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Chili Frito Casserole is the perfect comfort dinner. Delicious layers of crunchy Fritos, Southwestern chili, and lots of gooey cheese make for a winning weeknight meal!
Feautred with this recipe
- Ingredients in Easy Frito Casserole
- Canned Ingredients for the Best Frito Casserole
- Steps to Make Chili Frito Casserole
- Additions and Substitutions
- Make this Frito Pie Gluten-Free
- Frequently Asked Questions
- How to Store Leftovers
- More Easy Dinner Ideas
- How to Make Frito Casserole
- Chili Frito Casserole Recipe
Frito chili casserole also known as frito pie casserole, taco casserole, and chili pie plus a million other names from Pinterest, Facebook, and other social media accounts. This is one of those comforting foods that most families enjoy around the table. It is super simple to make and the whole family would love the crunchy Frito chips with chili in a casserole dish.
This dinner is one of those comfort meals that can be thrown together super fast on busy weeknights and tastes yummy, warm, and nourishing. We always seem to have ingredients for this easy Frito pie recipe on hand so this Frito casserole is definitely in permanent rotation around our house. Even the pickiest of eaters love this dish!
Ingredients in Easy Frito Casserole
This Frito casserole seems to have it all for a well-rounded meal! It has a little bit of protein, fiber, calcium, and a ton of flavor. Plus it is made with easy-to-find ingredients that can store in your pantry all year long. It is the perfect combination of a savory and comforting dinner that kids to adults love!
- Ground beef – Use lean ground beef that won’t have too much excess grease. Remove the grease if there is too much in the pan before adding other ingredients.
- Onion – regular yellow onion does the trick! If you have green onions, chop them up too, and use some as garnish on top.
- Taco seasoning – Use your favorite store brand or make your own! We have a delicious homemade taco seasoning mix recipe made from ground cumin, chili powder, garlic powder, onion powder, and other spices that’s easy to make and lasts forever!
- Frito corn chips – This is the main event and the crunch that everyone loves! Buy Frito chips at the grocery store and enjoy the salty flavorful bag on top of this Frito casserole.
- Shredded Cheese – Cheddar cheese or a combination of Monterey jack cheese works great! Mexican cheese blend is another easy cheese to sprinkle overtop. Freshly grated is best and will melt the easiest.
Canned Ingredients for the Best Frito Casserole
Make this Frito casserole dinner even easier by using canned goods! The best part of this recipe is the ease of it as well as pantry staples that you can store year round. This Frito casserole is one of those recipes you will be making often. It is always a huge hit with family and friends!
- Green chilis – Alter the amount of green chilis you need. You can either go less because of kids or more depending on who you are serving.
- Black olives – Chop whole olives or grab a can of pre-sliced ones.
- Chili – Any kind of canned chili will work. Choose your favorite for this Frito casserole recipe.
- Chili beans – I usually dump in whatever kind of beans I have on hand. Kidney beans or pinto beans taste delicious! These are easy to store and always have on hand for soups or casseroles.
- Corn – Make sure to drain it thoroughly before adding to the mixture. You can even rinse them off if needed.
Steps to Make Chili Frito Casserole
This Frito casserole comes together in just a few simple steps! Cook the meat and onions together, combine all the ingredients, then assemble into a pan. It is a quick and easy dinner that everyone loves!
- Cook – Combine ground beef and onions and cook over medium-high heat.
- Combine – Stir in chiles, olives, chili, chili beans, corn, salsa, and taco seasoning, and simmer until all the sauces are combined.
- Assemble – Use cooking spray to grease a pan, and layer with crushed Frito corn chips. Pour the beef mixture into the pan and top with more chips and cheese. Bake and serve!
Additions and Substitutions
This chili casserole is so simple to add and substitute ingredients when making. Make it Southern style, change the chips, make it spicy, and so much more! The options are endless and the variety is perfection every time with this chili casserole! This Frito casserole is the ultimate comfort food!
- Southwestern chili casserole – We like this “Southwestern” spin on the traditional chili casserole by adding some salsa or red enchilada sauce, black beans, corn, bell peppers, taco seasoning, and diced chiles.
- Meat – You can also substitute ground turkey or ground chicken. Both options will have less excess fat to drain off and less cholesterol than beef. Season with a little bit of salt and pepper.
- Frito chips – You can use regular Fritos or Chili Cheese-Flavored Fritos for a different flavor on top.
- Make it spicy – For an extra kick, try Rotel tomatoes and shredded pepper jack cheese. I love my Frito pie with a dash or two of hot sauce; my dad likes it with ketchup. To each his own!
- Consistency – If the mixture is too thick, you can thin it out with a little tomato sauce.
- Other chips – Don’t have any Fritos on hand? Use crushed tortilla chips! This is the perfect casserole to make with the remnants of the tortilla chips bag (you know, the bits that aren’t big enough to scoop salsa?)
- Go crazy with toppings! We like to add onions, lettuce diced tomatoes, sliced avocado, sour cream, salsa, a sprinkle of cilantro, and guacamole. Any toppings you would typically put on a taco would work great.
Make this Frito Pie Gluten-Free
It is SO EASY to make this Frito pie casserole recipe GF. All you have to do is make sure you use a gluten-free Taco seasoning (homemade is always a sure bet). Gluten-free taco seasoning is really easy to find at your local grocery store.
McCormick’s brand makes a great one. Also, you need to make sure the chili you are using is gluten-free as well. Hormel brand (original style) is gluten-free. That is a great bet. Just check those couple of things and you are good to go!
“This was so delicious – my family went crazy for it! Adding it to the list of favorites!”
-Melissa
Frequently Asked Questions
Frito pie is heard to come from San Antonio, Texas back in 1932. The Doolin family owned a Highland Park Confectionary and is given credit for inventing the corn chip the casserole recipe is known for. Daisy Doolin is the mother of the founder of Fritos, Charles Elmer Doolin. She made the first frito pie by pouring canned chili over the top of the Fritos. It is a family favorite dinner in their home!
There are several different variations and alternating names for this casserole dish. They are different by location and region. There is a similar casserole dinner that is called chilaquiles. This dish also uses Fritos and chili as the main ingredients.
This Frito casserole recipe is perfect on its own or with side dishes. We like to have a simple meal but occasionally will make it a complete meal with Spanish rice, guacamole, salsa, and sour cream. For the spicy lovers, you can add jalapenos and cornbread on the side.
For storage keep the casserole in an airtight container in the refrigerator.
How to Store Leftovers
Store any leftovers in an airtight container or tightly covered in aluminum foil in the refrigerator for up to three days. Reheating is easy with a microwave. Or place in a warm oven for about twenty minutes until heated completely through.
More Easy Dinner Ideas
You will love how simple these dinner recipes are and how easy to make! Each of these recipes has meat and cheese plus various ingredients that help these three recipes stand out from each other. Try these family favorite recipes like Cheesy Tater Tot Casserole and Walking Tacos today!
How to Make Frito Casserole
Chili Frito Casserole
Video
Ingredients
- 1 pound ground beef
- 1 small onion chopped
- 4 ounces green chiles chopped, (1 can)
- 4 ounces black olives sliced, (1 can)
- 16 ounces chili (1 can)
- 16 ounces chili beans (1 can)
- 15 can corn drained, (1 can)
- 1 cup salsa
- 1 Tablespoon taco seasoning
- 10.5 ounces Fritos (1 bag)
- 2 cups cheese shredded
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Gather ingredients.
- In a large skillet, cook ground beef and onions until cooked through and onions become transparent. Discard grease if needed.
- Stir in chiles, olives, chili, chili beans, corn, salsa, and taco seasoning. Bring to a simmer for about 10 minutes, stirring often.
- Crush Fritos and spread half of them evenly in a 9×13 deep baking dish. Add chili mixture and top with remaining crushed Fritos.
- Bake for 25 minutes. Add cheese and bake for an additional 10 minutes or until cheese is melted.
What kind of chili beans? Pinto or kidney? And do you rinse or drain them before adding?
Chili beans are canned pinto beans that are already flavored with chili seasoning. Don’t rinse them before adding to the dish. Thanks for asking!
This was so delicious – my family went crazy for it! Adding it to the list of favorites!
Yum! This is such good stuff! My husband adores this Frito Pie recipe!
How have I never heard of putting Fritos in a chili casserole before? So stink’n good!!
One of our favorites to make! So easy and so good!
This is exactly what I crave for chowing down and watching the game! So easy and delicious!
We made this for some friends we had over for the bears game last week and it was a HUGE hit. It’s super easy to make, perfect for fall, and it’s really tasty! Thanks for an awesome recipe.
“Da Bears” lol
Love this! It’s like a walking taco…except in a nice, neat, casserole dish! Ever thought about mixing up the flavor combo and using BBQ Fritos? 🙂 I love the ingredients you use in here…black olives get a bad rap, but my family loves them and we always have a few cans on hand! Thanks for this great, new addition to our dinner rotation!
BBQ Fritos are the best! That is a fabulous idea!
Any advice on what to do if making this to bake at a later date? Should I cool the chili mixture before putting on the Fritos? Making this for a friend with a baby due in a month!
I would probably wait until just before serving and after re-heating to add the Fritos. You don’t want them to get soggy in the process of cooling and re-heating. Hope this helps!
How can I print your recipes I can print everything else but can not print any of your recipes.
When I hit print nothing happens. Please help as I don’t want to hand write the recipes.
Did you try hitting the “Print” that is on the recipe itself (right under the small picture next to the ingredients)? You should be able to print it that way. Also, what browser are you using? I am hitting print right now and I see that it is working. I don’t know what the problem could be. Can you send us a screenshot?