Tulsa Indian Tacos: A Frybread Guide

Tulsa Indian tacos are a plate of puffed, golden bread topped with chili, beans, lettuce, tomato and cheese, and in Oklahoma they are a fair and festival staple. The bread has a hard history and the taco a shared one. Here are both stories, how to order one and what to ask the cook.

Knowing the dish and its history lets you order one with confidence.

What are Tulsa Indian tacos?

An Indian taco is a round of fried dough used as a plate. The Oklahoma Historical Society's encyclopedia says Native cooks hand-flattened and deep-fried the dough into a distinctive, golden bread, and that the taco is topped with beans, chili, onions, tomatoes and cheese. It adds that most cooks have their own recipe, and that some versions of the bread use pumpkin or squash.

You eat it with a fork, or by tearing off pieces of bread and scooping. It is filling, so one is a meal, and sharing one between two is a sensible way to start.

Where does frybread come from?

The story is told with care because it is not a happy one. The encyclopedia says many historians believe fry bread was developed in the mid to late nineteenth century, as the U.S. government relocated and confined Native peoples, and cooks worked with the Army rations they were given, especially white wheat flour. ICT News, a Native news outlet, tells the same story of rations of flour, lard, salt and baking powder, and notes that some credit the Navajo with inventing it while many tribes now claim it.

For a diner, the lesson is respect. The dish is a food of survival and of celebration, and Native cooks have made it their own. Some critics object to turning it into a commercial product, according to the Oklahoma Historical Society, so notice who is cooking and who is telling the story.

How did the Indian taco spread from powwows to fairs?

The encyclopedia says fry bread became a popular treat in the twentieth century at Oklahoma fairs, powwows, festivals and restaurants, and that Indian tacos have long been a favorite at the State Fair of Oklahoma. It is also a standard at powwows and at the Red Earth Festival in Oklahoma City. The same entry notes that the American Indian Exposition in Anadarko held its first national fry bread contest in 1993.

ICT News describes the Indian taco as growing from the bread and a love of chili, beans and cheese, and names a national Indian taco competition in Pawhuska, sponsored by the Osage Nation. If you want to go, check the organizers for the current date and place, since events change.

What goes on an Indian taco?

The classic layers are chili and beans, often mixed together, then lettuce, tomato and cheese. ICT News says the chili and beans pairing is considered essential. Competition cooks also use green onions, olives, cilantro and salsa, so a plate at a festival may differ from one at a table.

Ask what is in the chili, whether the beans are cooked with meat and whether the bread is fried in lard or oil. Those answers matter for diets and for taste. If you are vegetarian, the Tulsa vegetarian guide lists the questions.

How do you judge a good piece of bread?

Look first at the bread. It should be puffed and golden, tender in the middle and a little crisp at the edge, and it should not taste of old oil. Look at the topping next: warm chili, fresh lettuce and tomato, cheese that has melted a little against the heat of the bread.

Then ask yourself whether it holds together. A good taco keeps its shape until the last bite without being a brick, and the topping does not slide off in the first minute. Ask the cook what they would add and what they would leave out. Most are glad to talk about the recipe.

How do you keep Indian taco notes with Mosey?

After a plate, open the Mosey app and rate the dish itself. A rating needs a place and stars. Name the taco, write what you tasted, such as puffed bread, spicy chili, bean heavy, and add a tag and a photo. Tag the friends who shared it so they can add their own ratings.

Start a list called Fry bread and send it to a friend by invite link. Following friends shows what they rated and saved. Tags show what the rater chose, so confirm details with the cook. The ratings page explains how rating works.

If you eat from a stand or a family kitchen, keep in mind that Mosey is free to list, with no hidden fees for the cook.

Where else can you read about Tulsa?

Read the Tulsa State Fair guide for another place the taco appears and the finding good food guide. Our burger guide covers a different Oklahoma habit. See the Tulsa page, the Oklahoma page and the US food guides.

At your next Indian taco, open the Mosey app, rate the plate by name and add it to a list.