Sometimes an Aldi Find really catches my eye. Generally, anything involving tacos, Tex Mex, or Mexican food is worth trying, so when I spotted beef and chicken taco cups at Aldi a few weeks ago, I picked up a box of each.
Casa Mamita Taco Cups cost $4.99 at the time of publication for a 7.2-oz. box containing 12 cups.
The taco cups are an Aldi Find (Special Buy), which means they’re only in stores for a short time. Aldi does not offer online ordering for its specials, so once they sell out at your local store, they’re gone.
Heating instructions are straightforward. Preheat your oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit. Remove the taco cups from their plastic packaging and place them on a parchment-lined baking sheet about 1/2 inch apart. Bake for 10-12 minutes. Let stand a few minutes before serving.
I baked my taco cups without parchment paper, and they were fine, but it did take a little careful scraping to remove them from the baking sheet.
These are a processed, frozen, quick meal, but they have a decent amount of whole, easily recognizable ingredients such as tortillas, cheese, peppers, onion, black beans, garlic, and lime juice concentrate in addition to beef or chicken.
If you’re looking out for allergens, both flavors contain milk, wheat, and egg.
These taco cups are tiny, and each one can be eaten in about two to four bites.
They are advertised as crunchy, and I wasn’t sure if they would be appropriate for someone in my family who wears braces, but they were less crunchy than I thought they might be after 12 minutes of baking in the oven and are okay for braces. Crunch-wise, they might be closer to a crisp grilled quesadilla than a hard-shell taco, with crispy edges and a softer middle.
My family liked both the chicken and beef taco cups when I made them for lunch recently. Keep reading for a closer look at each variety.
Casa Mamita Chicken Taco Cups
The box describes these as “crunchy taco cups with chicken & peppers in a zesty creamy filling garnished with pepper jack cheese.”
These chicken taco cups have a lot of flavor, with the meat, peppers, lime juice, and spices really coming through.
One five-piece serving has 200 calories, 10 grams of total fat (13% DV), 5 grams of saturated fat (25% DV), 520 mg of sodium (23% DV), 17 grams of total carbohydrates (6% DV), 2 grams of total sugars, 0 grams of added sugars, and 11 grams of protein.
Casa Mamita Beef Taco Cups
The box describes these as “crunchy taco cups filled with seasoned tender beef and black beans topped with pepper jack cheese.”
The beef taco cups taste primarily of beef, not surprisingly, and while they do have a lot of the same seasonings as the chicken taco cups, those flavors aren’t as strong. Also, if you or someone in your house doesn’t care for peppers, the beef taco cups don’t have large chunks of peppers like the chicken taco cups do.
One five-piece serving has 240 calories, 13 grams of total fat (17% DV), 6 grams of saturated fat (30% DV), 460 mg of sodium (20% DV), 18 grams of total carbohydrates (7% DV), 1 gram of total sugars, 0 grams of added sugars, and 13 grams of protein.
The Verdict:
Casa Mamita Taco Cups are filled with either beef or chicken along with cheese, peppers, and various seasonings. They are flavorful and lightly crunchy, and their small size makes them ideal for an easy lunch or as appetizers for a party.
I recently purchased a box of the Casa Mamita chicken taco cups at our local Aldis. They were absolutely delicious! I hurried back two days later to stock up and found one box left. I asked an associate if there were more in the back,he told me if all were gone then that would be it. The nice man helped me look and the two of us couldn’t find any. I couldn’t accept that there were no more. And wouldn’t you know it, stacked in the back were the beef cups. The chicken cups are our favored. While we liked both, the beef didn’t deliver on flavor like the chicken cups did. I wish I’d stocked up on the chicken when I first found them sigh…
Best Regards