This walking taco casserole combines seasoned ground beef, black beans, salsa, nacho cheese tortilla chips, and melted cheese into one easy 30-minute dinner. It’s everything you love about a walking taco baked into a family-friendly casserole that’s perfect for busy weeknights, potlucks, and game day.
What Is A Walking Taco?
If you’ve ever been to a kid’s birthday party, graduation party or school sports concession stand in the midwest, you’ve probably tried a walking taco.
All the goodness of Mexican tacos like seasoned ground beef, beans, cheese, are piled into a personal-sized bag of crushed tortilla chips and topped with veggies, sour cream and salsa. They are a delicious and portable meal that both kids and adults love!
While the idea of being portable is convenient, walking tacos in casserole form is a great option for a weeknight meal at home. It contains all the components of tacos that you love, all in one pan!
Quick Look at this Walking Taco Casserole Recipe
- Ready In: 30 minutes
- Serves: 8
- Flavor: Classic taco flavors, melty cheese, and crunchy tortilla chips
- Equipment: Skillet and a 9×13 baking dish
- Great For: Taco Tuesday, busy weeknights, potlucks, and game day
What you’ll need for this recipe:
How to Make Walking Taco Casserole
Make the meat filling – Brown the ground beef and onion until the beef is no longer pink. Drain any excess grease, then stir in the taco seasoning, black beans, green chiles, and salsa. Cook for 2–3 minutes until heated through.
Layer – Spread half of the crushed Doritos into a greased 9×13 baking dish. Top with half of the meat mixture and half of the shredded cheese. Repeat the layers.
The easiest way to crush the chips is to open the bag and use your hands to crush all the chips inside. Good way to get some aggression out!
Repeat – Use second half of chips, meat mixture and shredded cheese to finish assembling the casserole.
Bake – At 350 degrees for 20 minutes until cheese is melted and bubbly. Let the casserole rest for about 5 minutes before serving so it holds together a little better when scooped.
What to Serve with Walking Taco Casserole
I like to top the casserole with veggie toppings and leave any sauces for people to add themselves. How perfect would this recipe be for Cinco de Mayo party?
Let everyone customize their own serving with their favorite taco toppings. Some of our favorites include shredded lettuce, diced tomatoes, avocado, black olives, jalapeños, cilantro, pico de gallo, sour cream, salsa, or queso.
This casserole is hearty enough to serve on its own, but it also pairs well with Mexican rice, chips and queso, or fresh fruit like these Watermelon Sticks.
Recipe Variations
The best thing about this taco bake is how customizable it is. Here are some ideas to cater to many different dietary and taste preferences:
- Double the ground beef for an all-meat recipe or sub in ground turkey or chicken!
- To make a vegetarian dish, use 2 cans of either pinto, black beans or canned corn.
- Make your own taco seasoning to adjust the spice and sodium levels to your needs.
- Use a spicier salsa or a specialty one like salsa verde.
- Cheddar, Monterrey Jack, pepper jack or a “Mexican” blend cheese are other cheese options.
- Although there may be cross-contamination during manufacturing, brand name Doritos do not contain gluten. Use certified gluten-free tortilla chips if gluten is an issue.
The possibilities are endless!
How to Store Leftovers
If you are serving fewer people and assume you’ll have leftovers, leave a section of the casserole free of any toppings and store them separate for another time . Leftover taco bake can be kept in an airtight container in the refrigerator for 3-4 days.
The casserole can easily be reheated in the microwave and then topped with your desired toppings. The chips will be slightly soggier when reheated, but overall, the leftovers are just as good!
I would not recommend freezing the casserole, but you could make and freeze the meat & bean mixture and thaw before assembling.
FAQ
Walking Taco Casserole (With Doritos)
Ingredients
- 1 # ground beef
- 1 cup yellow onion chopped
- 1 15 oz. can black beans drained & rinsed
- 1 4 oz. can chopped green chiles
- 1 cup salsa
- 1 packet taco seasoning 1 oz.
- 1 9.25 oz. bag nacho cheese tortilla chips, Doritos crushed, about 3 cups
- 2 cups Colby jack cheese shredded
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- Brown ground beef and onion in a skillet until beef is cooked through. Drain excess grease, if needed. Add black beans, green chiles, salsa and taco seasoning. Stir well to combine.1 # ground beef, 1 cup yellow onion, 1 15 oz. can black beans, 1 4 oz. can chopped green chiles, 1 cup salsa, 1 packet taco seasoning
- Place half of meat mixture in the bottom of a 9×13 baking dish. Top evenly with half of crushed chips. Sprinkle evenly with half the cheese.
- Repeat with another layer of meat mixture, chips and cheese.
- Bake uncovered for 20 minutes until cheese is melted and bubbly.
- Top with desired toppings.
Notes
- Topping ideas include shredded lettuce, diced tomato, avocado, black olives, jalapeño, cilantro, pico de Gallo, sour cream, taco sauce, queso, guacamole
- Let the casserole rest for 5 minutes before serving so it holds together better when scooped.
- The meat filling can be made ahead of time or frozen separately for an even quicker meal.
Did you make this recipe?
Did you make this recipe? Leave a comment and star rating below. I’d love to know how it turned out!
From My Kitchen to Yours
Get approachable, family-friendly recipes and simple ideas for making mealtime more meaningful delivered straight to your inbox.
So easy and my family loved it!