Taco Salad Casserole

Taco salad casserole is made with a base of ground beef, pinto beans and lentils. It's loaded with delicious vegetables, rice and shredded cheese to create a healthy balanced meal. This casserole recipe will easily fill up a hungry family.

Not only is it a delicious meal, but it's also beautiful too! This recipe can be used for a weeknight meal or the perfect party dish. Serve it with extra crushed nacho chips for more crunch!

Taco Salad Casserole

Save this taco salad casserole recipe for the nights when you have a little bit more time and want to impress your family! It's so beautiful and actually quite simple to make. I'll show you how to do it step-by-step in the recipe card below.

Taco Salad Casserole Ingredients

• GROUND BEEF - You'll need 1 lb of lean ground beef for this recipe. Ground turkey would also work.
• TOMATOES - This recipe uses a combo of diced tomatoes, tomato paste, and crushed tomatoes.
• SPICES - To flavor the base of the casserole, chili powder, salt, garlic powder, and ground cumin are mixed in with the ground beef base.
• BEANS - This recipe uses one can of pinto beans and one can of lentil beans. You can use any kind of beans you'd like: black beans, kidney beans, chickpeas, and white cannellini beans will also work.
• RICE - There is a layer of cooked rice inside the casserole. I used brown rice, but you can also use white rice.
• SHREDDED CHEDDAR CHEESE - There is also one layer of shredded cheddar cheese under the colorful stripes. You can use any kind of shredded cheese that you want including mozzarella, and marble cheese.
• TOPPINGS - To make the colorful stripes you'll need shredded lettuce, chopped onion, chopped tomato, sliced olives, and crushed nachos.

How To Make Taco Salad Casserole

1. COOK THE RICE: Cook 1.5 cups of rice beforehand. I like to use a rice cooker to help save time.
2. BROWN THE BEEF WITH ONIONS: In a skillet over medium-heat, cook the ground beef and onions until the beef is no longer pink.
3. TOMATOES AND SPICES: Add the tomatoes and spices to the skillet and let simmer for about 5 minutes. This will help to thicken the mixture.
4. LAYER CASSEROLE: Pour the ground beef mixture into the casserole dish and create an even layer. Add 2 cups of cooked rice in a layer over top, then sprinkle on 1-2 cups of shredded cheese.
5. TOPPING STRIPES: To create the stripes of toppings for a colorful casserole, I used shredded lettuce, chopped onion, chopped tomatoes, sliced olives, and crushed nachos.

More Casserole Recipes To Try

• Chicken Olive Pasta Bake - one of my husband's favorites!
• Hamburger Casserole - easy and great for a hungry family.
• Pizza Casserole - another family favorite!