Remember, my freezer cooking adventure where I made 16 meals for the freezer? Well this easy taco casserole recipe was one of them, and it was a huge hit. My husband practically licks the pan clean when I make it. 😉
My recipe below is for 2 meals. Why? That way you can make one to eat now, and then the other one goes in the freezer. One mess, but you get 2 meals. If you don’t want to do that, just cut the recipe in half. However, why wouldn’t you want to? You hardly have to do any extra work to make a second one.
To be honest, I normally make 4 of these taco casseroles because they freeze so great and they make a busy weeknight so much easier.
- 2 pound of ground turkey (or ground beef)
- 1 onion chopped
- 1 zucchini shredded (optional)
- 2 cups of corn
- 2 cans of black beans (drained -or use your homemade ones -if using homemade you may need to add additional salt)
- 2 cans of diced tomatoes with green chilis (aka rotel)
- 1 package of Taco seasoning (or 4 tablespoons of homemade seasoning)
- salt
- 4 cups of cooked rice (I used regular that I cooked but you can use any)
- handfuls of shredded cheese
- 2 9x13 pans
- First brown your ground turkey. Add in chopped onions and zucchini (this is optional but ads nutritional value and flavor) and cook until soft.
- Stir in Taco seasoning seasoning.
- Add corn, tomatoes and beans.
- Spray 2 9x13 pans with non stick spray. Spoon 2 cups of rice into the bottom of each pan, spreading it out evenly.
- Spoon the meat mixture over the rice.
- Top with the shredded cheese.
- Bake covered at 350 degrees for about 25 minutes until cooked through.
- Cover with foil and label. To reheat, let thaw overnight in fridge. Bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes covered with the foil. Then remove foil and cook until the top is nice and brown.
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This recipe will surprise you. It doesn’t seem like much, but it has some amazing flavor. We served it with salad to make it a complete meal.
If you want, you could add some crushed tortilla chips on top before you serve it. YUM! My husband even likes to top his with lettuce and fresh tomatoes to make almost like a taco salad. However your family eats it, I think you will love it.
SavingCyns says
I made a little too much chicken in the crock pot last weekend, so I shredded it and used it in this recipe instead of need. Froze and reheated deliciously!!!! Thank you!!! I have one more in the freezer and am looking forward to having it again soon!
paula says
I just made this last night as a last resort thing. It was so delicious! I only made half the recipe and was able to do two small casseroles so I have one in the freezer waiting for a rainy day. Thank You. It is great having a go to recipe sight that is guaranteed to be frugal.
Carrie says
Woohoo! That is so great!
Alicia says
I made this last night. It was great. But I forgot to add the rotel and had it in the pans ready to go so I scraped half of each Meat mixture out and mixed in a can of rotel with each half and put it back on the rice. So I ended up with 2 pans half with rotel and half without! Worked with my picky kids!! 🙂 VERY Good Thanks
Michelle says
Hi, just to clarify…do you bake both pans and then freeze one, or do you do all the steps except baking it before putting it in the freezer?
Carrie says
I don’t bake the ones that freezes.
Barb Yearsley says
This looks so good but I have a question. Do you use instant or regular rice?
Carrie says
I used regular rice.
Susan says
Love, love, love this recipe! Not mention super easy. We ate it over a bed of lettuce, topped with sour cream and avocado~kinda like a rice bowl.
Carrie says
That sounds so good Susan!
Brenda says
how large are the cans of tomatoes?
Adrienne says
I’ve read that rice doesn’t freeze well, gets gummy. Do you have any problems with it?
Carrie says
Adrienne, I don’t have a problem at all. In fact, I freeze rice all the time. You just want to make sure you don’t over cook it before you freeze it.
Carrie says
Just normal size, 14 oz.
Cindy says
Can you use a casserole crock
Marcella says
can you use ground beef in stead of chicken?
Katie says
I have a question how long is it good for if you freeze it?
Carrie says
I would say to use it within 6 months.
Michele Kelly says
I have made this 2 times now and it is so good and very easy to make. We do not like Rotel so I use picante’ sauce instead. I also serve with tortilla chips and may actually try soft tortillas to make burritos. Also would like to try to substitute shredded rotisserie chicken.