This taco casserole is layers of tortilla chips, refried beans and beef, all topped with plenty of cheese and baked to perfection. Add your favorite taco fixings such as lettuce, tomato and olives for a hearty and family friendly meal!
My family loves a comfort food dinner, they’re always requesting crockpot meatloaf, Instant Pot pot roast, turkey casserole, beef noodle casserole, chicken and rice casserole and this festive taco casserole. You can never go wrong with tacos!
I love to do taco night for dinner, but sometimes when I’m in a hurry, I just layer all the ingredients in a dish and bake them together, which is how this taco casserole came to be. This recipe has all of the components of tacos in the form of a cheesy casserole. You can even add your favorite taco fixings on top to take this dish to the next level!
Table of Contents
Taco Casserole Ingredients
To make this recipe, you will need olive oil, ground beef, onion, taco seasoning, diced tomatoes, tortilla chips, refried beans, cheddar cheese, and whatever toppings you’d like to add after the casserole is baked.
How Do You Make Taco Casserole?
This recipe starts with ground beef, which is cooked in a skillet with onions, tomatoes and taco seasoning. A layer of crushed tortilla chips goes into the bottom of a casserole dish, and is topped with refried beans. The next step is to add your layer of beef, and plenty of shredded cheese. Bake your casserole until it’s bubbling and the cheese is melted, then add some fresh toppings and serve.
Tips For Taco Casserole
- I typically use 90% lean ground beef, it has plenty of flavor but is not overly greasy. If you use beef with a higher fat content, you may need to drain excess grease from the pan after it is cooked.
- I recommend grating your own cheese instead of using the pre-shredded variety. The bagged grated cheese is often coated with anti caking agents and does not melt as well as freshly shredded cheese.
- This dish can easily be doubled for a crowd and makes for great leftovers.
- To crush your tortilla chips, place them in a resealable bag and use a rolling pin or meat mallet. You want your chips to be coarsely crushed, about 1/4 inch sized pieces.
Quick Tip
Use an offset spatula to make it easier to spread the beans into the pan.
Taco Casserole Variations
There are so many different ways to customize this casserole to your tastes.
- Protein: Use cooked diced chicken or ground turkey instead of beef.
- Cheese: Try pepper jack or Monterey Jack cheese instead of cheddar for a different flavor.
- Chips: Instead of regular tortilla chips, try a flavored chip such as nacho cheese chips, or you can use a layer of flour or corn tortillas on the bottom.
- Beans: Use black beans or pinto beans instead of refried beans.
- Seasonings: Add extra zest with hot sauce, cumin, chili powder and garlic powder.
- Vegetables: You can add extra vegetables to your beef mixture such as bell peppers or corn.
- Toppings: You can top your casserole with black olives, sour cream, avocado, salsa, guacamole, more crushed chips, pickled jalapenos, green onions or cilantro.
Recipe FAQs
If you have a larger portion of casserole that you’re looking to reheat, you can place it in a baking dish, cover it with foil and bake at 325 degrees F for 20-25 minutes or until heated through. If you’re looking to reheat a single portion, microwave it in 30 second increments until hot.
Taco casserole will stay fresh in the refrigerator in an airtight container for up to 3 days. I don’t recommend freezing this dish as the chip layer may be soggy when thawed.
FOLLOW ME
This casserole is such a fun and easy way to do taco night. I find myself making it on a regular basis because my kids can’t get enough of it! Add some steamed vegetables on the side and you’ll have a dinner that will earn you rave reviews.
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Love This Recipe?
Please leave a 5-star 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟 rating in the recipe card below & a review in the comments section further down the page.
Taco Casserole
Ingredients
- 2 teaspoons olive oil
- 1 pound ground beef I use 90% lean
- 1/2 cup onion finely diced
- 1 packet taco seasoning
- 14.5 ounce can diced tomatoes do not drain
- 1 1/4 cups tortilla chips crushed
- 16 ounce can refried beans
- 1 1/4 cups cheddar cheese shredded
- Toppings such as shredded lettuce, diced tomato and sliced olives
- cooking spray
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Coat a 9 inch square pan or 2 quart baking dish with cooking spray.
- Heat the olive oil in a large pan over medium high heat. Add the ground beef and cook for 5-6 minutes, breaking up the meat with a spatula.
- Add the onion and cook for an additional 3-4 minutes or until onion is translucent.
- Stir in the taco seasoning and diced tomatoes. Simmer for 3-4 minutes.
- Place a layer of tortilla chips in the bottom of the prepared pan. Spread a layer of refried beans over the top.
- Pour the beef mixture over the beans and top with the cheese.
- Bake for 15-20 minutes or until cheese is melted.
- Add toppings if desired, then serve.
Notes
- I typically use 90% lean ground beef, it has plenty of flavor but is not overly greasy.
- I recommend grating your own cheese instead of using the pre-shredded variety. The bagged grated cheese is often coated with anti caking agents and does not melt as well as freshly shredded cheese.
- To crush your tortilla chips, place them in a resealable bag and use a rolling pin or meat mallet.
Love this recipe even the GrandBoys were crazy for it. This recipe is a keeper!
I tried the taco casserole and have made it two time in the last two weeks, Delicious. Thank you for a wonderful crowd pleasing recipe.
I’ve made this numerous times and it’s always a fav, even over standard tacos! I use black beans and put them right in the mix. I also use a can of rotel and some extra cumin (maybe a teaspoon) and a little minced garlic. I cook the casserole and serve over freshly crushed chips so they stay crispy. Topw ith some sourcream and sliced olives…THE BEST!! (today I didn’t have black or refried so I used cannellini beans and it was just as good as ever.
First, I truly like how you organize your site, as well as the content of your recipe descriptions.
Second, I was searching for a basic Taco Casserole recipe that I could easily adapt to various family and friends taste and content likes. What was the added bonus was your variation suggestions. Those gave me ideas to use and to build on. I started cooking only 8 years ago, and self-taught (I’m 75 yrs. old male). You have taught me some things I can use. So, thank you very much.
I made the casserole with some variations. I used Rotel diced tomatoes and green chilies, added some garlic powder, a 1/2 cup of red bell pepper, and used black beans rather than the refried. I decided not to mash the beans but spread them around whole. I choose Monterey Jack cheese.
Result – outstanding. Took the casserole to a potluck pool party and got good reviews and there was none left in the pan. Sara, thanks for making me appear to know what I’m doing.
Made just as recipe stated, my family loved it
I used ground pork instead of beef to be a bit healthier and mixed refried beans with salsa for added flavor it turned out great. I also put a layer of cheese on top then salsa and another layer of cheese ontop. Thanks for all your recipes wonderful just as you suggest or to even add our own flares.
I made this today, it was easy & delicious. This recipe is a keeper, thanks for sharing
Hello Sara I love all of your recipes that ,I tried want to make the taco salad I love spice so I bought spicy Doritos and I was wondering if I can use that in the salad? than!k you
I use a lot of your recipes. This Traci casserole can I use corn chips? Do I need the beans? I’m a sensitive picky eater and would not like to try beans. Can it be omitted or does it need that layer?
Corn chips should be fine! The beans are the cement that holds everything together, so while you could try to omit them, the casserole may not cut into slices.
This was a hit with my family of three. I added an extra cup of crushed tortilla chips as it didn’t seem like enough in ratio to the other ingredients. Added some tomatoes and shredded lettuce after it cooled and it was delish!! We had leftovers but I’m sure they’ll get eaten up quickly as well. Recommend!!
Thanks for the great recipe. One question, I want to precook it for a potluck, but I am not sure if it turns out good after reheating. Particularly I am worried about the crunchiness of the tortillas!
What do you think?
I might do something like this Mexican lasagna instead where it’s similar flavors but you won’t have to worry about chips getting soft: https://www.dinneratthezoo.com/mexican-lasagna/
The taco bake is one of our favorite recipes. Easy and quick to make ❤️❤️❤️