Skip to Content

Taco Bowls – Keto Recipe

Share this post

If you’re in the mood for tacos, put a low-carb spin on it with these keto taco bowls. Cauliflower rice takes the place of your traditional carb-laden rice, and a homemade seasoning blend means fewer carbs in the taco meat. You’ll then load up your bowl with lettuce, tomato, cheddar, and guacamole. The result? A crazy filling, nutrient-packed dish with just 7.5 grams of net carbs!

Taco Bowls top view

HOW TO MAKE KETO TACO BOWLS

There are three steps to making these keto taco bowls: making the cauliflower rice, making the taco meat, and assembling the bowls. It sounds like a lot, but I generally like to prep everything for the first two steps and then cook them at the same time – so it comes together really quickly.

STEP 1: MAKE CAULIFLOWER RICE.

If you’ve never made cauli rice before, you’ll be amazed at how easy it is! You only need two ingredients:

  • Cauliflower
  • Olive oil

You’ll roughly chop up your cauliflower and then toss it into a food processor. Pulse it a few times until it starts to look like grains of rice. Here’s an example:

Taco Bowls top shot

Now, you’ll heat the olive oil in a skillet, toss your cauliflower rice in, and cook it for about 4-5 minutes until it starts getting tender. That’s it! When it’s done you can just set it aside until you’re ready to assemble your taco bowls.

Taco Bowls top shot

STEP 2: MAKE THE TACO MEAT.

Next up is prepping the taco meat itself. You’ll first create a taco seasoning blend with these spices:

  • Chili powder
  • Cumin
  • Paprika
  • Garlic powder
  • Onion powder
  • Salt
  • Cayenne (optional depending on spice preference)

Once you mix up those spices, you’ll brown your ground beef and then mix it up with your spice blend.

So far, so good, right?!

Taco Bowls top shot

STEP 3: ASSEMBLE YOUR TACO BOWLS

Now that the cauliflower rice and taco meat are done, you’re on to the last step – assembling the bowls! For this, you’ll just divide the cauli rice and taco meat evenly among four servings. Then you’ll add the rest of the ingredients:

  • Lettuce
  • Cherry tomatoes
  • Guacamole
  • Cheddar cheese

Now grab a fork and dig in!

Taco Bowls close up view

KETO TACO BOWL NUTRITION INFORMATION

Each serving of these keto taco bowls contains 32 grams of fat and just 7.5 grams of net carbs.

The macronutrient breakdown for this bowl is as follows:

  • 58% fat
  • 32% protein
  • 10% carbohydrate

While this meal clocks out to be a bit higher in protein and carbs than some other low carb meals, it still definitely fits into a keto diet – and is actually packed with nutrients.

According to Christine (the nutritionist wife who calculates out all this stuff for you guys!), you’re getting more than 25% of your daily needs for 13 different vitamins and minerals in this bowl! That includes Vitamin A, Vitamin C, iron, calcium, potassium, folate, and more.

Taco Bowls top shot

FAQs

Can You Leave Out The Cauliflower Rice To Reduce The Total Carbs?

Yes! You can choose to leave the cauliflower rice out of this keto taco bowl. This would be a good option if you’re extremely sensitive to carbohydrate intake.

If you skip the cauliflower rice, I recommend adding cup of lettuce to each bowl and making it more of a taco salad-style dish. In this case, you will reduce the total carbs to just 9 grams and the net carbs to just 5 grams. If you can tolerate the slightly higher carb intake though, the cauliflower rice does bulk up the meal a bit and make it feel more like a traditional taco or burrito bowl.

Why Use Homemade Taco Seasoning?

For the most part, you’ll want to avoid using taco seasoning packets from the grocery store. Many include a starch like a potato starch or maltodextrin which helps thicken everything up to create that saucy taco meat.

Unfortunately, this adds quite a few carbs – typically 4-6 grams of carbohydrate for a quarter of the seasoning packet (i.e. the amount that would be on a quarter of the meat mixture). That’s before you add any other ingredients to the recipe, so it’s often going to push you over your goal for net carbs.

Instead, I recommend using your own taco seasoning blend with regular spices – like I’ve done in this recipe – for low carb taco meat. You’ll get all the essential flavor elements; it simply won’t have that saucy coating or extra carbs.

Are There Other Ingredients You Can Add In Or Modify?

Sure! You can also add chopped jalapenos or chopped cilantro for extra flavor. You can substitute the cherry tomatoes for a fresh pico de gallo, or you can sub out the guacamole for just regular chopped avocado. You can also substitute seasoned chicken for the ground beef, or you could make pulled pork to go in these bowls instead.

Do You Use Homemade Guacamole Or Store Bought?

Our homemade guac is extremely simple – just mashed avocado and lime – so that’s what we’ll typically use. That said, if it goes on sale, we do like buying store-bought guacamole which doesn’t have any weird ingredients and works well on a keto diet (for example, Wholly Guacamole or Sabra guacamole). That’s what we had on hand the day we photographed these meals!

Alright, I hope you enjoy these tasty low carb taco bowls! If you get a chance to make them, please feel free to leave a recipe rating or a comment.

PS – Looking for more keto meals made with ground beef? Be sure to also check out our tasty keto chili or our keto taco pie! However, if you are looking for meat-free keto meal alterative then you should look no further that our keto tofu post. Keto-Friendly Tofu Facts and Nutritional Information.

Taco Bowls top shot

Keto Taco Bowl

No ratings yet
Prep Time 15 minutes
Cook Time 15 minutes
Total Time 30 minutes
Servings 6
Calories 321 kcal

Ingredients
  

  • 4 cups raw cauliflower roughly chopped
  • 1 tbsp olive oil
  • 1 tsp chili powder
  • 1/2 tsp cumin
  • 1/4 tsp paprika
  • 1/4 tsp garlic powder
  • 1/4 tsp onion powder
  • 1/4 tsp salt
  • 1/8 tsp cayenne
  • 1 pound ground beef
  • 20 cherry tomatoes halved
  • 2 cups lettuce chopped
  • 1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
  • 4 tbsp guacamole

Instructions
 

  • Place the four cups of cauliflower into a food processor and pulse a few times, until it resembles grains of rice. Heat the olive oil in a skillet over medium heat. Add the cauliflower rice and cook for about 4-5 minutes, until tender. While this is cooking, you can start preparing the beef.
  • Mix the chili powder, cumin, paprika, garlic powder, onion powder, salt, and cayenne in a small bowl. Place ground beef in a large nonstick skillet over medium heat. Cook, stirring and breaking the meat apart every few minutes, until beef is browned. If needed, drain off excess fat (leave a little as it will help the spices blend with the meat). Mix in the spice blend and cook for another 1-2 minutes, until mixed thoroughly.
  • Divide the cauliflower rice and beef evenly between four bowls. Add 5 halved cherry tomatoes, 1/2 cup lettuce, 1/4 cup cheddar cheese, and 1 tbsp guacamole to each bowl (this will total the amounts in the ingredients above across all four bowls). Enjoy!

Nutrition

Calories: 321kcalCarbohydrates: 8gProtein: 20gFat: 24gSaturated Fat: 10gPolyunsaturated Fat: 1gMonounsaturated Fat: 9gTrans Fat: 1gCholesterol: 73mgSodium: 244mgPotassium: 644mgFiber: 3gSugar: 3gVitamin A: 766IUVitamin C: 47mgCalcium: 178mgIron: 3mg
Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!
Recipe Rating