Flamin' Hot Cheetos Taco Ring Recipe

The taco crescent roll ring has long been one of the most popular recipes to come out of the Pillsbury test kitchens, and developer Patterson Watkins feels that it could use a modern makeover. Here, she's enhancing it with one of the trendiest snack foods on the market, Flamin' Hot Cheetos. While her version retains the original recipe's crescent rolls, taco-seasoned ground beef, and cheddar filling, she feels that coating the taco ring in crushed Cheetos makes for a "zesty, fiery, and crunchy remix."

Watkins assures us that "this recipe is pretty easy to make," although she does share her pro tip for Cheetos crushing. She says she puts them in a resealable plastic bag and then smashes them with a meat mallet (the smooth side, not the one with the ridges). She does say, though, that "if you don't have a meat mallet, rolling over the zipper baggie a few times with a rolling pin will work, too." As a bonus, this recipe also includes directions for homemade pico de gallo to accompany the taco ring, one of the several dips and toppings that adorn the dish.

The taco ring is made from refrigerated crescent roll dough wrapped around a filling of cheddar cheese and ground beef flavored with taco seasoning. To Cheeto-fy it, you will need Flamin' Hot Cheetos and butter, and you'll also need some olive oil for cooking. The bulk of the ingredients in this recipe are for toppings and dips: Watkins uses tomatoes, red onion, cilantro, lettuce, pickled jalapeños, black olives, avocado, and sour cream for these purposes.

Heat the olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat.

Once hot, add the ground beef and cook, stirring occasionally, for 8–10 minutes, or until cooked through.

Remove the skillet from the heat and drain away any excess grease.

Add the taco seasoning and water to the skillet and stir to combine with the cooked ground beef.

Sprinkle the seasoned beef with the shredded cheese and stir to combine. Set the skillet aside while you prep the crescent rolls.

Preheat the oven to 375 F.

Remove the crescent rolls from their packages and unroll them.

Lightly spritz a pizza stone or large, round pizza pan with cooking spray.

Working with 1 crescent at a time, dip the crescent dough into the melted butter, allowing any excess to drip off.

Next, dip the buttered crescent dough into the crushed cheetos, gently pressing to adhere the crushed chips to the dough.

Set the coated crescents aside on a wax paper–lined baking sheet. If you start running out of space on your baking sheet, create another row on top, using a sheet of wax paper to separate.

Arrange the coated crescents in a circle on the prepared pizza stone with the wide parts of the triangles overlapping in the center and the thinner parts hanging over the outer edges of the pan. Leave a hole in the center of the ring.

Spoon the taco meat mixture onto the ring, concentrating the mix toward the center, where the crescent coverage is the thickest.

Pull the thinner parts of the crescents up and over the filling toward the center of the ring. Then, tuck those points under the wider crescent base, partially concealing the filling and creating a secure ring. There will be some visible filling where the crescents taper.

Place the pan in the oven and bake for 20–25 minutes, or until the crescents are crispy and the ring is cooked throughout. Set aside to rest for 5 minutes.

Meanwhile, prepare the topping by placing the tomatoes, onion, and cilantro in a medium bowl. Stir to combine the pico de gallo, and season to taste with salt.

Transfer the rested ring to a large serving plate or platter and fill the center with shredded lettuce.

Top the lettuce with a couple spoonfuls of pico, serving any remaining pico on the side.

Then, add the slices of pickled jalapeño and black olives to the center.

Serve your taco ring with mashed avocado and sour cream on the side for dipping.

This recipe allows you to customize it as you like. As Watkins tells us, "You can absolutely swap ground chicken, turkey, or sausage ... for the ground beef in this recipe." She feels that chorizo might be good, too. You can, of course, opt for a plant-based ground meat substitute, as well. Feel free to change up the cheese, too, if you prefer pepper jack or something else that might work well in a taco. You could also use a different flavor of Cheetos, a generic Cheetos knock-off, or even a different type of snack chip as long as it, too, can be reduced to a similar crumb-like consistency

"Feel free to get creative .... [with the toppings]," says Watkins. While she is including a recipe for homemade pico de gallo here, she says you can use store-bought salsa as a shortcut. She also suggests ranch dressing as a dipper, while queso would be great if you want to triple down on cheesy flavor.

This 10-serving recipe seems to have been designed for a party, which is great if you happen to be having one. If you'd like to make it for yourself, though, you have several options. If you feel able to consume the whole thing in a few days, Watkins says that she refrigerated her leftovers and reheated them in a toaster oven. If you need more time to finish the taco ring, you can always freeze it. Watkins admits that she didn't try this, though, so she can't vouch for its quality once thawed. Another option would be to freeze the taco ring before baking it as Watkins notes that "crescent roll dough can be frozen ... for use at another time" and there's nothing in the filling that precludes it from being frozen, either.

You could, of course, always reduce the size of the recipe and just use a single tube of crescent rolls and ½ pound of beef to make a smaller taco ring. Watkins also suggests that you could "cook up just enough taco meat filling as you'd like and use 2 Cheeto-crusted crescents." She says you can then roll the filling up in the crescents to make a kind of Cheetos-flavored taco turnover or dumpling. In either case, though, your taco ring or roll would likely take a shorter amount of time to cook.