This vegetarian Mexican lasagna is the ultimate healthy dinner recipe! Layered with lasagna noodles, corn, and black beans, it’s full of zesty flavor.
How about some culinary fusion? In line with our Greek quesadillas and Mexican pizza, here’s a Mexican lasagna recipe that’s the perfect healthy dinner idea. It’s simple enough for a weeknight, but fancy enough for guests.
Some friends of mine served a version of it to me recently, which served as the inspiration for our own take! There are many versions of Mexican lasagna out there, some using tortillas — but my version is with lasagna noodle!
Want a vegan spin? Go to Favorite Vegan Lasagna.
How To Make Mexican Lasagna
Making Mexican lasagna is very simple: it takes almost an hour to put together, but most of that is the baking time (35 minutes). My biggest time saver is using No Boil noodles, which eliminates the need to separately boil the noodles before assembling the lasagna. You can find No Boil noodles at most grocery stores; I’ve even found whole wheat No Boil noodles!
The filling for the layers in this Mexican lasagna is black beans, green onions, corn and cilantro. There’s also a tomato sauce layer, and then cheese topped with oregano, salt and hot sauce. When you are layering this vegetarian lasagna, make sure not to overstuff the layers! Overstuffed layers make for a mess when trying to eat the lasagna.
This Mexican lasagna comes out incredibly delicious: an easy dinner idea that is perfect for serving to guests! It’s also easy to whip up in advance and pop in the oven when guests arrive.
Storage and Freezing Instructions
This Mexican lasagna freezes well and is a great meal to have on hand for a quick weeknight meal. To freeze it, assemble and bake it as you normally would, then cool to room temperature. Cover it with two layers of plastic wrap and then a layer of aluminum foil.
Label the top of the foil so you remember what kind of homemade lasagna it is, and then place it in the freezer. When you’re ready to enjoy the frozen lasagna, remove the plastic wrap and bake the Mexican lasagna at 350ºF with the foil on until the cheese on top starts to bubble (this will take 30+ minutes since the lasagna started out frozen).
Dietary Notes
This Mexican lasagna is vegetarian.
Mexican Lasagna
This vegetarian Mexican lasagna is the ultimate healthy dinner recipe! Layered with lasagna noodles, corn, and black beans, it’s full of zesty flavor.
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 35 minutes
- Total Time: 50 minutes
- Yield: 6 1x
- Category: Main Course
- Method: Baked
- Cuisine: Mexican
- Diet: Vegetarian
Ingredients
- 9 ounces “No Boil” whole wheat lasagna noodles
- 15-ounce can black beans (1 ½ cups cooked)
- 1 ½ cups frozen corn
- 8 ounces shredded Monterey Jack and cheddar blend cheese (Mexican blend)
- 6 green onions
- ½ cup fresh cilantro
- 28-ounce can crushed tomatoes
- 1 ½ teaspoons dried oregano
- 1 ½ teaspoons garlic powder
- Kosher salt
- Hot sauce
- Sour cream or Greek yogurt, for serving (optional)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400°F.
- Chop 6 green onions into thin slices, using both the white and green portions. Finely chop ½ cup cilantro, reserving some for the garnish. Drain and rinse the beans.
- In a 9 x 9 square baking dish, do the following: Spread a thin layer of tomatoes on the bottom of the pan.
- Place one layer of noodles on top of the tomatoes. On top of the noodles, sprinkle on a handful each of black beans, green onions, corn, and cilantro. Spread over carefully with another layer of tomatoes. Sprinkle on a layer of cheese, then sprinkle about ½ teaspoon oregano, ½ teaspoon garlic powder, and a few pinches kosher salt. Drizzle with a bit of hot sauce.
- Repeat Step 4 two more times.
- Add a layer of noodles to the very top of the lasagna. On the top layer of noodles, spread the last layer of tomatoes. Sprinkle with the remaining cheese.
- Cover with aluminum foil. Bake for 30 minutes, then uncover and bake 5 minutes more. Remove from oven and let stand for 5 to 10 minutes. Sprinkle with the remaining chopped cilantro and serve warm, with sour cream if desired.
We have actually mixed together the bean, onion, spices, cilantro, corn .. and put layers of tomato (hot sauce in here) , beans & cheese with the noodles ..makes it easy peasy to make & still DELICIOUS !!
Could you include quinoa into this recipe as part of a layer?
Absolutely! Just make sure to cook it and season it in advance, then add it to one of the layers.
If I make this ahead of time and keep in the fridge, do you think I would need to add baking time? Thanks, I’m planning to send it as a ready to bake meal to a friend.
Great question! We have not refrigerated in advance and then baked: I would try the timing as listed, then check it and be prepared to cook a bit longer — since there’s nothing uncooked in it, all you have to do is get it to where it’s evenly heated through and the cheese is melted!
In Mexico, they make this with corn tortillas as one version of enchiladas. Corn tortillas are also gluten free, and, I can tell you, would make this dish really, really good.