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Why You’ll Love My Recipe
Flavorful, filling, and easy to make on a busy night, this casserole will satisfy your taco cravings. You can have it made in just half an hour and you’ll barely have to get any dishes dirty!
Why not learn to make your own Taco Seasoning for this recipe? If casseroles aren’t your thing, make some Classic Weeknight Tacos or Taco Sheet Pan Nachos instead. Looking for something with all the taco tastes but don’t need a full meal? Whip up a batch of Bean Dip or Taco Dip.
Karlynn’s Recipe Notes
- Skill Level: This is a super easy recipe that primarily involves layering ingredients in a casserole dish. Get your kids involved.
- Total Time: You can have this assembled and cooked in about 30 minutes. Save yourself some time and prep your vegetables in advance.
- Variations: You can have so much fun changing up this casserole! Try some spicy taco seasoning or fresh hot peppers if you like extra heat. Use ground pork, chicken, or turkey if you prefer those to ground beef. Increase the amount of cheese or use multiple varieties of cheese. Use flavored tortilla chips instead of plain ones. Make a delicious Cheese Sauce to drizzle over top of your casserole, or whip up a Simple Mexican Coleslaw to serve on the side.
- Tools Needed: As (almost) always with recipes that involve chopped ingredients, you’ll need a good knife and a cutting board of your choice. You’ll also need a large pan for cooking your meat, a 9×13 casserole dish, and a cheese grater (unless you buy pre-grated cheese).
What You’ll Need For Ingredients
Ground Meat: This is an easy area to modify if you would like to reduce fat content. You can use regular ground beef, extra lean beef, ground turkey, ground chicken, etc.
Vegetables: Olives, peppers, an onion, lettuce, green onions, garlic, and anything else you’d like to add.
Tomatoes: In the form of salsa or regular diced tomatoes. This is a good spot for Rotel or something similar.
Cheese: 2 cups of grated cheese, whichever variety you want.
Refried Beans: A 16oz can or the same amount of a homemade version if you happen to have some.
Taco Seasoning: A packet of the store bought stuff is fine, but if you make your own you can add extra spice.
Sour Cream: Whichever fat percentage you prefer.
Tortilla Chips: Technically these are optional, but come on…who doesn’t want that layer of crunch?
How To Make Taco Casserole
This is a brief overview of the recipe. The full list of ingredients and step-by-step instructions are in the recipe card below.
- Preheat oven to 350°F. While the oven is preheating, cook your meat, diced red pepper, and diced onion in a pan over medium heat until the meat is cooked through.
- Drain the excess grease and then add water and taco seasoning. Simmer for 5 minutes.
- Spread refried beans in the bottom of a 9×13 casserole dish, then spread the sour cream evenly over the beans. Add the meat mixture. Sprinkle on the cheese. Bake for 15 minutes.
- Add the rest of your toppings and eat while warm.
Karlynn’s Tips and Tricks for Making Taco Casserole
Be Prepared: Gathering your ingredients beforehand can save you a lot of scrambling around the kitchen. Grab your knife and your cutting board and chop up all of your toppings. Store them in individual bowls or containers until your casserole is baked. This is also a great way to let individual family members choose their own toppings! Maybe someone doesn’t want chips on theirs, or someone hates tomatoes.
Make it Extra Spicy: There are many ways that you can add extra heat to this casserole! Stir in some of your favourite hot sauce, or add some chopped hot peppers (fresh or dried). Find a spicy salsa to use in place of tomatoes or as a topping. Choose a spicy taco seasoning or a cheese that has peppers in it. You can also find cans of refried beans that have jalapenos or other peppers added. Canned tomatoes generally have spicy options as well.
Storage Instructions
Since this casserole has nacho chips, it will get soggy quickly if stored in the fridge for a long time, and it is not likely to freeze well.
More Delicious Casserole Recipes
There is no shortage of amazing Casserole recipes!
Try this hefty John Wayne Casserole for an easy weeknight meal for those chilly winter days.
Make this Homemade Hamburger Helper if you’re feeling nostalgic for the days when the store bought version was enough to feed your entire family.
Add a protein like chicken to this Broccoli Rice Casserole and you’ve got another easy option for a filling meal.
There you go! All of the best parts of tacos without quite as much mess or work. You can easily modify this casserole to fit your household’s personal tastes and still fill everyone’s belly. Give it a try and let me know how it turns out.
Happy Cooking!
Karlynn
Taco Casserole
Ingredients
- 1 lb. ground beef
- 1 small yellow onion, diced
- ½ red bell pepper, diced
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 2 tablespoons taco seasoning, or one package
- ½ teaspoon chipotle peppers, (optional)
- 1 cup water
- 16 ounce refried beans
- 1 cup sour cream, full fat at room temperature
- 2 cups cheddar cheese, grated
Garnish:
- ¼ cup black olives, sliced
- ¼ cup Green onions, diced
- 1 cup tortilla chips or Fritos , optional
- ⅓ cup lettuce, shredded
- ⅓ cup tomatoes or salsa, diced
- ½ cup green pepper, chopped
- 1 Jalapeno pepper, sliced
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F
- Add the ground beef, diced red pepper and diced onions to a large pan and cook and crumble over medium heat until the meat is cooked through.
- Drain the excess grease.
- Add 1 cup water and taco seasoning and bring to a boil.
- Reduce the heat and simmer for 5 minutes until it thickens up, stirring occasionally. Remove from heat.
- Spread the refried beans in a 9×13 casserole dish.
- Spread the room temperature sour cream over the refried beans.
- Top with cooked ground beef mixture.
- Sprinkle the cheese on top in a single layer and bake for 15 minutes or until the cheese is melted.
- After 15 minutes, garnish with fritos, lettuce, olives, tomatoes, and green onions. Serve warm.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
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