Indian taco
An Indian taco, originally called a Navajo taco, is a Native American dish in which a round of hot frybread takes the place of the tortilla and is heaped with beans or seasoned ground meat, lettuce, tomato, cheese and often green chile. It is a fixture of powwows, fairs and festivals across the Southwest and the Plains.
History
The Indian taco is built on frybread, whose origin is tied to one of the darkest episodes in Navajo history. Beginning in the 1860s the US Army, under Kit Carson, burned Navajo fields and forced thousands of Navajo on the Long Walk to the Bosque Redondo internment camp near Fort Sumner, New Mexico. Food there was scarce and the people were issued government rations of white flour, lard, sugar, salt and baking powder, often of poor quality and without instruction. Over the years of captivity those rations were turned into fried dough, and the bread later spread to other tribes through intertribal powwows. Its history has been passed down mostly through oral tradition.
Using frybread as the base for taco toppings gave rise to the Navajo taco, which other tribes adopted under the broader name Indian taco. The Arizona Republic's readers voted the Navajo taco Arizona's state dish in a 1995 poll, and in 2005 South Dakota named frybread its official state bread. In Oklahoma, where frybread tacos became a staple, Pawhuska hosts the National Indian Taco Championship each autumn.
Frybread carries complicated meanings. For some families it is a cherished tradition, while others see it as a symbol of forced removal and of the diet-related health problems that followed.
Preparation
Frybread dough is a simple mix of flour, salt, baking powder and water, sometimes with powdered milk, which is mixed lightly, patted or stretched into thin rounds and fried in lard or oil until puffed and golden. Many Navajo cooks swear by Bluebird Flour, milled in Cortez, Colorado, and fry by instinct rather than by recipe. For an Indian taco the warm bread is topped with beans or ground beef, shredded lettuce, tomato, cheddar cheese and, in the Southwest, roasted green chile. Some vendors use mutton, which is common in Navajo cooking. Eaten open-face or folded, it needs no plate or cutlery at a busy powwow stand.
Recipe
Ingredients
- 3 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 tbsp baking powder
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 tbsp powdered milk (optional)
- About 1 1/4 cups warm water
- Lard or vegetable oil for frying
- 500 g ground beef, or 2 cups cooked pinto beans
- 1 onion, diced
- 1 tsp chile powder and salt to taste
- Shredded iceberg lettuce, 3 diced tomatoes, 2 cups grated sharp cheddar
- 1/2 cup roasted, chopped green chiles
Steps
- Cook the beef with the onion until browned, season with chile powder and salt, and keep warm (or warm the beans).
- Stir together flour, baking powder, salt and powdered milk. Add warm water gradually, mixing with your hands just until a soft dough forms; do not knead hard.
- Cover and rest 30 minutes.
- Heat 3 cm of lard or oil to about 180 C.
- Divide the dough into 6 pieces. With floured hands, pat and stretch each into a round about 18 cm across and thinner in the middle; poke a small hole in the center.
- Fry one at a time until puffed and golden, 1 to 2 minutes per side. Drain on paper towels.
- Top each warm frybread with meat or beans, lettuce, tomato, cheese and green chile, and serve at once.
Where to try it
- Gallup Flea Market, Gallup, New Mexico: Weekly market with several Navajo frybread vendors.
Reviews
Reviews and tips open at launch. Readers will be able to share where they found the best version of this and how they make it at home.
See also
References
- "Navajo Frybread Is A Golden Crisp Canvas Of Possibilities". The Takeout. Retrieved 2026-10-10.
- "Indian Fry Bread and Indian Taco Recipe and History". What's Cooking America. Retrieved 2026-10-10.