Vegan Taco Casserole
on Jan 04, 2015, Updated Apr 02, 2024
Vegan taco casserole made with layers of tortilla chips, salsa, nutritional yeast, and seasoned black beans. A delicious and fast vegan mexican dinner!
In case you can’t tell, I love mexican food!
As a vegan/vegetarian eater, it is one of the easiest and most flavorful meals to make and get tons of protein!
I even wrote a roundup of 28 vegetarian mexican recipes that I love!
This vegan taco casserole is one of my favorites.
It’s easy to make, budget friendly, and tastes amazing!
My husband and I couldn’t stop talking about how good it was.
I was expecting it to be good, but it was even better than I anticipated.
My husband had never had a casserole like this before and wasn’t sure what to expect but he loved it!
We love this when we are craving some good vegan taco food.
Like so many of my favorite recipes, this one starts with lots of garlic and onion.
I used a different blend of spices than I usually do, and added basil for a nice twist.
I was very happy with the finished product!
When you think of baked tortilla chips with salsa, you may think of soggy, but it’s not the case.
I’ve found that the sturdier the tortilla chip the better in this recipe, so choose a chip that is thicker if you can.
Some of the best bites in this casserole is from where the chips are chewy yet crispy, and loaded with flavor from the beans and salsa baking into them!
I also have an undying love for nutritional yeast (I refer to it as yeast cheese.)
Not only is it one of my favorite foods, but it is loaded with protein!
The nutritional yeast gives this dish a cheese-like flavor.
I’ve tried to describe the taste of yeast cheese, but I can’t.
You just have to try it. It is perfect in this dish!
We had this again for lunch today and it was so good!
When reheating, I recommend the oven instead of microwaving, as it will keep that nice crispy/chewy texture without drying it out too much.
We topped ours with fresh lime juice and green onions and served it with additional corn chips for a little added crunch.
If you want another version of this vegan taco casserole, check out this one with just 10 minutes of prep!
More Vegan Mexican Recipes
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Vegan Taco Casserole Recipe
Vegan Taco Casserole
Ingredients
- 1 medium onion, chopped
- 7 cloves of garlic, finely chopped or minced
- 1 ½ teaspoon chili powder
- 2 teaspoons cumin
- 1 ½ teaspoon basil
- ½ teaspoon cayenne
- ¼ teaspoon smoked paprika
- ½ teaspoon sea salt
- ½ teaspoon cracked black pepper
- 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
- 1 15 oz can of black beans, drained
- 1 15 oz can of great northern beans, drained
- ½ cup nutritional yeast
- 2 ½ cups chunky salsa, I used medium heat
- 14 oz tortilla chips, plus more for serving
- Lime juice for topping
- Green onions for topping
Instructions
- Combine onion, garlic, olive oil, chili powder, cumin, basil, cayenne, smoked paprika, sea salt, and pepper in a skillet and cook on medium heat for 5-10 minutes, or until onion is translucent and starts to brown
- Add black and great northern beans to onion mixture and stir well
- Using a 13 by 9 glass baking dish, first put down a layer of tortilla chips to cover the bottom of the pan.
- Layer half of the bean mixture onto the chips, followed by ¼ cup of nutritional yeast, and 1 ¼ cups of salsa
- Add another layer of chips and cover with remaining beans, nutritional yeast and salsa.
- Cover top of dish with a layer of crushed corn chips
- Bake at 400 degrees for 25-30 minutes, or until chips on top start to brown
- Top with fresh lime juice and green onions
- Serve with additional tortilla chips for added crunch
This was amazing! I had my doubts; I am trying to go vegan more often and it is hard. I love meat and cheese! However, this was perfect without meat and cheese. Thank you for sharing and helping me along my journey.
So glad to hear you enjoyed it, Christine! This is definitely a staple food in our house!
Do you have to use the yeast? I am very new to vegan and I keep seeing the yeast used in things but I’m afraid I will not like the test of it.
Hi Staci,
The nutritional yeast is really a key ingredient in this dish and the flavor wouldn’t be nearly the same without it. There’s not really a vegan substitute that you could use in place of this.
I, also, am pretty new to Veganism, and broke down and bought some yesterday. IT SERIOUSLY TASTES LIKE CHEEZ-ITZ!!! If you enjoy cheez-itz, you will not regret making the purchase!
My family is going to love this!
OMG!! This is the best stuff ever!! Do you have nutritional info on it by any chance?
Hi Teresa,
So glad you enjoyed it! I do not provide nutritional information on my recipes, as it can vary based on what exact products and brands are used to make it. You can use a calculator like this one if you are interested! https://www.myfitnesspal.com/recipe/calculator
Thank you SO much- not only for the amazing recipe but for the calculator too!!
You’re welcome! So glad you enjoyed it! 🙂
The recipe is a bit confusing. You list corn chips in the ingredients, then refer to tortilla chips twice and corn chips once. I am making it with corn chips, but I think that tortilla chips would be better. From the pictures it looks like you mean tortilla chips which makes the most sense to me.
Hi Allison,
I apologize for the confusion. I consider corn chips to be the same thing as tortilla chips. In this case, the chips I used were called “yellow corn tortilla chips.” I have corrected the recipe to help show this more clearly. Thank you!
I made this dish last night and loved it! Thanks for a great recipe!
So glad you enjoyed it Victoria!
I made this last night and it’s delicious! I used two different baking dishes because I don’t have a 9×13. I prepped them both at the same time, baked the small one last night and the bigger one today, and I did not notice any difference in the sogginess of the one that sat overnight. Thank you for sharing this recipe!
So glad you liked it Aileen!
good idea- thanks!
Do you think it would be ok to make this ahead of time and then bake just before serving or would the chips get too soggy? Thanks for sharing the recipe!
Hi Denise,
I wouldn’t recommend putting it together ahead of time, due to the beans and salsa possibly making the chips soggy. What you could do is go ahead and prep the bean mixture so that all you have to do is do a layer of chips, then nutritional yeast, bean mixture, and salsa then toss in the oven. If everything is prepped it will only take 10 minutes or less to throw together before baking.
Can I use a foil baking pan instead of glass?
Hi Liz,
I recommend a glass pan because it works best in this recipe, but you may be able to use foil in a pinch. If you use foil, just make sure to watch the cook time as it will be different with that type of pan.