Mexican Lasagna
One of my husband’s former roommates passed this Mexican Lasagna Recipe along to us! Over the years, we’ve made it time and time again. It’s such a versatile recipe, making it easy to tweak it a bit each time we make it. Honestly, it all depends on what we have in our fridge and pantry at the time.
If you’re looking for an easy recipe that the whole family will enjoy, this Mexican Lasagna is your recipe! Truly!
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The beef mixture is full of vegetables and protein-rich beans – your children won’t even realize how healthy this cheesy meal is.
Layers of tortillas, cheeses, vegetables, and meat guarantee that individual servings of Mexican lasagna is a full nutritional meal, in and of itself.
This Mexican lasagna is easy to make, and you can make the meat mixture and the cheese mixtures earlier in the day to make the dinnertime prep go even more quickly!
There are no noodles to cook, because in this lasagna recipe, you use tortillas instead.
This meal makes for great leftovers! It’s also the perfect recipe to make up and freeze – just layer it up and cover it with aluminum foil. It will be waiting for you on a busy night.
This Mexican lasagna is also a great offering on meal trains, when someone needs a hand. Be sure to tape the recipe card on the top, because they’ll be asking for it!
Ingredients For My Easy Mexican Lasagna Recipe
To make this soon-to-be family favorite, here’s what you’ll need:
- Ground Beef – I use lean ground beef, because you get more beef per pound that way. You can change up your meat choice, however! Try shredded chicken or ground turkey, for example. You can even make a vegetarian Mexican lasagna by substituting the ground beef for lots of diced bell peppers!
- Scallions – You’ll use these green onions in two parts of the recipe – first for sautéing with the beef, and secondly for nice crunchy garnish on top at the end.
- Seasoning – The seasonings make the Mexican dish, am I right? You’ll need chili powder, cumin, and a package of taco seasoning for this recipe. Want it spicier? Add a shake of cayenne pepper.
- Corn – I like to use a bag of frozen corn, already thawed. The corn kernels keep a nice bite that way. You can also use canned corn (drained) if you wish, or even cut off your own sweet corn kernels if they’re in season!
- Tomatoes – My recipe calls for a can of whole tomatoes, drained and diced. Could you jump ahead and use cans of diced tomatoes? Definitely!
- Beans – Black beans, to be precise. Be sure that you rinse the beans after you drain them. It’s good to get all of the aquafaba completely washed off of the beans. Don’t have black beans on hand? Pinto beans work, too.
- Cottage Cheese – You can use either cottage cheese or ricotta cheese. They’re interchangeable in this recipe, just as in traditional Italian lasagna.
- Shredded Cheese – Monterey jack cheese is such a yummy Mexican cheese blend. Any cheddar cheese or pepper jack cheese blend works great in this recipe though. Use whatever you have on hand!
- Tortillas – You will use these like you would use actual lasagna noodles. Because they need to be flexible, use flour tortillas rather than corn tortillas.
How To Make The Best Mexican Lasagna Recipe
If you know how to make lasagna, that classic Italian dish, then this Mexican twist will be a snap!
- Make Your Beef Mixture – Brown your ground meat and scallions together, to really help open up that onion flavor. Be sure to drain off any excess grease. Then, add the seasonings, corn, beans, and tomatoes. This is your beef mixture!
- Make Your Cheese Mixture – To make a delicious cheese mixture, mix together your cottage cheese (or ricotta!), eggs, and half of your shredded cheese. Here’s a tip for you – beat your eggs separately before adding them to the cheeses. It makes it much easier to incorporate all of the ingredients together.
- Layer It Up! – Line a whole casserole dish with tortillas, then start your layers: tortillas, beef, cheese, tortillas, beef. You’ll add your last cheese layer right at the end of your baking time.
Final Touches Atop Your Taco Lasagna
One of the fun parts of Mexican cuisine is that there are so many taco toppings that you can put on top of this baked casserole. I’ve already mentioned crunchy scallions. Why don’t your try:
- Sour Cream – A healthy spoonful of sour cream is never a bad idea.
- Green Chiles – Do you have some family members that want some more spice? Offer a bowl of sliced green chilies.
- Black Olives – Another favorite taco topping that works great on a Mexican lasagna.
- Salsa – This is another great way to let each member of the family control the heat. Use taco sauce, enchilada sauce, salsa verde, or any type of tomato-based salsa!
- Mexican Rice – Okay, okay, you’re right. This isn’t a topping. But if you’re a fan of Mexican food, then you know that you just have to offer Mexican rice alongside this lasagna!
Top Tips For Perfect Mexican Lasagna
This recipe is a family favorite around here. So naturally, I’ve got a few tips up my sleeve to pass along!
- When I say to be sure to drain the excess grease from your ground beef, I mean it! Otherwise, that grease will soak through your tortilla layers and the texture of the dish will be all wrong.
- Beat your eggs in a small dish before adding your cheeses. This makes it much easier to incorporate all of the ingredients. Nobody wants to bite into a forkful of egg white that never got successfully broken up.
- Oil your casserole dish, to keep the tortillas from sticking to it. You can use a paper towel and any liquid oil of your choice, or just whip out that handy dandy cooking spray.
- Don’t be afraid to cut up your tortillas. Particularly for your first layer of tortillas, where you bring the tortillas up the sides of the pan, you really want to make sure there are no uncovered cracks. My Mexican beef mixture may not be as prone to sneaking through cracks as a traditional red sauce may be in Italian lasagna, but you still want to make sure your dish is thoroughly covered. If that means you need to cut your tortillas in half to line the sides of the dish adequately, do it.
Mexican Lasagna
Ingredients
- 1 lb. Ground Beef
- 1/2 cup Sliced Scallions
- 1 tbsp. Chili Powder
- 2 tsp. Cumin
- 2.5 cups Frozen Corn (thawed)
- 28 oz. Can of Diced Tomatoes (drained)
- 16 oz. Black Beans (drained and rinsed)
- 1 package Taco Seasoning
- 1 lb. Cottage Cheese or Ricotta Cheese
- 2 Eggs
- 3 cups Shredded Jack Cheese
- 10 Large Flour Tortillas
- Olive Oil
- Additional Sliced Scallions (for garnish)
Instructions
- Brown ground beef with scallions, and drain. Add chili powder and cumin. Cook for 1 minute. Remove from heat. Stir in corn, tomatoes, and beans.
- In bowl, mix cottage cheese, eggs, and 1/2 of jack cheese.
- Oil 3 qt. casserole dish, and line bottom and sides with tortillas.
- Spread 2/3 of meat mixture over tortillas. Cover with cheese mixture. Add another layer of tortillas, and the rest of the meat mixture.
- Bake at 375 degrees F for 30 minutes. Sprinkle with remaining 1/2 of jack cheese and bake an additional 5 minutes. Garnish with scallions.
this looks good a Lasagna made with Tortillas and I think with mozzarella cheese will taste good too
This sounds delicious!! YUM!