• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
always use butter
  • Recipes
  • Air Fryer Resources
  • Subscribe!
  • About
  • Contact
menu icon
go to homepage
  • Recipes
  • Air Fryer Resources
  • Subscribe!
  • About
  • Contact
    • Facebook
    • Instagram
    • Pinterest
  • subscribe
    search icon
    Homepage link
    • Recipes
    • Air Fryer Resources
    • Subscribe!
    • About
    • Contact
    • Facebook
    • Instagram
    • Pinterest
  • ×
    Home » Main courses

    Walking Taco Casserole

    By Emmeline Kemperyd on June 2, 2024, updated May 21, 2024 - 2 Comments

    Total time: 30 minutes minutes
    Prep time: 10 minutes minutes
    4 from 1 vote
    Jump to Recipe
    Walking taco casserole.

    This casserole will be your new favorite way to have all your taco flavors! Served up in a simple one-dish meal, loaded with ground beef, salsa and lots and lots of cheese. Make for a potluck or easy weeknight dinner!

    Walking taco casserole.

    All the Taco in one Easy Casserole

    Ever heard of a walking taco? It's basically a bag of nachos, topped with your favorite taco toppings. Right in the bag! So then you can just walk around and eat right out of the back. Genius, right?!

    Save This Recipe Form

    Want to save this recipe?

    Enter your email below & we'll send it straight to your inbox. Plus you’ll get more great recipes from us each week!

    This casserole is true to that general idea, but combines it all together in a casserole dish instead. So it's not as "walking-friendly", but even more delicious - because it's all baked under lots and lots of cheese.

    Just Your Classic Taco Ingredients

    Ingredients for walking taco casserole.

    You can adapt this recipe to suit what you enjoy, but I would recommend always including at least the following:

    • Tortilla chips
    • Ground beef or other filling (beans, vegetarian meat options, chicken, etc.) with some kind of taco seasoning and/or salsa
    • Sour cream & cream cheese
    • Shredded cheese

    If you don't like it spicy, just skip the jalapeños. I'd also recommend using a mild or medium taco sauce.

    If you don't like cilantro, you can skip this as well.

    Cream cheese can be natural or flavored. I really like using a garlic & herb variety for this recipe!

    Just Prep, Layer & Bake!

    1. Prep the Filling

    Sear the ground beef and season with taco seasoning, then mix with salsa and simmer. Finally, add the sour cream and cream cheese and mix until everything is well combined.

    Ground beef filling.

    2. Crush Some Chips

    Crush â…” of the tortilla chips and add to the bottom of your casserole dish.

    Layering a walking taco casserole.

    3. Add Fillings

    Pour the ground beef mixture on top of the chips and top with cherry tomatoes and jalapeños.

    Layering a walking taco casserole.

    4. Chips + Cheese

    Crush the rest of the chips and add on top, then finish it off with shredded cheese.

    Layering a walking taco casserole.

    5. Bake

    Bake until cheese is melted and golden, then remove from the oven and top with cilantro just before serving. Enjoy!

    Walking taco casserole.

    Storing, Freezing & Reheating Instructions

    Storing: Store leftovers in the fridge in a covered casserole dish or an airtight container for up to 4 days.

    Freezing: Freeze leftovers in an airtight container for up to 3 months.

    Reheating in the oven: Reheat the whole casserole in the oven for 15-20 minutes at 350°F (175°C). If it starts to burn, tent with aluminum foil.

    Reheating in microwave: Reheat leftovers in the microwave in 1-minute increments.

    Walking taco casserole.

    What To Serve With It

    • homemade tortilla chips on a blue plate
      Air Fryer Tortilla Chips
      Cook Time13 Minutes
    • top down view of a bowl of guacamole with tortilla chips on the side
      Classic Vegan Guacamole
      Cook Time10 Minutes
    • Garlic dipping sauce.
      Garlic Dipping Sauce
      Cook Time35 Minutes
    • Easy Homemade Pico de Gallo Salsa
      Cook Time15 Minutes

    More Quick & Easy Dump-and-Bake Recipes

    • buffalo chicken pasta bake.
      Easy Buffalo Chicken Pasta Bake
      Cook Time1 Hours
    • top down view of a tortellini casserole
      Cheesy Tortellini Casserole with Spinach
      Cook Time25 Minutes
    • top down view of pasta bake
      Dump-And-Bake Chicken Spinach Pasta with Sun-Dried Tomatoes
      Cook Time1 Hours 20 Minutes
    • Creamy Chicken Broccoli Pasta Bake [Dump and bake!]
      Cook Time1 Hours 20 Minutes

    Recipe

    Walking taco casserole.

    Walking Taco Casserole

    4 from 1 vote
    Print Rate
    Course: Main Course
    Cuisine: Texmex
    Servings: 4
    Calories: 1105kcal
    Prep time: 10 minutes mins
    Cook time: 20 minutes mins
    Total time: 30 minutes minutes
    Author: Emmeline Kemperyd
    Prevent your screen from going dark

    Ingredients

    • 1 tablespoon butter or oil olive oil or neutral cooking oil + a bit more for greasing the dish
    • 1 lb ground beef
    • 4 tablespoon taco seasoning store bought or homemade
    • 1 8 oz jar salsa I like hot; use what suits you
    • 1 cup sour cream
    • 1 cup cream cheese natural or garlic & herb flavored
    • 1 cup shredded cheese
    • 1 cup cherry tomatoes cut in half
    • ¼ cup pickled jalapeños roughly chopped; optional
    • 3 cups tortilla chips crushed; divided

    To Serve

    • ½ loosely packed cup cilantro finely chopped; more or less according to taste
    • sour cream optional
    • pickled jalapeños optional
    US Customary - Metric

    Instructions

    • Preheat the oven to 440 °F and lightly grease a  9×13-inch (23x33 cm) baking dish.
    • Heat oil or butter in a pan over medium-high heat then add in ground beef. Cook 3-5 minutes until browned, then add taco seasoning and cook 1 more minute while mixing.
      1 lb ground beef, 4 tablespoon taco seasoning, 1 tablespoon butter or oil
    • Add salsa and simmer 2 minutes.
      1 8 oz jar salsa
    • Lower the heat to medium and mix in sour cream and cream cheese. Mix until melted, then remove from the heat.
      1 cup cream cheese, 1 cup sour cream
    • Crush 2 cups tortilla chips and place in the bottom of the greased pan, then pour over the meat mixture. Add tomatoes and jalapeños followed by the remaining chips. Top with shredded cheese.
      1 cup shredded cheese, 1 cup cherry tomatoes, ¼ cup pickled jalapeños, 3 cups tortilla chips
    • Bake in the middle of the oven at 440 °F for 20 minutes, until browned and set.
    • Top with chopped cilantro, and serve! You can also serve with some extra sour cream and/or jalapeños added on top or on the side.
      ½ loosely packed cup cilantro, sour cream, pickled jalapeños

    Equipment (may contain affiliate links)

    • Casserole Dish 9×13-inch (23x33 cm)
    • Frying pan
    • Measuring cups
    • Spatula*

    Notes

     
    You can adapt this recipe to suit what you enjoy, but I would recommend always including at least the following:
    • Tortilla chips
    • Ground beef or other filling (beans, vegetarian meat options, chicken, etc.) with some kind of taco seasoning and/or salsa
    • Sour cream & cream cheese
    • Shredded cheese

    Nutrition

    Calories: 1105kcal | Carbohydrates: 68g | Protein: 37g | Fat: 78g | Saturated Fat: 32g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 11g | Monounsaturated Fat: 24g | Trans Fat: 1g | Cholesterol: 194mg | Sodium: 1080mg | Potassium: 730mg | Fiber: 6g | Sugar: 7g | Vitamin A: 1883IU | Vitamin C: 11mg | Calcium: 373mg | Iron: 4mg

    Nutritional information is approximate and automatically calculated, and should only be viewed as an indication.

    Did you make this? Tag me today!Tag @alwaysusebutter and use the hashtag #alwaysusebutter!

    More Main Course Recipes

    • Air fryer fried chicken tenders.
      Crispy Air Fryer Fried Chicken Tenders
    • Gnocchi with bacon and mushrooms.
      Sheet Pan Gnocchi With Bacon & Mushrooms
    • Ravioli casserole.
      No-Boil Ravioli Casserole
    • Thai cashew chicken.
      Thai Cashew Chicken

    About Emmeline Kemperyd

    Emmeline Kemperyd is a writer, food blogger, recipe creator and food photographer and the founder of alwaysusebutter.com. She has 20+ years experience creating and simplifying recipes so they taste good, and are quick, easy, and approachable. She is a regular contributor to MSN and her work has been featured by The Guardian, Well+Good, Vulture, SheKnows, Good Men Project, and The Feed Feed, among others.

    Reader Interactions

    Comments

    1. Kiki

      March 22, 2025 at 6:59 pm

      4 stars
      This was easy to make, tasty and well liked by my kids! Only thing I’d suggest is covering the pan with foil to prevent the cheese from overcooking into the chips. It made a really tough top crust that my kids had a hard time cutting through.

      Reply
      • Emmeline Kemperyd

        March 24, 2025 at 3:44 am

        Hi Kiki! That's a great suggestion. I didn't have that problem but it can be because of the specific cheese I used or that my oven runs a bit colder than yours. /Emmeline

        Reply
    4 from 1 vote

    Leave a Reply Cancel reply

    Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

    Recipe Rating




    This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

    Primary Sidebar

    Hi, I'm Emmeline! I love tasty food, but I'm always in a hurry. And I have the quick and easy recipes to prove it!

    More about me →

    Popular Recipes

    • Sliced air fryer roast beef.
      Air Fryer Roast Beef
    • top down view of a tortellini casserole
      Cheesy Tortellini Casserole with Spinach
    • Creamy Chicken Broccoli Pasta Bake [Dump and bake!]
    • sliced rib eye steak topped with salt
      How to Cook a Rib Eye Steak Without a Cast Iron Skillet (3 Methods)

    Popular Articles

    • Chicken corn chowder.
      22 Crockpot Chicken Dinners We Crave Every Week
    • Tater tot casserole.
      22 Cheap Slow Cooker Recipes to Make With Ground Beef
    • Cauliflower potato bake,
      22 Vegetarian Casseroles That Are Perfect for Busy Weeknights
    • Lemon ricotta pasta.
      22 No-Fuss Pasta Recipes With Just a Few Ingredients

    We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites.

    All affiliate links are always marked with "*" or "affiliate".

    Footer

    ↑ back to top

    A collage of sites where always use butter content has been featured.

    About

    • About
    • Privacy Policy
    • Terms and Conditions
    • Disclaimer
    • Disclosures
    • Editorial Policy
    • Accessibility Policy

    Newsletter

    • Sign Up!

    Contact

    • Contact
    • info@alwaysusebutter.com
    • Pink Giraffe Ventures AB, Runstens Byväg 51, 147 91 Grödinge, Sweden
    • Facebook
    • Instagram
    • Pinterest

    Copyright © 2018-2025 Pink Giraffe Ventures AB

    Rate This Recipe

    Your vote:




    A rating is required
    A name is required
    An email is required

    Recipe Ratings without Comment

    Something went wrong. Please try again.