My sister shared a wonderful recipe with me a few years ago for a yummy taco soup, and for the life of me I couldn’t remember what the exact ingredients were. Lately I’ve been really missing the Tex-Mex flavors of my hometown. So, last week in an effort to throw something together that was sorta taco soup-ish – but not really – I came up with this idea for a casserole bake. I honestly did NOT think my hubby and kids would think it was all that. Thankfully, they did. Of course, my oldest nearly gagged when he saw there were beans involved. We simply told him he could pick out the beans and eat what I’d made or he could go hungry. After having had a long day of school and football practice, I’ll let you guess what he decided to do.
Before I share the recipe, I want to let you know that the great thing about this recipe is that you can pretty much make it your own – and use what you have or what you want. For example, I hadn’t planned on using salsa, but when I saw we had about 3/4 of a jar left in our fridge from a couple of weeks ago, I threw that in there and it was great! Same with the corn. Just kind of see what would work for your family and add (or omit) what you think will work.
First, chop up some white (or yellow) onion and bell pepper. Again, feel free to omit this step or add in some red, yellow, or orange stoplight peppers too! All would be great. I just happen to have the green on hand so used that.
Take 1 – 2 lbs. of ground beef (or turkey or chicken!) and brown that. I have to use at least 2 lbs. for my family of five — but I have all boys and BIG appetites! Use what normal amout of beef you would use for your family dishes.
Then add the onion and pepper mixture that you chopped up earlier and saute all together with the meat.
When the meat is all browned and the veggies are just a bit softened, drain the meat mixture and put back into the saute pan.
This is where the seasoning magic happens! You’ll want to (liberally) add chili powder, cumin, garlic powder, and some salt and pepper. Tip – if you don’t happen to have any onion on hand to saute in the step above, you could add onion powder at this time with the rest of the spices. So, add in all of the spices and experiment with the quantities that work for your families’ tastes. Mix it up really good into the meat mixture. If the mixture seems a little dry, you can add a little bit of water to give it some moisture.
Then take one can of pinto beans (or, again, any beans of your choice — I just prefer pinto. I don’t do black beans!) and drain them.
Add to your strainer, a can of corn. Again, this is optional but it sure does add some nice color to the casserole. Plus, my kids LOVE corn!
You’ll then take the meat mixture, which is now seasoned with your very own homemade taco seasoning and transfer it to a 9×13 baking dish. Add the drained beans and corn. Then, top it all off with some salsa — any variety and any amount. As I mentioned before, I only had about 3/4 of a jar left in our fridge so I used that. You could also substitute Rotel or diced tomatoes if you were really desperate! Go ahead and preheat your oven to 375 so that it’s nice and hot for when you are ready to put the casserole in!
Mix it all up really well and make sure it’s spread evenly in the pan.
Cover with foil and place in your hot oven for about 25-30 minutes – stirring once about halfway.
While that’s bakin’ up, you can now get your cheese grated! My picks are medium (or sharp) cheddar and Monterrey Jack, but feel free to use whatever you have on hand. I also prefer to use block cheese so I can shred it myself since it tastes SO much better, but if you have pre-shredded that should work too.
Once the casserole is heated through, uncover it and add the cheese on top. Stick the whole thing back into the oven and for about 5 minutes until the cheese is nice and bubbly on top.
Um, yeah, when ours was nice and bubbly we pretty much just dug right in because the kids were starving and the house smelled amazing! So, I forgot to take a photo before serving a plate or two. {Whoopsie!} But, you get the idea.
At our house we serve just about every and I mean every Mexican dish with homemade guacamole. I also had whipped up some homemade flour tortillas that went along great with the dish!
Unfortunately, 9 tortillas do NOT go far in our house. When they were all gone my 5 year-old resorted to eating my casserole bake as a topping on a tostada shell!
And, since we had a bit leftover (shocking! We NEVER have leftovers but this dish was SO filling), Jacob and I had some for lunch — along with tortilla chips. Yum! Enjoy!
Recipe: Tex-Mex Beef + Bean Bake Casserole
What you need:
– 1 to 2 lbs. ground beef, turkey, or chicken
– ground cumin, chili powder, garlic powder, salt and pepper (to taste)
– small yellow or white onion, chopped
– green bell pepper, chopped
– 1 can pinto (or other variety) beans, drained
– 1 can corn, drained (optional)
– 1 jar of salsa or can of Rotel or diced tomatoes
– 8 ounces of shredded cheese (4 medium/sharp cheddar and 4 Monterrey Jack)
– sour cream for garnish (optional)
– guacamole or avocado for garnish (optional)
– warm homemade flour tortillas (optional)
What to do:
– Preheat oven to 375.
– Brown meat with onion and bell peppers. Drain.
– Return meat mixture to pan and add spices, to taste.
– Transfer meat mixture to 9×13 baking pan.
– Add beans, corn, and salsa.
– Cover tightly with foil and place in oven for 25-30 minutes, stirring once.
– When done baking, remove foil top and place shredded cheese on top.
– Place back into the oven for about 5 minutes or until melted and bubbly.
– Serve with tortillas, guacamole and sour cream.
I hope you enjoy this flexible Mexican casserole recipe. I’d love to hear your feedback!
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