You will love this delicious Beefy Nacho Casserole with lean beef, cheddar and pepperjack cheeses, onions, bell peppers, salsa, olives and tortilla chips.
Okay, so casseroles aren’t usually my thing… but Nachos, cheese, and beef totally are.
Nachos + Beef + Cheese all together in this Beef Nacho Casserole? Um, heck yes.
So I did something really crazy in this nacho casserole recipe and it involves these guys:
Yep, tortilla chips. And look, no lard! I was kind of disappointed when I read that. You guys know I love lard.
So you know how when you make a graham cracker crust you just combine fine graham cracker crumbs with melted butter and bake it for a little bit to set up?
Well, I figured that there is no reason why I shouldn’t be able to do this with tortilla chips… so I went ahead and did it.
It is a tortilla chip casserole ground beef nacho cheese fiesta!
And guys…
This Nacho Cheese Casserole is yummy.
The crumbs don’t bake into a hard crust, but rather form a buttery-crunchy delicious base for the rest of the toppings to sit upon. Mmmm.
The rest of the ingredients should seem pretty familiar, if you’ve ever had beef nachos.
And I really hope you’ve had nachos, because if you haven’t then you aren’t really living.
Just look at all that gooey & bubbly goodness in this nachos casserole:
And then, because you like to eat healthy, just sprinkle a few cilantro leaves on top for color… and nutrients?
Cut yourself a big ole’ piece.
And help yourself to a bite.
The husband and I ate ALL of this in, like, two days. And I’m pretty darn proud of that.
Beefy Nacho Casserole Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 12 oz bag tortilla chips
- 1/2 c. butter - melted
- 2 tablespoons grapeseed oil
- 1 medium yellow onion - diced
- 1 large red bell pepper - diced
- 1 large green bell pepper - diced
- 1 pound lean ground beef
- 1/2 teaspoon garlic salt
- 2 cups shredded cheddar cheese
- 1 cup shredded pepperjack cheese
- 1 jar - 16 ounces medium-hot salsa
- 1 can - 2.2 ounces sliced black olives, drained (about ¼ cup)
- 3 large green onions - trimmed and sliced
- 1/4 c. chopped cilantro
Instructions
- Heat oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit. Place tortilla chips in a blender and pulse into fine crumbs. Pour in the melted butter and continue to pulse until well combined. Press into the bottom of a 13 x 9 baking dish. Bake for 8-10 minutes, or until golden brown. Set aside to cool.
- Meanwhile, heat oil In large skillet over medium-high heat. Add onion, red peppers, green peppers, ground beef and garlic salt; cook, stirring to break up clumps of beef, until the peppers are soft and beef is no longer pink, about 5 minutes. Drain off any excess fat from skillet.
- Pour the jar of salsa into a large bowl. Fold the cooked meat mixture, 1 cup of the cheddar cheese, ½ cup of pepperjack cheese, and olives into the salsa. Scrape entire mixture into the prepared crust. Sprinkle the remaining cheeses over the top.
- Bake at 375 degrees for 30 minutes. Sprinkle green onions and cilantro evenly over the top.
Nutrition
I don’t care if you call this Beefy Nacho Casserole, Beef Nacho Bake, Ground Beef Nacho Casserole, Easy Nacho Casserole, Nacho Beef Casserole, Mexican Nacho Casserole recipe, I am sure you will love it, no matter what you call it!
This was the bomb. Exactly as the recipe is. Just add some sour cream. I will make this again.
I really did not like the chips crust. I didn’t like its taste or texture. It completely took away from the taste of the casserole which was very good. I will make this again with a pizza crust, or layering whole nacho chips, or tortillas.
This looked beautiful in the casserole dish and I’ll make it again. However, for my family, the crust was a flop. It wasn’t solid enough to be an actual crust so the crumbs just mixed into the casserole on the plate and honestly, ruined the taste. Next time I will just layer tortilla chips on the bottom or just serve it on top of chips.
Looking forward to making it..I can taste it already😊
Husband loved it, great flavor. I added just a touch of worshershire
Oops wrong recipe. I made cabbage roll casserole