Oven Baked Taco Casserole is everything you love about tacos without the mess. Baked to perfection and then topped with fresh veggies and all the toppings you want, it’s a tidy taco on a plate!
While we love Mexican food, my family finds hard tacos kind of hard to eat. We love the crunch of hard tacos but soft tacos almost always win because they’re just… easier.
The contrast of the fresh cold veggies and sour cream against the warm delicious taco meat in this easy casserole is perfect. As a bonus, we get the crunch of the taco shell with none of the mess, and the leftovers are just as good the next day if not better!
What You’ll Need to Make Oven Baked Taco Casserole
- Ground Beef – we usually use 93/7 ground beef but since you can drain the grease, feel free to us the much less expensive 85/15 ground beef if you like.
- Onion – small yellow or white, peeled and diced.
- Taco Sauce & Taco Seasoning – both can be found in the Mexican food aisle of the grocery store. Feel free to substitute 3 tablespoons of Homemade Taco Seasoning instead of a packet if you prefer.
- Diced Green Chilies – small can, 4 ounces.
- Tortilla Chips – 1/2 bag, broken & divided.about 2 cups.
- Shredded Cheddar Cheese – 2 cups, divided. Any blend of shredded cheese will work for this. Some that we have tried include Mexican blend shredded cheese, Colby Jack, Mozzarella, and any Cheddar blend.
- Toppings – tomatoes, bell peppers (any color), green onions, black olives, jalapeno, avocado, sour cream, salsa.
How To Make Oven Baked Taco Casserole
This is a hearty and tasty baked casserole that the whole family loves. Easily customizable and easy to put together, this Oven Baked Taco Casserole is delicious and a great way to get your kids to eat some extra veggies by letting them add their own!
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Lightly spray an 9×13 baking dish with cooking spray and set aside.
Place the ground beef and the chopped onion into a large skillet over medium high heat and cook until the meat has browned and the onions have softened.
Any taco or taco casserole needs a good, flavored, meat base to bring everything together. Normally a pound of ground beef and some taco seasoning is enough but the addition of taco sauce and green chilies makes things just a little more interesting and a whole lot tastier!
Stir in taco sauce, water, green chilies and taco seasoning and stir until well blended. Increase the heat to medium high and bring the mixture to a boil.
Reduce the heat to low and continue to cook for 3-4 minutes, stirring occasionally. This allows all of the flavors to come together.
It is important to note that the mixture will not be dry like taco meat usually is. This is a good thing. It is going to be layered over broken taco chips and it is going to get baked, so the moisture is going to disappear into the casserole and the end result will be perfect.
Layer half of the broken chips into the prepared 11×17 baking dish.
Cover the chip layer with half of the meat mixture and follow with half of the shredded cheese.
Then repeat with remaining broken tortilla chips, meat mixture and shredded cheese.
Bake the casserole, uncovered, in the preheated 375 degree oven for 20-25 minutes until the cheese has melted and the edges are bubbly
While the casserole is in the oven, assemble the garnishes. This is really where it feels like taco night – everyone still gets to add what they want when dinner is ready.
After removing from the oven, let the casserole rest for 5 minutes before you cut it. Then cut into squares and garnish with toppings.
In addition to fresh veggies we also add sour cream, salsa, avocado, guacamole… whatever we have on hand. Use what works for your family.
This is so good, so easy and so satisfying that you’ll wonder why you even bothered with hard tacos in the first place. Enjoy!
Other Easy Weeknight Meals You May Like
One Pan Sausage & Peppers – Baked Italian sausages on a bed of seasoned peppers and onions. Yum!
Slow Cooker Sweet & Sour Meatballs – does double duty as either a meal or as an appetizer!
Easy Instant Pot Mongolian Beef – This is a delicious take on traditional Mongolian Beef that takes a fraction of the time and has delicious results!
Weeknight Pineapple Shrimp and Rice Bake – Flavorful pineapple chunks and tender shrimp on a bed of fluffy rice, drizzled with a quick and easy sweet island sauce.
Spaghetti Pie – With Italian sausage and spinach hidden inside this is an unexpectedly good (and super easy!) weeknight creation that the entire family will love.
Oven Baked Taco Casserole
Ingredients
- 1 pound ground beef
- 1 small onion chopped
- 1 cup taco sauce 8 ounces
- 3/4 cup water
- 1 can diced green chilies 4 oz
- 3 tbsp taco seasoning mix 1 package
- 1/2 bag tortilla chips broken & divided
- 2 cups shredded cheddar cheese divided
Garnishes
- chopped tomatoes
- chopped bell peppers (any color)
- sliced green onions
- sliced ripe olives
- sliced jalapeno
- avocado
- sour cream
- salsa
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
- Lightly grease an 9×13 baking dish with cooking spray. Set aside.
- Cook ground beef and onion in a large skillet over medium high heat until beef is browned. Drain excess grease.
- Stir in taco sauce, water, green chilies and taco seasoning. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low and cook, stirring occasionally for 3-4 minutes until flavors have developed.
- Layer half of broken tortilla chips on the bottom of the baking dish. Cover with half of meat mixture and then with half of the shredded cheese. Repeat.
- Bake in 375 degree oven for 20-25 minutes until edges are bubbling and cheese is melted. Remove from oven and allow to stand for 5 minutes. Serve topped with chosen garnishes. Enjoy!
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