You'll love making this walking taco casserole recipe. It is so easy to change it up to match your flavor preferences and is sure to become a family favorite.
If you are looking for a new Cinco de Mayo or taco Tuesday recipes and maybe looking to mix it up and not make the same old same old, you'll want to try this tasty walking taco casserole recipe. It's the perfect taco night meal that your entire family will love.
You'll start by making a flavorful beef mixture with ground beef, beans and onions, top that with some corn chips and cheese. Bake in the oven. When you take it out, add your favorite taco toppings and dig in.
This is very similar to walking tacos, a popular meal to eat on a camping trip. Those walking tacos use small bags of Fritos and you add the ingredients directly into the bag, so everyone has their own individual Fritos bags. This walking taco is in casserole form.
Variations
So, so many ways you can vary this walking taco casserole. You can easily change out things to use your own favorite ingredients.
- Beans: So, this time that I made it, I used black refried beans. Normally I use whole black beans. I forgot to look at the can, but it's no big deal. I just added a bit (¼ cup) of water to the bean and meat mixture as I was mixing them together and it's all good. You could also use pinto beans if you prefer.
- Meat: You can sub out the ground beef with chicken, ground turkey, pulled pork, or ground venison.
- Chips: Sub out the corn chip for tortilla chips or even Doritos. Or, you can also keep the corn chips, but change them out for chili cheese Fritos
- Add-Ins: If you want add in Spanish rice, a can of sweet corn, salsa, green chilies, can of Rotel, etc. All of these add another depth of flavor to the dish.
Side Dishes
Here are some of our favorite side dishes to pair this walking taco casserole with:
- creamed corn
- side salad
- fruit salad
Toppings
The topics you can add to this dish are endless, but here are our favorites:
- Cilantro
- Green onions
- Salsa
- Guacamole
- Sour cream
- Taco sauce
- Shredded lettuce
- Sliced jalapenos
- Chopped tomato or sweet cherry tomatoes sliced in half
- Black olives
Ingredients
- Ground Beef
- Black Beans or Refried Beans
- Diced Onion
- Corn Chips aka Frito chips
- Taco Seasoning mix - either packaged or homemade taco seasoning
- Shredded Cheese, cheddar cheese or Mexican cheese blend are both good
How to Make
Step 1: Preheat oven to 350 F. Grease 9x13 casserole dish and set aside.
Step 2: Brown the ground beef in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Once it's browned, drain the grease and add in beans and the diced onion. If you are using refried beans add in about ¼ cup of water. Stir everything together.
Step 3: In a small bowl mix together the taco seasoning and water. Then pour into ground beef mixture and stir well to combine.
Step 4: Add taco meat mixture to the bottom of the casserole dish and spread it evenly.
Step 5: Spread a layer of corn chips evenly over the meat layer.
Step 6: Top the corn chip with shredded cheese.
Step 7: Bake in the preheated oven for 15-20 or until the cheese is melted through.
Step 8: Remove from oven and top with your favorite toppings. Enjoy!
Walking Taco Casserole
Ingredients
- 2 lbs ground beef
- 1 medium onion
- 16 oz black beans drained
- 2 cups shredded cheese
- 1 bag corn chips
- 1 package taco seasoning
- ⅔ c water
Toppings
- lettuce
- tomatoes diced
- jalapenos
- green onions
- sliced black olives
- sour cream
Instructions
- 1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease 9x13 casserole dish and set aside.
- 2. Brown the ground beef in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Once it's browned, drain the grease and add in beans and the diced onion. If you are using refried beans add in about ¼ cup of water. Stir everything together.
- 3: In a small bowl mix together the taco seasoning and water. Then pour into ground beef mixture and stir well to combine.
- 4. Add taco meat mixture to the bottom of the casserole dish and spread it evenly.
- 5. Spread a layer of corn chips evenly over the meat layer.
- 6: Top the corn chip with shredded cheese.
- 7. Bake in the preheated oven for 15-20 or until the cheese is melted through.
- 8: Remove from oven and top with your favorite toppings. Enjoy!
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