Quick & Easy Mexican Casserole
Quick & Easy Mexican Casserole
Another recipe idea that can use leftovers or canned and packaged goods for convenience.
This makes:
4 Dinner size portions for $5 or less.
Quick and Easy. Versatile for substitutions which prevents food waste.
5-10 minutes of prep. 30 minutes to bake. Serve and top.
Kid friendly for ages 10 and up or from whatever age you can trust your children to properly use an oven and cook top.
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| Simple Mexican Casserole. This serving was 4 x 4 x 2.5 inches in size |
As a working mom when my kids were in middle and high school I had to rely on easy, quick meals on some nights. We had dedicated days like pizza Fridays, spaghetti nights twice a week, and kid simple meals they could make themselves. I had less time to stop by the grocery mid week so we used up a lot of leftovers, partial packages, and canned goods.
An easy recipe that kids could make for themselves was super nachos. But the bags of tortilla chips always ended up with the broken bits and crumbles at the bottom. These were tossed back into the pantry as the kids reached for the new bag with the good chips. When I would sort through the pantry to see what I needed, I'd find bags of these leftover tortilla chip crumbs.
I asked myself how I could use the leftovers and I created a simple Tex Mex Casserole to use the chips and cater to my kids tastes. Using an 8 x 8 inch casserole pan, I sprayed the sides and bottom. I crushed the chips in the bags and poured them onto the bottom of the pan creating a layer. Then I added toppings and baked for half an hour. It was so simple the children started making the casserole for themselves. After a while we added rice and olives to the casserole. When it was served, everyone would add sour cream, lettuce, and salsa.
INGREDIENTS
0.45 Leftover, bottom of the bag Tortilla Chips 2-3 oz of 13 oz bag, finely crushed
0.96 GV style Rotels
1.00 GV Fat Free Refried Beans or Traditional Refried Beans
1.24 Knorr Prepared Rice: Taco, Spanish, Mexican, or Cilantro Lime flavor
0.50 Shredded Cheese: GV 2 oz of 1 lb 3.78/ 0.25/oz
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$4.15
OPTIONAL
0.33 GV Black Olives 6 oz can, Use about 1 oz (about 10 olives)
0.15 GV Diced Chilis or Jalapenos 0.88/4 oz can
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$4.63
COLD TOPPINGS (Optional after it is served)
While not necessary, the toppings are nice but the casserole can be served as baked.
Lettuce, Jalapenos, Chilis, Spinach, Sour Cream, Avocado, Onions, Salsa, Hot Sauce, Shredded Cheese
*GV is the Walmart Great Value brand and prices are from my region in October, 2025.
INSTRUCTIONS
If using packaged stove top rice, make the rice according to instructions.
Prep a casserole pan. I use an 8 x 8 inch glass casserole pan. Spray the sides and bottom or lightly coat with oil or use parchment paper. This step makes it easier to serve after cooking.
Smash the tortillas in the bag to give them a relatively uniform size. Start by creating a bottom layer, a crust, using the crushed tortillas. Pour only the liquid from the Rotels across the chips. Pour the oil and fat from the refried beans across the chips.
Add the rice on top of the tortillas chips.
Next remove the refried beans from the can in a single go. I find it's easy to slice the beans into rounds and distribute it across the top as the next layer.
Pour the rotels over the beans. Added shredded cheese and olives to complete the casserole. You can add additional crushed tortilla chips at this stage too.
Bake at 350 for 30 minutes.
Divide into 4 portions and top with shredded lettuce, sour cream, salsa, jalapenos, and anything else you might like. The additions are optional and vary.
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A TRUE LEFTOVERS DISH
This is a versatile dish and can use up leftovers of rice, beans, tomatoes, jalapenos, or whatever you might have on hand. We have swapped out refried beans for leftover black beans and chili beans. The rice varies based on what we have. Plain rice is fine but can be spiced up with taco seasoning, spices, onions, and more. The rotels have been a constant but chopped tomatoes and chilis can be used. The cheese has been a mashup of what we need to use up. The olives were added as an afterthought when we once had salad ingredients out.
LEFTOVER TORTILLA CHIPS
The tortilla chips make a nice crust for a number of dishes from cornbread bakes or for other casseroles. They are salty and crisp and bind together loosely to add a crunchy crust. The more you add, such as the Rotel juice and the bean oil poured off from the can, the more it will bind together.
Another quick meal that used up bottom-of-the-bag tortillas chips was Simple Taco Salad which used up the center of the iceberg lettuce. Everyone wants the nice green leafy bit from the iceberg lettuce, usually on a sandwich. That center which gets paler and paler until white is less desirable. It's also rigid and sometimes too thick. I thinly sliced this part of the lettuce almost to the stem. Then I create a salad dressing of sour cream and a hefty amount of salsa. The goal is to have something the consistency of salad dressing, a little thin, but easy to pour and stir in. Mix the salsa sour cream dressing into the shredded lettuce then add the leftover crushed tortilla chips in. Add finely shredded cheese and you have a salad that you can add drained, rinsed beans and black olives to or eat just as is.
