Slow Cooker Healthy Taco Casserole
If you are ready to get your family to eat a veggie packed meal without complaint, then I’ve got the recipe for you! This Slow Cooker Healthy Taco Casserole is deliciously healthy and perfect for weeknight family meals.
Raise your hand if you struggle to get your family to eat a respectable amount of veggies.
Wow, that’s a lot of you, but I’m not surprised. I’m with you. My daughter sees anything green and she pushes away her plate and sticks her nose in the air while asking for a hotdog. But get those veggies incorporated into a delicious casserole that they won’t even realize is healthy because it’s so tasty? Everyone will snarf it down.
The rest of my house eats veggies pretty well, but I’ve got to admit I was a little nervous serving up a taco casserole that was stuffed full of collard greens. But as it turns out not only did they eat it… they loved it!
Add to that peppers, onions and tomatoes and you’ve got a totally veggie packed meal!
But let’s not forget about the tons of protein! Lean ground beef and wholesome black beans (my favorite bean!) makes this a nice complete meal! Top it off with avocado or sour cream or leave it plain. All up to you!
Slow Cooker Healthy Taco Casserole
Ingredients
- 1 pound 96/4 Extra Lean Ground Beef
- 1 small Yellow Onion diced
- 1 Red Bell Pepper diced
- 1 Yellow or Orange Bell Pepper diced
- 5 cups Shredded Collard Greens
- 1 cup Beef Broth
- 1 pint Sugar Plum Grape Tomatoes halved
- 15 oz can Black Beans
- 18 oz Tomato Sauce with Roasted Garlic
- 3 tablespoons Homemade Taco Seasoning
- 10 Corn Tortillas (I used extra thin)
- 6 oz Sharp Cheddar Cheese
Instructions
- Brown ground beef in skillet over medium high heat until fully cooked, drain any excess grease
- Add onions and peppers and let saute for 2-3 minutes until slightly softened
- Add collard greens and stir well to combine and wilt greens
- Add broth and cover and let simmer for 5 minutes or until greens are wilted
- Remove cover and let simmer until broth fully reduced
- Remove from heat and stir in tomatoes, beans, sauce, and taco seasoning
- Stack half of the tortillas and cut them into thin strips and then into bit sized pieces
- Stir them into beef mixture
- Spray slow cooker with non-stick spray and add casserole mixture
- Top with cheese
- Cover and cook on high for 3-4 hours or low for 6-8 until veggies and beans are fully cooked and tender
Notes
Nutrition
Seems like a lot of cooking ahead of time for a quick slow-cooker meal. Can I just throw everything into the pot and cook?
Hi Judy! Yes, obviously most slow cooker recipes can be converted and this one should be pretty straight forward although I haven’t tested it that way. You would still complete all the steps up to the point of adding to the slow cooker casserole dish and would instead place in a regular oven save casserole dish and bake. I don’t have conversions times to offer, but would suspect that 350 degrees would be the right temp and you will just need to keep an eye on it for cooking time. Be sure to let me know how it turns out!
Anyone ever try leaving the tortilla out and making this to serve with tortilla chips as a dip instead?
Could you substitute ground turkey for the ground beef?
Hi Barbara! I think you could easily substitute ground turkey for the ground beef. I bet it will be delicious as well! Let me know how it turns out for you!
We love Mexican and I think my family will love this. I’M not sure if the collard greens but maybe they won’t notice. Thanks for sharing.
It might seem a silly question but are the tortillas the soft kind? I’m assuming they are because the crispy kind would be impossible to cut. Thank you.
Yes!
Do you have nutritional information for this dish?
Like total calories, fat, salt, etc?
I am making it now and it smells so YUMMY!!! 🙂
I don’t 🙁 But, you should be able to plug the link in My Fitness Pal and customize any ingredients you used and get a good idea. Hope it turned out great!!
The entire dish is about 2,148 calories / about 268 calories per serving.
Thanks Jill!
How much is 1 serving??
Recipe sounds yummy and I can’t wait to try it. I did try the link for the homemade taco seasoning but it wasn’t good. Thought you might like to know.
Thank you so much for letting me know! I didn’t realize it had gotten goofed up! Fixing now!
Any suggestion if you can’t find fresh collared greens?
Hi Erica! Sometimes you can find frozen collard greens depending on the store. Or you could sub out fresh spinach. However, I would just add the spinach when you add it to the slow cooker and not simmer it at all. Let me know if you have more questions!!
The recipe calls for Homemade Taco Seasoning. I expected to find a link to this recipe as well, but did not. Do you have your own or a recipe that you use, and can you share it?
Due to dietary reactions, and taste, my family does not eat any color of bell pepper. Do you have any suggestions for substitutions? I was thinking of some celery, but not for the entire 2 peppers.
Thanks!
Thanks Sharon, I’m not sure what happened but I’ve fixed the link now! Let me know if you have any troubles getting it.
Yes, you can totally leave out the peppers or sub them out. Celery would be good for replacing the crunch. You could also add some frozen corn kernels. Let me know how it end up!!
I read the recipe a couple of times and I don’t see where you mention how/where to use the other half of the tortillas. I’m making this right now and didn’t realize it until I reached this step of the recipe. I’ll just wing it, but how were they meant to be used?
Yikes! Thanks for bringing this to my attention! It should be stack and cut 5 and then stack and cut the other 5. They all go in the mix! So sorry and hope this helps. Fixing the recipe now.