Taco Cornbread Bake

Taco Cornbread Bake – our favorite Mexican casserole! Super simple to make with only a few ingredients and bakes in about 20 minutes. Ground beef, taco seasoning, Rotel tomatoes, black beans, cheese, and Jiffy Mix. Top the casserole with your favorite taco toppings and serve with some Mexican rice or a salad. Taco Tuesday never tasted so good!

Originally Posted 08/12/2011

slice of cornbread taco casserole on a plate with rice

Easy Mexican Casserole with Jiffy Mix

We’ve been making this easy Taco Cornbread Bake for as long as I can remember. It is super easy to make and tastes GREAT! Taco meat, black beans, cheese, Rotel tomatoes, and cornbread. It takes no time to put together and bakes in about 20 minutes. Top the casserole with your favorite taco toppings and serve with some Mexican rice. Taco Tuesday never tasted so good!

baking dish of taco cornbread casserole

How to Make Taco Cornbread Bake

This casserole is super easy to make. Start with cooking some ground beef in a skillet. Add water and taco seasoning. Simmer until the liquid is absorbed. Stir in black beans, diced tomatoes and green chiles, and cheddar cheese. Spread the mixture into a baking dish. Prepare a box of Jiffy Mix according to package directions. Spread the cornbread over the taco meat and bake. Top with a little extra cheese and bake just until melted.

  • Can substitute ground turkey or ground chicken for the ground beef.
  • Feel free to add a can of corn, onions, or bell peppers to the meat mixture.
  • Here is our recipe for Homemade Taco Seasoning: https://www.plainchicken.com/homemade-taco-seasoning/
  • Is Taco Cornbread Casserole spicy? We did not think this dish was spicy. If you are worried about the heat, make sure to use a can of MILD Rotel diced tomatoes and green chiles.
  • Sometimes I substitute 1¼ cups of salsa for the Rotel tomatoes.
  • Can Taco Cornbread Bake be made in advance? If you want a really quick weeknight meal, you can mix up the taco meat mixture ahead of time and just top it with the cornbread batter right before baking.  
  • Can Taco Cornbread Bake be frozen? Yes. Bake the casserole as directed and cool completely. Cover the dish with plastic wrap and aluminum foil and freeze. The casserole will keep up to 3 months in the freezer.
    • To reheat the casserole after freezing, thaw and bake covered in the oven for about 30 minutes. Can also reheat the thawed casserole in the microwave.
slice of cornbread taco casserole cut with a fork

What to Serve with Taco Casserole

As I said, this Mexican casserole is one of our all-time favorites. We like to top the casserole with some sour cream, lettuce, tomatoes, and jalapeños. Olives, guacamole, and salsa are also good! You can really put this over the top with some QUESO DIP! YUM! We serve the dish with some Mexican rice or a quick salad. SOOOO good!

Here are a few of our favorite recipes from the blog that go great with this easy taco casserole:

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slice of cornbread taco casserole on a plate with rice

Taco Cornbread Bake

Yield: 6 people
Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 25 minutes
Total Time 35 minutes
Taco Cornbread Bake – our favorite Mexican casserole! Super simple to make with only a few ingredients and bakes in about 20 minutes. Ground beef, taco seasoning, Rotel tomatoes, black beans, cheese, and Jiffy Mix. Top the casserole with your favorite taco toppings and serve with some Mexican rice or a salad. Taco Tuesday never tasted so good!

Ingredients:

  • 1 lb lean ground beef
  • 1 (1-oz) package taco seasoning
  • cup water
  • 1 (10-oz) can Rotel tomatoes and green chiles, undrained
  • 1 (15-oz) can black beans, drained and rinsed
  • 1 (8.5-oz) box Jiffy corn bread mix plus ingredients to make cornbread
  • 1 cup shredded cheddar cheese

Instructions:

  • Preheat oven to 400ºF. Lightly spray an 8×8-inch dish with cooking spray.
  • In a large skillet, cook beef over medium heat until no longer pink; drain. Stir in the water and taco seasoning. Simmer for 5 minutes. Stir in ½ cup of cheese, Rotel tomatoes and black beans. Spoon into baking dish.
  • Prepare the cornbread mix according to package directions for cornbread. Spread over beef mixture.
  • Bake, uncovered, for 20 minutes. Sprinkle with remaining cheese. Bake 3-5 minutes longer or until cheese is melted.

Notes:

  • Can substitute ground turkey or ground chicken for the ground beef.
  • Feel free to add a can of corn, onions, or bell peppers to the meat mixture.
  • Here is our recipe for Homemade Taco Seasoning made with chili powder, garlic powder, onion powder, red pepper flakes, oregano, paprika, cumin, salt, and pepper: https://www.plainchicken.com/homemade-taco-seasoning/
  • Is Taco Cornbread Casserole spicy? We did not think this dish was spicy. If you are worried about the heat, make sure to use a can of MILD Rotel diced tomatoes and green chiles.
  • Sometimes I substitute 1¼ cups of salsa for the Rotel tomatoes.
  • Can Taco Cornbread Bake be made in advance? If you wanted a really quick weeknight meal, you can mix up the taco meat mixture ahead of time and just top it with the cornbread batter right before baking.  
  • Can Taco Cornbread Bake be frozen? Yes. Bake the casserole as directed and cool completely. Cover the dish with plastic wrap and aluminum foil and freeze. The casserole will keep up to 3 months in the freezer.
    • To reheat the casserole after freezing, thaw and bake covered in the oven for about 30 minutes. Can also reheat the thawed casserole in the microwave.

Steph

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slice of cornbread taco casserole cut with a fork
slice of cornbread taco casserole cut with a fork
baking dish of taco cornbread casserole

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Comments

  1. Just made this tonight for Dinner. Was absolutely delicious! Of course, I had to include a few MUST HAVE ingredients (for me ankylayways). First is Onion, which I dice up and introduce it to the pan at the same time you brown the ground beef. Then when it is ready for you to add the Rotel I go ahead and thrown in some black olives and corn in there! I’m telling you, this is a must have in this recipe! So good! Also… When using Jiffy corn muffin mix, I’d recommend NOT using the Honey kind. It makes is awfully too sweet for tacos. We did that and that would be our only thing we would change next time. (:

  2. I can’t have gluten any way I can make the corn bread gluten free? The jiffy has gluten in it so I can’t use it

    1. Bobs Red Mill makes Gluten free Cornbread mix. I used the same recipe except used this mix and followed it’s directions for the bread on top

  3. I'm eating this, right now, at my desk. It's great! I didn't have shredded cheese but I did have cheese slices in the packages, so I just layered the top of the meat mixture with the cheese slices, spooned on the batter, and boom, done. All from pantry ingredients, no shopping! Thanks.

  4. I made this for dinner tonight and it did not dissapoint it was delicious! I loved the sweetness of the cornbread on top, and the coolness of the sour cream. I am not a huge fan of black beans but in this recipe they were great!! Will make this again!

  5. I make something similar to this but I also add a can of corn. I make my meat mixture in a 10inch skillet that can go in the oven then I make the cornbread mix and spread it over the top. Then I bake it, once it's done I place a plater over my pan and flip it out so that the cornbread is on the bottom and meat, corn, tomato mixture is on the top. I finish it by putting shredded lettuce and tomatoes on top to make it look pretty. It's very good!

    I just came across your blog and I'm excited to try some new recipes. I'm also a pampered chef consultant and have been cooking for years. I love simple recipes! Thank you!

  6. I've been doing this for a while. A few years ago I watched Emeril make homeamde Chili and cornbread and bake it, I used canned or frozen chili. We always add a layer of cheese or corn.

    I love the taco idea, my hubs is a mexican food fanatic.
    thanks!

  7. I made this Monday night and we LOVED it! So simple and easy!!!! My husband said it was easily one of his new favorites!

  8. oh wow… this looks so good. I've been wanting to make a cornbread bake for a while but have held off to find the perfect recipe. This is it, thank you!

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