A recent random conversation made my sandwich brain think about the combination of tacos and biscuits, so I made some and wrote this blog post. The idea that came to me was to make a Tex-Mex/Americanized taco-focused biscuit and then I expanded on that.
Basically, the gist of this idea is to bring Taco Bell’s Doritos Locos Tacos into the realm of a biscuit sandwich. If you’re not familiar, Doritos Locos Tacos are typically seasoned ground beef tacos with shredded lettuce, diced tomato, grated cheddar cheese on a crunchy taco shell that has been heavily seasoned/dusted with flavors of Doritos.
In doing quick research to confirm which flavors of Doritos Locos Tacos existed, I found this wonderful entry on some sort of Taco Bell-centric wiki site. This is an amazing amount of info that is very helpful. Please read:
I guess I should have bought some Baja Blast.
From what I could gather from 10 minutes of googling, these are the flavors of Doritos Locos Tacos:
- Nacho Cheese Doritos Locos Tacos
Cool Ranch Doritos Locos Tacos(discontinued)Fiery Doritos Locos Tacos(discontinued)Flamin’ Hot Doritos Locos Tacos(maybe discontinued?)- Flamin’ Hot Cool Ranch Doritos Locos Tacos
Anyway, everything I’ve read says that the original Nacho Cheese Doritos Locos Taco is the most popular so let’s get into what I did and how I did it.
The nacho cheese biscuits
I’ve made cheesy biscuits before, but this time I thought since we were making a taco-focused biscuit, maybe we should lean all the way into the Taco Bell situation and make a biscuit that is cheesy but also flavored like the original Taco Bell Locos Taco nacho cheese flavor. I bought some Nacho Cheese flavored Doritos and spent a little bit of time doing taste tests (aka: eating chips) and even forced my wife to participate (she ate one). I got close with my nacho cheese seasoning, but I didn’t totally nail it. I think if you really wanted to replicate the Nacho Cheese flavor, you’d need some sort of lime or citrus powder, but I got close enough for me, so I kept going.
In 2020, I bought a heart-shaped biscuit cutter set and to get my money’s worth, I am now forced to make Valentine’s Day biscuits every year. I could also use them for cookies, but you probably shouldn’t put sausage inside cookies. ?
*not true
These biscuits have shredded cheddar, cheddar powder and Tex-Mex based seasonings all through each bite.
Below is my nacho cheese biscuit recipe. The flavors aren’t quite the same as the Doritos nacho cheese flavor, but they make a fun cheesy biscuit.
Nacho cheese cheddar biscuits
These nacho cheese flavored biscuits are cheesy and slightly addictive. They're perfect for your next savory breakfast sandwich.
Get RecipeCheesy biscuit tips
- DO NOT sprinkle cheese on the top of the biscuit. It will darken way faster than the rest of your dough leaving you with it looking like burned spots. Biscuits will still taste good though.
- Shred your own cheese from a block. The pre-shredded, packaged cheese has cellulose in it, which just isn’t needed in biscuit dough.
- Start with cold cheese. Add the cheese while incorporating flour and butter and put this mixture into the freezer for 10 minutes prior to adding the buttermilk and while the oven is pre-heating. Cold cheese will take longer to melt in the oven which means you won’t have too much cheese leaking out of the biscuit.
The suburban loose taco biscuit
My first version of this taco biscuit was before I looked at the calendar and noticed I would post it on February 14th. This was a typical round biscuit, and my original thinking was that I would cook the pork sausage “loose” like ground meat is in a taco. This worked ok, but as you can see below, it was a huge mess. Still tasted awesome, just required a fork — just kidding, I used my fingers.
At some point last year, I shared my “Suburban taco seasoning” which I made to be a multi-purpose seasoning that resembles what you’d get if you bought one of those taco seasoning packets at the grocery store. This seasoning isn’t something you’d find in Mexico or even Texas, but you could possibly find it at some Texaco gas stations…
Anyway, here’s a photo of the glorious loose taco biscuit below.
The heart biscuit idea
At some point, after the loose sandwich turned out to be such a tasty mess, I was looking at the calendar and saw that Valentine’s Day would be falling on a Monday when I normally release a sandwich post. During one of those “shower idea” moments, I realized I could time this nacho cheesy taco biscuit sandwich post for February 14th, and then I had a plan.
I used heart-shaped biscuit cutters to cut out my biscuits and to shape my ground sausage patties. Remember: if you’re using the same set of biscuit cutters to shape your biscuit and your sausage patties, use one or two sizes bigger for your sausage since it will shrink while cooking (and obviously wash them very well in between uses).
Let’s make suburban taco sausage nacho cheese biscuit sandwiches
This is my longest sandwich title yet. How will I top this one?
Once you get all your ingredients and you’re ready to go, these sandwiches are easy to make. Much like a taco, you just add each layer and throw the top biscuit on and chow down.
Note: this is the first time I ever put lettuce on a biscuit because we’re all about pushing boundaries here.
Here’s my suburban taco sausage nacho cheese biscuit sandwich recipe:
Suburban taco sausage nacho cheese biscuit sandwich
Once you get past the super long sandwich name, you'll end up with cheesy taco goodness packed into a sausage biscuit. As of a week ago, I had never put lettuce on a biscuit, but I have now.
Ingredients:
Suburban taco sausage- 1 pound ground sausage
- 2 tablespoons taco seasoning (view recipe)
- 1 teaspoon dried sage
- 2 Suburban taco sausage patties (from above)
- 2 nacho cheese biscuits (view recipe)
- 1⁄2 cup shredded lettuce
- 1⁄4 cup diced tomatoes
- 1⁄4 cup shredded cheddar cheese
- 3 tablespoons sour cream (optional)
Directions:
In a large bowl, combine the ground pork the taco seasoning and dried sage. It is best to use your hands to mix things up.
Shape the mixed sausage into patties. For a pound, you should easily be able to get 6 or 8 biscuit-sized sausage patties. If you are making your own biscuits and use a biscuit cutter, you can also use that same biscuit cutter or one a tiny bit larger as a shaping mold to shape your sausage. Just lightly oil the biscuit cutter, spoon sausage into the cutter and press down to shape into a circle.
In a medium pan over medium heat, add your formed sausage patties. Cook for at least 6 minutes per side.
While sausage is cooking, shred your lettuce, dice the tomato and shred the cheddar. This is also a good time to split your biscuit and toast it if you desire.
Once the sausage has cooked at least 6 minutes per side (check with a probe thermometer to be sure of the temperature - it needs to be at least 160 degrees F) remove the sausage patties to a paper towel lined plate to rest.
Slice biscuit, add sausage, top with lettuce, tomato, cheese and sour cream if you are using it.
Top with biscuit top, serve biscuit sandwiches and enjoy.
More suburban taco sausage nacho cheese biscuit sandwiches
Now that you’ve seen the recipe, you can stare at a few of the suburban taco sausage nacho cheese biscuit sandwiches that I have made and enjoyed over the past week or so.
If your sauce packet drawer only has duck and soy sauce and no Taco Bell Fire sauce, here’s a fun recipe I have for a very good chipotle sauce that isn’t quite the same, but it is fantastic on a sausage biscuit.
Spicy Chipotle Sauce
10 minutes
I love you all for reading. Happy Valentine’s Day! ❤️
Check back next week when we will certainly not be making or eating biscuit sandwiches.
