In western cuisine, oats have been added as a filler to ground meat for years, but replacing pricier, more perishable meat with cheaper, long-lasting oats isn't only done to save money. Oats, much like other starches, can add extra moisture and softness to ground beef mixtures, including taco meat.

Adding oatmeal to ground beef makes for a softer and juicier burger, since the oats soak up juices that would otherwise drip out of the meat and be lost, and you can apply the same concept to tacos. Restaurateur Alexis Wold says that adding oats to her taco meat mixture makes it adhere to tortillas better and creates an ideal texture.

Adding oats to beef will not only make your meat juicier, but healthier, providing an additional boost of protein and whole grains while cutting down on fat content. Cutting ground beef with oats may be a leftover of tough economic times, but today, it's still a delicious and effective way to enhance any burger or taco.