Taco Crescent Ring is a beautiful presentation of a classic tex-mex favorite – Tacos! This meal is easy to make and perfect for a weeknight dinner, an appetizer, or a potluck offering.
I love this recipe so much, and have fond memories of eating it as a teen. Funny story: a variation of this taco ring recipe was my friend’s mother’s signature dish. She made it all the time, often serving it to us kids for a late night dinner or bringing it to a neighborhood party. The other moms would all ohh and ahh, wanting to know her recipe and her secrets for making such a delicious dish.
The funny thing is, that this woman really didn’t cook. She was the queen of takeout and store bought desserts, but this recipe was one that she liked to make and had mastered! If she can do it, anybody can.
This popular American recipe utilizes an all-time favorite ingredient, canned, refrigerated crescent rolls. This flaky, buttery dough is wrapped around tasty ground meat, melty cheese, and refried beans to create a beautiful taco ring, ready to serve to any crowd.
Does your family love tacos? Try Baked Chicken Tacos or Instant Pot Taco Pasta for more crowd-pleasing dinner ideas.
Why You’ll Love This Recipe
- It’s Good Looking. The presentation of this taco ring is top notch, creating a beautiful round ring of perfectly portioned taco bites. With some lettuce and toppings in the middle, your taco crescent ring will be the star of the buffet table.
- Delicious. It’s tacos, wrapped in crescent rolls. What’s not to love? Tasty taco meat, cheese and more creates a better version of beef tacos.
- Kid friendly. If your kids love tacos, they will gobble up this taco ring. It’s a little bit different, but not so different that picky eaters won’t try it.
- Great for parties. This dish serves up to 16 people, using one crescent roll per serving, so it’s great as an appetizer at any sort of party.
Ingredients in Taco Crescent Ring
Just 7 easy to find ingredients are needed to make this delicious taco ring.
- Ground Beef: I like to use lean ground beef when making tacos, you end up getting more meat and less grease. Substitute ground turkey or chicken if you prefer.
- Onion: I like a little bit of onion in my taco meat. It adds extra flavor and interest.
- Taco Seasoning: Make your own taco seasoning, or use your favorite store brand.
- Salsa: You can control the heat by choosing a salsa with more or less spiciness. I prefer a chunkier salsa in this recipe so things aren’t too liquidy.
- Refried Beans: I buy these in a can, they are creamy and delicious. In the taco ring recipe, they create a barrier on the bottom of the dough so that nothing gets soggy.
- Cheese: Use shredded cheddar or a mexican blend cheese.
- Crescent Rolls: two cans of crescent rolls are perfect for this recipe. I buy the Pillsbury brand usually. I think they taste better, but the store brand will work as well.
Complete list of ingredients and amounts can be found in the recipe card below.
How to Make a Taco Ring
Follow these easy steps to make the perfect Taco Crescent Ring:
- Cook Beef: Heat a skillet on medium high heat, and brown the beef until mostly cooked through. Drain the fat, then add the onion and cook until translucent. Add the taco seasoning and water. Bring to a boil and then simmer, uncovered, until the mixture has thickened.
- Add Salsa: Remove the meat mixture from the heat and add in the salsa. Stir to combine.
- Prepare Oven and Pan: Preheat oven to 375°F/190°C. Spray a baking sheet with non-stick spray or line with parchment paper.
- Arrange Crescent Rolls: Overlap the wide sides of the crescent roll triangles to form a ring. It will look like a sun.
- Fill: Spread the refried beans around the inside of the dough ring, followed by the beef mixture, and then the cheese.
- Fold: Gently stretch and fold the triangles over the filling and tuck under the wider sides.
- Bake: Bake as directed in the recipe card below or until the ring is lightly browned.
Success Tips
- It’s best to work with cold crescent roll dough, as it will hold up to stretching and manipulation better. If your dough is getting difficult to work with, pop it in the fridge for a few minutes.
- Make sure your pan is not going to stick to the crescent ring. Use a non-stick spray or parchment paper.
- Allow the taco ring to cool for about 5 minutes before slicing and serving. This will give the ingredients time to settle and avoid a runny mess.
- Add Taco toppings to the center of the roll before serving for a beautiful presentation.
Toppings for Taco Crescent Ring
What good is a taco without lots of delicious topping options? Add some shredded lettuce to the center of your taco crescent ring, and then top with your favorites. Try some of these:
- Diced Tomatoes or Pico de Gallo.
- Sour cream, or Lime Crema.
- Guacamole.
- Black olives, jarred jalapenos.
To make this meal even more filling, serve with a side of Cilantro Lime Rice!
Frequently Asked Questions
If you find yourself with leftovers of this taco crescent ring, you can either warm them up to serve again, or enjoy them cold as a lunch the next day. With some salad greens and a dollop of sour cream, you can have an amazing taco salad.
Store leftovers for up to three days in an airtight container in the refrigerator.
Ground chicken will work perfectly in this recipe, as well as ground turkey. You can also make grilled chicken using my mexican chicken marinade, dice it, and use it in place of the ground meat.
If you made tacos yesterday and still have about a pound of seasoned meat leftover, you can totally use it to make this dish. I suggest reheating the meat slightly. Start following this recipe from the step where the salsa is added, and you are good to go!
Once you’ve mastered the original recipe, you can get creative! Try adding crushed tortilla chips for texture, or a bit of nacho cheese. This method of using crescent rolls to create a ring could also be used for all types of different meals and flavors. Let me know what you come up with!
You’ll be mastering this recipe in no time, and your family and friends will love you for it! Make sure to pin this recipe to save it.
Did you make this? Be sure to leave a review below and tag me on Facebook, Instagram, or Pinterest!
Taco Ring
Ingredients
- 1 pound ground beef lean, Note 3
- ½ yellow onion diced
- 2 tablespoons taco seasoning
- ½ cup water
- ¼ cup salsa
- ½ cup refried beans
- 1 cup shredded Mexican cheese blend or cheddar cheese
- 2 cans total 16-oz refrigerated crescent rolls separated into 16 triangles, Note 1
Instructions
- Heat a skillet on medium high heat, and brown the beef. Drain fat.
- Add onion, cook until it’s translucent (about 3 minutes).
- Add taco seasoning and water, bring to boil then simmer uncovered for 4-5 minutes or until the water has evaporated and the mixture has thickened.
- Remove from heat, stir in salsa.
- Preheat the oven to 375°F/190°C
- To assemble the taco ring, spray a baking sheet with non stick spray. Arrange and overlap the wide sides of the crescent roll triangles to form a ring. It will look like a sun.
- Spread the refried beans around the inside of the dough ring, followed by the beef mixture, and cheese. See note 4.
- Fold the triangles over the filling and tuck under the wider sides.
- Bake for 20 to 25 minutes or until the ring is lightly browned.
- Allow to cool for 5 minutes before slicing and serving.
Notes:
- Crescent roll dough must be cold when working with it.
- Be sure to allow the beef filling to cool down a little before you add it to the crescent rolls.
- Ground beef can be substituted for ground chicken or turkey.
- To help you shape the ring, place a bowl or a glass that is around 5-6 inches in diameter in the center and shape the dough around it.
- This taco ring serves up to 16 people if served as an appetizer, or 6-8 if serving as a main.
Nutrition Information
This website provides approximate nutrition information for convenience and as a courtesy only. Nutrition data is gathered primarily from the USDA Food Composition Database, whenever available, or otherwise other online calculators.
© Little Sunny Kitchen
Natalie S says
Delicious! We all loved it! Mistake I made was baking it on a pizza stone in the top half of my oven, didn’ cook on the bottom and had to put it back on the lower rack which worked, and will definitely bake on a baking sheet next time!
Only thing different I did was add a chopped jalapeno to the beef mixture.
Cannot wait to make it again! Thank you!
Terri U says
Excellent recipe, added some extra cheese in the meat mixture. Everyone loved it!
Sue says
Easy & delicious
Maribeth Fish says
My family and I made this recipe last night and it was a total hit. It was a great project to work on and it turned out to be so delicious. We would make it again happily. Highly recommend.