Keto Taco Shells (Spinach & Cheese)
By Carine Claudepierre
Published on 01/18/2016 - Last updated on 03/31/2023
This recipe may contain Amazon or other affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.
These Keto Taco Shells are made with only 5 ingredients, 100% gluten-free, keto-friendly, and delicious!
Make your favorite soft-shell tacos with these Mexican-inspired soft tortillas!
What Are Keto Taco Shells?
While classic cheese taco shells are basically melted grated cheese shaped to look like a taco, this Keto Taco Shell with spinach is a more refined recipe.
It’s not only healthier with its potion of vegetables, but it’s also tastier and it holds its filling better.
Here I am introducing a new version of the keto taco shells you are used to eating: a spinach cheese taco shells recipe. You’re probably wondering why adding spinach to cheese taco shells, right?
First, taste. I seriously love cheese taco shells, but I found them bland. Obviously, a taco shell made only with cheese can’t have much flavor, and that’s why spinach taco shells are tastier.
Secondly, vitamins. On a keto diet, you need your vitamin C, and while orange is a great source of vitamin C, it’s also loaded with sugar. Check out our keto-friendly fruit list to figure out which fruit you can have on Keto!
So, we call spinach to the rescue! Indeed, 100 grams of spinach brings you 46% of your DRI of vitamin C, meaning it’s the top sugar-free breakfast food to start the day with energy.
Finally, spinach is one of the lowest carb vegetables, with only 3 grams of net carbs per 100g of cooked spinach. So it’s the best way to add greens to your plate on a low-carb keto diet.
Why You’ll Love This Recipe
This is an awesome, simple recipe because it’s:
- Gluten-Free
- Keto-Friendly
- 5 Ingredients
- Ready In 25 Minutes
- Rich in Vitamin C
- 1 Portion of veggies
How To Make Keto Taco Shells
Apart from their amazing flavor and nutrient values, these Spinach Taco Shells are pretty easy to make.
Bonus, you probably have all the basic 4 ingredients needed to make them now.
Ingredients
Let’s look closer at the basic keto ingredients needed to make this healthy taco shell recipe.
- Eggs – you must use eggs in this recipe. Don’t try an egg substitute, or it wouldn’t work.
- Almond flour or almond meal – both work well. Or sunflower seed flour for a nut-free keto alternative.
- Grated cheese – feel free to use any hard grated cheese you like to vary the flavor: mozzarella, Parmesan, cheddar, or smoked cheese.
- Spinach – fresh or frozen, both work as long as you cook, drain and chop the spinach before using it in the recipe.
- Garlic salt or any other dry spices like ground pepper, cumin, paprika, chili, or turmeric.
Healthy taco shells
Whether you eat keto, low-carb, or just want a healthy recipe for your Mexican night. These spinach taco shells are perfect!
They contain a lot of omega 3, vitamins C, protein, and only 1.1 grams of net carbs per shell. Plus, these keto taco shells are baked, meaning you don’t need to fry the cheese!
Keto Taco Shell Filling Ideas
You can use these low-carb taco shells for breakfast or dinner. Below are some filling ideas:
- Breakfast taco – scrambled eggs, avocado, tomatoes.
- Greek souvlaki – grilled chicken, tzatziki sauce, and cucumber stick.
- Mexican Tacos – chicken or beef fajita cooked in my Chicken Taco Seasoning, sour cream, guacamole, and cheddar.
- Ground Beef Tacos – Use premium ground beef, slices of aged cheddar, and sliced red onions.
- Vegetarian taco – lettuce, tomatoes, avocado, cucumber, and aioli.
Storage Instructions
You can store cooked keto taco shells for up to 3 days in the fridge and reheat them in the oven for a few minutes.
You can also freeze the spinach taco shell in an airtight container. Make sure the shells don’t overlap, or it makes them difficult to defrost individually.
Place a piece of parchment paper between each keto taco shell to avoid this problem.
Defrost them in less than 1 hour at room temperature. Rewarm the shells in a sandwich press or hot oven for 1 to 2 minutes at 300°F (150°C).
More Keto Mexican Recipes
If you like Mexican recipes, you’ll love my Mexican-inspired keto recipes:
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Keto Taco Shells
Ingredients
- 4 oz Fresh Spinach Leaves (100 g)
- 4 cups Boiling Water
- 2 Eggs
- 4 tablespoons Almond Flour or oat flour
- ½ cup Grated Cheese
- ¼ teaspoon Garlic Powder – optional
- ¼ teaspoon Salt – optional
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 400°F (200°C).
- Place the fresh spinach leaves into a large mixing bowl.
- Cover the spinach leaves with 4 cups of boiling water. Cover. Set aside 2 minutes.
- In another bowl add ice cubes, about 1 cup.
- Using tongs remove the cooked spinach leaves from the mixing bowl and place them into the bowl filled with ice cubes. Stir the leaves into the ice cubes for a few seconds to cool down.
- Squeeze the spinach leaves with your hands to remove all the water. It will form a compact spinach 'ball.'
- Pat dry the spinach between layers of absorbent paper to ensure that the cooked spinach is fully dry.
- Finely chop the cooked spinach on a chopping board.
- Place them into a large mixing bowl and combine with grated cheese, eggs, almond flour, garlic powder, and salt until it forms a sort of batter.
- Scoop out the batter onto a baking tray covered with parchment paper. I recommend spraying some olive oil on the parchment paper to prevent the shells from sticking to the paper! I used a mechanical ice cream scoop maker to scoop out the batter into 4 equal amounts of taco shell batter.
- Use your fingers to flatten each scoop of taco batter into an evenly flat thin circle that looks like a taco.
- Bake at 400°F (200°C) for 15 minutes or until it is golden and crispy on the sides. Depending on the oven and thickness of your tacos, you may have to reduce them to 350°F (180°C). Simply watch the color and texture while baking to avoid burning them. It is baked when the borders are crispy and slightly golden brown.
- Cool down on a plate for a few minutes before eating.
- Can be eaten lukewarm or cold with toppings of your choice.
Notes
Tools
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Nutrition
About The Author
Hi, I'm Carine, the food blogger, author, recipe developer, published author of a cookbook, and founder of Sweet As Honey.
I have an Accredited Certificate in Nutrition and Wellness obtained in 2014 from Well College Global (formerly Cadence Health). I'm passionate about sharing all my easy and tasty recipes that are both delicious and healthy. My expertise in the field comes from my background in chemistry and years of following a keto low-carb diet. But I'm also well versed in vegetarian and vegan cooking since my husband is vegan.
I now eat a more balanced diet where I alternate between keto and a Mediterranean Diet
Cooking and Baking is my true passion. In fact, I only share a small portion of my recipes on Sweet As Honey. Most of them are eaten by my husband and my two kids before I have time to take any pictures!
All my recipes are at least triple tested to make sure they work and I take pride in keeping them as accurate as possible.
Browse all my recipes with my Recipe Index.
I hope that you too find the recipes you love on Sweet As Honey!
Disclaimer
The recipes, instructions, and articles on this website should not be taken or used as medical advice. You must consult with your doctor before starting on a keto or low-carb diet. The nutritional data provided on Sweetashoney is to be used as indicative only.
The nutrition data is calculated using WP Recipe Maker. Net Carbs is calculated by removing the fiber and some sweeteners from the total Carbohydrates. As an example, a recipe with 10 grams of Carbs per 100 grams that contains 3 grams of erythritol and 5 grams of fiber will have a net carbs content of 2 grams. Some sweeteners are excluded because they are not metabolized.
You should always calculate the nutritional data yourself instead of relying on Sweetashoney's data. Sweetashoney and its recipes and articles are not intended to cure, prevent, diagnose, or treat any disease. Sweetashoney cannot be liable for adverse reactions or any other outcome resulting from the use of recipes or advice found on the Website.
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Just made these, following directions using the almond flour option, easy–peasy, looked exactly like the photo. Instead of tacos, I was craving pizza, and becsuse they hold together so well it worked like a charm Topped with homemade tomato sauce and shredded parm-jack blend. Soooo good. Keeping this in my recipe box as a definite repeater.
Hi Corinne, I LOVE your comment! What a great idea to make a pizza bse with this zucchini taco recipe 🙂 I hope you find even more delicious low carb recipes on the blog, I also have a great spinach taco and carrot taco shell recipe 🙂 See you soon on the blog! Carine.
is it possible to use regular white flour?
Hi Emma, I never tried this recipe using white flour as I am only using nourishing and unrefined flour. I guess it will work too but because white flour contains less fibre the texture will be very different probably drier and less like a soft taco. I hope it helps! Enjoy the recipe. Carine.
Hi! This looks really good!
Is there anything else I can put in it instead of cheese (and that still stays firm enough to form it and eat it as a taco)?
Thank you 🙂
Hi Anita, I agree it is a very good recipe! There is lots of cheese in those tacos so it is difficult to make it dairy free. However I have got a similar recipe using zucchini and no cheese – arrowroot flour and coconut flour instead. If you want a dairy free taco recipe you may prefer myZucchini Tortillas 🙂 Enjoy and let me know how it goes xoxo Carine.
amazing. They looks amazing. Feel like grabbing it. Will surely try. Adding almond flour is quite innovative and healthy. Will try for my kids soon. Thanks for sharing
Hello! I am glad you love the recipe. My 3 years old love it and I am pretty sure your kids will love them too! Enjoy this spinach taco and let me know how it goes! Carine.
Carrie, I’m excited to find this spinach soft taco recipe. We have fresh spinach in the garden so I will try it soon. As a post-bariatric surgery patient, I am always looking for recipes that are low-carb, high protein and good for me. Thank you for coming up with this recipe.
Hi Joyce, I am always so happy to read your comment and to know that my recipes can help in the kitchen. You will absolutely love those spinach tacos even more with your own fresh spinach! Thanks again for the support and lovely comment Joyce! It is always a pleasure to read you. Carine.
What can I use if I don’t have almond or oat bran? I’ve got coconut flour and spelt flour.
Turned out good, but I did a few things differently. Used frozen chopped spinach cooked in microwave per instructions on bag, used a clean kichen towel to squeeze out water, used garlic salt instead of garlic powder and salt, and threw all ingridients into a food processor to chop and mix. 350 was perfect temp for mine to cook in 15 minutes. And didn’t stick at all on silicone baking sheet. Will probably up the parmesan cheese by a quarter cup next time.
Hi Mélissa, unfortunately those ingredients are the main ingredients of those spinachanges tacos. As I never tried spelt and coconut flour in this recipe I can’t advice on how to make this recipe with those flour. See you soon on the blog, carine.
I so want to make these right now, but don’t have is bran. Are there any other substitutes? I have flax, psyllium, almond, coconut…
Hi Elaine, I am pretty sure a mix of almond meal and psyllium would make the deal. I would try to substitute the amount of oat flour by 3/4 amount of almond meal for 1/4 amount of psyllium husk! Then, just add more psyllium husk if it is too runny. It will absorb the extra moisture and makes things goes together. Hope it works cause this is delicious! See you sson on the blog Elaine! Carine.
I don’t see bran in the ingredient list – how much should be added? These look wonderful – can’t wait to make them. Have you ever tried making them with kale instead of spinach? (I have a lot of kale in the garden! )
The recipe is not using bran but almond meal or oat flour – it is basically rolled oat ground into a powder. I never used kale in this recipe but I am pretty sure it will work. Make sure you chop it finely, specially if it is curly kale, it is a stronger veggie and it won’t combine as well in the batter if the pieces are too big. I would love to grow some kale too but I don’t have any more space in my garden this year ! Also, if you want to use your kale you can try my kale egg free frittata. Thanks for reading the blog. XOXO Carine.