Grocery store aisles are often a place of great deliberation: Dark or milk chocolate chips, white or brown rice, hard or soft taco shells. If you’re often caught up on the last one, we get you. It’s hard to know what kind of taco future you would prefer. However, hard taco shells can easily be made in the air fryer, so go ahead and grab the soft ones.
Having a supply of fluffy tortillas doesn’t mean you’re subject to soft tacos alone. While it may seem like hard tacos can only be made with the use of a taco shell mold, there’s another handy kitchen tool that can easily transform soft shells into hard ones. With a mini muffin pan, you can create hard taco shells in a few minutes. Flip the muffin pan upside down and fold the tortillas together, placing them in between the indents of the muffin pan. You can brush the sides of the raised cups with oil beforehand, but it’s not necessary for the tortillas to take shape.
Place the muffin pan in the air fryer and heat it at 400 degrees Fahrenheit. Within three minutes, the tortillas should be browned and crispy. If they’re not as crispy as you’d like, feel free to heat them for a minute or two more, sans the muffin pan.
Do you need a muffin pan to make hard taco shells?
If you don’t have a muffin pan, there are other ways to get curved hard taco shells without the mold. It’s easy to make your own hard taco shells with just a tortilla and a glass cup. Of course, the material won’t allow you to make this in the air fryer, but the microwave will still yield a perfectly crisp tortilla. Fold it into a microwave-safe glass cup and heat it for around 30 seconds.
The wire racks in an oven are another excellent tool for making taco shells. Wipe down the racks before preheating the oven to around 425 degrees Fahrenheit. While it’s preheating, microwave the tortillas in between pieces of damp paper towels for 30 seconds. Coat each tortilla with cooking spray and place each side of the tortilla in between two grates, adjusting based on your desired size. Bake them for around 10 minutes, or until they’re golden brown.
The quick tricks are great for a last-minute taco night when you don’t have all the appliances for making tacos with the mold. Use the hard shells to try out a variety of taco recipes, like beer-battered fish tacos or leftover makeover shredded chicken tacos.
