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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About The Author
Hi, I'm Carine, the food blogger, author, recipe developer, published author of a cookbook and many ebooks, 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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Hi, I’d like to make these however I’m seeing both almond meal and almond flour referred to in the comments. Could you please confirm which is it? Thank you! Can’t wait to make this!
Almond flour and almond meal are basically the same thing. Almond flour tend to be thinner but in my recipe it never makes difference that is why I use both names. I am sorry if this was confusing for you. Enjoy the taco shells. XOXO Carine.
Thank you for the recipe. These were so good. My family loved them. I had to make a 2nd batch. ????
Thanks for the lovely comment and for trying my taco shell recipe. I am so happy you love it ! Enjoy the blog recipes. XOXO Carine.
Made these today. They are crazy delicious. I ate all four, two for breakfast and two for lunch. I would like to double the recipe. Have you done this? Are any adjustments needed? Thanks!
Awesome ! You can safely double up the recipe without changing anything 🙂 Enjoy the tacos. XOXO Carine.
Hi there!
Just made them … soooo delicious thank you.
For next time Do you think I can freeze them and use later in the week again?
Thank u xx
Amazing news! Thanks for reporting your positive experience in the kitchen. I am sure they freeze well too. Make sure you bake them before freezing, place a piece of parchment paper between each shells to avoid them to stick together. It should defrost super fast as it is thin less than an hour and rewarm super well 2-3 minutes in a hot oven at 150C. Enjoy XOXO Carine.
Hi Corine
I made your Spinach Taco. I use Italian dressing and love it. They were easy as you said. Will make again. I made it for a forum Challenge
https://www.kamadoguru.com/topic/38470-3-cheese-chicken-taco/
Amazing ! I am so glad you love them 🙂 Enjoy the low carb recipes on the blog. XOXO Carine.
Hi Corine
I am making your Spinach Taco Today. I will give feed back when I accomplish your recipe. Im excited.
Awesome ! enjoy them, XOXO Carine.
Just tried the spinach toco recipe and it is awesome. My daughter and granddaughter are on low carb diets now and they love it. You are right about getting all the water out of the spinach before mixing in the other ingredients. Thank you again, keep the recipes coming.
Thanks for sharing this lovely comment! I am so glad you love them. Enjoy the low recipes on the blog. XOXO Carine.
Loved the recipe! ?
Made them with almond flour and filled them with ground meat and tomatoes.
Next time I’ll try bake them on a silicone baking mat since these got stick onto the parchment paper (even though I had previously spread some butter on it to prevent it!…).
Merci beaucoup Carine pour une autre magnifique recette! ?
Sounds amazing ! I also love the almond meal option – much less carbs and taste as good as oat flour. A bientot sur le blog ! XOXO. Carine
Smelled great, cooked great but could not get them off the parchment paper and ruined the whole batch, what did I do wrong?
Hi Kerrie, this is clearly an issue with your baking paper. What you can do is spray sme oil on the paper with out baking the tortillas and it won’t happen again 🙂 Enjoy the recipe ! Carine.
ANy idea if nutritional yeast can be used in place of the cheese?
No I am sorry, cheese is really needed in this recipe to hold the spinach together. if you are looking for an easy 4 ingredients vegan tortilla similar to those spinach tacos, I recommend to try my zucchini tortillas. It is working perfectly with a chia egg. Have a look here. XOXO Carine.
I made them for dinner and they were very good, will make again!
Hi Diane, I am so glad you love those spinach taco! Thanks for trying my recipes and coming back on the blog. It is such a pleasure to be read and to share my recipes from my kitchen to yours <3 xoxo Carine.
How do I measure 2 litre of boiling water and what cheese did you use and is it baby spinach?
Thanks
Hi Kris, 2 litre of boiling water can be measured as 16 cups of boiling water. Baby spinach leaves are tiny spinach leaves that you can buy in any supermarket usually in vacuum bag in the salad aisle. You can use any shredded cheese in this recipe I love edam, cheddar or colby. Enjoy the tacos ! Carine.
I just made these for tonight and I probably shouldn’t have used a 2% cheese (all I had) since the lighter cheese made them bubble a bit. I ended up adding about half a tablespoon more of the oat bran to get the batter to be a bit firmer. I thought I had drained the spinach well, but after it sat about 3 minutes, I saw I didn’t. Next time I think I’ll do what I do for spinach dip (squeeze the heck out of it with paper towels and then refrigerate it for 20 minutes to see if it is thoroughly drained.. I baked at 375 for 15 minutes because my oven loves to burn things. (g) We like these tasty shells, but think that heavy seasoned Mexican dishes really over power the shells taste wise. Next time we’ll try them with sautéed vegetables for a “breakfast taco” or use as salad holders. Thanks for the unique recipe!
Hi Stacia, As you can see on the recipe video I do squeeze out all the spinach juice with my hands first and then pat dry the spinach between sheets of absorbent paper. It is crucial in this recipe to remove all the extra moisture or -as you said- the batter will bubble or not hold well together. I am pretty sure that low fat cheese won’t be an issue if you remove all the extra spinach moisture first. I am happy that you enjoy the recipe. Let me know how it goes next time. Thanks for reading the blog. Carine.
These are the best ever!!
Hi there, I was very excited to see a taco shell without carbs and that is full of magnesium and potassium. I have a rare disease that doesn’t allow me to eat any carbs, sugar, or salt….aaaand I am married to a Hispanic! So that means lots of tacos! I usually just eat the filling, but now I can help my diet with these.
I just made these and I don’t think I put enough spinach in mine. I think the 4 oz is after the spinach is cooked. Am I correct? I will have to measure 8 oz raw before cooking down next time. The end resulted in baking longer in the oven because they were too runny. Thanks again!
Hi Tami, I am so happy you enjoyed this recipe. As you can see on my video the batter is only slightly runny. You must use 4oz of cooked spinach, drained to create a soft taco shell that bake very well. I am sure you will get there next time. Let me know ! Happy New Year from New Zealand ! Carine.
Wow! I have been wanting to make these since you posted this recipe as I am a big fan of spinach too. These were so delicious (and easy!) and got an A+++ from the hubby and 3 year old. I used frozen spinach but am looking forward to using fresh spinach once I plant it this weekend.
Thanks for another amazing recipe to add to the favourites list 🙂
Hi Nicole! So great to read you this morning! I agree this recipe is amazing and kids absolutely love it each time. I am not good at growing my own vegetables but I reckon fresh spinach are always the best! I hope you will find more spinach recipes you love on the blog. I am obsessed with spinach and I keep sharing spinach recipes on the blog. My spinach balls are great for kids too recipe here. Enjoy and see you soon on the blog! Carine.
Hate to leave a comment if I made changes. But the base recipe is awesome. They turned out amazing. I used frozen spinach 2 1/2 300g packets, 4 eggs, about 2/3 cup home made gluten free all purpose flour ( found on Pinterest) I just added it till I achieved what I thought was the right consistency, oregano salt and pepper, Cajun seasoning and my favorite. I didn’t have cheese today so I added two tbsp of plain Greek yogurt and 1/4cup of nutritional yeast. It made 8 large taco sized wraps and my dh said they are amazing he said it’s some recipe book quality. Thanks for all your awesome recipes and again sorry for changing your recipe but as a new mom I used what I had on hand.
Hi Amanda. May you please provide the home made gluten free all purpose flour you found on Pinterest. Thanx
Hi Amanda, what a beautiful comment! you made my day, really 🙂 I love the way you adapted the recipe with no cheese ! I have got so much people asking me for cheese free alternatives and here we are ! You did it ! Thank you VERY much Amanda. I hope you will keep following the blog and share your lovely comments. Just love it and I know how much time it takes to write them! Love from NZ, xoxo Carine.
These sound great!!! I wonder if I could put all of the ingredients in a food processor or blender to make the dough? I also wonder if I could use frozen spinach?
Hi Carol, yes it is a great easy recipe ! I don’t have great success with frozen spinach it added too much water to the batter – harder to dry out. Also, I guess that it will work if you put everything into the food processor but again the texture will be different. It may remove the spinach bites that gets crunchy while baking. The taco will be softer and more like an omelette I suppose. Let me know if you try anyway 🙂 I am always keen to make my recipes in a different way! Thanks for following the blog. xoxo. Carine.
I winder could you cook it in a skillet instead of baking it in the oven?
Hi Jennifer, I am not sure it will work as it may stick to the skillet. Oven is definitely the best way to cook those tortillas. Enjoy Jennifer! Carine.
Is there somethig I can substitute for the cheese, in this recipe? I’m Lactose intolerant, really want to try this recipe
Hi Julia, Unfortunately this recipe need cheese to hold ingredients together. I would suggest you to try my dairy free zucchini tortilla recipe. I love making this one for my dairy free guest. Recipe is available on the blog here. Enjoy Julia!