Mexican Tapas And Cocktail Night: 5 Tips To Craft A DIY Mini Taco Bar
Mexican tapas such as mini tacos are among one of those flavourful delicacies that go well at any informal gathering, pot lunch or intimate cocktail evening. Mini tacos can be assembled easily when you have your fillings ready and all your sides and sauces just raging to hop into the tortilla shells.
These small bites are cheerful offerings when you want to set up a DIY station where guests can work with different ingredients that all of them would bring to the taco station at a potluck to prepare their own variation of this Mexican starter.
Pair tacos with jugs of flavoured margaritas prepared using a smooth Don Julio Blanco that introduce a welcome buzz into your evening. The sweet and sour flavours in a vibrant margarita go really well with crispy tacos stuffed with brightly flavoured assorted meats and veggies. So, you can set up these DIY stations where guests can first prepare and then gorge on mini tacos with a side of this refreshing cocktail in hand.
Read on below for some easy tips and tricks to go about setting your DIY taco bar when you are hosting a Mexican night at home:
Assorted Taco Fillings
You would of course lay out lots of crescent-shaped mini taco shells when you are setting up this DIY station. But along with the shells, also have at hand different kinds of stuffings made using shredded chicken and other meats that are flavoured by tossing them in different sweet, spicy and tangy sauces. When it is a potluck you are hosting, you can get your attendees to bring chilli chicken, sweet and salted tofu, mixed veggies tossed in tomato sauce to make up the stuffings that would go inside the taco shell. Lay these out attractively in big bowls so they show off an inviting look.
Crispy Veggie Garnishes
Along with cooked meats, what you would also need to complete a mini taco are fresh veggies that act as crispy garnishes. Not only do they provide a textural break between bites of the cooked meat, they also add a refreshing element into the starter. Assorted veggies like shredded carrots, cabbages, lettuce, tomatoes, onions, cilantro are among some of the garnishes that can make it onto your DIY taco station. Different toppings will also give guests more options to get creative and experiment with myriad pairings.
Arrange For Assorted Dips And Sauces
The next important element in setting up a DIY mini taco bar is dips like guac, sour cream and salsa that are required to bring in more flavour into the small bites. As an unwritten rule, starters ought to be refreshing and appetising so they warm your bellies up for the mains that will follow. Your fresh dips like sour cream and grated queso fresco or Monterey Jack introduce this vibrancy into your tacos along with the different veggies that go into their making. So, when you are setting up a DIY station, make sure you lay out small bowls of these dips that guests can pour over their mini tacos.
DIY Recipe Cards
It is easy to make tacos at a DIY station when you have a recipe at hand. With colourful recipe cards, you can help your attendees to have more fun at making these starters because they will get some sound tips and advice on how to go about filling up the taco shells. Get creative with your recipe cards and decorate them with doodles and steps to make tacos written up in exquisite handwriting and colourful stationery.
Quirky Ingredient Pairings
When you have a whole range of assorted meats, fresh veggies and dips laid out for preparing mini tacos, you have that much more room to experiment with flavour pairings. While recipe cards will give guests an idea of how to layer mini tacos, they will also provide them a headway for bringing together unexpected ingredients in tasty pairings. Paired with flavourful margaritas, these eclectic mini tacos can be vibrant numbers on DIY potluck nights.
