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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 good friends of ours served a version of it to us recently, which served as the inspiration for our own take! There are many versions of Mexican lasagna out there, some using tortillas; this version of Mexican lasagna is with lasagna noodles. Keep reading for our take on a vegetarian Mexican lasagna.
Eat plant based? Go to Favorite Vegan Lasagna.
How to make Mexican lasagna
How to make Mexican lasagna with lasagna noodles? Making Mexican lasagna is very simple. It takes almost an hour to put together, but most of that is the baking time (35 minutes). And the process of creating the lasagna is very simple. Our biggest effort and 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; we’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. So minimalism is best here!
What results of all this layering effort? This Mexican lasagna is an incredibly delicious, 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.
How to freeze lasagna
This Mexican lasagna freezes incredibly well and is a great meal to have on hand for a quick weeknight meal. I recommend making two lasagnas at once — one for freezing and one for enjoying right away. That way the hour of prep wasn’t for nothing!
To freeze this Mexican lasagna, assemble and bake it as you normally would. Once it’s fully cooked, place it on the counter and let it cool to room temperature. Once completely cooled, 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).
Looking for more Mexican dinner recipes?
Outside of this Mexican lasagna recipe, here are a few of our favorite Mexican dinner recipes:
- Incredible Vegan Nachos
- Artichoke and Quinoa Vegetarian Enchiladas
- Spiced Chickpea Tacos with Avocado Cream
- Homemade Sopes with Black Beans
- Tex Mex Migas
Looking for more vegetarian pasta recipes?
- Spicy Kale Lasagna
- Creamy Pasta Marinara
- Everything Bagel Pasta
- Grilled Vegetable Pasta with Romesco
This recipe is…
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
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 Monterrey Jack and cheddar blend cheese (Mexican blend)
- 6 green onions
- ½ cup fresh cilantro
- 28-ounce can crushed tomatoes
- 2 teaspoons dried oregano
- 2 teaspoons garlic powder
- Kosher salt
- Hot sauce
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.
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.