Carnivore Taco Shell - No cheese! DAIRY FREE

Looking for a carnivore taco shell that isn’t made out of cheese? I LOOOOVE my cheese taco shells but recently saw an Instagram post by @jortskitchen which inspired this keto carnivore pork rind taco shell! Full disclaimer: These were significantly more work than I expected so keep that in mind if you decide to give them a try. Though admittedly most of the time is hands off just waiting time.

First, make sure your pig skin is properly cleaned, free of hair, and fat removed.

Cut the skin into circles (or whatever shape you desire) for your shells.

I read you can boil it for 2 hours but I took the easy way out and pressure cooked mine in the InstantPot for 1 hour on high pressure. I used the trivet that you can use to easily lift out a cheesecake to hold the skins down in the water and prevent them from floating.

Next I did a quick release and let the inner pot of the InstantPot cool down to the point where I could comfortably handle the pig skin. I removed the skin and placed it in a stainless steel taco shell holder to shape it then added salt and baked at 170 F for 12 hours (basically dehydrating it).

After that, I heated up a large pot of lard - large enough that the whole taco shell holder would fit into and be submerged. Once my lard was up to 350 F I dropped in a trimming to test and got a perfect pork rind.

Then, I very carefully used my InstantPot trivet once again to sit the taco shell holder on and gently submerged it into the oil. It goes without saying but use extreme caution in this process. You do not want 350 F lard spattering on your skin, wear protective clothing and use appropriate equipment. Once submerged I let the skin cook in the hot oil for about 2 minutes.

Some of the skin in the middle of the taco holders was still not completely cooked, so I tossed these in the air fryer (still in the taco shell holders to maintain their shape) for 20 mins at 350 F. Honestly, the air fryer changes the taste a bit and they aren’t quite as good as the pork that was only fried in the oil.

I had also tried just baking the pork skin prior to pressure cooking it, but my result was extremely hard, crunchy, and I didn’t enjoy the taste.

I may try baking these at a higher temp after pressure cooking them next time to see if that works out any better. Though, with the amount of work involved I will probably just stick to cheese based taco shells in the future.