Cassie

Time to share another frugal and yummy recipe! We love our crock pot as we have shared before and so the taco bake is a perfect dish as I can cook quickly in crock pot, but the family can enjoy a dinner favorite – Tacos!

Just as we have shared many times before, modify recipes to fit your family as well as fit what you have on hand.

We will share the recipe, and then some ideas next to it that would be good alternatives if you do not have that exact ingredient on hand! you can probably think of more modifications based on what you have!

Frugal and Health Tip: You will notice that we use less beef and replace half of the beef with rice, this makes it more frugal and healthier at the same time! Plus, you can use more rice or beans to increase the serving amount needed for your family size!

Let’s get started on making a Crock Pot Taco Bake!

First, here is the ingredient round-up:

• 1/2 lb of ground beef (or ground turkey) already cooked, rinsed and drained
• 1/2 of onion
• 2 tsp. of fresh minced garlic
• 1 cup of cooked rice
• 1 envelope of taco seasoning (we actually used Fajita Mix this time, or a jar of taco sauce, or even a can of tomato paste and tomato sauce with garlic powder, Bragg’s 24 seasoning mix, parsley, chilli powder and dried onion for a home made version.)
• 1 can of corn (frozen or fresh corn works too!)
• 1 can of tomatoes (frozen or fresh works too!)
• 1 12oz. bag of tortilla chips crushed
• 2 cups of cheddar cheese (we used a marbled cheddar this time)
• 1 can of beans (any type really works – we used pinto, but black, kidney, even a navy if that is all you have).

Steps to Make:

• Cook the meat, drain and rinse
• Add the cooked meat back in the pan and add the onion and garlic and brown with the meat
• Add the rice and taco seasoning to the meat mixture.  (if you are using dry taco seasoning, add the water needed from the envelope!)
• Stir in the tomatoes with the meat mixture
• Cook until blended
• Place the meat mixture in the bottom of the crock pot

• Then pour the crushed chips over the meat mixture
• Then add the layer of corn
• Then a layer of cheese
• Add the final layer of the beans

• Cook in the crock pot on low temperature for 2-3 hours

• Then just scoop and serve!
• Top with sour cream  (this is all we had on hand this time )
• Other great toppings that we have used before are taco sauces, salsas, olives, guacamole, green onions
• You can also turn this into a salad by serving with lettuce on the bottom and then the taco bake and your toppings! YUM!

This is what is looks like in the end!

See more of our Recipes and other Homemade Products to save even more money for a healthier budget and live healthier lives too!

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