Some of L.A.’s best taquerias now sell taco kits for your home

Stocking your fridge and freezer with produce is one thing. Stocking your fridge and freezer with succulent grilled meats, guisados and hand-pressed tortillas is another.

Fortunately, some of the best taqueros in the city have us covered with new taco meal kits, which allow us to buy some of our favorite Mexican food in bulk: There are party trays of Sonoratown chivis, DIY kits for Wes Avila’s iconic sweet potato tacos, pints of rice and beans, pounds of carne asada and even some of the best vegan food in town, all available for home assembly and most of it freezable to keep on hand. If you’re anything like us, you could eat unlimited tacos, and now you essentially can. Here’s where to find the best tacos kits in Los Angeles.

Cena Vegan

The best vegan tacos in L.A. can be made at home thanks to Cena Vegan’s new meal kits. Using family recipes for the kinds of marinades normally reserved for meats, this pop-up manages to bring serious flavor to plant-based proteins, which you can choose in one-pound varieties of pollo asado, al pastor and carne asada, and they fill two dozen handmade tortillas with the likes of guacamole, fresh salsas and house-made chipotle cashew crema. You’ll also get two pounds of Mexican rice and two pounds of beans, plus chips, all for $45. Order online. 

Guerrilla Tacos

Wes Avila isn’t just one of the best chefs and taqueros in L.A.—he’s also now the king of taco kits. His ultra-creative restaurant in the Arts District offers an array of “emergency kit” options, and not just for tacos: Guerrilla Tacos still sells an à la carte menu, but if you want to bulk up, you can order kits for tacos, nachos and even cocktails. The mack daddy of all taco kits is Avila’s signature emergency kit, which equates to 60 tacos (at a cost of $2.50 apiece), and includes a roll of toilet paper and 30 eggs, not to mention five pounds of roast chicken, five pounds of carne asada, rice beans, two pints of salsa, tortillas, cilantro and onions for $155. There’s a smaller kit, at $80, which involves two pounds of each meat, and if you want a vegetarian option, there’s even a kit to build Avila’s beloved sweet potato taco (at $52 per kit). Find all Guerrilla Tacos kits here.

Guisados

When it comes to long-simmered stews and braises spooned into handmade tortillas, it’s almost impossible to beat Guisados, and now the family-owned local chain is offering new ways to scoop up their guisados at home. In addition to their regular takeout menu, every open location now offers “survival packs,” which come complete with your choice of four guisados or vegetable fillings, plus four sides of beans, 18 tortillas and all the accoutrements (yes, including those gorgeous pink pickled onions with the tinga). These kits are available by pickup at any location or through Postmates.

Metztli Taqueria

You can’t find Metztli Taqueria at its usual Melody Wine Bar residency, but you can find it at home: One of L.A.’s best and most innovative taco pop-ups now offers weekend service, so you can bring their deluxe taco kits and ready-made, à la carte dishes such as burritos, tacos and an otherworldly hot chicken mulita home. Simply DM over Instagram, then pick up on Fridays at Melody. The taco kits include your choice of meat, plus accoutrements such as miso-and-peanut salsa macha and a tub of hibiscus pickled onions. The salsas are bright and herbaceous, the meats are tender with incredible depth of flavor, and even the beans, silky with dashi, are worth an order alone. Keep your eyes on their Instagram page for weekly menus and ordering/pickup info.

Petty Cash Taqueria & Bar

After a temporary closure, Walter Manzke’s Petty Cash is back and it’s bringing build-your-own tacos with chips and salsas straight to you. Kits are priced per person, at a cost of $21 each, and can be ordered for one or for parties of 10—you know, in case you’re holed up with a family or a polycule or a small sports team. Start by choosing your filling, with option of beef brisket ahumada; Jidori chicken; Salmon Creek pork ahumada; grilled portobello mushroom; and sweet potato, then choose your beans (pinquinto beans or vegetarian black beans), and every order includes handmade blue corn tortillas, poblano rice, salsas, chips, onions and cilantro. Order the kits through Tock. 

Sonoratown

Oh hell yeah: One of L.A.’s best taco providers is assembling special taco party packs, which include everything you need to bring the Sonora-style, char-grilled–meat tacos home for a feast. In addition to a few items off the regular menu, you can order delivery or swing by the DTLA spot for kits involving one or two pounds of meat with 12 of their award-winning, handmade flour tortillas, plus salsas and those signature long, tender strands of grilled green onions. They’ve also got chivichanga party packs, plus a vegan meal option and plenty of six-packs to turn your meal into a party. If you’re in DTLA, you might even be in the Caviar delivery radius; call 213-628-3710 to order or find out more.

Tacos 1986

The boisterous, beloved and hard-hustling home of the self-proclaimed “best taquero in the world” is packing up its tacos for easy assembly. We miss watching Joy Alvarez-Tostado blow kissy faces and flex his muscles at customers as he slices adobada off the trompo, but Tacos 1986’s taco platters are helping to ease the pain. With outposts now in DLTA, Westwood Village and the Fairfax District, Tacos 1986’s vibrant Tijuana-style tacos slathered with guacamole can be pickup up and delivered all over town, both in à la carte format and a sizable kit that includes one pound of your choice of protein, a dozen handmade corn tortillas, beans, guacamole, onions and plenty of salsa verde and salsa ranchera, with add-on options for fresh flour tortillas, aguas frescas and quesadillas. Order for pickup or through these delivery apps, which vary by location.

Tlayuda LA

East Hollywood’s homey, comforting Oaxacan haven just launched taco kits so you can build your own and top them with slices of fresh avocado. Each kit runs $19.99 and includes all the trappings of six Tlayuda L.A. tacos: your choice of grilled chicken, chorizo or vegetables, plus quesillo, tortillas, plenty of salsa and avocados. Find them online under the “party platters” menu. (And while you’re here, might as well grab a tlayuda or four.)

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