This Mexican cheese casserole recipe is a quick and easy meal your family is sure to love! You’ll also find a pre-made meal plan to make dinner easy!
Mexican Cheese Casserole Recipe
Menu:
Mexican Cheese Casserole*
Rice
Green Beans
Fried, sugared tortilla shells*
Recipes:
Mexican Cheese Casserole Recipe
1/2 to 1 lb. of hamburger*
Cream of chicken soup
1 small can of tomato sauce
1 small can of green chilies, chopped
8 to 16 oz. of cheese, grated*
12 corn tortillas
Fry hamburger in pan and drain. Add soup, tomato sauce and chilies.
In a casserole dish or baking pan layer tortillas shells, meat mixture and cheese. Bake at 300° for 30-45 minutes.
*This recipe is very flexible. You can adjust the hamburger and cheese to pretty much to what you have on hand. I use cheddar cheese but you can use Monterey Jack, Mexican mix or any combination you want.
Fried, Sugar Tortilla Shells
Flour tortillas
Cinnamon and sugar, (1 tsp. cinnamon to 1/2 cup sugar)
In a frying pan add about 1/2 inch of oil. When oil is hot, fry tortillas (I either cut or tear them in to halves or quarters).
When golden brown, remove from pan and lay on paper towels. Immediately sprinkle with cinnamon mixture on both sides.
The Mexican Cheese Casserole is going to be made at my house as soon as I can go get the ingredients. This recipe has my name all over it :)
me too! :-)
I use a similar recipe, but I always put in cooked chicken instead of the hamburger. I also add sauted onion and bell pepper. This is one of my family’s favorites.
I make something similar. I use a can of Rotel (generic from Aldis) in place of the tomato sauce and green chiles. I have used Velveeta and flour tortillas, also. You’re right-this looks really flexible for sure. Bet you could add some corn in there, too.
Made this for lunch today. Hubby loved it and so did I!
I have done this same recipe but I have used Rotel and used nacho chips instead of tortillas( I was out of them) This is a family favorite.
I will be making this for supper tonight too. I`ll be going to the grocery this morning, so I had to check to see if I had everything I needed before I go, which I do.
When I use flour tortillas in Mexican style casseroles, they turn out soggy. I like them a little tough & chewy. My wife won’t eat CORN tortillas, so please don’t suggest using those. When I was a kid, my mom always made them with the perfect degree of “crunch” in her King Ranch Chicken, but I can’t seem to duplicate that. I tried frying them just a little, but either it didn’t work or I didn’t fry them enough. Should I bake them on a cookie sheet before using them in the casserole?
You could try baking them Charles and see. I have never tried because I like the soft “sogginess” of them in the casseroles like this. It is kind of like some people like lumps in their mashed potatoes and others hate them. But try to bake them and maybe another reader has an idea too.
Flour tortillas never get really crunchy but my sister fries them in oil before adding the ingredients for enchilatas (enchies, she calls them :)) and they get a little less soggy. I have also put them in a 500 degree oven and flipped them over a few times to brown – watch them carefully – and they hold up better.
Love the ideas for this casserole, AND love how versatile Mexican can be! Before you run out and get ingredients for this recipe, check to see what you have on hand first! When our family was preparing to move from Michigan to Idaho, I was trying to use up EVERYTHING from my pantry/freezer/canned supplies/etc. The mover is paid by the pound, so it was cheaper to start from scratch when we got there than to pay for all of that food to be moved (except my spices…they don’t weigh much and would cost a lot to replace, so I sent those in a box). When we got down to the last couple of weeks before the move, and there wasn’t much left, I started making ‘mexican casseroles’, meaning I would put just about any kind of meat, veggie, rice, tortillas, cheese, sauce, etc in a layered casserole and bake it. I like Costco’s Taco Seasoning, so if I mixed that in and put cheese on the top, it tasted delicious, no matter what weird things I had thrown in there! When the inevitable question was asked (“What’s for dinner?”), I didn’t know what to call it other than “some mess Mommy threw together”. So being the cute little creative things my kids were, they came up with the title ‘Mommy’s Mexican Moving Mess’. hahaha It became a family joke that we still use, only now we live in Montana, so when I make any kind of ‘mexican casserole’ like the one in this post, everyone calls it ‘Mom’s Montana Mexican Mess’. :)
BTW, I’ve subscribed to Living on a Dime for years, and have several of your books, but this is the first time I’ve commented on the site. THANK YOU so much for putting out a newsletter that is practical, encouraging, and for real people! I always take away some useful tidbit every single time I read it. Many blessing to you both, and your wonderful family!