Easy Layered Taco Casserole

My family loves tacos. We like setting out bowls of meat, cheese, refried beans and more each time we make them. The kids like to make hard and soft tacos so we make sure to warm hard shells and flour tortillas for them. While it’s nice to have all these options cleanup can be a pain which is why I created this layered taco casserole.

A couple of weeks ago I decided to make a taco casserole. It had everything in it you’d expect to find in a taco. Everyone liked it because you could put a spoonful on your plate and scoop it up with tortilla chips or scoops. It was kind of like a deconstructed taco. Well I wanted to do something similar this week but make it with a little more structure so I came up with this recipe and it’s a keeper.

One of my favorite things about this recipe is that cleanup is simple! No more setting out bowls and bowls of fixin’s. They’re all in the casserole. I assemble everything in a 9 x13 inch baking dish like this one here. And you can tweak it to suit your taste. I used spices for flavor but you can skip them and use a taco seasoning packet if you prefer. .

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Easy Layered Taco Casserole

This casserole takes all your favorite taco fixings and combines them in one dish. Easy to throw together and just as quick to bake. You can easily substitute ground beef or ground turkey for the chicken and omit the spices for a taco seasoning packet. These changes may change point values. The point values listed are for the recipe prepared 'as is'. 10 servings = 6 Freestyle SmartPoints 8 servings = 8 Freestyle SmartPoints Enjoy!

Course Main Course

Cuisine Mexican

Keyword casserole, easy, taco

Prep Time 30 minutes

Cook Time 25 minutes

Total Time 55 minutes

Servings 10 people

Ingredients

• 1 lb Ground Chicken Can use ground beef or turkey
• 16 oz Can Fat Free Refried Beans
• 10 oz Can Enchilada Sauce I use mild, use your favorite
• 15.5 oz Can Black Beans Rinsed and drained
• 15.25 oz Can Corn Drained
• 14.5 oz Can Petite Diced Tomatoes Drained
• 1 1/2 cup Reduced Fat Mexican Blend Cheese
• 1 tsp Ground Cumin
• 1/8 tsp Ground Red Pepper
• 1/8 tsp Chili Powder
• 1/8 tsp Celery Salt
• Ground Pepper
• 6 8 Inch Flour Tortillas

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray a 9 x 13 glass baking dish with nonstick spray and set aside. In a medium to large size frying pan cook the ground chicken until no pink remains. Drain any fat. Add the cumin, red pepper, chili powder, celery salt and pepper. Stir meat to mix spices. Add the can of refried beans and about 1/2 or 3/4 can of enchilada sauce to the meat in the frying pan. Mix it together over low heat. When heated through remove from heat.

2. Place two 8 inch flour tortillas side by side in the bottom of the dish. They will overlap. Spread 1/2 of the meat/refried bean mixture over the tortillas. Next, sprinkle half the can of black beans over the meat mixture. Follow with a sprinkle of corn and then half the can of tomatoes. Spread about 1/2 cup cheese over everything.

3. Cover the layers with two more tortillas. Spread the last half of the meat/refried bean mixture over them. Repeat all layers in the same order. Black beans, corn, tomatoes then cheese. Top with two more tortillas. Pour the rest of the enchilada sauce over the tortillas and top with the last 1/2 cup of cheese. Bake for 25 – 30 minutes. Remove from oven and let sit for 5 minutes before serving. Garnish with sour cream, salsa and lettuce.

This recipe is so versatile. You can add just about anything to it to suit your family’s taste. If you try this layered taco casserole let me know in the comments how it turned out.