Taco Lasagna, A Perfect Weeknight Meal

Finding new ways of making dinner with favorite flavors can be a challenge. Which is why I love perusing Pinterest! Which is what I often do while My Oldest is at his weekly rock climbing team training for 2 hours. What else is there to do? It's just far enough from home that it's not worth dropping off and coming back. So, I use the time to plan the next week's meals uninterrupted! Productivity at it's best!

My Youngest adores tacos... to the point where we really do observe the unofficial holiday of Taco Tuesday every week. The rest of us get tired of having tacos every week (I know... seems weird, but we do enjoy variety at my kitchen table).  When I came across a Taco Lasagna recipe on Pinterest, I immediately pinned it and added it to last week's meal plan.

The Girl Who Ate Everything found the recipe over at Taste of Home and adapted it from there. It's always interesting to follow the links to see where the recipes I find originated! I did make some additional changes to the recipe as well, which you will find at the end of this post.
Taco Lasagna


Normally, I'd avoid a lasagna style dish on a weeknight but this one was absolutely the easiest version I've ever made! I had it in the oven within about 10 minutes... helped by using oven ready lasagna noodles, gotta use the convenience foods in this case! If you want to use the regular noodles, you'll need to cook them first.



This is a dish that is wide open for adjustments. Instead of cheddar, I used a shredded Colby-jack shredded cheese that we prefer with our tacos. You can amp up the heat if you really love spice by throwing in some green chiles in between the layers. We get our biggest flavor hit from our favorite salsa, and if you have an abundance of fresh produce you could certainly use homemade.

I got a four out of four thumb's up on this one, and that is not always the case with new recipes around here. Even My Oldest who could do without pasta in any form loved this dish!

Do you follow me on Pinterest?  Go ahead, you know you want to... you can find me at FamFriendsFood and check out all of the ideas I have already pinned.



Taco Lasagna

Recipe Adapted from The Girl Who Ate Everything, who adapted it from Taste of Home

Ingredients
  • 9 oven ready lasagna noodles
  • 1 pound lean ground beef
  • 1 ounce package taco seasoning
  • 1 large egg
  • 15 ounces part-skim ricotta cheese
  • 3 cups shredded Colby-Jack cheese
  • 2 1/2 cups prepared salsa
  • cooking spray
Cooking Directions
  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
  2. Heat a large skillet over medium-high heat and brown ground beef until there is no pink left. Drain and then add the taco seasoning, stirring to fully combine. 
  3. While beef is cooking combine the egg and ricotta in a small bowl. 
  4. Spray a 9x10 inch baking dish with cooking spray.
  5. Spread about a 1/2 cup of salsa on the bottom, then layer 3 noodles on top. 
  6. Add 1/3 of the ricotta mixture to the noodles and spread out so that it is even. Then add 1/2 of the beef mixture on top of the ricotta, followed by 1/2 cup of salsa. Sprinkle about 1/2 to 3/4 cup of shredded cheese on top of the meat. Repeat this layer one more time.
  7. For the last layer, add 3 more noodles on top of the cheese followed by the remaining ricotta cheese and another 1/2 cup of salsa. Sprinkle remaining cheese on top.
  8. Cover with aluminum foil and bake for 35 minutes, then remove foil and bake for another 5 minutes. Remove from oven when bubbling and allow to rest for about 10 minutes.
  9. Serve with tortilla chips.

Please note that all photos and content belong to Patsy Kreitman, unless otherwise noted. If you want to use something please ask first.

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