Crispy Taco Bites — With a Lissa Twist ♥
Throwback Thursday traveled ALL the way back to 1995 this week!
I pulled out my 1995 Hostess Choice Recipe Collection and found Crispy Taco Bites—little wonton cups filled with a creamy garlic mixture and topped with all your favorite taco fixings.
Cute? Absolutely. Perfect for appetizers at a potluck? Definitely.
But hearty enough for a family full of men and growing boys who just need MORE?
Yeah...not at my house. 😂
So I did what I apparently have always done with recipes: I used it as a guide and made it work for my family.
I swapped the wonton wrappers for flaky biscuits, added seasoned ground beef and onion, cut back the cream cheese, skipped the sour cream, oregano and chili powder in the filling, and turned those little appetizer bites into something much more substantial.
And they were a BIG hit!
The grands actually asked me to make them again the very next day. I didn't 😂—but it was a hoot to be asked!
That's one of the things I'm loving most about going back through these old recipes. Some are wonderful exactly as they were written. Some need a little updating. And sometimes an old recipe becomes the starting point for something entirely new.
The original: Crispy Taco Bites from the 1995 Hostess Choice Recipe Collection.
Does it STILL deserve a place at the table?
Around here, it does—with a Lissa twist. ❤️
1995 → 2026
- 24 wonton wrappers → 2 cans refrigerated flaky biscuits, each biscuit divided into two sections
- 2 packages softened cream cheese → 1 package
- ½ cup sour cream → omitted from filling
- 2 minced garlic cloves → kept
- ¾ tsp oregano → omitted
- ¾ tsp chili powder → omitted
Make it a meal
- 1 lb ground beef
- ½ medium onion, diced
- 3 tbsp taco seasoning
- ⅓ cup water
Toppings: seeded tomatoes, ripe avocado, black olives, ½ sweet onion diced, sour cream, shredded cheddar or Colby Jack, and shredded lettuce.
Crispy Taco Bites
- Preheat oven to 350°F.
- Brown ground beef and onion until the beef is almost completely browned and the onion is translucent.
- Add taco seasoning, ⅓ cup water, and minced garlic. Cook, stirring constantly, for 3 minutes.
- Add cream cheese and stir until melted and fully incorporated. Remove from heat.
- Lightly spritz each well of the Brownie Pan with oil.
- Separate each biscuit into two sections. Place one section in each well and add the ground beef mixture.
- Bake for 16 minutes, or until the biscuits are browned and cooked through.
- Cool for 2 minutes, plate, and let everyone dress theirs up to taste!
Lissa's rule: There is no wrong way to top a taco. 😂
Out of the oven and ready for toppings.
The finished product—dressed up and ready for the table.
The official taste test. 😂
Throwback Thursday Goes Live at 5 — 1995
So... How Did Those Crispy Taco Bites Turn Out?
What were YOU doing in 1995?
Was there a special recipe your family loved back then? I'd LOVE to hear about it—and you never know, your recipe just might earn a future Throwback Thursday feature!
Click Gather at the top of the page and scroll to “I'm Curious, Tell Me More.” When the form opens, choose Other under What Brought You Here? and tell me about your recipe. I'll get back to you about featuring it!
Tell Me About Your Recipe →The recipe came from 1995. The appetite apparently did not. 😂
The recipes we made. The lives we were living. The people who shared our table. ♥
Mexican-Style Deep-Dish Pizza
The first trip into the Throwback shelf took us to 1996.
This one came from the Fall/Winter 1996 Season's Best: Mexican-Style Deep-Dish Pizza. The old recipe page even carries the marks of a recipe that was actually used—exactly the kind of thing this archive is meant to save.
And because recipes are guides, not rule books, I adapted it for the meat-eating men around my table. Peppers and onions didn't make the cut, and after the taste test we decided the olives wouldn't be invited back next time either. 😂
Does it STILL deserve a place at the table?
Yes—with the changes that make it work for the people actually sitting there.
Straight from the Fall/Winter 1996 Season's Best.
A moment from the 1996 live.
The recipes we made. The lives we were living. The people who shared our table. ♥