Taco Bar Menu: DIY Wedding Menu for a Taco Bar
If you’re looking for a way to serve a meal on a budget, a taco bar menu is a great choice for a DIY wedding. There’s a lot of tasks when you plan to make your own wedding food, but if you stay organized, a food bar is doable for any couple. Especially if you get help from your family and friends.
Chicken or ground beef are inexpensive, but delicious when they’re made into tacos. Add a few side dishes and you can set up a fantastic buffet that your guests will love. Add in the fun factor and you’ll have a great wedding meal.
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Planning Your Taco Wedding Menu
The first thing to take into account is your venue. Some venues don’t allow DIY food, so check your contract first and make sure you’ll be allowed to make your own meal.
Consider your number of guests. Are you planning a small, intimate wedding? A medium dinner party? Or is it an all out bash with 100 or more guests?
How many people do you have to help prepare and serve your food?
Does your venue have a kitchen you can use? Or is your home kitchen big enough?
Do you have enough equipment? Can you borrow more?
Where can you store the food before it’s time to serve?
Taco Menu for a DIY Wedding
Hard shells
Flour tortillas
Chicken
Ground beef
Seasoning
Black beans
Pinto beans
Refried beans
Shredded cheese
Lettuce
Tomatoes
Onions
Avocados
Radishes
Peppers
Salsa or pico de gallo
Mild, medium or hot sauce
Guacamole
Sour cream
Jalapeños
Black olives
Cilantro
Parsley
Limes
Side Dishes That Are Perfect With Tacos
As well as your main dish, you should think about adding some side dishes to your wedding menu. Including side dishes on your buffet will help you stick to a budget without looking stingy. It’s less expensive for people to fill up on corn and salad instead of having 5 tacos each.
Having a beautiful layout of cilantro rice, green salads and corn on the cob, plus your tacos will look like a generous banquet and your guests will love having choices.
Some Side Dishes to Add to Your Buffet:
Coleslaw
Green salad with dressing
Corn on the cob
Feeding Vegans and Vegetarians at Your Taco Wedding
If you’re inviting vegans or vegetarians to your wedding, they’ll love your buffet as long as you offer black beans or refried beans plus some veggie toppings. Side dishes, like salads and corn are perfect for vegans and vegetarians.
Allow 1/4 cup of beans per serving. If you’re worried about non-vegans eating it all before the vegans get a chance, make sure to include signs on the buffet. A sign that says “vegan” will usually stop most people from eating something!
If you buy canned refried beans, make sure to check the label. The regular cans are usually made with lard, vegan cans will be made with oil. Read the ingredients or make sure the label says vegan or vegetarian.
Chalkboard Style Sign and Labels for a DIY Wedding Buffet - Instant Download. By: PRINTSbyMAdesign
How to Set Up a Taco Buffet
The most important part of DIY wedding food is to make sure that you follow food safety guidelines. Keep your hot food hot and cold food cold.
If you’re hiring rentals, you can get chafing dishes to keep your chicken, ground beef or beans hot.
Or you can use crock pots or slow cookers to keep everything hot. If you only own one crock pot, try borrowing more from your family and friends. (Remember that your slow cookers need to have some water in them, so your food doesn’t burn. Add ¼ cup of water to each one.)
To keep your toppings cold, you’ll need to keep them on ice. You can fill a tray with ice and put the bowls of toppings in the ice. Or you can order special condiment trays with ice sections.
If you have the space, set up your tables so that people can serve themselves from both sides. If you have a big guest list, avoid long lines by setting up 2 or more buffet stations.
Set out your items in the order that people will use them, with the plates and utensils first.
Put the side dishes next. That way people can start to fill their plates with salad, coleslaw and corn.
Place the shells or tortillas next, then the fillings, toppings and sauce.
DIY Food Bar: Equipment Shopping List
Get Help With the Catering Tasks
Once you’ve decided on your menu, you’ll need to figure out who’s going help with the catering tasks. The best way to make sure everything gets done is by assigning the tasks ahead of time. Make sure your helpers know what they’re supposed to be doing and when.
Assign someone to:
Heat up the food and bring it from the kitchen to the buffet tables.
Keep the buffet tables clean and the food trays full.
Check on the slow cookers to make sure the taco fillings don’t dry out and burn.
Refill the ice under the cold toppings and condiments.
Clear off the tables after the meal.
Clear away the buffet, serving dishes and leftovers.
Set out the dessert table once the meal is cleared away.
Take out the garbage and clean the kitchen.
Taco Bar Checklist
There’s a lot to do, but as long as you start early and stay organized, you can DIY your wedding food menu and have fun doing it. Follow along with the checklist and you can be sure to have everything you need.
Decide on Your Guest List:
How many people will be eating?
Remember to include the bride, groom and any vendors who are working at your wedding.
Recruit Your Helpers:
Make sure the people you ask have the skills for the task.
If your helpers aren’t good cooks, they can still help with food prep, set up, cleaning or decorating.
Figure Out the Practical Parts:
If dishes aren’t included with your venue, organize rentals or buy disposables.
If your venue doesn’t include chafing dishes and serving pieces, borrow or rent some.
Decide where you’ll cook the food.
Decide where you’ll store the food before and after it’s cooked.
Figure out how the food will get to the reception venue.
Decide What to Serve:
Hard or soft shells.
Chicken or beef filling.
What side dishes you’ll include on the menu.
Which toppings you’ll include on menu.
Make your grocery list.
Week Before the Wedding:
Shop for ingredients.
Cook and season your chicken or ground beef and store in the freezer.
Make your cilantro rice and store in the freezer.
Pick up any equipment you’re borrowing (crock pots, warmers, etc.)
Day Before the Wedding:
Decorate your venue.
Set up the buffet with dishes, napkins and signs.
Clean and prepare your vegetables and store them in the fridge.
On the Wedding Day:
Organize your helpers.
Heat up your meat or fillings and set them.
Fill your ice trays and set the toppings out.
Add the side dishes.
Invite your guests to help themselves.
Enjoy your wedding buffet!
Easy Signature Drinks For a Taco Wedding
If you’d like to set up a DIY bar, you can purchase the alcohol yourself and serve it at your reception. Make sure to check with your venue, as well as your local laws and regulations for serving alcohol.
When you’re figuring out how much alcohol to buy, the rule of thumb is one drink per person, per hour. To do the math, multiply your number of guests x number of hours for your reception.
For example, if you’re having 100 guests and your reception is 3 hour long: 100 x 3 = 300 drinks.
You can serve beer and wine, or buy bottles and mixes for cocktails. For more about setting up a DIY bar, read this next: How to Serve Alcohol at a Wedding
A classic choice to serve with a tacobar is Corona beer with limes, or you can choose some of your favorite beer brands. Most couples also serve red and white wine, plus soft drinks and juice. If you’d like more variety, you can offer some signature drinks as well.
Signature drinks are a great way to stay on budget. You only need to buy the ingredients for one or two drinks, so you won’t have to spend a lot. The recipes can be pre-mixed and served in pitchers or dispensers so your guests can help themselves. Margarita Punch or Sangria are perfect for a wedding reception.
Delicious Desserts For a Taco Wedding
If you’re having a wedding cake, it’s the perfect dessert. If you’d like to offer your guests more choices, you can include any desserts that are usually served on wedding reception menus. A cookie table, cupcakes, petit fours or a table of mini desserts are all good choices. If you want to stick with the theme, consider serving:
Churros with chocolate sauce
Mexican wedding cookies
Tres leches cake
Fruit with cream cheese dip
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