What Each Filling Costs Per Taco After Cooking, Bones and Draining, Using August 2026 National Prices
Credit: Daily Vitality
Taco night has a quiet kind of magic. The skillet sizzles, the tortillas warm, and everyone builds exactly the taco they want. It also feels like one of the thriftiest dinners in the weekly rotation. But the price on the package and the price of what actually lands in the tortilla are two different numbers, and the gap between them is where the real story of taco night lives.
A pound of ground beef is not a pound of taco filling. Neither is a pound of bone-in chicken legs, or a bag of dried beans. Water cooks off, fat drains away, bones go in the trash, and beans swell to more than twice their dry weight. So instead of comparing sticker prices, this ranking compares what a finished, cooked, 85-gram portion of each filling (about 3 ounces, a generous taco's worth) costs, and how much protein that portion delivers for every dollar spent.
Eight familiar fillings made the list, each priced with August 2026 national averages and matched to government nutrition records for its cooked form. The ranking runs from the best protein value to the least, with one more layer at the end: what that little envelope of taco seasoning does to the sodium picture. National Taco Day falls on Sunday, October 4, 2026, which makes this a fine moment to see which fillings earn their spot on the table.
Every price comes from the national average prices that the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics publishes each month, read directly from the BLS average price data files for August 2026, the latest month available. These are U.S. city averages, not a single store's shelf tag, so a local price may land above or below them. Canned beans have no BLS series, so their price comes from the USDA's Purchase to Plate national average prices, which are built from 2017 and 2018 retail scanner data and are adjusted here to August 2026 dollars using the Consumer Price Index for canned vegetables (a factor of 1.518). That older vintage is the one soft spot in the data, and it is flagged wherever it matters.
Nutrition comes from USDA FoodData Central, using records for each filling in its raw state and its cooked state. Comparing the protein concentration before and after cooking gives the cooked yield: how many grams of finished filling each purchased gram becomes. That yield turns a price per pound into a price per cooked gram, and from there into a cost per 85-gram taco portion. Bone-in chicken legs get one extra step, because the USDA's own reference data records that 43 percent of a raw leg's weight is bone, skin and separable fat before it ever hits the pan. Protein per dollar is simply the protein in a cooked portion divided by what that portion costs.
The seasoned column assumes one packet of taco seasoning per pound of filling as it goes into the pan, using the median sodium of four national brands. More on that after the ranking.
This ranking is about money and measurement only. It compares what each filling costs and what it delivers per portion, not whether one is a better choice than another for any individual's health.
There is something deeply satisfying about a pot of pinto beans simmering on the back burner, the kitchen slowly filling with an earthy, savory aroma. It turns out that pot is also the best protein value on taco night, and it isn't close.
Dried beans averaged $1.630 per pound nationally in August 2026. The magic happens in the pot: according to USDA FoodData Central, raw pinto beans carry 21.42 grams of protein per 100 grams and cooked beans carry 9.01, which means each dry pound swells to roughly 1,078 grams of cooked beans, about 2.4 times its starting weight. Spread across that much food, an 85-gram portion costs about 13 cents and delivers 7.7 grams of protein. That works out to roughly 60 grams of protein per dollar.
Two honest caveats come with the crown. The BLS price covers dried beans of any type, paired here with pinto nutrition, so black or kidney beans at a similar price would land in the same neighborhood. And beans deliver less protein per taco than any meat on the list, so a bean taco trades a smaller protein serving for a far smaller bill. Cooked without salt, they also start with almost no sodium at all, about 1 milligram per portion, which gives the cook complete control over what goes in.
For a deeper look at stretching a grocery budget around protein, the Daily Vitality breakdown of whether it's possible to hit 100 grams of protein a day on $5 walks through full days of meals built on the same logic.
Soft scrambled eggs folded into a warm tortilla are a weekend favorite for good reason, and this year they're also one of the best bargains in the grocery store. The BLS national average for a dozen grade A large eggs was $2.272 in August 2026, down about 37 percent from $3.587 a year earlier, when egg prices were still elevated.
Eggs are refreshingly simple to cost. A large egg has 50 grams of edible egg inside the shell, and cooking without added milk or butter barely changes its weight, so an 85-gram portion is about 1.7 eggs. That portion costs around 32 cents and delivers 10.7 grams of protein, or 33.1 grams per dollar.
Eggs do carry more natural sodium than any of the meats, about 121 milligrams per portion according to USDA records, which puts them at 11.3 milligrams of sodium per gram of protein before any seasoning. That's still modest, and it's worth knowing that egg prices swing more than almost anything else on this list. A return to last year's price would push eggs down toward the middle of the table.
Anyone curious how eggs stack up against other morning staples might enjoy the Daily Vitality comparison of 30 popular breakfast foods for protein, fiber and calories.
Slow-braised chicken legs, pulled into tender shreds and tossed with a little salsa, make some of the most flavorful tacos around. At $1.670 per pound, bone-in legs are also the lowest-priced meat BLS tracks for this list, less than half the price of boneless breast.
The catch is everything that doesn't end up in the taco. USDA reference data records that 43 percent of a raw leg's weight is bone, skin and separable fat, and the remaining meat then loses about a fifth of its weight in cooking. Put together, a pound of bone-in legs yields only about 205 grams of cooked, skinless meat, roughly 45 percent of what was purchased.
Even so, the low starting price wins out. An 85-gram portion of cooked leg meat costs about 69 cents and delivers 20.6 grams of protein, for 29.7 grams per dollar. That's the best value of any meat on the list. A cross-check using USDA's measured portion weights for a whole leg puts the yield slightly lower, at about 42 percent, which nudges the figure to 27.8 grams per dollar without changing the ranking.
Removing the skin before shredding keeps the portion comparable to the numbers here. The meat-only figures assume the skin is set aside, which also means less fat in the finished filling.
If the goal is the biggest protein serving per taco, boneless chicken breast leads the entire list at 26 grams per 85-gram cooked portion. It's lean, mild and endlessly adaptable, from a quick chili-lime sear to a smoky grilled strip.
At the August 2026 BLS average of $4.173 per pound, a flat price that has barely moved all year, boneless breast costs about $1.06 per cooked portion. USDA records show grilled breast retaining about 74 percent of its raw weight, so there's less shrinkage than with ground beef. The result is 24.5 grams of protein per dollar, a solid middle-of-the-pack value.
Breast also has the lowest natural sodium of any filling here besides dried beans, around 44 milligrams per portion, or 1.7 milligrams per gram of protein. That low starting point matters once seasoning enters the picture, because it leaves chicken breast with the lowest seasoned ratio in the table.
For anyone who likes to cook a batch of chicken once and use it all week, the Daily Vitality analysis of batch-cooked chicken versus deli meat runs the same cost, protein and sodium math on a weekday lunch.
Diced pork, seared until the edges turn crisp and golden, brings a rich, savory depth that many taco fans love. Traditional carnitas use pork shoulder, but BLS no longer publishes a national price for shoulder or for fresh sausage, so boneless pork chops, the live pork series, stand in here.
Boneless chops averaged $4.532 per pound in August 2026. USDA records for center loin chops show they hold on to about 79 percent of their weight when pan-broiled, one of the better cooking yields on the list. An 85-gram cooked portion costs about $1.07 and delivers 22.7 grams of protein, or 21.2 grams per dollar.
That lands pork chops almost exactly level with chicken breast on cost per portion, with a little less protein in each taco. Natural sodium sits at about 73 milligrams per portion, 3.2 milligrams per gram of protein.
Here's the finding that surprised the most. Canned beans feel like the ultimate budget shortcut: pop the lid, rinse, warm and serve. But on a protein-per-dollar basis, canned pinto beans rank below eggs, both cuts of chicken and pork.
The USDA's Purchase to Plate national average prices put canned pinto beans at about 28.5 cents per 100 edible grams in 2017 and 2018, which comes to roughly 43 cents in August 2026 dollars. The gap with dried beans comes from two directions. A canned portion costs nearly three times as much as the same weight of home-cooked beans, about 37 cents versus 13, and it carries less protein, 5.7 grams versus 7.7, because canned beans hold more water. The result is 15.4 grams of protein per dollar, roughly a quarter of what dried beans deliver.
Sodium tells a similar story. USDA's current record for drained canned pinto beans shows 202 milligrams per 100 grams, or about 172 milligrams per portion, the highest natural sodium on the list at 30.2 milligrams per gram of protein.
The canned bean price rests on the most recent Purchase to Plate data, which dates to 2017 and 2018 retail sales. It has been adjusted for inflation, but store brands and sales can move it noticeably. Of all eight prices, this is the one most worth checking against a local shelf.
For many households, taco night means ground beef browning in a skillet with a packet of seasoning, and there's real comfort in that familiar smell. But by the numbers, it's the second-most expensive way to put protein in a tortilla.
Two forces push it down the table. First, price: regular ground beef averaged $6.923 per pound in August 2026, up nearly 10 percent from $6.318 a year earlier. Second, shrinkage. USDA's ground beef cooking study browned crumbles in a skillet and drained them in a colander, exactly as most taco cooks do, and the resulting records show a pound of 80/20 beef shrinking to about 288 grams of finished crumbles. That's a loss of more than a third of the purchased weight to water and drained fat.
So an 85-gram portion of cooked ground beef costs about $2.04. It delivers a hearty 22.9 grams of protein, but that's only 11.2 grams per dollar, less than a fifth of what dried beans offer.
For a look at how beef compares with the meatless options in the burger aisle, the Daily Vitality comparison of plant-based patties versus beef costs both on price, protein and sodium per patty.
It seems logical that lean ground beef would close the gap: less fat to drain means more meat left in the pan. And that part is true. USDA records for 90/10 beef show it keeps about 70 percent of its raw weight after browning and draining, compared with 64 percent for regular.
The problem is the price tag. BLS's lean and extra-lean category averaged $8.573 per pound in August 2026, about $1.65 more than regular ground beef. The better yield doesn't make up the difference. An 85-gram cooked portion costs about $2.29 and delivers 24.2 grams of protein, for 10.6 grams per dollar, the lowest on the list.
Because BLS groups everything 90 percent lean and leaner together, the comparison was also run with 93/7 beef. That version comes out at 11.0 grams per dollar, still no better than regular ground beef. Lean beef's appeal is in what it offers in the pan, less fat to drain, rather than in stretching a grocery budget.
Once the protein math is settled, there's one more ingredient that shapes the finished taco, and it's the one that comes in a paper envelope. USDA FoodData Central's branded food records list the sodium in four national taco seasoning mixes. Multiplied out to a standard 1-ounce packet, they range from about 1,588 milligrams (Old El Paso Original) through 1,867 (Taco Bell Original) and 2,016 (Ortega Original) to about 2,364 milligrams (McCormick Original). The median is about 1,941 milligrams per packet.
For perspective, the FDA sets the Daily Value for sodium at less than 2,300 milligrams per day, and one median packet holds about 84 percent of that. The packet directions typically call for one envelope per pound of meat, and here's where cooking yield comes back into play. Because a pound of regular ground beef shrinks to about 3.4 taco portions, each portion carries a larger share of the packet, about 572 milligrams on top of the 77 milligrams already in the beef. A seasoned ground beef taco portion lands near 650 milligrams, around 28 percent of the Daily Value.
The pattern holds across every meat. Seasoning adds roughly 460 to 570 milligrams per portion to the chicken, pork and beef fillings, five to eleven times their natural sodium. For beans and eggs, allocating a packet per pound of cooked filling adds about 364 milligrams per portion. In other words, the choice of seasoning shapes the sodium in a taco far more than the choice of filling does.
There are a few ways to shift that number, and all of them are optional depending on taste. Reduced-sodium versions from Old El Paso (25 percent less sodium) and Ortega (40 percent less sodium) come in around 1,190 to 1,200 milligrams per packet, roughly 750 milligrams less than the median standard packet. Some cooks use half a packet per pound and top up with chili powder and cumin. Others build their own blend from pantry spices, which puts the salt entirely in their hands.
Toppings add sodium too. Cheese, salsa and sour cream all carry some, so the per-taco total depends on the whole build, not just the filling and seasoning. The Daily Vitality comparison of guacamole, hummus and tzatziki shows how much a single scoop of a creamy topping can vary.
Transparency is the whole point of a ranking like this, so here are the inputs for each filling, in the order they were used. Prices are BLS U.S. city averages for August 2026 unless noted. Yields are cooked grams per purchased gram, derived from USDA FoodData Central protein values for the raw and cooked forms.
A few method notes keep the comparison fair. The canned bean price is already expressed per edible gram of drained beans, so no additional draining adjustment is applied. Chicken leg figures assume the skin is removed. Egg nutrition uses the raw whole-egg record, since the cooked scrambled record includes added milk and fat. The seasoned sodium column uses the four-brand median packet of 1,941 milligrams, applied per pound of raw edible meat or per pound of cooked beans and eggs.
A year from now the order could shift. Egg prices have been the most volatile line in the table, and ground beef has climbed steadily. For a broader view of where these foods sit among everyday staples, the Daily Vitality ranking of the best protein per dollar across 25 foods applies the same thinking to the whole grocery cart.
About the Author
Angela Nightingale is a Senior Editor at Daily Vitality with over two decades of experience in digital publishing and health and wellness content. She specializes in turning complex, often-confusing health topics into clear, calm, and practical guidance that respects the reader's intelligence. Her work focuses on helping people feel informed and confident — never overwhelmed or alarmed — as they make everyday decisions about how they eat, move, rest, and age.
Dried pinto beans, at about 60 grams of protein per dollar for an 85-gram cooked portion using August 2026 national prices. Eggs come second at about 33 grams per dollar, and bone-in chicken legs are the best-value meat at about 30.
Boneless chicken breast, at about 26 grams per 85-gram cooked portion. Lean ground beef (24.2 grams) and regular ground beef (22.9 grams) follow closely, but both cost roughly twice as much per portion.
Because the ranking measures protein per dollar, not protein per taco. Ground beef has the highest price per pound of the group and loses more than a third of its weight to water and drained fat, so each cooked portion costs about $2.04 to $2.29.
Not on protein per dollar. Lean beef keeps more weight in the pan, about 70 percent versus 64 percent, but its higher price outweighs that advantage, leaving it at 10.6 grams of protein per dollar versus 11.2 for regular.
A drained 85-gram portion of canned pinto beans costs about 37 cents, nearly three times the 13 cents for home-cooked dried beans, and it holds less protein because canned beans carry more water. The canned price rests on 2017 and 2018 USDA data adjusted for inflation.
Based on USDA records for 80/20 beef browned and drained in a colander, a pound shrinks to about 288 grams of cooked crumbles, roughly 64 percent of its raw weight. That's about 3.4 taco portions of 85 grams each.
Among four national original-flavor mixes in USDA's branded food database, a 1-ounce packet ranges from about 1,588 to 2,364 milligrams of sodium, with a median near 1,941 milligrams, or about 84 percent of the 2,300-milligram Daily Value.
Using one median packet per pound of meat, seasoning adds about 460 to 570 milligrams per 85-gram meat portion. For ground beef, the total lands near 650 milligrams per portion, around 28 percent of the Daily Value.
Yes. Old El Paso's 25% Less Sodium and Ortega's 40% Less Sodium mixes each come in around 1,190 to 1,200 milligrams per packet, about 750 milligrams less than the median standard packet.
BLS average prices are national averages drawn from price observations across U.S. cities, and they describe a whole month rather than a single day. Regional differences, store brands and weekly sales can all move a local price above or below them.
National Taco Day falls on Sunday, October 4, 2026.
