When feeding a crowd, which I tend to do a lot more this time of year, I have found that the more hands-on the eater is, the easier it is for the cook. What I mean by that is that the less that you have to plate up and serve, the better.
I have done lots of different types of food “bars” in the past, including a potato bar, salad bar, hamburger bar and a pizza bar (nightmare), but the taco bar is the crowd favorite. Not only does everyone love a taco, but you can make it all ahead of time and be able to sit down with your guests and eat instead of plating up food all night.
Recently, I was feeding a large crowd, so I cooked 18 pounds of meat. You read that right. I bought three of the six pounders of ground beef at Costco. I knew that would be a lot, but here’s why I didn’t worry: taco meat freezes incredibly well. So if I had lots left over, I would just freeze it.
I kept the taco bar simple here. You can use two or three types of meat, but I just served ground beef.
Elements of the taco bar:
- Taco Meat
- Charro Beans
- Mexican Rice
- Hard and soft shell tortillas
- Toppings
- Thinly sliced iceberg lettuce
- Sliced tomato
- Sliced white onion
- Cilantro
- Guacamole
- Salsa
- Sour Cream
- Cheese, cheese and more cheese
- Jalapenos (I used “tamed” pickled jalapenos for this crowd. For an adult crowd or crowd from Texas, slice up the fresh ones.)
Curated from The Easiest Way to Feed a Crowd: A Taco Bar
A taco bar is a great idea for any party and if you have the time and resources doing all the work yourself is always an option. Most of the time we find setting up a taco bar is a lot more work than we expected that’s why I’d suggest heading over to our taco cart caterers directory and find a taco bar expert in your area.
