When you think about it, there are a lot of high calorie ingredients in a typical taco. The high fat taco shell, the ground beef, the cheese, the guacamole. At first glance it would seem a difficult task to reduce the calories in a taco without somehow drastically altering the taste.

But let me assure you, it is possible, and the results are very tasty.

Let's start with the taco shell. Taco shells are typically cooked with partially-hydrogenated vegetable oil which contains unhealthy trans fat. Soft taco shells are a healthier alternative and they contain less calories than regular taco shells. So if you decide to make this recipe frequently I would certainly recommend wrapping the filling ingredients in a soft taco shell instead of regular taco shells.

But there's something special about the crunch of a taco shell contrasting with the mixture of soft filling ingredients, so in this instance I'm going to use regular taco shells.

Adapting the ground beef filling

The savory ground beef filling in a taco is also high in calories and saturated fat. In fact ground beef (also known as beef mince) is one of the fattiest types of meat with around 60 percent of calories coming from fat—a lot of it saturated.

Instead, our savory ground beef filling is going to be made from TVP (textured vegetable protein). When I did a makeover on cheeseburgers I used this versatile soy-based product, that looks and tastes like ground beef, to make hamburger patties.

This time I'll turn the TVP into a "beef" chili mixture for filling tacos. This not only reduces the calorie and saturated fat content, but you also get the health benefits of soy.

The guacamole and cheese

Guacamole is made from avocados, which are high in fat. But most of this fat is heart-healthy monounsaturated fat. So guacamole is the ideal ingredient to give you that "mouth feel" of fat without compromising your health. (Just remember, guacamole is still high in calories so we won't go drowning our tacos in it.)

Cheese contains a fair amount of saturated fat, but I'm not going to recommend you use low fat cheese as a substitute. Simply use real full-flavored cheese in small amounts. Too much cheese on a taco takes away from the flavors of the other ingredients and tends to easily spill out of the taco anyway.

Before I show you how to make these healthy tacos, let's take a look at the nutritional difference between our healthy tacos and a regular taco:

Our recipe has reduced the calories substantially, and our taco contains three times less saturated fat than a typical taco. And remember, if you want to make this recipe even healthier use soft taco shells instead of regular taco shells.

Here's how you make these tacos. This recipe makes 12 tacos, which serves four people.

Soak the TVP

Pour ¾ cup boiling water over 1 cup TVP in a bowl, cover, and set aside for 15 minutes to soak.

Dice onion and peppers

Dice an onion, half a red pepper and half a green pepper.

Cook the onion and peppers

Cook the onion and peppers in a frying pan over a medium heat in 1 tablespoon of canola or peanut oil for 5 minutes. Add 2 cloves of finely chopped garlic, 2 teaspoons cumin, 1½ teaspoons paprika and ½ teaspoon chili powder and cook, stirring, for a minute.

Add the other ingredients

Add the soaked TVP, ½ cup rinsed and drained canned red kidney beans, 14 oz (420g) canned chopped tomatoes, 1 cup beef stock, 1 teaspoon brown sugar, 2 tablespoons tomato paste, 1 teaspoon salt and ½ teaspoon ground black pepper, and bring to the boil. Reduce the heat to medium and simmer, uncovered, for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Prepare the guacamole and fresh ingredients

While the chili simmers, make the guacamole. Mash 1 halved, deseeded and peeled avocado with 1 teaspoon lemon juice, ½ clove crushed garlic, ¼ teaspoon sea salt and ¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper with a fork until well combined. Next, prepare the other fillings and put into separate bowls: 2 cups shredded iceberg lettuce; 3 diced tomatoes; 1 cup grated sharp Cheddar cheese; guacamole and ready-made salsa.

Heat the taco shells and serve

Place the tacos on a baking tray and heat according to packet instructions. Fill each taco with some shredded lettuce, a couple of tablespoons of chili, diced tomato, salsa, a little guacamole and grated cheese to serve.

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