A quick, easy, versatile Mexican dish!
Corn Tortilla Tostadas are an easy weeknight dinner
Corn tortilla tostadas are one of the easiest weeknight dinners I make. And better yet, they’re also pretty healthy. I love topping my tostadas with lots of fresh vegetables like shredded lettuce, diced onion, and chopped avocado. That coupled with any number of protein options makes for a complete, healthy, well-balanced meal.
About those corn tortillas
If you check the international aisle of most super markets, you can find pre-fried corn tostada shells. These can be a real time saver for super fast meals. Sometimes though these can be difficult to find, or out of stock, whereas I have almost always been able to find corn tortillas in store.
Another reason to consider frying the tortillas yourself is that this way, you control the amount of oil used. The pre-fried corn tostadas are very crispy, suggesting that they are deep fried. While my corn tortilla tostadas may not be as crispy as a tortilla chip, they also are never submerged in oil. I also really enjoy the flavor of a warm, freshly fried tortilla. And even better – it doesn’t take long to fry them.
Smoked Green Enchilada Sauce
Smoked green enchilada sauce is one of my secret flavor weapons. Every year when the tomatillo harvest comes in, we cube and smoke most of them and create this super savory sauce. I use it in most places that you’d add salsa or picante, obviously for enchiladas, and it even goes well over rice. Check out the recipe here.
A quick tip on sour cream
You can make clean lines of sour cream by scooping some into a baggy, and cutting a small corner off one end. Then squeeze the sour cream out like a piping bag.
Alternate toppings on your corn tortilla tostada
One reason tostadas are my favorite go-to weeknight meal is that there are so many different ingredient combinations. It doesn’t matter what kind of meat I have, or if my avocados are ripe enough to eat – a different ingredient can always be subbed in. Pick and choose at least one ingredient from each column below and combine on top of your corn tortilla tostada for an excellent meal.
|
Protein |
Vegetables |
Garnish |
|
Shrimp |
Grilled bell pepper |
Diced onion |
|
Cubed or shredded chicken |
Grilled onion |
Diced tomato |
|
Ground beef or turkey |
Corn |
Shredded lettuce |
|
Diced avocado |
Shredded cheese |
|
|
Cubed or shredded pork |
Red cabbage salad |
Diced jalapeno |
|
Cilantro |
If your protein is otherwise unmarinated or spiced, you can use taco seasoning to give your protein the right flavor for this meal. If your meat is already cooked (like shredded chicken) you can combine it in a skillet with 2 tbsp to ¼ cup of water and some taco seasoning and cook on high until combined.
You can also play with the bean layer. I like using refried beans since they will hold the protein in place, but you could always mix it up. Try refried black beans for a different flavor but the same texture, or try rinsed pinto, red kidney, or black beans.
What should I serve with my Corn Tortilla Tostadas?
The standard sides for most of my Mexican recipes are refried beans and rice. Since refried beans are already on the tostadas, I usually just serve rice on the side. I particularly like my Turmeric Yellow Basmati Rice on the side.
Recipe for Corn Tortilla Tostada
Corn Tortilla Tostada
Equipment
- 1 Frying Pan
Ingredients
- 1 6 inch corn torilla Use as many as you plan to eat
- 1 can refried beans
- 2 oz shredded smoked pot roast use about 2oz meat per tostada
- lettuce
- tomato
- onion
- Salsa
- Sour Cream
Instructions
- Heat a pan on medium high heat with some cooking oil. Once hot add as many corn tortillas to the pan as fits.
- Flip the tortilla and cook for a couple minutes more; you’ll notice the tortillas turn a deeper yellow. Continue to fry each side until it reaches the desired level of brown/golden you prefer.
- While frying the tortilla, you’ll want to heat up the bean layer and prepare your protein. Since we’re using leftover smoked pot roast, we just heated it up in a pan. For the refried beans, we added a ¼ cup of water to a can of beans, and stirred them over medium heat. Once they smoothed out, we reduced to low heat until ready to prepare.
- Once all of your corn tortillas, beans, and protein are ready, begin assembly. Lay out a layer of beans on the tortillas and stack your meat on top.
- Then add the veggies and other toppings. We added tomato, then onion, then lettuce, and topped it with sour cream and smoked tomatillo sauce.We served ours with a side of rice, enjoy 🙂