Y’all, I’m so excited to share one of my all-time favorite crowd-pleasing dinner recipes with you today – my Walking Taco Casserole! This dish is pure comfort food bliss while still packing in all those delicious taco flavors we crave.
I first stumbled across the idea for a “walking taco” at a high school football game years ago. You know, where they just load up individual bags of Fritos with seasoned taco meat, cheese, etc. So simple but so genius! Well, one night when I was busy AF and needed a quick dinner win, I decided to casserole-ify the whole walking taco situation. Best decision ever!
These days, my cheesy walking taco bake is what I turn to whenever I need something easy, hearty and unapologetically tasty. Just a few basic ingredients, most of which I always have on hand, and it comes together so quick. But the flavors? Oh man, the flavors will blow your mind!
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It starts with browning up some ground beef with diced onions and taco seasoning to get that irresistible Tex-Mex beef flavor base. While that’s happening, I get my other goodies prepped and ready – a couple cans of black beans, corn, tomatillo salsa (this green salsa is absolute fire), and sour cream to make things a little creamy and tangy.
Once the beef is cooked and seasoned up, you just mix everything together right in the skillet. I mean it doesn’t get much easier than that, right? Then it’s just a matter of layering it up gorgeously in a baking dish!
I do a layer of crunchy crushed corn chips on the bottom to create a crispy base. Then that bodacious beef mixture gets spread on top. And we can’t forget an extremely generous layer of shredded cheese before covering it all with another layer of corn chips on top.
Pop that baby in the oven and about 20 minutes later you’ll have one amazingly crunchy, gooey, flavorful casserole that’s begging to be devoured! Those corn chips get irresistibly crisp on top while also absorbing some of those juices underneath. It’s the perfect contrast to the creamy, zesty, beefy filling.
Once it’s fresh out of the oven, I always make sure to have lots of fun toppings for folks to load up their portions. Shredded lettuce, diced tomatoes, sliced avocado or guac, maybe some pickled jalapeños for heat – you get the idea! It’s like building your own little walking taco cup, but in delicious casserole form.
I cannot tell you how many times this dish has saved my bacon on a busy weeknight. It’s so easy, so comforting, so flavor-packed, and it makes enough for leftovers that honestly might even be better than the first night!
Whether you’re feeding a hungry family, need a crowd-friendly potluck contribution, or just want a lazy night cozied up with some serious Tex-Mex deliciousness, this walking taco casserole needs to make it into your life! It’s mindblowingly good and tasty enough to make you wonder why you don’t casserole-ify everything.
Walking Taco Casserole
Ingredients
- 2 lbs ground beef
- 1 large sweet onion diced
- 2 packets taco seasoning
- 1 cup water
- 2 cups tomatillo salsa
- 1 cup sour cream
- 2 15 oz cans black beans, rinsed and drained
- 2 15 oz cans corn, drained
- 4 cups Frito corn chips divided
- 3 cups shredded Mexican-blend cheese
- Optional Toppings:
- Chopped cilantro sliced avocado, shredded lettuce, diced tomatoes, sliced jalapeños
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375°F. Grease a 9×13 baking dish.
- Brown the ground beef in a skillet over medium-high heat until cooked through, 5-7 minutes, making sure to crumble the beef as it cooks. Add the diced onions and cook for 2-3 more minutes until translucent.
- Stir in the taco seasoning and water. Allow to simmer for 2-3 minutes until slightly thickened.
- Remove from heat and stir in the tomatillo salsa, sour cream, black beans and corn until well combined.
- Crush half of the corn chips and spread them into an even layer in the prepared baking dish. Pour the beef and bean mixture evenly over top.
- Sprinkle the shredded cheese in an even layer over top. Top with the remaining uncrushed corn chips.
- Cover with foil and bake for 15 minutes. Remove foil and bake for 5 more minutes until lightly browned on top.
- Allow to cool slightly before serving with desired toppings like chopped cilantro, avocado, lettuce, tomatoes, jalapeños and extra salsa!
