Some days, I just want to eat a nostalgic, simple, American-style, Suburban-mom-ified ground beef taco. Last week, that urge hit me, and I decided to create my own recipe for some non-authentic, tasty fast-food-focused soft tacos, and at the same time, recreate another fast-food sandwich that’s lost in time.
This blog post should show you how easy it is to create the type of seasoned ground beef from scratch that you can use to make tacos or the sandwich in question.
I’ve created two sections of the site where I’ve attempted to recreate fast food and/or chain restaurant sandwiches.
Discontinued Sandwiches
And these might still be available on menus occasionally:
Copycat Sandwiches
What is this sandwich?
This is a sandwich that graced the menus of Taco Bell locations for more than 30 years. Yes, Taco Bell used to sell a sandwich. This is the Bell Beefer, which is a pretty funny name for what is basically a loose-meat, taco-focused sandwich. And Bell Beefer is not this sandwich’s original name.
The Bell Beefer did not start out being called the Bell Beefer. According to Wikipedia, this sandwich was first called the Chiliburger, and it was one of the original menu items at Taco Bell in 1962. Then, later in 1969, it was renamed the Bell Burger (or possibly BellBurger), and finally, 10 years after that, in 1979, the name was changed for a final time to the Bell Beefer.
The Bell Beefer stuck around in some form or another for an additional 15 or 16 years and then disappeared without a trace from Taco Bell’s menus across the world. Only a few years later, they seem to have forgotten their own history. Around 5 years after the Bell Beefer disappeared, in the early 2000s, Taco Bell brought forth a new marketing campaign using the phrase “Think Outside the Bun.”
Basically, this sandwich is a Taco Bell ground beef taco in sandwich form. You literally just need to swap out the soft or hard tortilla for a soft bun, and you’re in business. Because of this easy swap, it sort of surprises me that Taco Bell isn’t still serving these. All they would need is some storage area for hamburger buns, and they could make both soft tacos and Bell Beefers.
It seems like the toppings on a Bell Beefer have changed a little throughout the years. Some ads I have seen have said lettuce, diced onion, and cheese were the default toppings, and a lot of the marketing photos from the 80s or 70s show that diced tomato was a normal addition. I’m guessing that at some point, toppings were more standardized from location to location as Taco Bell became a larger corporate entity.
Before the Bell Beefer
Here are a couple of ads I found while researching the Bell Beefer. Both are Taco Bell-produced marketing or menu concepts that showcase the BellBurger, which preceded the Bell Beefer.
According to the internet and the Taco Bell Wikipedia, the Bell Beefer very briefly returned in 2012 at select locations, but now it is gone for good. So we have to make our own. I’m no stranger to loose meat sandwiches, so let’s get into it.
Other loose meat sandwich content
A burger, but hold the patty
I took a deep dive into several loose-meat or ground steak sandwiches. From Iowa to North Carolina, I shared several recipes and a whole lot of photos of ground beef.
Now you Joe, and Joe-ing is half the battle
This was my deep dive into a beef version of sloppy joes and my wife’s favorite turkey sloppy joe recipe. A year after this, I also shared another Korean-spiced Sloppy Joe recipe along with a recipe to turn sloppy Joes into egg rolls.
What does Supreme mean at Taco Bell?
In Taco Bell parlance, adding the word Supreme to any menu item usually means it will come with the addition of sour cream and diced tomatoes. So a Bell Beefer Supreme would simply have those two ingredients added.
A supreme soft taco would be your choice of meat in a soft flour tortilla and the following ingredients: shredded cheddar cheese, shredded lettuce, diced tomatoes, and sour cream. You can add hot sauce if you want, but that’s it.
For the sake of this blog post, all Bell Beefers and any tacos that I make will be built supreme style. But you can feel free to make yours however you want. Now that we’re aware of what our end goal is, we’re going to need some buns.
Soft potato buns
These are my favorite burger buns, and they work perfectly for a homemade Bell Beefer. I don’t know exactly what sort of bun Taco Bell was using, but I would assume it was a fairly inexpensive, soft white bun. This recipe will provide a soft, white bun with just a touch of sweetness that works great for burgers or chicken sandwiches, so it will definitely be great here.
I have created a page showing all of the sandwiches that I have written about that use this particular bun recipe. You can really see how it’s my most-used bun recipe at this point. Scroll through and get some ideas for your next sandwich.
Since this is supposed to be replicating a fast food sandwich, I wanted to make sure these buns looked like they were fresh out of the package. I think it’s important to flatten the shaped dough portions, and to me, it also helps visually to let the buns rise together, slightly touching each other.
Those edges of the buns that are touching don’t brown as much as the tops, and they have a less-than-perfect appearance, which, in my opinion, makes them look like they’re not homemade. For some of you reading, this might not be something you care about, but since I video and take photos of sandwiches, it’s something that’s on my mind when I’m baking.
Each bun gets painted with melted butter, which adds flavor to the exterior and also softens the crust. The buns don’t stay shiny, though. The butter dries on the outside of the buns and leaves them with a softened appearance.
I took a whole lot of photos of buns this week. Keep scrolling to get the recipe and make some for yourself.
Here’s my soft potato bun recipe, or you can just buy your favorite soft, white bread burger buns and build your Bell Beefer from there.
Super soft potato buns v2
Here's my updated, soft and squishy bun recipe that's perfect for your next burger night. This updated version that uses potato flour and dry milk powder for a lighter bun with longer shelf life.
Get RecipeTex-Mex seasoned ground beef
This is a pretty simple sandwich with the most important component being the ground beef. The thing we need to focus on for this Bell Beefer copycat is attempting to recreate some of the seasonings and cooking techniques to produce something similar to Taco Bell-style ground beef.
You can make a great version of a Bell Beefer without worrying about any of this, but if you want to be precise, we need to have flavorful beef that has been cooked until it’s almost a meat paste. Taco Bell is likely cooking its beef in extremely large quantities in a factory setting somewhere, and it has a different set of challenges than we have in our kitchens.
I used my own recipe for the seasoning blend in these tacos that I’ve been using for years, but if you want to read more about how Taco Bell might be making their ground beef tacos, my friend Dennis wrote about copycat Taco Bell ground beef for the Takeout earlier this year.
Ground beef seasonings
Taco Bell beef ingredient list: Beef, water, seasoning [cellulose, chili pepper, maltodextrin, salt, oats, soy lecithin, spices, tomato powder, sugar, onion powder, citric acid, natural flavors (including smoke flavor), torula yeast, cocoa, disodium inosinate & guanylate, dextrose, lactic acid, modified corn starch], salt, sodium phosphates. Contains: Soy
If we study that ingredient list for the Taco Bell seasoned beef, you will see some things that will help us form our recipe. The first thing that pops into my mind is the citric acid. I have some in my pantry that I bought for some experiment a couple of years ago, but many of you reading this will not own any, and I don’t think it’s necessary. You can replicate the slight zip of tartness by simply using a little bit of fresh lime juice. I’m sure for Taco Bell, the lime juice is probably very expensive at the scale that they need it, so citric acid is probably a compromise. I tried using both citric acid and lime juice, and they both help add some depth to the flavor of the meat, but I think lime juice works just as well.
Another standout ingredient for me is torula yeast. Why are they putting yeast in ground beef? Torula yeast is a type of yeast that is well known for adding umami to food. This is Taco Bell’s attempt to add extra meatiness and savoriness to its ground beef. You can try to source some torula yeast (go ask at your local paper mill, since it’s a byproduct of that industry), or you can just buy some MSG, which is what I did to replicate the extra umami punch in the meat.
Mashing the meat?
Taco Bell’s ground beef is very broken up, and attempting to copycat that is all about achieving the proper texture. You will not find any large or even what might be considered medium-sized granules of beef in their tacos. I do not know for sure, but I think they are possibly achieving this by cooking the meat in broth or liquid for longer than you might think, which breaks the meat down thoroughly. They can do this a bit easier than we can because they are cooking such a massive amount at once. We’re stuck making 1 to 2 pounds, so we have to look for other methods.
There are utensils out there called meat choppers that people seem to be big fans of for breaking up ground beef. I do not think this is a necessary tool in the case of creating fine granules of ground beef. I prefer to use a potato masher to mash the meat into submission. Mashing the meat while it cooks breaks the meat down into tiny pieces that are much more akin to what you might find in fast-food-style ground beef tacos.
Border sauce?
It was mentioned in marketing materials that the original Bell Beefer, and/or its predecessor, the BellBurger, contained Taco Bell border sauce. If you’ve only eaten at Taco Bell in the 21st Century, you might not have ever seen the name border sauce mentioned before, but it’s just what they call their lineup of hot sauces.
Some diligent person has created a pretty nice website that focuses on condiment packets. They have a whole section for Taco Bell hot sauces or border sauces. Using that resource, you can see that between 1997 and sometime after 2003, they actually had border sauce listed on each hot sauce packet. They eventually removed that text, but I believe internally, Taco Bell still uses the phrase border sauce.
Basically, if you’re making a Bell Beefer, you should use some hot sauce to make it more authentic, but honestly, that’s all up to your personal taste and preference.
Everything else
Since we’re making all of my tacos and Bell Beefers supreme-style, we need four additional ingredients to add to the seasoned ground beef.
These are variable ingredients in my opinion, and they’re the things that you’d put in small bowls arranged for your guests or family to use when they come over for Tex-Mex taco night. But to truly make your Bell Beefer or soft tacos supreme, you need all four of these ingredients: shredded iceberg lettuce, diced tomato, shredded cheddar cheese, and sour cream.
Ground beef soft tacos
Since I was making Bell Beefers, and I had all the necessary ingredients on hand, I also made some Taco Bell-style tacos and created a simple recipe for those. Once you have the ground beef, you’re 90% of the way to a good Taco Bell-style taco.
And if you want truly authentic Taco Bell-like soft tacos, make sure you wrap them up in parchment for a couple of minutes just prior to eating.
Below is my recipe that you should use on your next taco night. The beef is easy to make, and you can even substitute ground turkey in the same recipe if you want. Just make sure you have a potato masher or sturdy spoon that you can use to get the meat to the right texture and consistency.
Let me know if you try the recipe. It’s an easy one. The copycat Bell Beefer photos and recipe
Supreme ground beef soft tacos
Sometimes all you need are simple, flavorful ground beef soft tacos. This recipe is meant to create a similar experience to what you might get at Taco Bell, but in the comfort of your own kitchen.
Get RecipeBell Beefer photos and recipe
Here are a few photos I took of the Bell Beefers I made while testing these recipes. Keep scrolling if you want the full recipe. Make sure to hit the grocery and pick up some Taco Bell fire sauce first.
Bell beefer sandwich (Taco Bell copycat)
This taco-focused sandwich experience attempts to recreate the now-discontinued Bell Beefer that was available at Taco Bell until it was removed from the menu in the mid-1990s.
Ingredients:
Seasoned ground beef- 1 pound ground beef (90/10 or 80/20 will both work)
- 1 tablespoon chili powder
- 1 teaspoon cumin
- 1 teaspoon smoked paprika (or regular paprika)
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 teaspoon onion powder
- 1⁄2 teaspoon salt
- 1⁄2 teaspoon ground black pepper
- 1⁄2 teaspoon MSG (optional but important)
- 1⁄8 teaspoon cayenne pepper powder
- 1 tablespoon tomato paste
- 2 teaspoons all-purpose flour (or masa harina)
- 1 teaspoon lime juice (or 1/8 teaspoon citric acid)
- 1 cup beef broth (or water)
- soft burger bun
- seasoned ground beef (from above)
- shredded cheddar cheese
- shredded iceberg lettuce
- diced tomato
- sour cream
Directions:
Seasoned ground beef: in a large skillet over medium heat, add the ground beef and cook for about 5 minutes, breaking up the meat a bit with your spatula as it cooks.
After about 5 minutes, it's time to add all of your powdered seasonings. This includes the chili powder, cumin, paprika, garlic powder, onion powder, salt, pepper, MSG, and cayenne pepper powder. Stir everything together while it's cooking until it's all mixed well.
Clear a spot in the middle of the pan and add the tomato paste. Cook, stirring the paste a little for at least one minute to let the paste sear a little. Then mix it in with everything else. Clear another spot in the middle of the pan and do the exact same thing with the flour (or masa). Allow the flour to cook for about 1 minute before you stir it in with the rest of the beef.
Squeeze in the lime juice and then add half of the broth. Reduce the heat to allow everything to simmer and cook for at least 10 to 15 minutes. Using a potato masher or the back side of a wooden spoon, start mashing the meat to break up the pieces of ground beef into smaller and smaller pieces while it cooks.
If the ground beef starts looking dry and the liquid has evaporated, add the rest of the broth to keep things somewhat moist.
After the meat has cooked thoroughly and the granules of the beef are broken down into tiny pieces, remove the meat to a bowl and get ready to make tacos.
Sandwich assembly: toast your bun lightly if desired.
Add a couple of spoonfuls of the ground beef to the bottom of the bun and top that with a bit of shredded cheddar. Add as much shredded lettuce, diced tomato, and sour cream as you desire. Serve and enjoy.
Check back next week
Next week we’re making long chicken sandwiches. How long, you might ask? Well, not super long, just about 6 inches, but size doesn’t matter. It’s the amount of seasonings and other ingredients that might be added. That’s what’s important. Check back next week or subscribe for free to get sandwiches in your inbox.
