacos de papa, but with my own take on the recipe. Authentic potato tacos consist of a deep fried tortilla shell stuffed with a mashed potato filling and they’re often topped with shredded cabbage, sliced tomato, diced onion and plenty of cotija.
Even Taco Bell offers potato tacos! These are made with crispy potatoes, flour tortillas, lettuce, tomato, cheese and served with their spicy chipotle sauce. Yum!
Ingredients needed:
This potato taco recipe is packed with flavor thanks to my homemade seasoning blend, a combination of mashed potatoes and cheese, and all of your favorite taco toppings. Here’s what you’ll need:
- Russet potatoes. I like to use russet potatoes for this recipe. They’re easy to find and they have a nice creamy texture inside the tortillas. You can also use Yukon Gold potatoes, baby red potatoes, or even sweet potatoes for these potato tacos.
- Cotija cheese. Feel free to use vegan cotija or vegan feta cheese to keep these tacos vegan-friendly.
- Spices. The homemade taco seasoning blend is super flavorful! I like making my own to control the ingredients and flavors. It’s a simple mix of paprika, cumin, garlic powder, salt, and black pepper.
- Corn tortillas. We love how deliciously crispy corn tortillas get when pan fried, but you can sub with flour tortillas if you’d like.
- Oil. For cooking the tacos to crispy perfection!
- Extras for serving. We like to serve these potato tacos with lettuce, tomato, guacamole, salsa, and extra cheese. Feel free to enjoy your potato tacos with any favorite toppings.
How to Make Potato Tacos:
In just a few easy steps, you’ll be serving some amazing tacos!
Please see the recipe card for the full, printable recipe with all of the details.
- Make mashed potatoes. Peel and slice potatoes into small pieces. Place the chunks of potato in a large pot and cover with cold water. Bring to a boil, lower to a simmer, and cook until the potatoes are fork tender, about 8-10 minutes. Drain the potatoes and place back in the pot. Mix in the cheese, paprika, cumin, garlic powder, salt and pepper. Mash with a potato masher until nearly all chunks are gone and it’s fully mixed together.
- Heat tortillas. Wrap the tortillas in a damp paper towel or cloth towel and microwave for 30 seconds. This will ensure your tortillas don’t break or tear when folding them over.
- Assemble tacos. Spread 2-3 tablespoons of the potato mixture on half of a tortilla and fold the tortilla over. Repeat with all tortillas. They may not stay closed but will once they’re cooked.
- Fry the tacos. In a large skillet, heat the oil over medium heat. Once hot, add in the folded over tortillas about 4 at a time. You need space in the pan to flip, so don’t overcrowd. Fry for 3 minutes on each side until they begin to crisp up and lightly brown.
- Enjoy! Serve with desired toppings and dig in!
Customize Your Tacos
- Make them spicy. If you like a little kick of heat in your Mexican food, add in 1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper to the spice blend and/or stir green chiles into the potato mixture.
- Sweet potato tacos. You can replace russet potatoes for sweet potatoes.
- Breakfast tacos. Not only do potato tacos make a great dinner, but they’re wonderful for breakfast! You can even add some scrambled eggs or black beans to the meal.
- Baked potato tacos. Instead of frying these tacos, try baking them. Assemble tacos as directed, lightly spray tortillas with a bit of cooking spray and bake at 400 degrees F for about 10 mins, or until the tacos are crisp and golden.
- Toppings. By adding your choice of toppings and extras, you can really make these tacos your own! See below for a list of options.
What to Serve With Potato Tacos
We love to serve tacos with rice and beans on the side. I always make a batch of my Instant Pot Mexican Rice whenever we’re enjoying Mexican food. It’s so good and simple! Mexican Street Corn would be an awesome side with this meal too. If you like sauces, the Tequila Avocado Sauce from these salmon burgers would be amazing!
Topping Suggestions:
- Guacamole or sliced avocado
- Sour cream or Greek yogurt
- Grated cheese or vegan nacho cheese sauce
- Slaw
- Pico de gallo
- Salsa
- Fresh cilantro
- Lime wedges
Tips for Recipe Success
- Leftover mashed potatoes. For a quick and easy weeknight dinner, use leftover mashed potatoes for these tacos.
- Cheese. It is necessary to use some type of cheese to ensure that the potatoes stick together inside of the tacos. Use vegan feta cheese (or vegan cotija if you can find it) to keep these vegan. Any vegan shredded cheese will work as a substitute.
- Tortillas. It is important to heat corn tortillas in a damp paper towel or cloth towel for 30 seconds in the microwave. This will make it so that they don’t tear when folding them over.
- Oil. I prefer to use just 2 tablespoons of oil for frying, even though these won’t get as crispy as deep fried tacos. Feel free to heat up an INCH of oil in your pan and fry these in more oil. This is how they’re traditionally prepared.
- Make ahead. Get a head start on dinner and make the seasoned mashed potatoes in advance and refrigerate them for a couple of days before assembling and frying the tacos. You can also fry the potato tacos ahead of time and then reheat leftovers in the oven or in an air fryer.
The next time you’re craving tacos, switch things up a bit with this fun and unique potato tacos recipe. The whole family will thank you!
As usual, PLEASE PLEASE let me know if you end up making this potato tacos recipe (or any of my recipes!). I love when you tag me on Instagram @foodwithfeeling!
More favorite Mexican recipes:
Looking for more flavorful vegan Mexican recipes? Here are a few of my faves!
Potato Tacos
Ingredients
- 2 medium russet potatoes
- ¾ cup of lightly packed cotija cheese, vegan cotija or feta works well here!
- 1 teaspoon of paprika
- ½ teaspoon of cumin
- ½ teaspoon of garlic powder
- ½ teaspoon of salt
- ½ teaspoon or to taste black pepper
- 12 corn tortillas
- 2 tablespoons of oil for frying
- For serving: lettuce, tomato, guacamole, salsa, extra cheese etc.
Instructions
- Peel potatoes and slice into small pieces (mine were about the size of quarters). Place the potato pieces in a large pot and cover with cold water. Bring to a boil, lower to a simmer, and cook until the potatoes are fork tender, about 8-10 minutes.
- Drain the potatoes and place back in the pot. Mix in the cheese, paprika, cumin, garlic powder, salt and pepper. Mash with a potato masher until nearly all chunks are gone and it’s fully mixed together.
- Wrap the tortillas in a damp paper towel or cloth towel and microwave for 30 seconds. This will make it so that they don’t break when folding them over.
- Spread 2-3 tablespoons of the potato mixture on half of a tortilla and fold the tortilla over. Repeat with all tortillas. They may not stay closed but will once they’re cooked.
- In a large skillet, heat the oil over medium heat. Once hot, add in the folded over tortillas about 4 at a time. You need space in the pan to flip so don’t overcrowd. Fry for 3 minutes on each side until they begin to crisp up and lightly brown.*
- Serve with desired toppings and ENJOY!
