TacosMediumFree

San Antonio Puffy Tacos

Name: San Antonio Puffy Tacos
Prep time: 30 min
Cook time: 20 min
Total time: 50 min
Cuisine: Mexican
Ingredients: 400 g Corn masa; 1 White onion; 2 cloves Garlic cloves; 1 tsp Ground cumin; 0.5 tsp Black pepper; 2 Tomatoes; 500 ml Vegetable oil (for frying); 4 tbsp Sour cream; 400 g Ground beef

50 min (30 prep + 20 cook) Medium 4 servings San Antonio

Edmond Bojalil

Recetas Mexas

Published: Mar 29, 2026 · Updated: May 16, 2026

Puffed and fried masa tortillas filled with ground beef, lettuce and tomato, a San Antonio speciality.

About this recipe

Puffy tacos are the culinary pride of San Antonio, Texas: fresh masa tortillas deep-fried in hot oil until they puff up like balloons, creating a shell that is crispy on the outside and soft on the inside, perfect for filling with seasoned ground beef, fresh lettuce, tomato and sour cream. Unlike conventional tacos, the tortilla is fried without folding, then opened at the top to add the filling, making it a taco unlike any other in the world.

History & Origin

Puffy tacos are a genuinely San Antonian invention dating back to the 1950s, when restaurants on the West Side of San Antonio began frying raw masa tortillas rather than cooking them on a griddle. The technique of frying the dough without folding it traps air inside, creating the characteristic texture that gives them their name. Ray's Drive Inn, founded in 1956 by the López family in San Antonio, is widely credited as the inventor of the puffy taco as we know it today. For decades it was an almost exclusively San Antonian dish, so deeply rooted in local identity that the city chose a puffy taco as the official mascot for the minor-league baseball team the San Antonio Missions. Today puffy tacos appear at the Texas State Fair and in dozens of restaurants around the city, but purists insist that the best ones are still found on the West Side.

Estimated cost

$9.00

Total cost

$2.25

Per serving

* Approximate prices based on US supermarkets

Nutritional information per serving

580

Calories

30g

Protein

52g

Carbohydrates

28g

Fat

Fiber

720mg

Sodium

* Approximate values. May vary depending on ingredients used.

Method

1
Mix the corn masa with warm water and a pinch of salt until you have a smooth, pliable dough with the consistency of modelling clay. Divide into 8 small balls.
2
Flatten each ball between two sheets of cling film using a tortilla press or a heavy plate until you have circles 12–14 cm in diameter and 3 mm thick.
💡 If the dough cracks, it is too dry: add a little more water.
3
Heat plenty of vegetable oil in a deep skillet to 180°C. Carefully slide a raw tortilla into the oil. Within seconds it will begin to puff up.
4
When the tortilla puffs, use a spatula to gently press the centre and shape it into a boat. Fry for 1–2 minutes on each side until golden and crispy.
5
Drain on kitchen paper and repeat with the rest. Keep warm in the oven at 80°C.
6
For the filling: in another pan, fry the ground beef with the onion, garlic, cumin, chili powder, salt and pepper until well cooked and seasoned.
7
Carefully open each puffy taco from the top and fill with the ground beef, shredded lettuce, diced tomato and a spoonful of sour cream.