Frito Chili Casserole

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This Frito Chili Casserole is a Tex Mex casserole style recipe that's easy to make with seven ingredients. Perfect for a crowd, top this with your favorite chili or taco toppings!

A serving of Frito chili pie on a plate.

My Frito Taco Bake, similar to a Frito Chili Pie, has reached over 4 million folks and is one of the most liked and shared recipes on the blog. With its growing popularity, I got the notion to make a few ingredient substitutions and transform this delicious taco-based dish into a chili-based dish. Boy was my intuition on point!

This chili cheese casserole is packed full of protein and flavor! With layers of both tender and crispy cheesy corn chips and thick and hearty chili, the texture is incredible! Your family or dinner party guests will love it because they can adjust the spice level and customize it with their favorite chili toppings.

My 4 Ingredient Taco Cups are also an excellent crowd pleaser that can be customized with fun toppings. Looking for a taco low-carbohydrate, high-protein, soup-style recipe? This Protein Packed Taco Pasta will check all the boxes!

Table of Contents

Why You'll Love this Recipe

7 Simple Ingredients: Uncomplicated ingredients and minimal prep make Frito Chili Casserole a great easy go-to recipe!
Simple to Make: It’s easy to prepare and doesn't require fancy cooking techniques or utensils!
Hearty Meaty Goodness: Loaded with meat, beans and cheese, it’s high in protein and super filling!
Customizable and Portable: It’s a great dish to take to a get-together as it travels well and party goers always love a dish they can make their very own!

Chili Frito Casserole vs. Walking Taco

A Walking Taco typically consists of seasoned taco meat, shredded cheese, lettuce, tomatoes, and other taco toppings and is served in a bag of corn chips, such as Doritos or Fritos. The bag is opened, and the toppings are layered directly into the bag, creating a portable and convenient way to enjoy taco flavors.

On the other hand, a Frito Chili Pie recipe usually starts with a base of Frito corn chips in a bowl (or sometimes directly in a bag), and chili is then poured on top. Toppings like cheese, onions, and jalapeños are served on the side. It's essentially a chili dish served over a bed of Fritos.

On to Frito Chili Casserole, this recipe is a baked version of Frito Chili Pie.

Ingredients

Scroll Down for Ingredient Amounts Listed in the Recipe Card Below

Ground Beef: The protein base of chili. It provides a hearty texture and a meaty flavor.
Dried Minced Onion: Provides texture and a savory, slightly sweet flavor base for the chili.
Mexene Chili Powder Seasoning: A blend of chili peppers, cumin, oregano and garlic that adds significant flavor and a mild heat.
Tomato Puree: Adds a slightly sweet and tangy flavor and contributes moisture to the dish.
Bush's Best Chili Magic Classic Homestyle: A flavor-packed chili sauce that adds a creamy texture and flavor to the chili.
Frito Chili Cheese Corn Chips: The base of the dish. Provides a crunchy texture and a salty, corn flavor.
Cheddar Cheese: Melts into the hot chili, adding creaminess, richness, and a slightly tangy flavor. It also helps bind the ingredients together.
Optional Garnishes: Sour Cream, Green Onion, Jalapeño: Allows everyone to be creative and add their own favorite chili toppings.

The ingredients to make a Frito chili pie.

Tools You'll Need

How to make Frito Chili Pie

In a large skillet on medium-high heat, crumble and cook ground beef until no longer pink. Drain or remove excess grease.

Season the cooked beef with dried minced onion and desired amounts of salt and pepper.

Stir in tomato puree, water, Chili Magic, and chili powder seasoning. Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat to a simmer. Allow the mixture to simmer 10 minutes.

To a 13”x9” baking dish, add an even layer of half of the chili cheese corn chips followed by half of the cheese.

Adding shredded cheese to the top of chips in a baking dish.

Spoon the meat mixture carefully on top, maintaining the integrity of the bottom chips and cheese layers.

Spooning chili on top of a dish of Fritos and cheese.

Sprinkle the remaining cheese evenly on top.

Sprinkling cheese all over the top of chili in a baking dish.

Bake uncovered for 20 minutes. Carefully add the remaining corn chips to the top. Bake an additional 10 minutes. Serve alongside your favorite chili toppings.

Tips and Substitutions

The chili needs the full simmer time to ensure part of the moisture evaporates and thickens for the ideal chili layer texture.
If you don’t have time to prepare chili from scratch, you can simply swap for a pre-made alternative. I’ve made it with 3 15-ounce cans of Hormel Chili with beans.
If you don’t like beans in the chili layer, omit the Chili Magic and substitute with 15 ounces tomato purée or sauce and add additional Chili Powder Seasoning to taste. The Chili Magic has a slight sweetness to it. You might consider adding a pinch of brown sugar.
Ground beef can be substituted with ground turkey or ground chicken.
For a vegetarian/vegan version, you could substitute the ground beef with one or more of these non-meat alternatives
- Chopped, sautéed and drained mushrooms
- Cooked lentils
- Drained chickpeas
- Textured-vegetable protein
- More of your favorite beans.

Toppings ideas for Chili Cheese Frito Casserole

This is the fun part about this dish! Make a spread of topping options for folks to get creative with. Here's a list of popular toppers:

Chopped Onions
Sour Cream
Chopped Fresh Cilantro
Sliced or Diced Jalapeños
Avocado Slices or Guacamole
Sliced Radishes
Sliced Green Onions
Pickled Red Onions
Bacon Bits
Crushed Red Pepper Flakes

Storage and Freezing

This dish is best enjoyed when it is freshly made. Store leftover chili cheese bake in an airtight container in the refrigerator for 3-4 days. Reheat in 1 minute intervals until heated through.

Freezing isn’t ideal for this dish as the Frito layer texture becomes too compromised with the freezing and thawing process.

FAQ

Is this spicy?

The spiciness can varies on the variety of chili powder seasoning and beans you choose. Mexene and Bush’s Beans Chili Magic are both mild.

Can I use another meat?

Yes! Substitute ground beef with ground turkey, ground chicken or your favorite ground game. The texture and tenderness will differ with each meat substitution.

What kind of cheese is best?

A block of freshly grated cheddar cheese works best in this dish. Pre-shredded works as well; however, its meltability and smooth end result lessens. Colby Jack, a mixture of Colby and Monterey Jack cheese, is another great cheese for this dish.

How do you keep the Fritos from getting soggy?

The Fritos on the bottom layer meld with the cheese and create a tamale like texture. Adding the top Frito layer at the end of the bake time ensures a crunchy exterior.

What to serve with Frito Chili Casserole?

A large selection of toppings is an essential component to this dish. Along with it, you could serve a simple side salad or steamed, grilled or roasted vegetables to add a refreshing contrast to the rich and meaty flavors of Frito Chili Casserole.

Is Frito pie the same as a walking taco?

No, the main difference lies in the base chips used (Doritos or Fritos) and the way the dish is assembled (layered in a bag for Walking Taco and served as a bowl for Frito Chili Pie).

Where did the Frito Pie originate?

The exact origins of the Frito Pie is a great dispute. New Mexico claims it was invented in the 1960s at a Woolworth’s in Santa Fe by a woman named Teresa Hernandez. Texans claim Daisy Doolin, a San Antonio resident and mother of the inventor of Fritos, created this dish in the 1930s.

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