A new way to serve up tacos…layered taco lasagna. This easy Mexican casserole is full of beef, beans, tomatoes and flour tortillas.
I have one child (he’ll remain nameless 🙂 ) who strongly dislikes homemade lasagna. In fact, he doesn’t care for any Italian casseroles. Some days I’m not sure how he’s my son.
It’s not lasagna in general, because he devours this taco lasagna with flour tortillas. Mexican dinners generally bring smiles around the table, and this cheesy taco lasagna recipe with Rotel tomatoes is no different!
You you can bring smiles to your family by making this casserole. Dinner is served in about an hour!
How to Make Taco Lasagna
- Prepare. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Spray a 9×13 baking pan with cooking spray.
- Cook. In a large skillet, cook the beef, pepper and onion over medium heat until meat is no longer pink. Drain off any fat.
- Simmer. Add water and taco seasoning packets. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat and then simmer, uncovered, for 2 minutes. Stir in black beans and tomatoes (with juice). Simmer, uncovered, for 10 minutes.
- Layer. Place 2 tortillas in the bottom of a greased 13×9-in. baking dish. Break a third tortilla and piece it together in any holes to make as much of a complete layer of tortillas as possible. Spread with half of the refried beans and half of the beef mixture. Sprinkle with 1 cup cheese. Repeat layers (3 tortillas, remaining beans, remaining beef, 1 cup of cheese). Top with remaining tortillas and 2 cups cheese.
- Simmer. Cover with foil and bake at 350° for 25-30 minutes or until heated through and cheese is melted.
Can I make taco lasagna in advance?
Yes! This is a great make ahead meal. Make it up to 2 days in advance, then cover and refrigerate before baking. Remove it from the refrigerator 1 hour before baking. Then bake as the recipe says.
Can you freeze taco lasagna?
You can freeze taco lasagna before you bake it. Wrap it in plastic wrap, then again in foil. Freeze for up to 2 months. When you are ready to bake it, remove it from the fridge and allow it to defrost in the refrigerator overnight. Remove it from the refrigerator one hour before baking as the recipe suggests.
Taco Lasagna
Ingredients
- 2 pounds ground beef
- 1 poblano pepper (seeded and diced)
- 1/2 cup chopped onion
- 1 cup water
- 2 envelope taco seasoning
- 15 ounces black beans rinsed and drained (1 can)
- 29 ounces Mexican diced tomatoes undrained (2 cans, 14.5 ounces each) (Rotel Mexican)
- 9 flour tortillas (8 inches)
- 16 ounces refried beans (1 can)
- 4 cups shredded Mexican cheese blend
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Spray a 9×13 baking pan with cooking spray.
- In a large skillet, cook the beef, pepper and onion over medium heat until meat is no longer pink. Drain off any fat.
- Add water and taco seasoning packets. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat and then simmer, uncovered, for 2 minutes.
- Stir in black beans and tomatoes (with juice). Simmer, uncovered, for 10 minutes.
- Place 2 tortillas in the bottom of a greased 13×9-in. baking dish. Break a third tortilla and piece it together in any holes to make as much of a complete layer of tortillas as possible.
- Spread with half of the refried beans and half of the beef mixture.
- Sprinkle with 1 cup cheese.
- Repeat layers (3 tortillas, remaining beans, remaining beef, 1 cup of cheese).
- Top with remaining tortillas and 2 cups cheese.
- Cover with foil and bake at 350° for 25-30 minutes or until heated through and cheese is melted.
- Serve with sour cream and fresh pico de gallo.
Video
Notes
Nutrition
Questions and Substitutions
Yes! You can use either corn tortillas or flour tortillas in this recipe.
Yes, we’ve used our favorite spicy (or mild) salsa in this recipe in place of the Rotel tomatoes.
You can leave them out if you’d like, but I don’t care for them either and I don’t mind them in this recipe. The creaminess of the refried beans does give help hold the lasagna together, but it will work without.
You can use any type of ground meat you’d like: beef, pork, chicken or turkey. You could even use chorizo sausage. If you have pre-cooked shredded chicken, you can use that also.
Yes. We have a recipe for homemade taco seasoning that is DELICIOUS. Make up a big batch so you always have some on hand.
Favorite Mexican Side Dishes
Here are a few fun side dish recipes that you might like adding to this meal:
Other Mexican Main Dishes
If you love taco lasagna, you may also love these other taco dinners:
This was a great recipe. One of my sons is not a fan of refried beans, and I am not a fan of black beans but we both agreed that in this recipe it is necessary and good! The only thing I did was I did not include all of the liquid from my cans, it looked like it was too much to evaporate during the cooking. The sour cream on top is a must too. I shared this recipe with my nieces as an easy family friendly week night meal. And I love that you can change the serving… Read more »
This was fantastic! My picky eater even loved it!
Loved this with a few tweaks. I used rice instead of refried beans (since I don’t care for them). Left out the poblano pepper and used the whole onion. I also recommend spraying the foil so that it doesn’t stick to the top layer of cheese.
Omg!!! This taste sooooo gooood😋😋😋I added corn,used salsa instead of Mexican tomatoes and corn tortillas instead of flour tortillas. I will definitely be making this again. Thanks for sharing this recipe😋😋😋
I’ve been making a version of this since the 1980s, but I use black beans , instead of refried beans. And since I was a mouse in a former life, I add more cheese!! I love this dish!! Sometimes, I even add spinach!!
Where did you get that drain thing and what is it called?
Would it be easier to add the refried beans to the hamburger mixture?
This recipe was really good. It was easy to make and my family enjoyed it.
Made this and will bake it tonight. Used “veggie crumbles” and a mixture of cumin, chili powder, and onion powder instead of taco seasoning. Chopped up fresh cilantro and mixed that with the refried beans before layering them on. Sprinkled a couple of sliced black olives in a layer and on top. Mine is SUPER full and I anticipate a 100% probability of overflow! (sheet pan underneath of course) Gonna sprinkle shredded lettuce, top that with a dollop of sour cream and one last cilantro toss to plate. Thanks for the inspo!
Can I make assemble refrigerate and bake tomorrow?
I’m cooking just for 2, so I will halve the recipe. And neither of us like black beans….think this will work if I just use one can of refried beans and half of all the other ingredients? Thanks!
How did you keep the burrito shells from getting soggy?
Do the tortillas soften when baked?