One recipe our mom found in a magazine years ago was this recipe for Mexican lasagna. We’ve made our own changes to it over the years, but it is so delicious and so yummy, that it is now a staple in our home!
Mexican Lasagna is a layered, cheesy dinner packed with bold flavor and perfect for feeding a hungry family. With shredded chicken, black beans, corn, green chile enchilada sauce, and soft flour tortillas stacked into hearty layers, it delivers all the comfort of enchiladas in an easy baked casserole. This recipe is a spicy twist on a classic lasagna!
Sure, it may not be authentic Mexican cuisine, but it’s become a favorite dinner. Plus, it’s an easy prep and bakes up in under 30 minutes, making it a go-to for weeknights!
If you love easy layered dinners like this, be sure to try Chicken Enchilada Casserole, Beef Enchilada Casserole, Taco Casserole, and Ground Beef Enchiladas.
Why we think you’ll love it:
- Family approved fiesta. This feeds a crowd and is a guaranteed hit at any potluck or gathering.
- Extra easy. No rolling required, just layer and bake. It’s prepped in minutes!
- A fun twist on a classic. Put a south of the border spin on a familiar favorite!
- Make ahead and freezer friendly. This hearty casserole is perfect for prepping ahead of time and for freezing for later.
Mexican Lasagna Ingredients
- Cooked shredded chicken (1 pound): Creates a hearty, protein packed base. Or shredded or ground beef, shredded or ground turkey, or ground vegetarian meat. Be sure it is precooked before adding it to the recipe.
- Sour cream (1 tub, 16-ounce): Adds creaminess and balances the spice.
- Black beans (1 can, 15-ounce): Adds texture and extra protein.
- Las Palmas Green Chile Enchilada sauce (1 can, 19-ounce): Brings bold, tangy flavor to every layer. Or use homemade.
- Corn (1 can, 15.25-ounce): Adds sweetness and contrast.
- Garlic powder (1 teaspoon): Adds savory depth.
- Cumin (½ teaspoon): Provides earthy warmth.
- Chili powder (1 teaspoon): Enhances the Mexican inspired flavor. For a spicier flavor, include cayenne pepper or red pepper flakes.
- Salt (1 teaspoon): Balances and enhances all ingredients.
- Chopped cilantro (½ cup): Adds fresh, bright flavor.
- Flour tortillas (12 small, cut in half): Creates the layered structure similar to traditional lasagna noodles.
- Mexican blend cheese (8 ounces, shredded): Melts into gooey, cheesy layers. Or use a blend including Monterey Jack cheese, cheddar cheese, asadero cheese, queso cheese, mozzarella cheese, Colby Jack, or pepper jack cheese.
- Optional ingredients: Mix in black olives, red bell pepper, diced onions, sliced jalapenos, or chili peppers.
- Optional garnish: Sour cream, diced tomatoes, cilantro, diced green chiles, Sweet Salsa Verde, or Homemade Salsa
How to Make Mexican Lasagna
PREP. Preheat oven to 350°F. Cut 12 small tortillas in half and set aside.
FILLING. Mix shredded chicken, sour cream, black beans, half of the enchilada sauce, corn, cilantro, garlic powder, cumin, chili powder, and salt in a large bowl.
ASSEMBLE. In a 9×13 casserole dish, scoop ⅓ of the chicken mixture into the bottom of the baking dish. Spread evenly. Place one layer of cut tortillas over the meat mixture. Top with ⅓ of the shredded cheese.
Repeat with chicken mixture, tortillas, and cheese. In the end, there will be 3 layers of the chicken, tortilla, and cheese sequence. For the third layer, pour the remaining enchilada sauce over the tortilla layer and then sprinkle the cheese on top.
BAKE + ENJOY! Bake for 22-25 minutes or until the cheese is bubbly or the dish is cooked all the way through.
Serve with additional sour cream, homemade Guacamole, chopped tomatoes, and cilantro if desired. It also tastes great with a side of Tortilla Chips or Homemade Spanish Rice Recipe!
Kristyn’s Recipe Tips
- Use rotisserie chicken to save time. We like to freeze a big batch of shredded chicken to have some on hand for recipes like this one!
- Spread each layer evenly for clean slices.
- Let the casserole rest before cutting to help it set and absorb the juices.
- Cover loosely with foil if the cheese browns too quickly.
- This freezes well before or after baking. It makes a great make ahead of freezer meal!
Mexican Lasagna Recipe
Equipment
Video
Ingredients
- 1 pound chicken, cooked and shredded
- 1 (16-ounce) tub sour cream
- 1 (15-ounce) can black beans, drained and rinsed
- 1 (19-ounce) can Las Palmas Green Chile Enchilada sauce
- 1 (15.25-ounce) can corn, drained and rinsed
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- ½ teaspoon cumin
- 1 teaspoon chili powder
- 1 teaspoon salt
- ½ cup chopped cilantro
- 12 small flour tortillas
- 8 ounces Mexican blend cheese, shredded
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F.
- Cut tortillas in half and set aside.
- Mix chicken, sour cream, black beans, 1½ cups enchilada sauce, corn, half of the cilantro, and spices into a large bowl.
- In a 9×13 pan, scoop ⅓ of the chicken mixture into the bottom of the pan. Spread evenly. Place one layer of cut tortillas over the chicken mixture. Top with ⅓ of shredded cheese.
- Repeat with chicken mixture, tortillas, and cheese. In the end, there will be 3 layers of the chicken, tortilla, and cheese sequence. For the third layer, pour the remaining enchilada sauce over the tortilla layer and sprinkle the cheese on top.
- Bake for 22-25 minutes or until the cheese is bubbly or the dish is cooked all the way through.
- Serve with additional sour cream, chopped tomatoes, and cilantro if desired.
Notes
- Use rotisserie chicken to save time. We like to freeze a big batch of shredded chicken to have some on hand for recipes like this one!
- Spread each layer evenly for clean slices.
- Let the casserole rest before cutting to help it set and absorb the juices.
- Cover loosely with foil if the cheese browns too quickly.
- This freezes well before or after baking. It makes a great make ahead of freezer meal!
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Recipe FAQ
Substitute the shredded chicken with ground vegetarian chicken. Cook the vegetarian chicken in a large skillet over medium-high heat, then stir it in with the black beans, vegetarian-friendly enchilada sauce, corn, and cilantro.
Before baking, cover with plastic wrap and store it in the fridge for up to 2 days. Remove plastic and bake according to the directions.
To freeze, cover the uncooked dish with plastic wrap and aluminum foil over the top, sealing the edges tightly. Label and store in the freezer for up to 3 months. Thaw overnight in the fridge before heating. Bake according to the recipe directions.
Store leftovers in an airtight container in the fridge for 2-3 days. Reheat in the microwave or in an oven. Preheat to 350°F and bake for about 10-15 minutes, depending on the amount of leftovers, or microwave.
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This recipe was originally published May 2012.
I make a similar recipe but add a can of cream of chicken soup to chicken. No beans. I also dip the tortillas in the enchilada sauce before layering so they dont dry out. Delicious every time.
Sounds delicious!
Such an amazing lasagna recipe! I will definitely make it again!
Yay! So glad to hear you enjoyed it!
My fam super loves the spicy twist of this Mexican lasagna! It was full of flavors and scrumptious! Such a keeper!
This casserole is an absolute winner! The layers of chicken, cheese and tortillas was very delicious.
Thank you!! So glad to hear you enjoyed the casserole!
I love this dish! I have made it several times & it always comes out great! I get compliments every time!!!
Made this twice and will keep making it. Thanks. PS: I used corn tortillas instead of flour.
I think I did something wrong. It was very watery. Flavor good but soupy.
Can’t wait to try this. Sounds delicious and easy to make.
This was so good. Made w. Mix of Mexican cheese but one lady I added slice pepper jack to slice it up a bit more . Was so good! Also substituted pinto beans for the black beans (my family doesn’t care for them) it was simple to make and tasted delicious. Will make it again
My mouth just waters at looking at the photo. You make everything seem so easy to do. I don’t know which one I’ll try to make first, the mexican lasagna or the chocolate tres leche cake. Yum!!
Ooh both are great options! Hope you enjoy!
Delicious and so easy. Thank you for sharing! I love so many recipes of yours! 🙂
I have made this recipe a few times now. My family loves it!
This recipe sounds so good. Can’t wait to try it
This looks delicious. I can’t wait to try it. I love Mexican food.
So good! We always add the suggested jalapeños. This is a favorite.
Delicious! Best Mexican lasagna recipe I’ve found!
Wonderful! I always used to make my lasagna with ground beef until I found this recipe. It is amazing and so easy to make. I love using the chicken and green sauce, but the one change I made was to use corn tortillas – they are what I had on hand and it turned out just fine. I would say that they may not need as much liquid as flour shells, but we still love it! This is going into my recipe box and into my menu rotations. Thanks for sharing!!
Jump to video, it says, so I do, and it takes me down to where it says video, but we can’t click on it. It surely would have been nice to see a video, before I make this. Disappointing.
Very interesting, fed my family twice! Definitely not something I’ve ever had before and it was very creative.
PS We baked the steam table pans covered with foil sprayed with cooking spray so the cheese wouldn’t stick. We took the foil off to brown them for the last 10 minutes. We also made a vegetarian version with our house made faux chicken made from tofu and wheat protein.
This was great, we made enough to feed 82 people at a local community feeding program. We took advantage of donations of grilled chicken and tortillas from a local catering company and some fresh sweet corn from some university test plots and house made salsa verde from some green chilies donated by a local CSA. We didn’t have sour cream but used our stash of cream cheese whipped with lime juice. Baking time for full size steam table pans was 50 minutes at 375. All the volunteers took some home which doesn’t happen very often.
Wow! That is incredible! I’m so happy to hear that the recipe could be used for such an awesome cause. Thanks for sharing!
This recipe was so good I made a second batch the next day. Not because my family and I eat it all my dog got on the stove and finished off the remaining eight pieces!!!!
He’s obviously a big dog, couldn’t resist🙄
I added green chilies, black olives, mushroom and onion, super yummy.
Also in response to the person’s question about making it vegetarian I found using veggie ground beef works great in these recipes
I’m so glad you and your family AND your dog liked it too! 😉 All of those additions sounds delicious! Thanks so much for sharing what you do!
Delicious!!! I did not have the the green chile enchilada sauce so i made recipe with the reD enchilada sauce. My family loved it!!! Tgis rexipe is a keeper!
That works too 🙂 Thank you for sharing that!
Has anyone done this with corn tortillas?
I have not tried, but it’s a great option 🙂
We made this tonight with corn tortillas. While the flavor was amazing, the top layer of tortillas dried out in the oven and were a little tough to cut through. I’d recommend maybe covering it with sprayed aluminum foil for most of the cooking time then uncovering it at the end. Again, it’s delicious and we’re definitely going to make it again. 🙂
Thanks for sharing that!
Excellent flavor! Can’t wait to make it again!
Yay! I am so glad you think so 😉 Thank you so much!
I like one dish meals and ones you can prepare ahead of timE. Whick makes this the perfect meal!
I love this take on enchiladas- Super easy and delicious!
I am so excited to try this recipe! It looks incredible!
My family would go crazy over this. Can’t wait to try it!
Adding this to our Mexican food rotation! Love the change from regular lasagna. It has tons of flavor!
This was delicious. Loved that it has just the right amount of kick… not too spicy. I also swapped ground beef instead of chicken. YUMMY.
Could I make this with ground beef instead of chicken? What would I use instead of the sour cream? The chicken looks really delicious, but I have some ground beef to use up! Thank you!
You sure could!! Are you looking for a substitute for the sour cream? If so, you could use low fat yogurt.
We love mexican food! What can be used instead of chicKen, as we are vegetarians?
So, do we! What would you normally use as a meat substitute? You could just leave it out 🙂
Lasagna Mexico is the best that I enjoy when coming to Mexico.
LOL!! Totally 🙂 Thanks!
P.S. I have a quick question, though. Should this freeze well? Thanks!!!!
OMGoodness, this was absolutely delicious! We loved it! I haven’t been so excited about a recipe in a long time. 🙂 I printed copies for all the girls at work. It was both so easy to make and tasty that I’ve decided this will be my new go-to dish for new parents freshly home from the hospital. Thank you for sharing!
This looks so fun and original. Thanks for sharing.
This looks soo yummy!
It tastes yummy too – seriously, the best casserole ever! 😀
definitely making that casserole tonight, it looks so delish and flavorfull! and adding that rice recipe to my list so i can make it when i need some spanish rice!
Let me know how the casserole went!! And let me know if you try the spanish rice recipe too – it is so good, and my kids could eat by the bowl-full! 😀
I am craving to this recipe..I cant wait to try this thank you for sharing..
Hey! That is my sister’s recipe 🙂 How cool! Girls In Aprons is the blog she and I and our other sister have together. Thanks for featuring Celeste’s recipe! We all agree that it’s pretty darn tasty!
Mexican food is my absolute favorite! Thanks for sharing the recipe!
It’s ours too!! We rarely go out for Mexican food since we eat it so much at home, but man, is it good!!!
I am definitely printing out this recipe and giving it a try. Think it is one my husband would love! Thanks for sharing it. 🙂
Let me know how it goes. I was seriously so impressed with how good it was… not that it would be bad, but just because I’m not a fan of casseroles. I think you guys will like it. Thanks for stopping by, and I hope you have a good day. 🙂