Taco Ring
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This Crescent Roll Taco Ring recipe is filled with a delicious combination of taco seasoned ground beef, cheddar cheese, bell peppers and onions. Inspired by the original Pampered Chef recipe, this dish is easy to make in under an hour, with only 7 ingredients, including Pillsbury Crescent Rolls. It’s perfect for weeknight dinners and guaranteed to be a hit with the entire family!
Table of contents
Tacos are one of my favorite things to put recipe twists on! Whether it’s Taco Spaghetti or Taco Dip, I love finding new and different ways to eat tacos!
I was introduced to this taco ring when I was 12 years old and my Mom took me to a Pampered Chef party. (And people wonder why I love cooking so much!) We made taco rings at the party and the recipe instantly became a favorite at the Bond house!
Over the years I’ve put my own spin on the recipe, with a buffalo chicken taco ring and a breakfast taco ring. For this recipe, I kept it classic, but added two of my favorite taco mix-ins, onions and bell peppers. These ingredients are optional, but add a nice crunch, flavor and color to the crescent roll taco ring.
One of the reasons I love this recipe so much is because it’s easy to make in 45 minutes, with only 20 minutes of prep time. This makes it so easy to whip up for a weeknight meal!
Ingredients
- Crescent rolls – for this recipe you’ll want two eight ounce cans of Pillsbury crescents, containing 8 rolls each.
- Ground beef – you can also use ground turkey or ground chicken, if you prefer.
- Olive oil – or another neutral flavored oil, like canola oil or avocado oil.
- Onions + bell peppers – I added these veggies to amp up the flavor of the ground beef, but if you prefer, you can leave them out. However, if you want to spice things up, you can also add a diced up jalapeno with the bell pepper and onion. Any color of bell pepper or onion will work in this recipe.
- Taco seasoning – I always recommend mixing up a batch of my homemade seasoning. The recipe is linked to the left and it’s easy to make in 5 minutes! Of course, you can also purchase a package of taco seasoning mix at the grocery store.
- Cheddar cheese – I recommend grating a block of cheese at home vs. buying pre-shredded cheese in a bag. It melts better in the taco ring and contains no anti-clumping additives.
Instructions
For the full recipe instructions, ingredient amounts and a step-by-step video, scroll to the recipe card at the bottom of this post.
- Make the filling. Heat olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat, add diced bell peppers and onions. Cook for 5 minutes then add the ground beef and brown. Drain the grease from the ground beef, then add the taco seasoning, water and cheese. Stir to combine all of the ingredients. Remove from the heat and set aside.
- Line up the dough. To make it easy to assemble, start by placing a water glass in the middle of a baking sheet. Unroll the crescent dough and separate into 16 triangles. Arrange the unrolled crescent rolls around the glass with the large flat ends of the crescent rolls overlapping in the center up against the glass.
- Fill with beef. Spoon the ground beef mixture onto the crescent rolls, then slowly remove the glass, so that all of the ground beef mixture stays on the crescent rolls and does not fall into the opening in the center.
- Wrap up the ring. Wrap the crescent roll dough up and over the ground beef filling and tuck the dough under the beef in the middle.
- Bake it. Place the taco ring in a 375 degree Fahrenheit preheated oven and bake for 20-25 minutes, or until the crescent rolls are golden brown.
- Serve it. Slice the ring, like you would a pie, then use a pie server or spatula to serve the pieces. To eat it, use a fork to dig right in! Optionally place a small bowl of sour cream, salsa or guacamole in the middle of the ring, or serve these dips on the side for spooning over the taco ring.
Frequently asked questions
- How do you make a vegetarian taco ring? Swap out the ground beef for soy chorizo or meatless crumbles.
- What is a taco ring? A taco ring is made with 2 cans of crescent roll dough, shaped into a ring with a hole in the middle. It’s traditionally filled with taco seasoned ground beef and cheddar cheese.
- How many people will this serve? You can easily slice the taco ring into 16 small pieces (between each crescent roll) to serve at a party for 16 people. If serving it as a meal, this taco ring serves 4-6 people.
- Can you make it ahead of time? The taco filling can be made ahead of time. But I recommend assembling the taco ring right before baking it, for the best texture. The taco filling can be made up to 3 days in advance. Store it in an airtight container in the refrigerator until ready to assemble the taco ring. There’s no need to add more time to the baking of the taco ring when using make-ahead taco filling.
How to store and reheat
Leftover taco ring will stay good in the refrigerator for up to 5 days. Store leftovers in an airtight container.
I recommend reheating leftover taco crescent ring in the oven, or air fryer, for the best texture. Reheating the taco ring in the microwave will cause the outside crescent rolls to become soggy.
To reheat leftovers in the oven, add slices of the taco ring to a baking sheet. Place it in a 400°F preheated oven for 10-15 minutes, or until warm on the inside.
To reheat the taco ring in an air fryer, place slices of the taco ring in an air fryer basket. Make sure there’s space around each piece of taco ring, so that there’s room for air to flow around it. Reheat the slices of taco ring in the air fryer at 400°F for 5-8 minutes, or until warm throughout.
What to serve with it
I always serve this recipe with sour cream, salsa and guacamole for dipping. You can also serve it with your favorite taco toppings, like shredded lettuce, chopped tomatoes, sliced jalapenos, taco sauce or black olives.
If you want a side dish, or sauce, to serve with the taco ring, I recommend trying any of these delicious Mexican recipes.
- Green Chili Queso Blanco or Nacho Cheese Sauce
- Poblano Sauce or Cilantro Lime Sauce
- Mexican Pickled Vegetables
- Mexican Rice
- Deconstructed Mexican Street Corn
- Mexican Sweet Potato Salad
More Mexican recipes
If you love this taco ring recipe, you’ll definitely want to check out all of these popular, easy Mexican recipes!
Taco Ring
Ingredients
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 1 cup red onion, diced
- 1 cup red bell pepper, diced
- 1 lb ground beef
- 2 8 count cans refrigerated crescent rolls
- 2 tbsp homemade taco seasoning
- 1 tbsp water
- 1 cup cheddar cheese, shredded
Optional Toppings
- sour cream
- diced jalapeños
- salsa
- diced tomatoes
- guacamole
Instructions
- Pre-heat the oven to 375°F.
- Heat the olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat, add the bell peppers and onion
- Sauté for 5 minutes then add the ground beef and brown.
- Drain the grease from the ground beef, then add the taco seasoning, water and cheese. Remove from the heat and set aside.
- Form a ring with the crescent rolls by placing a small glass on the center of a baking stone then staggering the crescent rolls around the glass with the wide ends overlapping in the center.
- Add the ground beef mixture to the middle of the crescent roll ring around the glass.
- Remove the glass from the middle and roll the dough up and over the ground beef.
- Place the roll in the oven for 20-25 minutes.
- Remove from the oven and place a ramekin filled with optional toppings in the middle of the roll.
Video
Notes
- Vegetarian Option: Substitute meatless crumbles or soyrizo for the ground beef to make this recipe vegetarian.
- Nutritional information provided does not include the optional toppings.
Nutrition Facts
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5 Comments on “Taco Ring”
Could you use soft tortillas and treat them like the crescent rolls? Or maybe pastry sheets?
I haven’t tried this recipe with either of those options, but I feel like puff pastry sheets would work well and the result would turn out similar to the original recipe with crescent rolls!
What are crescent rolls? Not sure we have them in Australia.
Recipe looks great so hope I can find an alternative. Maybe just shortcrust pastry.
Thanks
Whitney, with your new recipe format, I am not able to print. I use an iPad and an air printer. Has anyone else had this issue? Also, if I chose “save”, where does it save the recipe?
I love your site and recipes and would love to be able to save or print. Thanks for your time.
Hi Jeanne, I have not heard of anyone else having this issue, unfortunately I know more about cooking than technology so I’m not a lot of help there 😉
The recipes will be saved to “Zip List” all that you need to create an account with them is an e-mail address and password!