Football season is underway, and that means appetizer season is also in full swing. These healthy taco boats that are stuffed with cheesy taco meat are sure to impress your guests and make you the talk of the town. One might even say these taco boats will bring all the boys to the yard. So make sure the lawn is in order.
Okay, on a serious note, this recipe packs nearly 50 grams of protein into each taco boat. It’s only one ingredient away from being able to count everything on one hand (unless you have six fingers like a guy I went to high school with) and is fairly easy to make aside from rolling a bit of dough. Don’t worry, I have alternative options if you’re not up for the dough work.
How to Make Extra Cheesy Healthy Taco Boats
If you’ve seen my Everything Bagel Protein Pop Tarts, the dough for these taco boats uses the same two ingredients—Greek yogurt and Kodiak Cakes pancake mix. And if you don’t have Kodiak Cakes on hand, I’ll include a few alternative options for your taco boats below.
It’s as simple as mixing them together and rolling the dough into a thin layer.
This process is seriously easier than you might think. The photos below show a step by step process of making these taco boats.
Mix it, roll it, cut it, fill it, wrap it, bake it. That’s a wrap (or in this case, a boat).
The only other ingredient question you might have is about cheddar powder, which is simply dehydrated cheddar cheese. It’s a magical ingredient that I use in tons of recipes like my Bacon Cheeseburger Healthy Hamburger Helper Copycat, Cauliflower Mac and Cheese, Low Carb Cheez Its, and tons more.
Don’t have cheddar powder on hand and want to make these taco boats right away? Try melting a bit of cheddar cheese, using the cheese packet from mac and cheese boxes, Knorr cheese sauce mixes, or using nutritional yeast mixed with a few spices (my air fryer potato chips use something that would work here).
How to Make These Cheesy Taco Boats without Kodiak Cakes
Whether you want to pass on the mixing and rolling work or don’t have Kodiak Cakes on hand, you can still make these taco boats. Here are a few alternative boat ideas:
- Store bought taco boat shells, pitas, or even hot dog buns or hollowed out bread loaves
- Zucchini – Slice vertically and use a spoon to hollow the inside out before baking at 400 for 10-15 minutes. Fill with taco meat mixture and melt cheese.
- Lettuce – fill leafs of lettuce as you would lettuce wraps
- Sliced peppers (example: breakfast nacho boats)
- Reduced fat crescent rolls
I’m sure there are other options, but that’s plenty to get you rolling. If you come up with something creative or make these taco boats at all, tag me in your creation on Instagram.
High Protein Cheesy Taco Boats
Ingredients
Taco Boats Filling
- 1 lb Lean Ground Beef, macros with 96/4
- 1 packet Taco Seasoning
- 1/2 C 113g Fat Free Greek Yogurt, plain
- 3 Tbsp 24g Cheddar Powder
- 1/4 C 28g Reduced Fat Shredded Cheddar Cheese, for topping
Taco Boats Dough
- 2 C 212g Kodiak Cakes Pancake Mix, buttermilk
- 3/4 C + 1 Tbsp, 186g Fat Free Greek Yogurt, plain
Instructions
- Heat a large skillet over medium-high heat with nonstick cooking spray. Once hot, add the ground beef. Use a spatula to break the beef apart. Cook for 1-2 minutes before adding the taco seasoning directly to the meat (no water).
- Cook for another 5-7 minutes or until no pink remains. Remove from the heat.
- In a small bowl, mix the Greek yogurt for the taco boats filling (113g) with the cheddar powder until smooth. Add the cheese sauce to the meat. Stir well and set aside.
- Preheat an oven to 400F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
- Mix the Kodiak Cakes mix with the remaining 186g of Greek yogurt in a large bowl with a rubber spatula. It will seem as if you need more Greek yogurt or liquid but keep working the dough and pressing it down until you can form a ball of dough.
- Transfer the dough to the parchment paper and use a rolling pin to flatten the dough into a large rectangle. The edges don't have to perfectly rectangular, but you do want the dough to be thin enough to take up the entire baking sheet. (You can spray your rolling pin with cooking spray to prevent sticking.)
- Use a pizza cutter or knife to cut the dough into 4 pieces.
- Add the taco meat mixture to the center of each piece of dough. If your meat to dough ratio looks off, you probably didn't get the dough thin enough. No worries, just leave a bit of meat out and add after folding. (This step's photo is a good example of almost too much meat. If I'd left out maybe an ounce or two to add on top after folding, they would've been perfect.)
- Fold the ends in first, followed by the sides, creating a hot dog like shape. If you'd rather close yours entirely, leave out a bit of meat and add it on top afterwards.
- Top each taco boat with cheese (about 1 Tbsp each) and bake for 10-12 minutes or until the dough is cooked through. Top with salsa, sour cream or Greek yogurt, or hot sauce. Enjoy!
Notes
- Each taco boat has 10 Smart Points.
- Want to use a homemade, spicier taco seasoning? Check out the seasoning mix from my healthy taco salad.
Nutrition
Lower Calorie Recipes You Might Like
- high protein creamy taco soup
- easy taco pasta bake
- sweet potato nachos with chipotle beef
- Cuban style baked pork tenderloin
Love them!! We used tortillas for the boats and they ended up more like burritos, but they were so good. We’ve had them 2x this week. And my 15 year old asked me for leftovers (there were none) today. The greek yogurt was a great ingredient and I’m going to start using it in place of sour cream more often. Thank you!!
The kodiak cake mix seemed to make the boat dry and very bland in my opinion. My boats were very crumbly and broke apart, so make sure you have enough moisture to keep them together. I don’t think I spread the dough mixture out enough, which added to the dryness of the boat. Filling tastes great! (I still finished the entire recipe, even leftovers; just watch the dough mixture)
Hands down one of my favorite recipes ever! My husband couldnt stop raving about them and has since asked that I make these at least once a week. I didnt have cheddar powder, so I ended up using the nutritional yeast combo but also didnt have paprika. I used chili powder instead which gave it a bit more of a kick than I think it needs, but we still ate them all! I took a leftover for lunch topped with avocado and sour cream, and it was so so yummy! I was worried they werent going to heat up well, but 1 minute in the microwave was perfect!
The kodiak cake mix seemed to make the boat dry and very bland in my opinion. My boats were very crumbly and broke apart, so make sure you have enough moisture to keep them together. I don’t think I spread the dough mixture out enough, which added to the dryness of the boat. Filling tastes great! (I still finished the entire recipe, even leftovers; just watch the dough mixture)
Hands down one of my favorite recipes ever! My husband couldnt stop raving about them and has since asked that I make these at least once a week. I didnt have cheddar powder, so I ended up using the nutritional yeast combo but also didnt have paprika. I used chili powder instead which gave it a bit more of a kick than I think it needs, but we still ate them all! I took a leftover for lunch topped with avocado and sour cream, and it was so so yummy! I was worried they werent going to heat up well, but 1 minute in the microwave was perfect!
Loved this recipe. I did however have a hard time getting the dough into a boat formation. I think next time I will try to put them into small loaf pans. I also recreated the crust recipe using a different pancake mix and made it into a pizza dough! Turned out SO good! Thanks for sharing
BY FAR ONE OF MY FAVORITE MASON DINNERS!! I always sub reduced fat crescent rolls for the dough and adjust the meat based on my macros for the night. Boyfriend approved!!
Do you think gf bisquick would work in place of the Kodiak mix? This looks super yummy, and I’m trying to figure out a good gf option.
Might have to make a few minor tweaks, but I bet you can crack the code. I believe Kodiak Cakes makes a GF option now as well. I’m sure both would require a little tweaking, though.
I really enjoyed the taco filling with the cheese but I used my own taco seasoning which didn’t seem to make a difference. I didn’t roll the dough our thin enough so it was a little gummy in places but where it was thinner it was delicious!
I really enjoyed the taco filling with the cheese but I used my own taco seasoning which didn’t seem to make a difference. I didn’t roll the dough our thin enough so it was a little gummy in places but where it was thinner it was delicious!