10 layers of deliciousness. This Mexican lasagna is full of pasta, beef, beans and salsa. Comfort food at its best!
Mexican food. I could eat it just about every night and not get tired of it. We have a local Mexican restaurant that has a $1 Taco Tuesday night. We can feed our whole family of 5 for under $20. We’ve spent several of our recent Tuesday nights there. You just can’t beat it!
But sometimes I like to plan something for Mexican night at home. And because we eat our share of tacos out, it’s fun to change things up with a cheesy Mexican casserole…like this homemade Mexican lasagna.
What is Mexican lasagna?
Mexican lasagna is a layered casserole with all of your favorite Mexican flavors (instead of Italian flavors). Think taco seasoning, black beans, refried beans, salsa, cheese, and sour cream. It’s so fun to take a classic, well-known dish and give it a little twist.
How to Make Mexican Lasagna
- Prepare. Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Spray a 9×13 baking pan with cooking spray.
- Boil. Heat a pan of water to boiling and add the lasagna noodles. Cook for about 5-7 minutes until the noodles are softened, but still al dente. They will continue to cook in the casserole.
- Brown. In a large skillet, cook beef over medium heat until no longer pink. Drain off any fat. Stir in beans, chilies, taco seasoning and ⅔ cup of the salsa.
- Assemble. Cover the bottom of the greased baking pan with a layer of lasagna noodles. Cover with ⅓ of the meat mixture. Sprinkle with 1 cup of cheese. Repeat layers twice (noodles, meat, cheese, noodles, meat, cheese). Combine the remaining salsa and water. Pour over the top of the casserole.
- Bake. Cover and bake 1 hour or until heated through.
- Top. Top with sour cream, remaining 1 cup of cheese, olives, onions, tomatoes if desired. Bake, uncovered, for 5 minutes or until the cheese is melted.
Can you make Mexican lasagna the night before?
Lasagna can be time consuming to make and create lots of dishes. If you’re making this recipe for company, it is nice to get the mess out of the way the day before. Put the lasagna together, but don’t bake it. Just cover it and refrigerate for up to 2 days. Then bake as directed in the recipe.
Can you freeze Mexican lasagna?
Yes! We recommend freezing this casserole before baking. Make the lasagna, then cover it with plastic wrap and a covering of aluminum foil. Freeze for up to 2 months. Remove it from the freezer and defrost it overnight in the fridge. Take it out from the fridge one hour before baking to help it come to room temperature. Then bake as directed in the recipe.
In the picture below, we didn’t add the olives, green onions and tomatoes. You can add whatever toppings you’d like!
What to Serve with Mexican Lasagna
Here are a few of our favorite side dishes to serve with this Mexican casserole recipe:
- fried plantains
- black beans in the instant pot
- corn and black bean salsa
- mexican layered salad
- mexican tortilla rollups
Mexican Lasagna
Ingredients
- 12 ounces uncooked lasagna noodles
- 2 pounds ground beef
- 16 ounces refried beans (1 can)
- 4 ounces chopped green chilies (1 small can)
- 1 envelope taco seasoning
- 4 cups shredded Colby-Monterey Jack cheese (divided)
- 24 ounces mild salsa (divided – ⅔ cup goes in with the meat)
- 1 cups water
- 2 cups sour cream
Optional Toppings:
- 1 can sliced ripe olives drained (2-1/4 ounces)
- 3 green onions chopped
- 1 medium diced tomato
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Spray a 9×13 baking pan with cooking spray.
- Heat a pan of water to boiling and add the lasagna noodles. Cook for about 5-7 minutes until the noodles are softened, but still al dente. They will continue to cook in the casserole.
- In a large skillet, cook beef over medium heat until no longer pink. Drain off any fat.
- Stir in beans, chilies, taco seasoning and ⅔ cup of the salsa.
- Cover the bottom of the greased baking pan with a layer of lasagna noodles.
- Cover with ⅓ of the meat mixture.
- Sprinkle with 1 cup of cheese.
- Repeat layers twice (noodles, meat, cheese, noodles, meat, cheese).
- Combine the remaining salsa and water. Pour over the top of the casserole.
- Cover and bake 1 hour or until heated through.
- Top with sour cream, remaining 1 cup of cheese, olives, onions, tomatoes if desired.
- Bake, uncovered, for 5 minutes or until the cheese is melted.
- Let stand 10-15 minutes before cutting and serving for clean slices.
Video
Notes
Nutrition
Frequently Asked Questions
You can, but for this recipe we do prefer noodles. We have a taco lasagna that you might like that uses flour (or corn) tortillas. See the recipe for taco lasagna.
You can skip the refried beans if you’d like, but I don’t care for them and don’t notice them in this recipe. You can leave them out if you’d like, or use black beans instead.
Yes! You can use any ground meat that you’d like. You can also use pre-shredded cooked chicken, roast beef or pork. Any meat works great in this recipe.
Yes. You can use either in this recipe.
Sour cream really adds a cool, calm flavor to this Mexican lasagna. There isn’t a great substitute for the sour cream that we’ve found. Some may try unflavored Greek yogurt or even a queso sauce if they’d like, but we prefer sour cream.
Cheri Tessier says
Love the thought of making this!
Diane says
Does this freeze well?
Julie Clark says
Yes!
Shari says
I make this all the time, but I use flour tortillas torn up instead of noodles. It takes the same amount of time and goes over better in my family