- 1/2tablespoon olive oil
- 2 garlic cloves, chopped
- 1 onion, chopped
- 1pound lean ground beef
- Sea salt and black ground pepper, to taste
- 1 (16-ounce) jar your favorite salsa
- 1 (15-ounce) can refried beans
- 1 1/2cups shredded Mexican cheese blend
- 1cup plain Greek yogurt or sour cream
- 2cups romaine lettuce, shredded
- 2 tomatoes, seeds and membranes removed, diced
- 1 avocado, pitted and diced
- 1/2cup fresh cilantro, chopped
- Tortilla chips, optional
- Preheat oven to 375 F. Heat the oil over medium high heat in a large skillet. Add in the garlic and onion and sauté for 1- 2 minutes until onions are translucent. Mix in the ground beef and brown another 3-4 minutes, seasoning with salt and pepper, to taste. Drain any excess fat and then pour in the salsa, combining well.
- Pour the beef mixture into a 8x10 casserole baking pan (with a slotted spoon as you do not want too much liquid), making sure it covers the bottom evenly. Spread the refried beans evenly over the beef mixture. Sprinkle the shredded cheese evenly over the refried beans and bake uncovered for 20 minutes (it should be golden brown and starting to bubble slightly).
- Remove from oven and carefully spread the sour cream or yogurt evenly over the melted cheese (I use a wooden spreader but a cake frosting spreader would work well too). Cover with shredded lettuce, tomatoes, avocado, and cilantro. Serve with tortilla chips, if using. Sugge
I like to make this with The Whole Meal’s Slow Cooker Tacos recipe, which is basically ground beef or turkey simmered in salsa for hours. I then use that as the beef mixture for this recipe (I drain out excess salsa first).
Try ground chicken or turkey in place of the ground beef.
While I like the casserole with refried beans, a classic Mexican side dish, you can shake it up with refried black beans (and if you are feeling extra adventuresome, check out The Whole Meal’s Slow Cooker Refried Black Beans in place of canned).
If you want an additional zip of taco flavor, add in a teaspoon or so of cayenne powder, chili powder or taco seasoning while you are browning the ground beef. Here is The Whole Meal’s taco seasoning blend:
¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper or chili powder (½ teaspoon if want it hot)
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1 teaspoon ground cumin
½ teaspoon sea salt
¼ teaspoon garlic powder
1/8 teaspoon ground black pepper
1 teaspoon paprika
Store in an airtight container (I save my old spice jars and reuse just for this purpose;)
