Have you ever been craving tacos or enchiladas for dinner, only to cook up something else because said dish seemed like too much work to make or eat? This Mexican lasagna is the answer! It combines all the elements and flavors of tacos into an easy-to-make, easy-to-eat, delicious dinner.

The first step is to cook the filling. You can use any protein and any veggies you like, but I chopped up half a bell pepper and half an onion and cooked those for a few minutes, until soft. Then I added a pound of ground turkey, breaking it up as it cooked.

When the turkey (or your choice of protein) is nearly cooked, it’s time to add seasoning. You could use a packet of taco seasoning, a homemade taco seasoning, or other Mexican spice blend. I will often use Trader Joe’s Chili Lime Seasoning for this recipe, but on this particular evening, we used this Green Chili Spice Blend from the Women’s Bean Project.

After seasoning, add any other frozen or pre-cooked fillings to your pan; here I added some frozen corn (we bought black beans for this dish too, but forgot to add them. Oops!) Since these fillings just need to warm enough to match the rest of the ingredients in your pan, turn the heat to low and simmer for a few minutes as you prepare the other elements of the lasagna.

Next, heat the oven to 350°F. Then pull out the lasagna’s other components: tortillas (I like corn, but flour would work too), salsa, cheese and jalapenos (if you like spicy). This lasagna isn’t super moist, so if you’d prefer more moisture, you can replace the salsa with enchilada sauce.

Now it’s time to layer! Start with a bit of salsa on the bottom, then arrange 4 tortillas in the pan and top with some more salsa.

Next comes half of the prepared filling in your pan and some jalapenos, if you’re using them. Then cover the layer with shredded cheese.

 

Repeat another layer with all the ingredients, then top with 4 more tortillas, salsa, and shredded cheese. Transfer the baking dish to the oven and bake for 20 minutes; all the components are already cooked, so you only need to bake it long enough to melt the cheese, soften the tortillas and let the flavors come together.

 

And all that’s left to do is to enjoy! We served this with guacamole, but you could also serve with more salsa or sour cream. What I love about this recipe is that every bite already has every ingredient in it—there’s no building, stuffing or rolling required! We had this for dinner twice and there were still some leftovers for a lunch or two after that. And it was warm, spicy, hearty and delicious every time!