Tex Mex Lasagna

Looking for an easy weeknight dinner that can be on the table in 30 minutes? This Tex Mex Lasagna recipe is an easy chicken dish that’s bursting with cheesy goodness and delicious Mexican flavors. Try this simple weeknight meal today!

Looking for a quick weeknight dinner recipe that’s oozing with cheese and delivers some pretty amazing Mexican flavors? Well, look no further than this easy 30 minute Tex Mex Lasagna recipe! It’s the perfect dish to prepare when you know your night is going to be a busy one. Isn’t that every night for most of us these days?!

I always like to be honest with you and give credit to those who I borrow ideas and recipes from. I’d hate for someone to snatch up one of my ideas from my blog and call it their own. I’m always conscious of sharing where I get my own inspiration from for that exact reason. Like how I modified this Banana Pudding Trifle recipe from Paula Deen. I changed up the presentation of the dessert, but the recipe is the exact same. It’s really hard to top Paula Deen in flavor!

The thing is, once I become comfortable with a recipe and try it out, I enjoy playing with the flavors and adding the things I like and omitting the things I don’t. Over time, these original recipes I found somewhere online, or by watching the Food Network, become more personal to me and I start getting creative. Sometimes it might be just a simple change in the final presentation, while other times it can be completely changing up the ingredients altogether.

My Tex Mex Lasagna is inspired (well pretty identical with a few tiny changes) by Rachel Ray’s Mexican Lasagna recipe she featured on her show 30 Minute Meals back in the early 2000’s. Did you ever watch that show? Oh my gosh, I loved it! In a 30 minute episode, Rachel would cook an entire meal from start to finish. The episodes where she was fighting to plate her dish as the credits were rolling were my favorite. She was Super Woman in my eyes! Her message to viewers was that a healthy, home-cooked meal didn’t have to be complicated or take hours to prepare. She definitely nailed the concept!

This show was an inspiration to me and one of the many shows on the Food Network that helped me build my love for cooking. In the early 2000’s, I was a brand new wife and mom with zero cooking ability. I needed all the help I could get, folks. Thank goodness for Patrick because up until I started getting brave and wanting to try my hand at cooking, he was the homemaker! As much as I don’t want to admit it, he did all the cleaning too. Oh, the Good Ol’ Days! 😉

For whatever reason, I was intimidated to cook. I was worried about so many things that seemed serious at the time but so minimal to me now. I would worry that no one would like what I cooked or feared that I might burn or undercook something. In hindsight, if that happened, would it really be the end of the world?

Here’s some advice I’d give to my younger intimidated self.

1. Don’t let being afraid to make a mistake hinder you from trying to cook. Even the best of chefs make mistakes in the kitchen. I can guarantee you ever professional chef has burnt a few things along the way. Making mistakes in life shows you are trying, and if you’re trying, you can only get better with practice.
2. Watch cooking shows and follow easy recipes at the beginning for encouragement. Cooking isn’t as hard as you may think. Start small with something like this Tex Mex Lasagna. The more straightforward the recipe is, the better.
3. Stay clear of labor-intensive recipes that require expensive ingredients and a ton of advanced cooking techniques. You’ll be pretty upset if you spent a fortune on ingredients and had to throw the final product in the garbage because it didn’t come out well.  
4. You can do this! Again, what is the worst that will happen? You’ll have to make a quick run to McDonald’s or order pizza if dinner is a complete bust? Put on your big girl (or boy!) underwear and get in that kitchen.

So now that I’ve given you a good pep talk, let’s get started!

What do I need to make this Tex Mex Lasagna?

2 lb ground chicken (you can also use ground beef or turkey), 2 tbsp chili powder, 2 tsp ground cumin, 1 tsp salt, ½ red onion (chopped), 1 cup taco sauce, 15 oz. can black beans (drained), 1 can of corn, one to two 8 oz. packages of shredded cheese (cheddar, pepper jack, Mexican blend), 8 (8 in.) flour tortillas, chopped green onions and tomatoes (optional for garnish)

Preheat your oven to 425 degrees.

Spray a 9 x 13 baking dish and set aside.

Begin by chopping ½ a red onion.

Place a large pan over medium-high heat on the stovetop and pour in some olive oil. Once the pan is heated up, add your ½ a red onion and saute it for about 2 to 3 minutes.

Next, add your ground chicken, salt, cumin and chili powder to the onions. *Feel free to substitute taco seasoning here if you’d like.

Brown the meat for about 5 minutes and then stir in one cup of taco sauce.

Next, add the drained can of black beans and 1 can of corn.

Give everything a good mix and let it heat up for about 2 to 3 minutes.

While the mixture is heating, grab your tortillas and cut them in half.

With the meat mixture heated through, it’s now time to start assembling your Tex Mex Lasagna.

Pour half of the meat mixture into the bottom of your greased 9 x 13 baking dish.

Add a layer of shredded cheese on top of the meat mixture.

Place a layer of halved tortillas on top of the cheese.

Pour the rest of the meat mixture into the casserole dish and add another layer of cheese, then tortillas.

Sprinkle some more shredded cheese on top and place the lasagna in the oven for 20 minutes. Basically, all you are wanting to do at this point is melt the cheese and heat up the tortillas since you’ve already cooked everything else inside of it.

Garnish with tomato and green onions and you’re all set!

My corn casserole recipe is an awesome side dish for this Tex Mex Lasagna. Five minutes before it’s done, add some shredded cheese on top of the casserole and let it melt for a delicious cheesy cornbread casserole. Want to be even fancier? Mix in a small can of diced jalapenos in your corn casserole mixture before placing it in the oven to bake.

As you can see by all the stains on this Tex Mex Lasagna recipe card (or like Rachel Ray calls it, Mexican Lasagna), I have made this recipe more than a few times over the years. With a few changes, I was able to perfect it over time. I have to give kudos to my 20 something-year-old self for finding this gem of a recipe way back when. It was recipes like these that unleashed my passion for cooking and my love of entertaining. Who would’ve thought this would be me almost 20 years later. Definitely not me!

Want to remember this? Post this recipe for Mexican Tex Mex Lasagna to your favorite Pinterest board!