Dollop
Taco casserole
Seasoned beef, black beans and salsa baked over tortilla chips under a blanket of cheese, taco night with no assembly required.
- 45 min total
- 20 min hands-on
- Anyone can make this
- Serves 6
- About $2.43 a serving
- 520 calories
- Good the next day
- Gluten-free
Dolly says: Make the full amount. It’s just as good for lunch the next day.
Ingredients
For 6 servings.
- 1 yellow onion, diced
- 1 lb 85/15 ground beef
- 1 can black beans, drained and rinsed
- 1 cup salsa
- 4 cups tortilla chips
- 2 cups Mexican blend cheese, divided
- 1 cup shredded lettuce
- 1 tomato, diced
- ½ cup sour cream (optional)
From your pantry
- 1 tbsp chili powder
- 1 tsp ground cumin
- 1 tsp garlic powder
- 1 tsp paprika
- ¾ tsp salt
Each serving has about 520 calories, 30 g protein, 34 g carbs and 29 g fat, and costs about $2.43 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 Mexican blend cheese? Shredded cheddar or cheddar cheese or Monterey Jack cheese works.
- No shredded lettuce? Iceberg lettuce or romaine lettuce works.
- No tomatoes? Roma tomatoes work.
- No sour cream? Plain Greek yogurt works.
Steps
Tap an underlined word for a quick explanation.
the oven to 375°F and the onion.
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.
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 chili powder, cumin, garlic powder, paprika and salt for 30 seconds, then the beans and salsa. Let it bubble 3 minutes.
Medium heatTimer: 3 min
Lightly crush the chips with your hands and spread them over the bottom of a 9x13-inch baking dish.
Spoon the beef over the chips and scatter the cheese on top.
15 to 20 minutes, until the cheese is and 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.
Melt. Melting means gently heating something solid, like butter or cheese, until it turns liquid. Low or medium heat keeps it from browning or burning.
How you’ll know: It’s smooth and liquid, and butter may foam a little but hasn’t turned brown.
Timer: 17 min 30 sec
Top with the lettuce, tomato and dollops of sour cream, and scoop onto plates.
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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