If you love Chalupas from Taco Bell, you will love this Homemade Mexican Chalupas recipe!
Learn to make Homemade Chalupas by making this crisp and soft dough from scratch.
When I was younger I worked at a few fast food places. The first place I worked was at McDonald’s. I remember when I aced the interview and was hired on the spot! To me, that was one step closer to financial freedom. I also worked for Subway and Taco Bell. Although there are a lot of negative feelings associated with working in fast food, when you are a teenager the one perk you look forward to when working at a fast-food restaurant is the free meal you get during your shift. When working at all three of those restaurants, I tried just about everything on the menus that I could.
I had my favorites at all three, but at Taco Bell I loved Chalupas!
All you need is
- Flour
- Milk
- Salt
- Shortening
- Baking powder
How to make the dough to chalupas
Mix all of those ingredients into a ball of dough and you have the basis for the chalupa bread. Of course, you divide the dough and fry it as you normally would. You will then fill the chalupa bread with your favorite taco fillings such as ground beef, chicken, or steak and lettuce, cheese, tomatoes, and sour cream! You can fill the chalupas with whatever you want. This Homemade Mexican Chalupas recipe allows you to be as versatile as you want. You can fry the chalupa bread and set out different toppings and let everyone serve themselves.
I watched this video to learn how to make chalupa bread and this one. They both were helpful.
- 2 ¼ c. flour
- 1 tbsp. Baking powder
- ½ tsp. Salt
- 1 oz. shortening
- 1 c. milk
- Canola oil, for frying
- 1 lb. ground beef, cooked
- Sharp cheddar cheese
- Lettuce
- Diced tomatoes
- Sour cream
- Taco sauce
- Heat the oil in a heavy duty shallow skillet such as a cast iron skillet.
- In a large mixing bowl, add the flour, baking powder, salt, and shortening. Use a fork to mix the ingredients together. Pour the milk into the dry ingredients. Use a wooden spoon to mix ingredients in with the milk to form a ball of dough.
- Turn dough onto a floured surface and roll until smooth. Mold the dough into a loaf about 8 inches. Divide the dough in half, then into fourths. See the picture above. Roll each individual section into a ball and roll out the small ball of dough into a round circle about 4-5 inches wide.
- Use tong and carefully dip half of the chalupa dough into the hot oil. Once that half of the dough has begun to fry up but not quite brown, flip the chalupa bread with the other half of the dough frying in the oil. This is if you want to try to have the chalupas have the dip on the bottom for your fillings. If it doesn’t matter to you, just fry on both sides for 2 minutes until golden brown and remove from oil onto cooling rack lined with paper towels.
- Fill your chalupas with beef, lettuce, cheese, tomatoes, and a dollop of sour cream. Top with taco sauce if desired.
This sounds very good, I started to go to the kitchen when my wife gave birth to her first child, indeed the first time was very difficult to get to know, I wandered on blogs, read about recipes, I knew about blogs Your also from here. I find inspiration with what you share
eatfrysmith recently posted…Best Pellet Grill Under 500
Thank you!
It physically won’t let me give 5 stars but this deserves it. I have been making this nonstop for 3 days making mini tacos. Even made a desert this this bread some sweetened cream cheese and raspberry sauce and it was AMAZING. SOO GOOD
Thank you so much Tiffany. I’m glad you like it!
Just bought everything to make you wonderful Chalupas can’t wait!! Thanks
adams@nationalrestaurantny recently posted…Traeger vs. Camp Chef Reviews [2019]
Great! I hope you liked them!
Can you store half this dough for the next day to make again or do you need to cook it right away?
Hello Kely,
I don’t see why not. I think it would be fine.
Can this dough be made a day ahead?
I think it will be fine if you did that.
Hi so I made mine and it is hard..It won’t fold..Did I do something wrong?Its not as thick as the pictures chalupa..Yours seems like it’s breadish like mine seems like a crispy hard round plate.It taste yummy..
Without seeing your steps it’s hard for me to say As far as it is too hard, I would think its because you may have fried it too long. That’s all I could think of.
Do you know what we could substitute for shorting?
what can I substitute shorting with if I don’t have any?
I’m not sure Jessica but may ask Google?
Use lard. It’s the best to make masa for tamales and is great to make your dough for chalupas!
Lard
Can I use Veg shortening or butter Crisco?
I think you will be fine.
It says 1oz of shortening how many cups is that cause I have a big container
That should be about 1-2 tablespoons.
Homemade Mexican Chalupas Recipe is great! To be honest, I’m not good at cooking but I like them, they give me joy and excitement every time I finish the dishes, which is a great thing. With your recipe, I just need to follow the instructions and the rest is simple, Thanks for sharing.
Williams Chris recently posted…Top 5 Best Asphalt Driveway Sealer Consumer Reports for 2019
You are very welcome William!
Chalupas are my favorite thing to eat at taco bell and I have been looking for a recipe I’m so glad I found you can’t wait to try them. Thanks they look delicious
Let me know how they come out!
They were SO good!
Look yummy! One of my favorite Chalupas, nice to see your recipe, easy to follow, will cook this for family this weekend. Thanks you!
Thank you Thomas!
Nicole, I made your chalupas last night for dinner!! They were very easy to make, the recipe was so easy to follow👍🏼They were absolutely delicious!! Light and Crispy on the outside yet chewy on the inside❤️Amy husband and I absolutely loved them, a lot of happy tummy sighs during dinner!! I won’t be able to eat Taco Bell’s chalupas again!! Thanks for sharing your recipe, I’ll be making these a lot not only for us but for family n friends!!I tried to give you 5 stars but it would only allow me to do 4🤷🏼♀️
Thank you Brenda!!!!!!
What type of flour? All purpose?
All-purpose
Can you substitute butter for shortening?
I don’t see why not.
I’ve made these like 4 times in the past month. They are yummy and a family favorite.
They are super addictive! Glad you like them!
My husband said now does she have a recipe for the Baja sauce ;). Trying this out tomorrow for taco Tuesday.
Great!
Made this for dinner tonight and we loved it!! Delicious!!
Awesome!
can these be baked?
Yes. I would brush them with olive oil and then bake them so they still come out crispy.
You can make this with self rising flour. Just use a 1 to 2 formula. 2 cups flour to 1 cup milk. Stir together. If too thin add small amounts of flour to thicken it up until it easily stirs into a sticky ball.Place on floured surface. Fold over each side (knead) on floured surface. Let rest about 2 to 5 minutes. Divide into equal pieces. Roll pieces into circles and quickly deep fry. This easier recipe will make the above chalupa shells. You also can add sugar to the mix and fry it up then season as you desire for elephant ears. You can top it with Mexican inspired ingredients or eat with jams or jellies. You can literally make it with 2 tblsp self rising flour and 1 tblsp milk if you just want to make one.
Thank you!
Can you provide the exact recipe we need to mix in a bowl and how many it would make ?
I see ingredients but how many does this make?
Thank you !!
This makes 8.
I love the Chalupas at Taco Bell!!! I am definitely going to try this recipe. Thanks for sharing it!