Bottom Up Iron

Skillet recipe / 8–10 tacos

Bold Sausage Tacos

Browned pork sausage, tomatoes with green chiles, and melted Oaxaca cheese tucked into flour tortillas and crisped in a skillet.

Before you start

PanLarge skillet
Makes8–10 tacos
CookingAbout 25 min

Cook the tomatoes until the water is gone, then let the spices toast briefly in the sausage fat. The filling should be glossy and concentrated before it goes into the tortillas.

Jump to recipe
Four folded, golden-browned sausage and Oaxaca cheese tacos on a wooden cutting board
Flour tortillas browned in the skillet after filling with sausage, tomatoes and Oaxaca cheese.

Ingredients

  • 1 lb regular pork sausage
  • 1 can (10 oz) diced tomatoes with green chiles, well drained; reserve the juice
  • 8 oz shredded Oaxaca cheese
  • 8–10 flour tortillas
  • 1½ tsp chili powder
  • ½ tsp ground cumin
  • ½ tsp smoked paprika
  • ¼ tsp garlic powder
  • ¼ tsp onion powder
  • ¼ tsp black pepper
  • ½ tsp Adobo seasoning
  • ½ tsp beef bouillon powder
  • 1 tsp Worcestershire sauce
  • 1–2 Tbsp reserved tomato-chile juice
  • Oil or bacon grease only if the skillet is dry

Method

  1. Drain hard. Drain the tomatoes very well, pressing out excess liquid. Reserve a little juice for later.
  2. Brown the sausage. Cook over medium-high heat for 8–10 minutes, breaking it into small crumbles. Let the edges brown. Pork sausage must reach 160°F.
  3. Concentrate the tomato. Move the sausage to a bowl. Leave about 1 Tbsp fat in the skillet. Add the drained tomatoes and cook 3–4 minutes, stirring, until thick and no longer watery.
  4. Bloom the taco layer. Push the tomatoes aside. Add chili powder, cumin, smoked paprika, garlic powder, onion powder, and black pepper to the fat. Stir 20–30 seconds, just until fragrant.
  5. Build the umami. Return the sausage. Stir in Adobo, beef bouillon, Worcestershire, and 1 Tbsp reserved juice. Cook 2–3 minutes until glossy and concentrated. Add the second tablespoon of juice only if the mixture needs loosening.
  6. Fill. Place a thin layer of Oaxaca on half of each tortilla, add sausage filling, then a little more cheese. Fold closed.
  7. Crisp. Cook tacos in a lightly greased skillet over medium heat for 2–3 minutes per side. Cover for 30 seconds if needed to finish melting the cheese. Rest 1 minute before serving.

Cooking notes

Don't leave water in the tomatoes

Draining first and cooking the tomatoes until thick helps keep the filling concentrated instead of soaking the tortillas.

Build flavor in the skillet

Warm the dry spices briefly in the sausage fat until fragrant. Stir in the Adobo, bouillon and Worcestershire after returning the sausage, then add reserved tomato-chile juice only as needed to loosen the filling.

Salt comes last

Taste before adding any salt. Sausage, Adobo, bouillon, Worcestershire and Oaxaca cheese already bring plenty.

Serve it with

Hot sauce, sour cream, lime, or a garlicky yogurt sauce.

Learn the techniques

Want to understand the method behind this dish? These Lab Notes explain the key steps without changing the recipe:

Browse all Cooking Techniques

In the skillet

Sausage filling and shredded Oaxaca cheese on one half of an open flour tortilla in a skillet
Cheese, filling, then more cheese before folding.
Folded skillet-crisped sausage tacos on a cutting board with melted Oaxaca cheese showing between the tortillas
The tortillas should have brown spots and the cheese should be melted.
After cooking

Let the skillet cool safely, then follow the bare cast-iron cleaning guide.

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