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This Mexican Lasagna is a fun twist on a classic! It’s packed with zesty taco flavor and layered with beef and loads of shredded cheese, making it perfect for the whole family!!

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A slice of Mexican Lasagna on a wooden board topped with tomatoes, black olives, and cheese.

I’m SO excited to (finally) share this recipe with you all!! It’s one of my husbands all-time faves – Mexican Lasagna.

The first time Zach brought me to his itty bitty hometown to meet his family, Casey’s taco pizza was on the menu. Of course, I was nervous walking in the door meeting the family, but the familiarity of Casey’s taco pizza made me feel right at home! (And the fact that his parents have the same first names – Kevin and Linda – as mine! ha!)

Then the second time I was in town, it was Mexican Lasagna. I’d never heard of this before, but thought it sounded pretty good. Zach was super excited for supper that night, so I was looking forward to trying one of his childhood favorites.

I was blown away by the Mexican Lasagna. It was flavorful, cheesy, meaty and the noodles were done perfectly. Luckily, Linda was kind enough to share the recipe with me. So now, any time Zach gets a little crabby, I know this recipe is a surefire way to brighten his day! (Not that he ever gets crabby ;))

A horizontal shot of lasagna on a wooden board sprinkled with toppings.

In fact, this recipe was SO tasty and memorable that it made a spot in our wedding party favors! We put together 8 of our favorite recipes to share with our wedding guests and this one was an easy choice. I’m sure more of these recipes will be posted to the blog in the future, but this is a good one to start with! 🙂

How do you make Mexican Lasagna?

It’s really not complicated….at all. If you’ve made any type of lasagna before, I can tell you that this one is just as easy and probably easier.

Start by preheating the oven. Then, get the ground beef cooking. Once the beef is cooked, stir in the beans, seasoning and a little salsa. Then, get your ingredients ready for assembly: Noodles, beef mixture and the shredded cheese.

Grease a 9×13 baking dish and get to layering! You’ll have three layers total – noodles, beef, cheese….noodles, beef, cheese….noodles, beef, cheese. It doesn’t have to be perfect, so don’t worry about measuring how much beef and/or cheese goes on each layer.

Next, stir together the salsa and water in a large liquid measuring cup and pour it over the top of the lasagna. Cover with aluminum foil and toss the pan in the oven. It’ll cook for about an hour like this.

Then, you’ll remove the foil, top with sour cream, olives and the remaining cheese and continue to bake for a few more minutes.

Once the lasagna is done, you can serve with tomatoes, cilantro, green onions, extra salsa, hot sauce, or whatever other Tex-Mex additions you’d like!

A close up shot of a fork full of lasagna.

What kind of noodles should I buy?

Regular lasagna noodles. Not the “precooked” or “no boil” variety….just the good ‘ol lasagna noodles!

There are numerous things I like about this recipe, but I especially love that you don’t have to pre-cook the noodles for the lasagna. (Who’s got that patience to wait for water to boil?! Not me!) I’ll be honest, I was a little leery of not cooking the noodles the first time I made this, worrying that they’d still be crunchy when coming out of the oven. But, that was definitely not the case. They were perfect-o!!

Can I make this recipe gluten free?

With a couple minor modifications, you certainly can! Just swap the lasagna noodles out for gluten free lasagna noodles and be sure that the taco seasoning you plan to use doesn’t have any gluten either. Otherwise, you should be good to go!

What should I serve Mexican Lasagna with?

Margaritas, duh. Hahaha ok, so that’s one option. I’d recommend serving with some fresh fruit or a little chips and guac! But back to the margaritas, my friend Lauren from the Zestful Kitchen has some fantastic recipes, including this Rhubarb Margarita – YUM! And for dessert, this Fried Ice Cream Pie or these Churro Bites would pair beautifully!

Mexican Lasagna
5 from 2 votes

Mexican Lasagna

Author: Kelsey
Prep Time 20 minutes
Cook Time 1 hour 5 minutes
Rest Time 10 minutes
Total Time 1 hour 35 minutes

Ingredients
 

  • 2 pounds ground beef
  • One 16 ounce can refried beans
  • One 4 ounce can chopped green chilies
  • 1 envelope taco seasoning
  • 2 tablespoons hot salsa*
  • 12 ounces uncooked lasagna noodles
  • 4 cups shredded Mexican or Colby Jack cheese
  • One 16 ounce jar mild salsa
  • 2 cups water
  • 2 cups sour cream or plain Greek yogurt
  • One 2.25 ounce can sliced black olives drained, optional
  • cilantro, diced tomatoes, green onions optional

Instructions

  • Preheat oven to 350°F.
  • Brown the ground beef and drain the fat.
  • Stir in the refried beans, green chilies, taco seasoning and hot salsa.
  • In a greased 9×13 pan, layer 1/3 of the lasagna noodles, 1/3 of the beef and bean mixture and 1 cup of cheese.
  • Repeat two more times.
  • In a medium sized bowl, combine the salsa and water. Pour over the lasagna.
  • Cover with foil and bake for 1 hour.
  • Remove the foil and top with sour cream (or Greek yogurt), olives and remaining cheese.
  • Bake an additional 5 minutes. Remove from the oven and let stand for 10 minutes before serving.
  • Top with diced tomatoes, diced green onion and cilantro, if desired.

Notes

*If you don’t have hot salsa, you can use mild or medium, too.

Nutrition

Calories: 423kcal | Carbohydrates: 30g | Protein: 20g | Fat: 25g | Saturated Fat: 11g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 0.8g | Monounsaturated Fat: 9g | Trans Fat: 1g | Cholesterol: 81mg | Sodium: 440.5mg | Potassium: 294mg | Fiber: 2g | Sugar: 7g | Vitamin A: 446IU | Vitamin C: 5mg | Calcium: 138mg | Iron: 5mg
“Dance Around the Kitchen” is not a dietitian or nutritionist, and any nutritional information shared is an estimate. If calorie count and other nutritional values are important to you, we recommend running the ingredients through whichever online nutritional calculator you prefer. Calories and other nutritional values can vary quite a bit depending on which brands were used.

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Recipe added to the Weekend Potluck and Meal Plan Monday.

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11 Comments

  1. I will be making this for my family. A Mexican dish like lasagna. This is a great start for a delicious dinner. Thanks will let you know how it turned out.

    1. Thanks, Mary! I hope you and your family enjoys it – let me know what you think!
      Have a great week! -Kelsey

  2. Excellent recipe ! Thanks for sharing. I used a large jar of On The Border salsa (medium) 24 ounce and placed my lasagna noodles in hot water for about 10 minutes to soften them up a bit. And it took about an hour and 10-15 minutes to completely heat up – could be my oven. Also I let it sit uncooked in the refrigerator overnight and let it sit out at room temperature for 1 hour before baking it. I will definitely make this again and pass this recipe on to my adult kiddos !

    1. That’s great to hear, Jeanne!!! Thanks for sharing with me. I hope your kiddos enjoy it, too! 🙂

  3. Janet Bradley says:

    Do I have to top it with sour cream, or can this be served on the side. Not a fan of sour cream or greek yogurt. Will it be missing much without it? Wanna try this soooo much

    1. Hi Janet! I’ve never tried it without sour cream, but I’m sure it would still be delish! Instead, I’d recommend adding a cup of cheese on top for a nice look on top! 🙂 I hope you love it as much as we do!! -Kelsey

  4. Made this, but substituted the water and salsa mixture with red enchilada sauce (homemade ) and split the cheese half each Colby Jack and shredded Oaxaca. It was amazing!

    1. Sarah Mckee says:

      Great idea with the enchilada sauce! Trying this!

  5. 5 stars
    One of my family’s favorites. Thank you

  6. 5 stars
    I substituted ground beef, with ground turkey. Followed rest of ingredients Awesome easy recipe.

  7. Pretty good recipe. Instead of lasagna noodles, I used corn tortillas and exchanged the salsa for enchilada sauce.