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Love & Best Dishes: Mexican Lasagna Recipe | Easy Weeknight Ground Beef Dinner Recipe Ideas
Jun 29, 2026
Mexican Lasagna Recipe | Easy Weeknight Ground Beef Dinner Recipe Ideas - Paula's sharing one of her weeknight dinner ideas for family for the 4th of July! This taco casserole recipe with tortillas and ground beef is one delicious Mexican casserole recipe!
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Mexican Lasagna Recipe: https://www.pauladeen.com/recipe/mexican-lasagna/
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0:00
- Y'all, I'm going to make a lot of us feel old today
0:05
because I think there's still so many of y'all out there
0:08
that remember and shared the birth of my first grandson.
0:14
Well, next month or the month after next,
0:16
it will be 20 years.
0:19
So how does that make you feel, honey?
0:21
Does it make you feel like me, like old?
0:24
- That makes me feel old too.
0:25
20, geez. (Paula laughing)
0:27
- Look at this young man.
0:29
This is Jack.
0:30
And so many of y'all made him blankets,
0:33
sent him all kind of gifts.
0:37
My friends out there, my fans,
0:39
they truly celebrated his birth with me.
0:43
- Yeah, that's right.
0:44
- And I'm so proud of him, y'all.
0:47
- Thank you, Gam.
0:48
- In fact, I think we ought to do an interview
0:51
and you have an opportunity to catch people up
0:53
with where you are.
0:54
- I've been busy, so. - I know.
0:56
- I just got back.
0:56
- I know you have. - This summer,
0:58
first summer home from college
0:59
going into sophomore year next year,
1:01
so we should do that, we should do an interview.
1:03
- And, well, I'll save that for the interview.
1:05
- Yeah.
1:06
- Let's do it, let's do it.
1:08
But right now, we are going back down memory lanes
1:14
in my very first cookbook
1:16
and we're making Mexican lasagna.
1:19
And I remember making this for the bag lady
1:21
'cause I'd make regular lasagna, and I said,
1:23
"We gotta, you know, just mix this up some."
1:28
So if you wanna drain the hamburger meat,
1:31
we just browned it,
1:32
and I like to leave it kind of chunky, you know?
1:36
So you'll know what you're biting, not all ground up.
1:40
So is that thing big enough for you?
1:43
- Yes, actually,
1:43
it'll be good. - Over the sink.
1:45
And I'm gonna come down here, Jack,
1:52
and I'm gonna put a little spray on the pan
1:59
and, you know,
2:00
I didn't know what I was doing when I did this.
2:02
All right, now you can put it all back in the pan, baby.
2:05
- [Jack] Yes, ma'am.
2:08
Try to leave a little bit of fluid in there
2:10
so it still keeps that good taste.
2:11
- Yes, yes.
2:12
You don't wanna just sop it dry
2:15
and you can see there's still
2:17
just a teeny bit of pink in there
2:20
because that means flavor right there.
2:24
But we didn't want as much as we had.
2:26
All right, now all you got to do is put in your spices
2:31
and that's chili powder, ground cumin and garlic,
2:37
and a little cayenne pepper if you want it.
2:40
But if you don't want it,
2:42
'cause it'll make it hot, hot, hot.
2:45
So you judge that, chili, cumin and garlic.
2:47
- [Jack] Yes, so, probably put
2:49
a little bit of heat in there, just enough.
2:51
- [Paula] Yeah.
2:52
But I think you're gonna need all of what's measured out
2:56
'cause I remember being in that little tiny kitchen.
2:59
No dishwasher, no counter space.
3:01
- [Jack] Yeah, I told my dad that we were making this
3:03
and he mentioned that this is one of the old recipes.
3:06
- [Paula] Yes.
3:07
- [Jack] From the Best Western.
3:08
- [Paula] Yes.
3:12
Yeah, sometimes the air
3:13
will make it stick. - There you go.
3:16
- [Paula] All right, now we want to kind of just,
3:20
ooh, you are putting,
3:21
you gonna put a little heat. - Put a little bit.
3:23
A little bit - Will Matthew eat it?
3:24
- He will. - Okay.
3:25
- We're taking this home to my family tonight for dinner.
3:27
I called 'em, I called the boys and said,
3:29
"We're making Mexican lasagna,"
3:30
and they were pretty excited about it.
3:33
So I would usually put in more heat
3:34
'cause I enjoy the heat. - Gotta toss that together.
3:36
- [Paula] Breaking up your meat.
3:38
- My younger brothers,
3:40
Matthew just turned 15,
3:42
Davis just turned six.
3:45
So I don't think they'll enjoy the heat
3:46
as much as I would, but-
3:47
- No.
3:48
All right,
3:49
I've got a 16 ounce can of petite, diced tomatoes.
3:56
Just don't chop it up too fine.
3:58
- [Jack] Yes, ma'am.
4:01
- [Paula] All right, now we gonna come over here.
4:08
Corn tortillas are not my favorite.
4:10
- [Jack] Really?
4:11
- [Paula] I love the flour.
4:12
- [Jack] Interesting.
4:13
- [Paula] But for it to be really
4:18
more authentic Mexican, you know,
4:20
I just think of the corn.
4:26
- [Jack] I agree.
4:27
- [Paula] And these are not wanting to...
4:30
I almost maybe shouldn't have sprayed it
4:34
'cause it made it slick.
4:39
Okay, so we gonna do two layers, Jack.
4:42
- [Jack] All right.
4:42
- And while you're doing that,
4:44
I'm gonna, you know,
4:45
when you're making lasagna,
4:51
you have to have either
4:56
cottage cheese or the other one, what's the other one?
5:00
- [Theresa] Ricotta.
5:01
- Ricotta, yeah.
5:03
And ricotta is a lot thicker.
5:04
- Mm.
5:05
- You know, than this one. - Yeah.
5:06
- But either one will work, so.
5:09
How much does it say cottage cheese?
5:13
- It says two cups.
5:17
- This has been, two cups? Wow.
5:20
This has been longer than 20 years.
5:24
This goes back to probably 1990.
5:27
- Mm.
5:28
- Or '91, yep.
5:29
It was '91 when we moved into the Best Western.
5:37
So that package would be two cups.
5:42
All right, now we're gonna
5:44
stir your cheese in
5:48
and your egg.
5:49
- [Jack] All right.
5:51
- [Paula] I wanna beat that off a little bit.
5:52
- [Theresa] She doesn't like to
5:53
give you very big bowls. - That's true.
5:55
- [Theresa] Test how much you can get one bowl.
5:58
It's a thing for her.
6:01
We talk about it all the time.
6:03
- [Paula] That's a perfect size bowl. (laughs)
6:09
Okay, there you go, see, he got plenty of room there.
6:11
- [Jack] So this will be for two layers.
6:12
- Yeah. - Two layers of tortilla.
6:13
Okay. - Yes, yes.
6:16
You're gonna need your cheese too.
6:17
- [Jack] That's right.
6:19
Get that in there.
6:21
- [Paula] Yeah.
6:23
- [Jack] A little bit of cheese in.
6:25
- [Paula] Yeah.
6:27
We'll probably put some more cheese too.
6:29
- Oh yeah? What type of cheese is that?
6:31
- Well, you know, I can't remember what.
6:33
- It's Monterey Jack. - Monterey Jack.
6:34
- [Paula] With peppers.
6:36
(Paula laughs) - Oh, okay.
6:38
- [Paula] All right, so, Jack,
6:40
we are gonna put half of our protein down.
6:45
- [Jack] Okay.
6:46
- And dollop this.
6:51
Oh, look, that's gonna make it.
6:55
You know what?
6:55
I think I'm gonna change this around a little bit.
6:58
- Okay.
6:59
- Do you like fresh mozzarella cheese?
7:01
- I do, I do. - I love it.
7:03
And I have some in here.
7:06
All right, you wanna put
7:07
half of that mixture right there, baby?
7:08
- [Jack] Sounds good.
7:14
Oh, sorry about that.
7:16
- [Paula] Yeah, go.
7:19
That's all right.
7:19
Okay, well, look,
7:21
we're gonna have to make that do.
7:26
I think we could have used
7:27
a little bit more meat, don't you?
7:29
- Maybe a tad. - Yeah.
7:30
- [Jack] Maybe a tad.
7:32
Well, I haven't cooked in a year,
7:35
so I've had all my meals ready for me at the dining hall.
7:39
- [Paula] Isn't that wonderful?
7:40
- [Jack] Yeah, gotta get back used to cooking.
7:42
- [Paula] Yes.
7:45
But you had other things to do.
7:48
- [Jack] Yes, ma'am.
7:52
- [Paula] So I'm just going to dollop this
7:57
on that, and then we'll use the rest of that to put on top.
8:04
- [Jack] Okay.
8:06
- [Paula] Okay, I think we can spare a little bit more
8:08
and just do that.
8:10
All right.
8:13
I'm gonna ask you to slice the mozzarella.
8:17
- [Jack] Yes, ma'am.
8:18
- I'm gonna put this in the middle
8:21
because God made cheese and cheese don't hurt.
8:24
(both laughing)
8:29
Okay.
8:31
Why don't you do some down the center?
8:33
- [Jack] Hmm, that's smart.
8:34
- [Paula] Yeah.
8:35
- [Jack] Make sure everything is covered.
8:36
- [Paula] Yeah, and you don't wanna use it all here.
8:39
- Right. - Because we gonna
8:40
put it on the-
8:41
- On the very top? - Yeah.
8:42
- [Jack] Thing we're doing?
8:43
- [Paula] You got enough to do more.
8:45
- [Jack] We'll do one more right there.
8:46
- [Paula] Yeah.
8:47
- [Jack] Yeah.
8:48
- [Paula] And maybe, sometimes,
8:51
I'll tear it in two, like then.
8:53
- [Jack] So it's not really chunky whenever it's cooked.
8:55
- [Paula] Yeah.
8:58
How about that?
9:01
That's my favorite part on a pizza.
9:03
- [Jack] Me too.
9:05
- [Paula] Okay, so we got,
9:08
wish I had some cream cheese, but we don't.
9:12
- [Jack] All right, so that's everything.
9:13
We're all good?
9:14
You have the meat, cheeses. - I think you're all good.
9:16
Yeah. - All righty.
9:19
Like that, like tuck it on top?
9:20
- [Paula] Yeah, well, if you want some edges, you know,
9:24
I didn't do so good on this end,
9:26
so you can fix it. (laughs)
9:28
- [Jack] I'll try.
9:31
- [Paula] You just try to stand it up a little bit
9:35
so it'll match both ends.
9:41
That is perfect, my darling angel.
9:45
Okay, now you can pour your meat on that
9:49
and try to, you know, get it.
9:51
- [Jack] Smashed?
9:52
- [Paula] Scattered, scattered, chunked and covered.
9:56
Or how does it go?
9:57
Covered.
9:59
- [Jack] Covered.
10:00
- [Paula] Chunk and something like that.
10:06
- [Jack] All right, there you go.
10:08
- Okay.
10:10
Now you wanna just spread that around.
10:16
So, Theresa, really the only thing we're gonna have to have
10:20
is when you are loading up the recipe,
10:25
you can put optional on,
10:30
excuse me, on...
10:32
- [Theresa] Mozzarella?
10:34
- Fresh mozzarella. - Mozzarella.
10:35
- And cream cheese. - Right in little bits,
10:36
look, just a little bit, baby.
10:41
Ah, perfect, that's perfect.
10:45
And cream cheese.
10:47
So if we had cream cheese,
10:49
you'd wanna just pinch off in bites the cream cheese
10:54
and put it on that center layer.
10:56
- Mm.
10:57
- So you can do that at home
11:00
when you make it again, if you like this recipe.
11:04
- [Jack] That's all good,
11:05
we won't use all the cheese or?
11:06
- Yeah, yeah. - All right.
11:08
- [Paula] Now, let's use a little bit more.
11:09
- [Jack] Okay.
11:11
- [Theresa] Oh no, Guinny does not leave.
11:13
- Use it all? - What do you think?
11:14
- [Jack] All right.
11:15
- [Paula] Listen, waste not, want not, Jack.
11:18
If you've ever been in a position
11:20
where you had nothing,
11:24
and scrape the bowl,
11:25
it's hard to lose that mentality.
11:28
- [Jack] Mm.
11:30
- And that's why you see
11:31
so many older people that lived through the Depression.
11:36
You know, it doesn't matter how much money they make,
11:38
they'll always be poor in their head.
11:41
- Mm.
11:42
- So if I were you, I would kind of cut those,
11:45
pull 'em in half.
11:47
- Yeah, like that?
11:48
- Yeah, and just kind of dot it.
11:50
- Yeah, there you go. - Dot it around.
11:52
You do it, baby.
11:55
So, look at your masterpiece, Jack.
11:58
- Looks good.
11:59
- You are a chip off the old, old block.
12:04
Not the old block,
12:05
that would be your daddy,
12:07
but a old, old block. - No, old.
12:08
- Yeah, so we gonna put this in our oven on like 350
12:13
for 20 to 25 minutes.
12:15
- Okay.
12:15
- 'Cause everything is basically done
12:17
except for the egg in our cottage cheese,
12:20
so it won't take long.
12:23
- [Jack] All right, let's go ahead and take it out.
12:26
Oh my goodness.
12:28
- [Paula] How does it look?
12:29
- [Jack] That looks delicious.
12:31
- [Paula] Oh yay.
12:32
- [Jack] And the sides are nice and crisped up, mm
12:35
- Yes, yes, yes.
12:36
- [Jack] It's perfect.
12:38
- [Paula] Wow.
12:40
- There you go.
12:41
- [Paula] All right, Jack.
12:45
In the recipe book,
12:48
the way I told everybody to do it
12:50
was like do diagonal stripes with the lettuce,
12:55
the cheese, the spring onions.
12:58
- [Jack] And I've seen you got like little bowls out,
12:59
that's why it's perfect for 4th of July.
13:01
- [Paula] The tomatoes, yes,
13:03
it is perfect for the 4th of July.
13:05
And you can assemble everything
13:07
and then put it in the oven at the last minute.
13:09
And, of course, I can't eat taco
13:12
without sour cream and jalapenos.
13:17
We'd definitely have to pick out Peep some
13:21
jalapenos to go on his, but you ready?
13:24
- I am so ready.
13:25
- Okay.
13:27
So am I.
13:29
Wow-kabow, look at our fresh mozzarella
13:32
that we added. - The cheese pull.
13:34
Wow.
13:35
- That we added.
13:36
Just a little salt on top of it, y'all.
13:43
A little pepper if you want some pepper.
13:46
- Oh, that's neat, I've never seen that.
13:47
- Oh listen, I love my electric
13:49
because I don't like the real fine ground pepper,
13:53
you know, I like the coarse.
13:54
- [Jack] Mm.
13:56
- [Paula] But it definitely needs some salt.
13:59
- [Jack] All right, all right,
14:01
let's see why I'ma put on there.
14:03
I'll probably put everything on there.
14:04
- [Paula] Okay, you do whatever you want.
14:07
- [Jack] Tomatoes.
14:09
- [Paula] Mm-hm.
14:10
Do you want jalapenos?
14:12
- [Jack] No, ma'am, see, that's a little bit too,
14:14
the little bit of pepper we put in there is enough.
14:17
- [Paula] Uh-huh, the other's too intense?
14:19
- [Jack] Yes, ma'am.
14:20
- Look at this.
14:23
You gotta love fresh mozzarella.
14:28
Okay, let's see, what do I want?
14:31
I know I want sour cream.
14:36
I know I want some onions.
14:40
Oh, a little tomato.
14:41
Oh gosh, that looks so good. - I know.
14:45
- Okay, and I'm gonna need some more salt
14:47
'cause sour cream screams for salt.
14:50
- Mm.
14:53
Oh my gosh, so cheesy, look at that.
14:55
- I know.
14:56
(Paula laughing)
14:59
- You ready?
15:00
- Bon appetit. (laughs) - Cheers.
15:04
Mm.
15:05
- Mm, it's good. (laughs)
15:07
(Jack laughs)
15:08
- Jack, it hit me in the face.
15:10
- That's funny.
15:13
That is good.
15:15
- Mm.
15:20
Would you like it with
15:23
flour tortillas?
15:25
- Mm, I think I like corn tortillas, but.
15:32
I think flour would be good too, I think either could work.
15:34
Whatever your preference is, either would be good.
15:41
- Don't choke, Paula, that's the first rule.
15:44
But it was so good, I was swallowing too fast.
15:46
But you could actually make
15:48
one end flour and one end corn, just to see.
15:54
Thank you, angel.
15:55
- Mm, thank you,
15:57
delicious. - And I hope you have
15:59
a fabulous safe 4th of July
16:02
along with all of our friends out there.
16:04
Y'all be safe.
16:09
Hey, y'all, it's Paula Deen.
16:10
Now, if you enjoyed this video, be sure to like it
16:14
and click the subscribe button as well as the notification
16:18
bell to be alerted when I post a video.
16:22
Love and Best Dishes Y'all.
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