This easy Taco Lasagna recipe makes a hearty Mexican meal assembled as an Italian casserole. Filled with south-of-the-border flavors and layers of traditional taco fixings, it takes only 20 minutes of prep time and can quickly be on the table when you have a hungry family to feed.
Taco Lasagna Is Not Just For Taco Tuesday
Taco Lasagna is one of my favorite Mexican foods, simply because it quickly combines tacos, enchiladas, and tostadas into one layered delicious dish!
This recipe is a fun and unique twist on its Italian-style cousin, with tortillas instead of noodles and a southwestern-seasoned meat, bean and cheese mixture instead of red sauce. It takes the best of Mexican ingredients and flavors and merges them into a classic Italian casserole, then it’s finished with your traditional taco toppings to create the perfect family-friendly, crowd-pleasing meal.
I love finding new ways to recreate a regular recipe and present it in a way that feels fun and fresh. This Taco Lasagna is hearty, warm, and filling and tastes just like a taco but it’s served as a heaping slice instead of in a handheld shell. And to make it a more authentic Mexican meal, I loaded my layers with a blend of fiesta cheese, ground beef, black beans, tortillas, and salsa–it’s the best mashup of Southwestern flavor meets comfort food in casserole form.
Why We Love This Taco Lasagna Recipe
- Quick and easy to make.
- Combines 3 favored foods into one delicious dish.
- Mexican flavor made into hearty, warm, and filling comfort food.
- Loaded with layers of cheese, meat, beans, and tortillas–it’s a lasagna that tastes like a taco.
- Great make-ahead meal and freezer friendly.
- Perfect for potlucks, game days, and large gatherings to feed a crowd.
Others Taco Recipes
Ingredients
- Lean ground beef
- Finely diced sweet yellow onion
- Fresh minced garlic
- Mild taco seasoning. Or try our Homemade Taco Seasoning!
- Water
- Flour tortillas
- Chunky mild salsa
- Canned black beans, drained and rinsed
- Fiesta blend shredded cheese
- Chopped cilantro (optional garnish)
- Sour cream (optional topping)
- Fresh pico de gallo (optional topping)
Substitutions and Additions
- Taco Toppings: Top your “taco” lasagna with guacamole, diced tomatoes, fresh cilantro, pico de gallo, extra sour cream, lettuce, sliced olives, or chopped fresh jalapeños for a spicier kick.
- Make it Meatless: For a vegetarian version of this meal, swap in an equal amount of your favorite plant-based meat alternative, like Beyond Beef or Impossible Burger. It has a similar texture to ground beef and cooks up much the same way. Tempeh is another plant-based option that will work for Taco Lasagna. Simply break it into crumbles and follow the recipe as written.
- Lower Fat Lasagna: You can use lean ground turkey, ground chicken, or cooked shredded chicken instead of beef for a lower fat version of this Taco Lasagna.
- Change The Cheese: For this recipe, I like to use a blend called fiesta cheese, but feel free to use cheddar, Colby, pepper jack, Monterey Jack ,or mozzarella cheese.
- Lasagna Layers: I use flour tortillas in this recipe, however if you prefer, you can substitute with corn tortillas, actual lasagna noodles, or even do a layer of crushed tortilla chips.
Recommended Tools
- 9×13 baking dish
- Sharp knife or pizza cutter
- Saucepan
- Mixing bowl
- Measuring Tools
See Full Recipe Card Below
Jump to RecipeHow to Make Taco Lasagna
This easy recipe is a new way we’re serving tacos–as a layered lasagna! Taco Lasagna is full of southwestern-seasoned beef, beans, cheese, and flour tortillas and assembled as a comforting casserole.
- Lay 2 tortillas in the bottom of a 9×13 baking dish and trim the excess edges to fit in the dish.
Pro Tip: I like to use a sharp knife or pizza cutter to trim the tortillas and then use these trimmings as a pattern to trim the other tortillas.
- Cook ground beef, onion, and minced garlic over medium-high heat until the ground beef is cooked through, and no longer pink. Reduce the heat to medium-low.
- In a separate bowl, whisk together taco seasoning and water.
Pro-Tip: Feel free to make your own taco seasoning if you prefer. - Pour liquid over the cooked ground beef and cook for 2-3 minutes, or until the meat mixture begins to thicken, and remove from heat.
Pro Tip: It is important to stir often. - Arrange 2 trimmed tortillas in the bottom of the baking dish.
- Evenly spread ½ of the meat mixture on top of the tortillas.
- Evenly spread ½ of the salsa over the meat mixture.
- Evenly sprinkle ½ of the black beans over the salsa.
- Evenly sprinkle ½ of the cheese over the beans.
- Arrange the last 2 tortillas over the cheese.
- Repeat the final layers of ingredients.
- Bake at 375 degrees Farenheit for 20-25 minutes and garnish with cilantro.
- Top with sour cream and pico de gallo. Serve while hot and enjoy!
Pro-Tip: I recommend letting the baked lasagna rest for at least 5-7 minutes before you try to slice it. This will help the layers hold together.
Storage Tips
- To Store: Store any leftovers tightly covered in the refrigerator for up to 3 days
- To Freeze: You can freeze the uncooked lasagna for up to 2 months. Allow the lasagna to completely thaw, and cook according to directions.
- To Reheat: To reheat a pan of lasagna from the refrigerator, let it sit on the counter for about an hour and bake according to directions.
Taco Lasagna
Serves — 12
This Taco Lasagna dish is a hearty Mexican meal with layers of classic taco fillings that's prepared as an Italian casserole.
Prep Time 20 minutes
Cook Time 25 minutes
Total Time 45 minutes
Video
Ingredients
- 1½ lbs lean ground beef
- ½ cup finely diced sweet yellow onion
- 2 tbsp fresh minced garlic
- 2 ounces (2 – 1 ounce packages) mild taco seasoning
- 1 cup water
- 4 10 inch flour tortillas (or 4 – 9 inch flour tortillas)
- 2 cups chunky mild salsa (divided)
- 15 ounce can black beans drained and rinsed (divided)
- 3 cups fiesta blend shredded cheese (divided)
- 2 tbsp chopped cilantro (optional garnish)
- Sour cream (optional topping)
- Fresh pico de gallo (optional topping)
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 375*.
- Lay 2 of the flour tortillas into the bottom of a 9×13 baking dish. Using a sharp knife, or a pizza cutter to trim the excess tortilla edges. Use the 2 trimmed tortillas as a pattern to trim the remaining 2 tortillas for the 2nd layer of the lasagna.
- Spray a 9×13 baking dish with nonstick spray. Set it aside.
- Using a 3 – 4 quart saucepan over medium-high heat, add the ground beef, onion and minced garlic. Cook the ground beef until it is cooked through, and no longer pink. Reduce the heat to medium-low.
- Using a small mixing bowl, whisk together the taco seasoning and 1 cup of water. Pour over the cooked ground beef. Cook for another 2-3 minutes, or until the meat mixture begins to thicken. Stir often. Remove from the heat.
- Arrange 2 of the trimmed flour tortillas in the bottom of the prepared baking dish.
- Evenly spread ½ of the meat mixture on top of the tortillas.
- Evenly spread ½ of the salsa over the meat mixture.
- Evenly sprinkle ½ of the black beans over the salsa.
- Evenly sprinkle ½ of the shredded cheese over the beans.
- Arrange the last 2 tortillas over the shredded cheese, and repeat the final layers of ingredients.
- Bake for 20 – 25 minutes. Remove from the oven, and garnish the chopped cilantro. Top with sour cream and pico de gallo. Serve while hot.
Jenn’s Notes
Storage:
- To Store: Store any leftovers tightly covered in the refrigerator for up to 3 days
- To Freeze: You can freeze the uncooked lasagna for up to 2 months. Allow the lasagna to completely thaw, and cook according to directions.
- To Reheat: To reheat a pan of lasagna from the refrigerator, let it sit on the counter for about an hour and bake according to directions.
- I recommend letting the baked lasagna rest for at least 5-7 minutes before you try to slice it. This will help the layers hold together.
- Feel free to make your own taco seasoning if you prefer. Or try our Homemade Taco Seasoning!
Nutrition Info
Calories: 250kcal | Carbohydrates: 18g | Protein: 22g | Fat: 10g | Saturated Fat: 5g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g | Monounsaturated Fat: 3g | Trans Fat: 1g | Cholesterol: 57mg | Sodium: 1106mg | Potassium: 479mg | Fiber: 4g | Sugar: 4g | Vitamin A: 847IU | Vitamin C: 5mg | Calcium: 187mg | Iron: 3mg
Do you drain the beef at all?
I’m checking my cabinets and will be cooking to my hearts content.