Amish Haystacks, Haystacks Recipe Taco

Amish Haystacks

What are Amish Haystacks? It sounds like something you would see out in the field as you drive through the Amish countryside.

In this post, however, I am sharing a Haystacks Recipe that is similar to Tacos. This is an Amish Haystacks Recipe that you can make for dinner tonight. It is super easy to make, very versatile, and loved by all!

You simply take a lot of different ingredients and pile them onto your plate to create a haystack.

Haystack Dinner

I don't know exactly where this haystack dinner recipe originated, and it may not have originated with the Amish.

However, this Haystack food recipe has become well-known among the Amish. And it is served frequently as a fundraiser meal in their communities.

It's an easy meal for a group to put together because each family can bring a large dish with one ingredient. They arrange all the ingredients on the table and create a haystack by piling a little bit of each ingredient on a plate.

The Amish haystack recipe is built on a lettuce base, followed by taco-seasoned hamburger, cooked white rice, red beans, tortilla chips, tomatoes, guacamole, sour cream, salsa, and finally topped with a cheese sauce.

It's like a taco that's piled on a plate. So it's less messy to eat than a taco but tastes just as great!

I don't think I ever ate tacos growing up in my Amish home. But this was our version of Amish tacos.

Haystack Food Recipe

This is a recipe for haystacks with rice. Obviously, tacos don't usually include rice.

But rice is cheap, and I'm guessing that the reason this haystack recipe includes rice is that it helps to fill up your plate without using a lot of meat. Plus, it goes well with all the other ingredients.

The Amish women often feed large crowds of people because they have large families. And they get together for meals quite frequently.

When a few large families get together it's a crowd, and it can get expensive to feed a crowd. So they try to stretch the food as much as possible, by adding cheaper options.

Amish Haystack Dinner - my kids' favorite meal

Haystacks Recipe Tacos is literally one of my kids' favorite meals. And who doesn't love tacos, right?

This is a great kid-friendly meal. Because most kids love tacos, and haystacks are less messy to eat than having to hold a taco in your hand.

You may have to be careful though; I always end up with a bigger stack than I intended. I add a little bit of each ingredient, and it doesn't look like much. But by the time I have everything on my plate, the pile can get pretty big.

Another thing that I love about this meal is that it is very versatile. You can add all the ingredients that you can imagine would go well together. And you can put them in any order that you please.

I grew up using lettuce as the base, but my kids like to put all the hot ingredients (meat, rice, and beans) on the bottom. It's not a big deal, put it in any order you please.

How do I make my Amish Haystack Recipe?

Cooking Rice: I start by cooking the rice since it takes twenty minutes to cook. If you have a rice cooker, by all means, use it.

But rice is easy to cook on the stovetop as well. Just put the rice, water, and salt into a saucepan and bring it to a rolling boil. Reduce heat to low temperature. Cover and set your timer for twenty minutes. Do not open the lid until your timer goes off.

Brown hamburger: While the rice is cooking, I brown the hamburger and warm the beans. You can cook dried beans if you plan ahead far enough, but I often use canned beans.

And I have recently started making my own taco seasoning as well.

Lettuce: If you are limited on time, you can buy the shredded lettuce in bags, but I tend to stay away from bagged lettuce and cut up my own. Cut up the lettuce and tomatoes the same as you would for tacos.

Cheese Sauce: You can buy a can of cheese sauce and warm it, or make your own. To make the cheese sauce, add 1/2 cup of milk and a Tbsp. of butter to a microwave-safe dish. Add about a 2 1/2" slab of Velveeta cheese (cut into slices). Warm in the microwave at 1-minute intervals, stirring in between, until it is melted and smooth.

Guacamole: Some of us like guacamole on our haystacks. So I make guacamole by smashing two avocados with a fork. Add about 1/4 tsp. salt and 1 - 1 1/2 Tbs. of lime juice.

How I Assemble my Haystack Dinner

You can assemble your Amish haystacks in any order you please. You can add or subtract anything you desire.

One nice thing about this meal is that everyone assembles their own stack, so your picky eaters can leave out the things they don't like.

My oldest daughter is a vegetarian, so it's a great meal for her. She leaves off the meat but still gets protein from the beans.

If you need an idea, this is the order I assemble mine in: lettuce, rice, meat, beans, chips, tomatoes, green onions, guacamole, sour cream, salsa, and cheese sauce. My husband likes more heat, so he adds hot sauce and jalapenos on top yet too.

I know that some people use crushed crackers instead of chips. Some people add shredded cheese and use Ranch or Thousand Island dressing instead of cheese sauce.

But I like mine with tortilla chips (or better yet Nacho Doritos) and cheese sauce. I love Doritos with Haystacks, but I don't often have them on hand, so I mostly use plain tortilla chips.

This haystack recipe has a lot of ingredients, but trust me, it doesn't take very long to put together. And these Amish tacos are very filling and loved by everyone!

And perhaps you'd like to serve a refreshing Mangonada (a spicy mango drink) with your haystack meal.

More Amish Dinner Recipes

Amish Beef and Noodle Dairy Casserole

Pennsylvania Dutch Chicken Pot Pie

Underground Ham Casserole Recipe

Amish Shipwreck Casserole (7-Layer Dinner)

I use my Pampered Chef meat chopper every time I cook hamburger, it is a great addition to your kitchen utensils. This is an affiliate link...

Check out my YouTube channel @My Amish Heritage.