Taco Casserole
This easy Taco Casserole is a fun twist on taco night! Layers of tortilla chips, refried beans, taco meat, tomatoes, and melty cheese are baked in the oven and then loaded with your favorite toppings.
Cuisine: Mexican
Prep Time: 5 minutes ; Cook Time: 35 minutes ; Total Time: 40 minutes
Servings: 8 servings ; Calories: 542 kcal
Ingredients
- ▢ 1 tablespoon olive oil
- ▢ 1½ pounds lean ground beef (675g)
- ▢ 1 yellow onion diced (253g)
- ▢ 1 (14.5-ounce/411g) can diced tomatoes (undrained)
- ▢ ¼ cup taco seasoning (32g)
- ▢ 2 cups tortilla chips (77g)
- ▢ 1 31-ounce can refried beans (878g)
- ▢ 3 cups shredded cheddar cheese (252g)
Toppings (optional):
- ▢ Sour cream
- ▢ Diced tomatoes
- ▢ Shredded lettuce
- ▢ Sliced black olives
- ▢ Avocado
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F. Lightly grease a 9×13-inch baking dish with olive oil or nonstick spray.
- Heat the olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add the beef and onion, and cook until the beef is browned, about 5 minutes. Stir in the tomatoes and their juices and taco seasoning. Reduce the heat to medium and bring to a simmer. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the mixture is thickened and most of the liquid has evaporated, about 7 minutes. Remove from the heat.
- Slightly crush the tortilla chips and layer in the bottom of the baking dish. Spoon the beans in an even layer over the chips. Spread the beef mixture over the beans and top with the cheese.
- Bake for 20 minutes or until the cheese melts and the beans are heated through. Add your favorite toppings and serve hot with tortilla chips.
Notes
- Do not drain the cooked beef liquid. Cooking the beef and onion will create some liquid in the pan, but don’t discard it! It adds needed moisture and flavor to this taco bake recipe and will be too dry if you drain it. Once cooked, the beef mixture should be a ‘sloppy joe’ consistency.
- Grease the baking dish. Quickly coat the bottom of the dish with cooking spray or brush with oil to keep the cheese from sticking to the bottom. This will help you easily scoop out servings of the casserole.
- Layer the beans on top of the chips. This helps to prevent the chips from getting soggy from the juices of the beef mixture and helps them have a nice crunch after baking.
- Use flavored chips! Plain salted tortilla chips are perfect for this recipes, but you can have fun and mix it up with other flavored tortilla chips. Ones with a hint of lime or jalapeño flavor would work well, too.
- Make it gluten-free by using gluten-free tortilla chips as the base. or you can skip the chips and serve the baked casserole with flour tortillas or corn tortillas on the side.
Nutrition
- Calories: 542kcal | Carbohydrates: 40g | Protein: 35g | Fat: 26g | Saturated Fat: 11g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 4g | Monounsaturated Fat: 8g | Trans Fat: 0.3g | Cholesterol: 95mg | Sodium: 1730mg | Potassium: 496mg | Fiber: 8g | Sugar: 6g | Vitamin A: 1271IU | Vitamin C: 9mg | Calcium: 393mg | Iron: 5mg
