You will love these soft and fluffy Indian Fry Bread (Navajo Tacos) topped with seasoned beef, beans, and all your favorite taco-style toppings. Make this for a fun and easy dinner your family will love!
What is Indian Fry Bread?
Authentic Fry Bread is a tradition in the Western United States. Our favorite way to serve is Navajo Tacos or you can sweeten it up served with a little honey butter and powdered sugar.
Navajo Tacos
Everyone loves tacos! We all enjoy them so much, it feels like we could probably eat tacos every day. So with our shared love of tacos in mind, we made these Soft and Fluffy Fry Bread Navajo Tacos piled high with meat, beans, lettuce, tomatoes, sour cream, and cheese on top of puffy, soft, super yummy homemade fry bread. It is so good! Don’t let the handful of simple ingredients fool you into thinking this is a boring recipe. These are absolutely delicious and loved by kids and adults!
Do be sure to also check out more great taco inspired recipes we have for you, like Slow Cooker Queso Chicken Tacos, Easy Taco Ring, Walking Tacos in a Jar, and Doritos Taco Salad.
Ingredients For Indian Fry Bread Tacos
Here’s what you’ll need to make Soft and Fluffy Fry Bread Tacos (the exact measurements and full recipe instructions are below in the printable recipe card):
- Flour – all-purpose flour is what we used to make the fry bread.
- Salt
- Baking powder – the baking powder helps the fry bread puff up while it fries.
- Water – use warm water when making the fry bread dough. This can just be warm water from the tap.
- Pinto beans – we used two cans of pinto beans. Drain off the canning liquid and rinse them well.
- Olive oil
- Chopped Green chiles – a 4 ounce can of chopped green chiles adds great flavor to the beans!
- Seasonings – Cumin, black pepper and onion powder.
- Ground beef – use a lean ground beef for the taco topping. You can also substitute with ground turkey.
- Taco seasoning – you can use pre-made or homemade taco seasoning. Find the best homemade taco seasoning here.
- Vegetable oil – you will need plenty of vegetable oil for frying the fry bread. The oil will need to be 2 inches deep in your frying pot.
- Taco toppings of your choice
How to Make Fry Bread Tacos
The beans are. very simple to make. Just combine the olive oil, beans, seasonings, and chopped green chiles. Mix this all together, cover, and cook on low heat for 10 minutes.
Crumble the ground beef into a skillet and cook over medium heat until the beef is fully browned. Drain off the fat, then add the taco seasoning and water. Simmer on low for about 5 minutes, stirring often.
How To Make Fried Bread
Whisk together the dry ingredients for the fry bread. Add warm water and stir well. Cover the bowl with a clean kitchen towel and allow it to rest for at least 5 minutes.
Pour vegetable oil into a large, heavy pot. The oil should be about 2 inches deep. Heat over medium0high heat until the oil reaches 350ºF.
Cut the dough into four equal pieces. On a well floured surface, press one of the pieces of dough into a circle, about 1/2 inch thick.
Deep fry the dough at 350ºF until golden brown on both sides. Remove from the oil and drain on a wire cooling rack. Repeat this process with the remaining three pieces of dough.
Top the fry bread with the beef, beans, and other toppings. Serve hot.
Topping Ideas
In addition to the beef and beans, here are some topping ideas:
- Sour cream
- Shredded cheese
- Chopped tomatoes
- Shredded lettuce
- Salsa
- Chopped onions
- Diced avocado
More Bread Recipes
Indian Fry Bread Tacos
Ingredients
Fry Bread
- 2 cups all-purpose flour plus additional for rolling
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 tablespoon baking powder
- 1 cup warm water
- vegetable oil for frying
Toppings
- 2 15 ounce cans pinto beans drained and rinsed
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 4 ounce can green chiles
- 1/2 teaspoon cumin
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 teaspoon black or white pepper
- 1/4 teaspoon onion powder
- 1 pound lean ground beef
- 2 tablespoons taco seasoning
- 1/4 cup warm water
- taco style toppings of choice
Instructions
- In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the dry ingredients for the fry bread. Add the warm water and mix until combined. Cover the bowl with a clean kitchen towel and set aside.
- While the dough is resting, prepare the toppings. In a large pot, heat the olive oil over low heat. Add the pinto beans, green chiles, cumin, salt, pepper, and onion powder; stir well. Cover the pot and allow the beans to cook on low heat for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.
- Heat a large skillet over medium heat. Crumble the ground beef into the skillet and cook until completely browned. Drain off the fat. Reduce the heat to low and add the taco seasoning and 1/4 cup of water. Simmer for about 5 minutes, stirring often.
- In a large, heavy pot, heat 2 inches of vegetable oil over medium-high heat until it reaches 350F degrees. Tip: a deep fryer is a great alternative to frying in a pot on the stove.
- On a floured surface, divide the dough into 4 equal pieces. Gently press one piece out into a circle, about 1/2 inch thick. Use a heat safe spatula to gently lower the dough round into the hot oil. Fry on each side at 350F until golden brown. Important: please use caution when deep frying. Avoid oil splashes by using two heat safe spatulas or tongs to slowly and carefully turn the fry bread over in the oil.
- Remove the fry bread from the oil and drain on a wire cooling rack. Repeat the frying process with the remaining 3 pieces of dough.
- Top the warm fry bread with the seasoned beef and beans, plus additional toppings of your choice. Serve immediately.
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5 comments on “Indian Fry Bread (Navajo Tacos)”
We had a large crowd for a birthday party taco bar. I purchased Rhodes white frozen bread dough. Thawed it, let it rise, cut off 2″ thick slices, floured my parchment paper, I add sugar and kneaded briefly, rolled em out, and deep fried them, topped them with taco ingredients. Amazing flavor!!! Everyone skipped the hard and soft shells and dug in.
have you tried this in the air fryer?
I used to make these years ago and they are so good
For authentic fry bread I would add either butter lard or veg oil to the dough. Leave out the taco seasoning and add garlick powder or garlick salt etc… leave all the can stuff out and make a fresh pot of beans and add real green or red Chile. Not knocking the recipe just adding my opinion fresh is always better.
This looks delicious. Going to store to get some ingredients & try it today