Do you ever have one of those moments where you are eating something so good that you keep eating, even though you know you should stop? You keep going until you feel like you have to burst, almost wanting to feel guilty, but you know that it is so worth it? I had that moment last night after eating the best dinner that I have ever made. Ever. And that’s saying a lot!
The other night I was researching how to make a casserole because I have never actually made one before and wanted to have a good casserole recipe to add to my repertoire. I wanted to make some kind of casserole with brown rice and black beans since we like the combo. I also knew that I wanted to sprinkle tortilla chips on top of my casserole because I remember having that when I was brought a meal from a friend after Kesara was born. Thus, a perfectly, spicy, cheesy, flavor-loaded, addictive taco casserole was born.
Here is what I discovered when I searched ‘how to make a casserole’. There are five things that always go into a casserole. I have listed them below, along with some vegan suggestions.
1. Starch – potatoes, rice, pasta, etc. Two cups cooked.
2. Protein- beans, tofu, seitan, tempeh, etc. About 2 cups.
3. Veggies – onion, carrots, cabbage, peppers, celery, broccoli, cauliflower, whatever you love. Again, about 2 cups.
4. Moisture- milk or sauce of some kind, diced tomatoes, veg stock, etc. I would say it depends on how moist you want your casserole to be and the type of flavor you are adding to the casserole. About 2 cups.
5. Topping – breadcrumbs, chips, croutons, etc. As much as you like.
So there is a breakdown of a casserole. With those simple steps, I got out a pen and paper and went to work creating what I would like to see in my casserole. I knew what ingredients I wanted and figured out the amounts when I got in the kitchen. What happened was pure magic and left me smiling all evening. I feel so awesome now that I have this recipe. I kept telling Autumn, people are going to love this! I also couldn’t sleep well last night, because all I wanted to do was blog about this recipe today.
And eat the leftovers. 😉
Awesome Vegan Taco Casserole
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook time: 45 minutes
Makes one yummy casserole, serves 6
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons sunflower oil
- 1 medium yellow onion, diced
- 1 green bell pepper, diced
- 1 red bell pepper, diced
- 3 cloves of garlic, pressed
- 2-3 teaspoons chili powder, depending on how hot you like it
- 2 teaspoons lime juice
- 2/3 cup nutritional yeast
- 1 (650 ml) jar of salsa of your choice (2 1/2 cups)
- 2 cups cooked brown rice
- 1 (540 ml) can black beans, drained and rinsed
- 4 cups crushed multigrain tortilla chips (I used Tostitos)
Directions
Preheat oven to 350°F. Heat a large skillet or wok on medium-high heat. Add the sunflower oil. Add the diced onion, peppers, garlic, chili powder and lime juice and saute 5-8 minutes, until soft.
Next, add the nutritional yeast and salsa. Finally, add the cooked brown rice and black beans and continue to cook 3-5 minutes more, until mixture is hot.
Pour the mixture into a 2 1/2 quart casserole dish.
Top with the crushed tortilla chips and bake for 25-30 minutes.
Serving suggestion: When we ate this last night we also chopped up some romaine lettuce and added some extra salsa, just to jazz it up. It is crazy delicious as is though.
So that is my best dinner recipe. And since I posted it this early, you have time to make it tonight! 🙂
See how nice I am?
Live. Learn. Love. Eat. 
This looks awesome. To be honest I had that problem throughout my childhood – not only with good food either 😀
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This sounds fantastic!
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I am sitting here making my meal plans for next week this may have to be added!
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Oh this looks so good! And I love your breakdown of what a casserole is .. I’m going to keep that in mind the next time I have bits of this and that to use up. This particular combination, however, would be a total hit in my house! Thanks for sharing … definitely going to give it a try! 🙂
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Looks great! I’ll give this a try for sure – thanks.
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Great recipe.. can’t wait to try it out!
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This looks yummy. I can’t wait to make it.
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I love the sound of this!! I might do it chalupa style!! yum yum
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This is my favorite recipe in your cookbook! I make this every week.
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Mmmmmm… us too! I make it often. 🙂 Glad that you enjoy!
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This was soooooo good!!!
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Thanks for commenting Stefanie! Glad that you enjoyed it! 🙂
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I just made this last night and oh my gosh it was delicious!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I didn’t have an onion or red pepper but it was still so flavorful !!! Definitely will be making this again !!!!!!!!!!!!!
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Thanks for your comment Ariana! I am glad to hear that you liked the dinner! It is even better with the onion and peppers. 🙂
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I can’t wait to make this! I will probably omit the tortilla chips though since they most likely contain milk! Thanks!
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Just made this tonight. So YUMMY! Topped it off with fresh guac.
Big hit in our house!!!!
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Glad to hear that! Thanks for your comment Kate! 🙂
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This recipe rounded up my week full of recipes from your blog! There is not much to say other than, “mmmmm!” My jar of salsa was not as big as the one the recipe called for, in fact, it was about half the size, so I cut the nutritional yeast in half and the meal was AMAZING! I was hoping my avocado would be ripe enough to add some guac to the recipe, but it wasn’t. Needless to say, it was the bomb diggity, even without the guac! At the end of dinner, my husband turned to our 18 month old and said, “mom nailed it AGAIN with a recipe!”
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I am glad to hear of all of your recipe successes! 🙂 If you are interested, I am currently having a summer sale on my cookbooks as well. You can save 15% until August 3rd. https://livelearnloveeat.com/2017/07/03/summer-sale-on-cookbooks/
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Love the recipe but TOTALLY disagree a about the prep time. It takes me 5 min just to wash the veggie and gather up all the spices, etc. By the time I’ve chopped everything and measured the rest of the ingredients, probably another 10 minutes have passed. Oops, gotta crush the tostitos. I always chuckle at the bloggers/chefs and their estimated prep times. I must be a turtle! But, on the other hand, who cares when the results are so delicious. Thank you for another great recipe!
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Thanks for your comment Janet! 🙂 I am glad that you enjoyed the recipe! I can adjust the prep time. It is good that you pointed that out. I don’t normally put a prep time on the recipes, but I guess I did on a few of them.
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