How To Reheat Tacos?

Reheating tacos is to maintain their delicious taste and texture. Tacos, a traditional Mexican dish, consist of folded or rolled tortillas filled with various ingredients such as meats, beans, vegetables, cheese, and sauces. 

The key to reheating tacos is ensuring the tortillas stay soft and pliable while the fillings are warmed evenly. It’s important to avoid making the tortillas soggy or drying out the ingredients. 

Generally, reheating should aim to preserve the original flavors and textures of the tacos, making them as enjoyable as when they were first prepared. 

Before reheating, you need to know about the common types of taco shells before uncovering the right techniques. I’ll also give you some methods to bring back the heat for the taco fillings.

Don’t forget to discover the things to prepare before reheating tacos and some mistakes to avoid. 

What Are the Types of Taco Shells?

The taco shell, also known as tortillas, can impact the dish and require various reheating techniques. On average, there are up to 10 types of taco shells made from different ingredients. 

However, the texture differences lead to two main taco types: hard-shell and soft-shell tacos, each with preferred reheating and storage methods.

After knowing the main types of taco shells, I suggest looking into a few preparations to make before reheating the tacos, a famous Mexican specialty.

What Should You Do Before Reheating A Taco?

Before reheating a taco, it’s important to take certain steps to ensure the best possible taste and texture:

Now, let’s explore the methods and processes of bringing life once again to your hard shell tacos.

How to Reheat Tacos Correctly?

There are many options to reheat tacos, especially when you have different shells of various textures. Let me show you a brief guide through the time for cooking each taco shell type:

Types	Hard-Shell Tacos	Soft-Shell Tacos
Stovetop	30 to 45 seconds on each side (Medium heat)	Not recommended
Microwave	Not recommended	20 – 30 seconds under high heat
Oven (Toaster Oven)	10 to 15 minutes to get it done (350 degrees F)	10 to 15 minutes until done (350 – 375 degrees F)
Grill	Not recommended	Need 5 to 8 minutes for each side
Air Fryer	5 minutes until done (350 – 400 degrees F)	Not recommended

Now, you’re ready to dive into the methods for reheating hard-shell tacos first. 

What Methods to Reheat Hard-Shell Tacos?

There are 3 ways to reheat your hard taco shells based on the equipment you use to reheat them.

1. Stovetop

As their main ingredient is corn, hard tortillas for hard-shell tacos prefer the drier heat of the stove to become crunchier. You can use firm tongs with ergonomic grips if you want; another way, a skillet or a pan is perfect.

What You Need:

Instruction:

Step 1: Put your skillet on the stove and set the medium heat. Wait until the skillet is heated up.

Step 2: Put your tortilla on the pan, wait 30 to 45 seconds on each side, and flip back to the other until you are satisfied with the crunchiness or when both sides are golden brown.

2. Oven

Honestly, is there anything a traditional oven can’t reheat? It’s one of the best ways to reheat biscuits, lasagna, prime rib, pizza, you name it. Naturally, it’s also an ideal method to reheat your corn-based taco shells.

What You Need:

Instructions:

Step 1: Set the oven to 350 degrees F and wait until it is heated completely.

Step 2: Prepare your taco shells. You can put them onto the baking sheet and fold them in halves to put the fillings later. Because the hard tortillas will stiffen up quickly, you need “shape-holders,” like taco racks, to keep their forms. If you don’t have taco racks, you can roll an aluminum foil and insert it between the tortillas folded into the taco shape.

Step 3: Put your baking sheet in the oven, wait for 10 to 15 minutes or more until your tortillas become as crispy as you prefer. Try to come up with something to serve alongside the tacos while you’re waiting for the food to reheat. This would save quite a bit of your time.

 Heating your premade hard shells in the oven in a few steps! Check out this video to know:

3. Air Fryer

There are two ways to use an air fryer as a “taco-heater,” so let’s keep scrolling!

Option 1: Air-Frying Your Tortillas Only

What You Need:

Instruction:

Step 1: Preheat your air fryer, set the temperature at 350 to 400 degrees F for 5 minutes.

Step 2: Prepare your taco shells while waiting for your air fryer to be heated up. Fold the aluminum foil into the taco shape and put your tortilla in it. In this step, you can use the silicone brush to lay a thin layer of oil onto your tortilla to prevent it from becoming burnt in the air fryer. This is optional, so you can choose to do it or not.

Step 3: Put your taco shells into the air fryer. Once your machine’s heated, put tortillas in and set the timer for 3 to 5 more minutes due to your preferences. After that time, you will have a crunchy, hard tortilla to add the fillings.

Option 2: Air-Frying Your Tacos with the Cooked Ingredients and Cheese

If you want to cut down the process and make it quicker, you can put your cooked ingredients and cheese onto the second step, preparing your taco shells. Remember to put the drained ingredients, which means without sauces, and cheese only.

The wet components might lead to soggy and mushy shells afterward. And, this option also takes you only 3 to 5 minutes to have your tacos reheated. These two options seem the same, but they are not.

If you reheat your taco shells together with their fillings, the shells will be less crispy.

How to Reheat Soft-Shell Tacos?

You also have 3 options of reheating for soft-shell tacos: microwave, oven, and grill. The techniques are quite different from the hard shell, so let’s take a deeper look!

1. Microwave

Compared to the hard shell, warming up a soft tortilla in the microwave is more effective since you will expect not a crunchy shell but a soft and chewy one.

What You Need:

Instructions:

Step 1: Wet your paper towels and make them damp (not too much excess water).

Step 2: Place the towels onto the microwave-safe plate, spread them out evenly so that they can cover the dish entirely.

Step 3: Put your tortillas onto the damp towels on the plate in a single layer; avoid overlapping.

Step 4: Set your microwave on high heat and set the time for exactly 30 seconds. If you overdo it, your soft taco shells will become hard.

The moisture from the damp paper towel not only helps to provide needed moisture to reheat your tortillas but also to keep the soft, chewy texture of them so that the fillings won’t fall off when you wrap them into your tacos.

Note: If you reheat one single tortilla at a time, 20 seconds is enough.

Step-by-step to reheat the flour tortillas or soft taco shells you should not miss! Check out this video to know:

2. Oven

You can also warm your soft-shell tacos in the oven just like the hard-shell, but the technique is a bit different. This method is also best to apply with premade tacos; store-bought or homemade is both fine with it since you don’t need to heat tortillas separately

What You Need:

Instruction:

Step 1: Heat your oven to 350 or 375 degrees F.

Step 2: Wrap your soft tacos tightly into an aluminum foil. Wrapping them up keeps their moisture inside the foil and prevents them from becoming too hard or crunchy.

Step 3: Put your tacos into the oven for 10 minutes.

Step 4: After 10 minutes, you can use something pointed to pierce through the wrap and check if your tacos are heated evenly or not yet. If they are steaming hot, take them out and enjoy. Conversely, you might need to leave them in the oven for 5 more minutes.

Wrap it up; this method might take 10 to 15 minutes for you to have your warm, delicious soft tacos on the table. Soft tacos, whether they’re reheated or fresh out of the oven, make tasty side dishes for chicken marsala. You should consider this combination for tonight’s dinner.

3. Grill

Using a grill to reheat is the specialty with soft-shell tacos or its relevant burritos. You don’t need to take the cooked fillings out, just roll them all inside the tortillas and put them on the grill.

What You Need:

Instruction:

Step 1: Turn your grill on and warm it up. Wait until the grill is fully heated before putting your taco in.

Step 2: Wrap your soft-shell taco with its cooked ingredients in aluminum foil. Ensure to wrap it tightly.

Step 3: Put your taco on the grill and close the lid.

Step 4: Flip the sides every 5 or 8 minutes until your soft taco is warmed up. To check whether your tacos are heated inside out, use a toothpick to pierce through the foil. If the tip of the toothpick isn’t warm, the tacos must spend more time on the grill.

Once your tacos are warm already, you can add the fresh ingredients and enjoy.

How to Reheat Taco Fillings?

Aside from the tortilla shell, you can even bring some warmth back into the flavorful delicacies that are used as a filling for tacos by using these two quick methods: 

1. Reheat the Filling on a Stove

You can easily warm up the taco fillings on a stove. This is properly the best method and only takes a few minutes to do.

Step 1: Heat a little oil in a non-stick pan on medium heat. 

Step 2 (optional): Sauté some fresh spices such as garlic or onions on the hot pan for more flavors.

Step 3: Cook the filling for about 3 to 4 minutes or until completely heated through. 

2. Reheat the Filling in a Microwave

If you’re in a rush and need the fastest reheating method, the microwave is your go-to choice. Your taco filling will be warm and nice in under a minute. 

Step 1: Put the filling in a microwave-safe bowl. 

Step 2: Microwave for 20 seconds.

Step 3: Stir the filling and microwave for another 15 seconds.

Ultimate Guide To Reheat Specific Types Of Store-Bought Tacos

Although these steps above can apply to the store-bought tacos like the love Cheesy Gordita Crunch from Taco Bell, Chipotle’s signature burritos, or other tacos spots in your neighborhoods, I will give you some detailed examples on how to deal with some specific types.

Reheat Gordita or Chalupa

Both Gorditas and Chalupas have flatbread shells that can be heated in the microwave. Here’s a simple guide to reheating them:

1. Preparation: Remove any wet fillings, such as vegetables, guacamole, and sauces.
2. Microwave Heating: Set the microwave for 1 minute.
3. Result: The flatbread texture will remain intact—neither too crispy nor too mushy.

Tips for a Crunchier Shell: Use an air fryer or an oven to achieve a freshly-made crunchy effect.

Reheat Gordita Crunch

There are two layers of shells in a Gordita Crunch, one layer of flatbread and one layer of corn tortillas (for the crunch). Because of that, there are gains and losses if you want to reheat this type.

Reheat Bean Burrito or Burrito and Quesadilla

Burritos’ and quesadillas’ shells are the big-sized flour tortillas or soft taco shells. Therefore, I recommend you deal with it the way you reheat soft tacos.

Reheat your Chipotle burrito in 30 seconds, and it’s a must-watch!

What Mistakes to Avoid When Reheating Tacos?

When reheating tacos, it’s essential to avoid certain mistakes to ensure they taste as good as they did when freshly made:

• Ignoring Reheating Times: Different ingredients require different reheating times. Pay attention to the specific needs of meats, shells, and other fillings.
• Using High Heat: High heat can cause shells to burn and fillings to dry out. Use moderate heat to ensure even warming.
• Not Draining Excess Fat: If the meat has a lot of fat, drain it before reheating to avoid greasy tacos.
• Reheating for Too Long: Over-reheating can dry out the fillings and make the tortillas tough. Heat in short intervals and check frequently.

FAQs

No More Cold Tacos from Now On!

With all the information I have provided, you don’t need to be upset about eating cold tacos anymore. Within some easy-peasy steps, your special treat will be fresh and warm as newly made or bought.

You can also use the tips to reheat tacos for other variants like burritos or quesadilla and chipotle. If you have any further questions or experiences with reheating tacos and want to share them with me, feel free to leave a comment below.

Loving is sharing!