This easy steak taco rigatoni is made with hearty steak, fire-roasted tomatoes, taco seasoning with a queso sauce all over delicious rigatoni. Finish this dish off with all of your favorite taco toppings for a quick hearty dinner option.
Steak Taco Rigatoni
I am very fortunate that February has Valentine’s day and then a week later is my birthday. For Valentine’s day, I always enjoy having steak and for my birthday I usually enjoy some type of pasta or tacos. So I figured, it was about time I combine the two with some steak taco flavors (another favorite) and viola, steak taco rigatoni was born. This is so good, could easily feed a small army or have amazing leftovers for the rest of the week. One of my other favorite things about this dish is I took all the concepts of making an Alfredo sauce and turned it into a queso sauce to pour over this pasta dish to continue with the taco flavors and it stands up really well with the steak and the addition of kale for that earthy flavor.
This dish is best cooked in three separate parts, the meat, the pasta and lastly, the cheese sauce. For the meat, I used pre-chopped beef steak from the grocery store. It’s chopped and ready to be cooked, saving me an extra step in the kitchen. To start, I add butter, red onion and garlic to a large skillet. Once the onions are soft, add the steak, fire roasted tomatoes, lime juice and taco seasonings. Stir well. Once the steak is almost close to being finished, add sweet corn, kale and red pepper flakes.
While you are cooking the steak you can fill a pot with water and start heating it for the pasta. Follow the directions on the box to cook the rigatoni.
To make the cheese sauce you want to take a little bit of butter and flour and combine until you make a roux. Once that is complete, add the milk, cheese, salt and red pepper flakes and keep stirring until the sauce is a desired consistency.
Enjoy!
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Steak Taco Rigatoni
- Author: Elena
Description
This easy steak taco rigatoni is made with hearty steak, fire-roasted tomatoes, taco seasoning with a queso sauce all over delicious rigatoni. Finish this dish off with all of your favorite taco toppings for a quick hearty dinner option.
Ingredients
Steak:
2 pounds of chopped beef steak
4 tablespoons of taco seasoning
1 tablespoon of minced garlic
1/2 red onion chopped
4 tablespoons of butter
1/4 teaspoon of lime juice
1 teaspoon of dried cilantro
1 can of sweet corn (15 oz roughly)
2 cups of kale
1/4 teaspoon of red pepper flakes
Queso Sauce:
2 tablespoons of butter
2 tablespoons of flour
1 cup of milk
1.5 cup of Mexican cheese (chihuahua)
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon chili powder
Pasta:
1 package of rigatoni (1 pound)
Instructions
Steak:
Grab a medium size bowl and add taco seasoning and salt to the meat and combine until meat is covered in seasoning.
Add the butter, red onion and garlic to a large skillet over medium heat. Once the onions are soft, add the steak, fire roasted tomatoes and lime juice, stir well.
The skillet should be very hot at this point and the steak should take roughly two minutes. Stirring to make sure all the meat is cooked through. Once the steak is close to being finished, add sweet corn, kale and red pepper flakes (roughly one minute).
Set aside.
Queso Sauce:
Add butter to a medium heated sauce pan.
Add flour and stir until a thick consistency.
Slowly add 1 cup of cold milk while stirring or whisking in the saucepan.
Slowly add cheese and stir in until melted.
Add salt to taste and a pinch of chili powder.
Rigatoni:
Cook 1 pound of rigatoni according to box instructions.
Boil six quarts of water.
Add a pinch of salt and pasta.
Stir and bring to a boil again and cook uncovered for about 12 minutes.
Remove from heat and drain well.
Assemble your dish, pasta, meat and top with queso sauce and fresh toppings.
Notes
Optional Fresh toppings:
Chopped cilantro
Fresh chopped red onion
Cotija Mexican cheese (Parmesan can be substituted)
Red pepper flakes