Nacho Casserole

This delicious Mexican nacho casserole is made with queso Blanco cheese sauce and Dorito chips, plus, it is weight watchers friendly and completely customizable!

If you have tried my famous queso smothered chicken casserole, or Doritos bake, I have a new version for you - NACHO CASSEROLE! This combines nacho cheese Dorito chips, cheesy beef and then all your favorite nacho toppings. Such a fun and easy way to eat all the delicious food that you love.

As I mentioned, this recipe is completely customizable. Use any chips that you love, substitute out the meat, switch up the cheese or yogurt and use any of your favorite taco toppings.

What You Need for a Nacho Casserole

To make this nacho casserole, you will cook the beef on the stove, then combine everything you need for the casserole and bake that in the oven.

Substitutions and Suggestions for Ingredients

Ground Beef

I am truly a chicken person. However, my husband always asks me for beef recipes and I do enjoy my occasional beef. This seemed like the perfect recipe to use beef; however, you can use ground chicken, turkey or anything else. I do use extra lean ground beef, which is 96% fat-free, to keep it lighter. Since I am on weight watchers, I like to keep the fat as low as possible in this Mexican casserole. However, you can use any fat percentage that you like.

Queso Blanco

I specifically use Queso Blanco cheese sauce for this nacho casserole. It has a slight spice to it, yet, it is creamy and refreshing. It is basically just a white cheese melted with some salsa. You can make that yourself at home. Additionally, you can substitute salsa con queso which is essentially just melted Velveeta and salsa.

Doritos

Come on, this Mexican nacho casserole has to call for some Dorito nacho cheese chips! I had some extra bags of Doritos, they said nacho on them, it was really a no brainier. However, you can substitute a different type of chip, such as tortilla chips. But, this Mexican casserole is amazing with some Dorito chips!

I had the Family Size Doritos and I estimated that I used about 20% of the bag, which is 3 servings or 35 chips (84 grams). The ratio of chips to meat was perfect for me. Very meaty but lots of chips. You can add more or less chips, if you wish. In addition, you can crumble some fresh chips on your bowl after serving.

Do the Doritos stay crunchy? Yes and no. Some are crunchy, some are soft, some are right in the middle. Kind of like normal nachos! If you want just fresh Doritos, make this recipe without the dorito and then crumble some on top!

Taco Toppings

The taco toppings I pick for my nacho casserole are plain, nonfat Greek yogurt, onion, tomato, corn and shredded Mexican cheese. However, you can pick any toppings that you like.

You can easily substitute the Greek yogurt for sour cream; however, I like using yogurt as it is very light and has added protein.

Adding beans straight in with the cooked meat is amazing. Then, top it off with anything else you see fit such as shredded lettuce, jalapeños or olives.

In addition, I just gave my suggestions and what I did in regard to the amount of taco toppings used. Please feel free to use as much or as little of the taco toppings in the recipe.

Taco Seasonings 

I always have my homemade taco seasonings on hand, I make them exactly how I like them and I think they are better than anything you can buy. Plus, when you buy a seasonings mix, you never really know what is in it. 

This is the taco seasonings recipe that I live and breathe for, hey, I love tacos, and is perfect to season the pork for this recipe. However, you can also buy a packet, just use 2/2.5 tablespoons of it!

• ¼ teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon chili powder
• ½ teaspoon paprika
• 2 teaspoons garlic powder
• 2 teaspoons onion powder
• 1 teaspoon cumin
• ¼ teaspoon black pepper
• ½ teaspoon oregano

Adjust any of these seasonings to your liking in your nacho casserole. This mix is not spicy; however, you can make it spicier with the addition of ground red pepper. However, if you are watching your salt, you can reduce that as well. But I do not think there is too much salt in this.

How to Make a Nacho Casserole

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease a casserole dish (I use an 8x8 glass dish) with cooking spray and set aside.

Heat a medium sized pan, greased with cooking spray, over medium/high heat. Add minced garlic and sauté for a minute. Add in the ground beef and start breaking up the beef. If you like the beef browned and crispy, let it set on the stove about 1-2 minutes per side before breaking up.

Once the beef is starting to break up, sprinkle on the seasonings. Continue to break up and mix the beef until fully cooked. Drain the excess liquid then reduce the heat to medium. Pour in the Queso Blanco cheese sauce, mix up, then remove from the heat.

In the casserole dish, add in the Doritos and break up into smaller pieces. Layer evenly with the beef mixture, spread on the yogurt, then sprinkle on your taco toppings and cheese. Be careful as to which taco toppings you are putting on right now as it will have to go in the oven. Not all toppings should be heated up such as shredded lettuce.

Bake in the oven for about 10 minutes to allow the cheese to melt. Add any additional taco toppings or more chips, then, divide into 4 pieces.

Leftovers

I am going to be honest here, this does not make for the best leftovers. The reason for this is that the Doritos get soggy. While the excess liquid is drained, the nacho cheese sauce does keep the meat moist, which keeps the Doritos moist.

I did eat a serving as leftovers the next day. It was amazing but not highly recommended to make as leftovers or a meal prep. However, if you do want this as a meal prep, do not add the Doritos when making this Mexican casserole dish. Instead, have them on the side and crumble them into your bowl when you are ready to eat.

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Nacho Casserole

This delicious Mexican nacho casserole is made with queso Blanco cheese sauce and Dorito chips, plus, it is weight watchers friendly and completely customizable!

WW- If you are on weight watchers and looking for a points value, click on this link and your points will automatically calculate for you. You can also sub out or add in any ingredients directly in that recipe. I had the Family Size Doritos and I estimated that I used about 20% of the bag, which is 3 servings or 35 chips (84 grams).

If you prefer, you can make this recipe without the Doritos and then crumble some fresh Doritos on top of your specific bowl. Then you’ll know exactly how much you are eating. You can also sub out for a lower point chip.