Dollop
Mexican lasagna
Layers of flour tortillas, spiced beef and black beans, enchilada sauce and melted cheese, baked into a sliceable Tex-Mex lasagna.
- 65 min total
- 30 min hands-on
- Follow-a-recipe easy
- Serves 6
- About $2.82 a serving
- 590 calories
- Good the next day
Dolly says: Make the full amount. It’s just as good for lunch the next day.
Ingredients
For 6 servings.
- 1 yellow onion, diced
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 lb 85/15 ground beef
- 1 can black beans, drained and rinsed
- 1 cup salsa
- 1 can red enchilada sauce
- 6 flour tortillas
- 2½ cups Mexican blend cheese, divided
- 2 stalks green onions, sliced
- ½ cup sour cream (optional)
From your pantry
- 1 tbsp chili powder
- 1 tsp ground cumin
- ¾ tsp salt
Each serving has about 590 calories, 34 g protein, 43 g carbs and 31 g fat, and costs about $2.82 at typical US grocery prices. Both are estimates from what the recipe uses.
Missing something?
- No yellow onions? White onions or red onions work.
- No 85/15 ground beef? 90/10 ground beef works.
- No black beans? Pinto beans or kidney beans work.
- No salsa? Pico de gallo works.
- No flour tortillas? Whole wheat tortillas work.
- No Mexican blend cheese? Shredded cheddar or cheddar cheese or Monterey Jack cheese works.
- No green onions? Chives work.
- No sour cream? Plain Greek yogurt works.
Steps
Tap an underlined word for a quick explanation.
the oven to 375°F. the onion and the garlic.
Preheat. Preheating means turning the oven on before you start, so it’s fully hot when the food goes in. Food that starts in a cold oven cooks unevenly and doesn’t brown the same.
How you’ll know: The oven beeps or its light clicks off, usually 10 to 15 minutes after you turn it on.
Dice. Dicing means cutting food into small, even cubes, usually a quarter to half an inch across. Pieces the same size cook at the same speed, so nothing burns while the rest catches up.
How you’ll know: Your pieces are little cubes about the size of a chickpea, and they all look close to the same.
Mince. Mincing means chopping something into the tiniest pieces you can, smaller than a grain of rice. Tiny pieces melt into the dish, so you get the flavor without biting into a chunk of garlic.
How you’ll know: Every piece is tiny and about the same size, and the pile starts to look almost like a paste.
Heat a large over medium-high, add the beef and onion, and press the beef flat. Leave it 3 minutes, until underneath.
Skillet. A skillet is a frying pan: wide and flat with low, sloped sides. The shape lets steam escape, so food browns instead of stewing.
How you’ll know: It’s the pan you’d fry an egg in, and a 10 or 12 inch one handles most recipes.
Brown. Browning means cooking until the outside turns brown, which is where a lot of savory flavor comes from. Give food room and time without stirring, or it steams and stays gray.
How you’ll know: The food looks brown rather than gray, and the kitchen smells toasty and savory.
Medium-high heatTimer: 3 min
Break it into and cook 5 minutes more, until no pink is left. Spoon off the fat.
Crumble. Crumbling means breaking food into small, rough bits with your fingers or a spoon, like feta or ground meat in the pan. Small bits spread through the dish, so there’s some in every bite.
How you’ll know: The pieces are small and uneven, about pea-size, with no big clumps left.
Medium-high heatTimer: 5 min
Food safety: Ground beef, pork and lamb are done at 160°F. When it’s cooked through there’s no pink left anywhere in the pan.
Stir in the garlic, chili powder, cumin and salt for 30 seconds, then the beans and salsa. Let it bubble 3 minutes.
Medium heatTimer: 3 min
Spread ⅓ cup of the enchilada sauce in a 9x13-inch baking dish and cover it with 2 tortillas, tearing them to fill the gaps.
Spread a third of the beef over them, with ⅓ cup sauce, and scatter ¾ cup cheese. Repeat the tortilla, beef, sauce and cheese layers twice more.
Drizzle. Drizzling means pouring a thin, slow stream over the top of something. A thin stream spreads a little flavor a long way.
How you’ll know: You see thin lines across the food, not a puddle collecting underneath.
Cover with foil and 20 minutes, then uncover and bake 10 minutes more, until bubbling.
Bake. Baking means cooking in the oven with dry heat all around the food. It cooks evenly from every side, so you can mostly leave it alone.
How you’ll know: It’s golden on top and passes the recipe’s check, like a clean toothpick or the right temperature.
Timer: 30 min
Let it 10 minutes so it slices cleanly, then top with green onions and sour cream.
Rest. Resting means letting cooked meat sit for a few minutes before you cut it. It keeps cooking gently, and more of the juice stays in the meat instead of running onto the board.
How you’ll know: Loosely covered with foil, it stays hot, and very little juice runs out when you slice it.
Timer: 10 min
Plan this in Dollop, and get the grocery list
Dollop puts this dinner on a night that suits your week, lists only what you still need to buy, and walks you through each step while you cook.
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