Frito Pie is a crowd-pleasing casserole with a rich beefy base (similar to chili) topped with heaps of cheese and… you guessed it… FRITOS!!
Holly’s Recipe Highlights for Frito Pie
Frito pie (aka Frito taco pie) isn’t a pie, it’s more similar to taco casserole.
- Ingredients: This easy dish can be made at home with a few simple ingredients.
- Texture: The corn chips on the bottom of the casserole soften, almost like corn tortillas, while the Fritos on top stay crisp and crunchy.
- Prep ahead: Prepare the recipe up to 48 hours before baking.
- Serving suggestion: Swap up your typical taco night—add some toppings to the table, and let everyone create their own bowl.
Ingredient Tips For Frito Pie
- Meat: I use lean ground beef, but any ground meat can be used.
- Seasoning: Use a packet or make homemade taco seasoning.
- Vegetables: Beans, beans, tomatoes, and corn stretch the casserole further and add flavor. Replace the diced tomatoes with salsa if you’d prefer.
- Fritos: The Fritos (corn chips) on top add crunch and flavor, while the ones on the bottom soften slightly and take on a texture almost similar to a tortilla.
- Cheese: Pre-shredded cheese blends work well in this recipe.
How to Make Frito Pie
- Brown beef and season with a packet of taco seasoning. Stir in remaining filling ingredients.
- Layer Fritos, cheese, and the meat mixture in a casserole dish per the recipe below.
- Top with more cheese and bake until bubbly.
Serve and enjoy… and don’t forget the toppings!
Fun Toppings
Much like tacos, this Frito pie recipe can be topped with your favorites! I like to have small bowls of toppings for everyone to pick their own!
- Sauces: Salsa, hot sauce, sour cream, guacamole
- Veggies etc: Sliced black olives, diced tomatoes, shredded lettuce jalapeños, green chiles, lime wedges, scallions, cilantro.
More Chili Inspired Favorites
Frito Pie
This frito pie is a TexMex inspired casserole with ground beef, tomatoes, corn, taco seasoning & salsa, layered with Frito chips and shredded cheese.
Equipment
Ingredients
- 1 pound lean ground beef
- 1 yellow onion finely diced
- 1 packet taco seasoning or 3 tablespoons homemade taco seasoning
- ½ cup water
- 1 tablespoon chili powder
- 1 (10 ounce each) can diced tomatoes with chilies such as Rotel, or salsa
- 1 ½ cups tomato sauce
- 1 cup frozen corn kernels thawed
- 1 (15 ounce each) can red kidney beans drained and rinsed
- 1 (9.25 ounce each) bag Fritos® corn chips divided
- 2 cups shredded Mexican cheese blend divided
- sour cream for serving, optional
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease a 9 x13-inch casserole dish.
- Brown ground beef and onions, drain fat. Stir in taco seasoning, chili powder, and water.
- Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer until thickened. Stir in diced tomatoes, tomato sauce, corn, & beans. Simmer an additional 5 minutes.
- Add 4 cups of corn chips to the bottom of the prepared dish. Sprinkle with 1 cup of cheese.
- Spread beef mixture over top and top with remaining cheese.
- Bake 18 to 20 minutes or until cheese is melted.
- Top with remaining chips and desired toppings.
Notes
Beef can be replaced with ground turkey or chicken if desired.
If serving leftovers, reserve corn chips for topping until serving. Add corn chips and toppings after re-heating.
To increase the heat, add diced jalapenos to the meat mixture.
Adapted from Betty Crocker
Nutrition Information
Serving: 6g | Calories: 624 | Carbohydrates: 53g | Protein: 33g | Fat: 32g | Saturated Fat: 12g | Cholesterol: 87mg | Sodium: 1314mg | Potassium: 1006mg | Fiber: 11g | Sugar: 8g | Vitamin A: 1596IU | Vitamin C: 16mg | Calcium: 366mg | Iron: 6mg
Nutrition information provided is an estimate and will vary based on cooking methods and brands of ingredients used.
Course Beef, Casserole, Dinner
Cuisine American, Tex Mex© SpendWithPennies.com. Content and photographs are copyright protected. Sharing of this recipe is both encouraged and appreciated. Copying and/or pasting full recipes to any social media is strictly prohibited. Please view my photo use policy here.
In one word “Delicious”
Good golly, Ms. Holly!! We made this tonight and I have been giving the recipe rave reviews and posting the link to this page to friends of mine and a group I belong to on Facebook! OMG it was so good. We used ground turkey instead of ground beef. We served it with guac, sour cream, salsa, scallions and black olives on the side for garnish. We have a friend from NYC visiting and it reminded him of the Frito pie that they served at Texas Cowgirl Hall of Fame when we were there visiting about 25 years ago.
Mighty well done, Holly!!
Thank you so much, Eddie! We are so happy to hear that.
Great, easy recipe! I will note however, just one bag of Fritos was not enough for the dish as stated in the ingredients list. I used a party bag of scoops and wish I would’ve gotten two.
Wow, this is a real crowd pleasing recipe. The only changes we made was to add 1/2 Tbsp cumin and 1/2 Tbsp chili powder, based on other reviews. We got all the ingredients put together yesterday morning, then spent about one hour in the afternoon cooking the meat, putting it all together, and baking it. Served it for Happy Hour at our Elks Lodge, got lots of compliments, and it was completely gone by the time we went home. We rarely post reviews, but this recipe is fabulous. Thank you!!
Thank you so much for coming back and leaving a review!
So good, reminds me of home!!
Great recipe!!! Am eating the magical meal as I type this message out. I am returning for helping #2 ,be back in a minute…………ok I am back. My recipe was a little different because of what I added, which is shredded beef not ground. I used a 1@1/2lb. pkg. also used a 1lb. pkg. of Pico de Gallo. When every thing was done and in a light boil the heat went off a lid went on the pot so everything could steep awhile. Also added about a table spoon of tomato paste. All other ingredients listed in the recipe were used except for the green onions. Instead of using the dry taco seasoning, I used a dry low sodium and mild chili mix which took the place of the combined taco seasoning / chili powder mix. Well going back for helping #3. WOW this my idea of good comfort FOOD!!! Thanks Holly..
This is a really quick and easy dinner plan and it tastes great! Everyone in the family loved it so much!
I followed the directions exactly and the Fritos turned to mush. My husband wouldn’t eat it. I’m so disappointed. The filling tasted great. I’d suggest baking the filling and spoon over uncooked Fritos.
I’m making it now and that’s what I’m doing plus no Fritos on the bottom.
the fritos were mushy at the bottom.
Sorry this didn’t work out for you, Jacqueline! Other readers have enjoyed this dish with only fritos on the top, you could try that?
The recipe says 1 bag of Fritos but then it says 5 1/2 cups which would be WAY more than even a party size bag?
You will need 5 ½ cups of Fritos, if your bags are smaller you may need two bags.
Whole family loved it!
That is great, Denise. We loved it too!
Could you use leftover chili for this receipe?
Depending on how you season and prep your chili it will change the flavor but I think that sounds like a great idea, Pat!
I use your recipes as a guideline and veganize them.
For the ground beef, I used TVP (textured vegetable protein). In place of the package of taco seasoning, I added my own home-made Taco seasoning with no salt. I soaked and cooked dried beans with no salt. I pan-fried corn off the cob. I topped it with guacamole mixed with vegan sour cream.
Thank you for sharing Kimberly!
Everything looks so delicious and recipes easy to follow.
It’s so yummy. Can’ wait to hear what you think of it, Gloria!
THANKS SO MUCH FOR THESE RECIPIES!
So happy you are enjoying them. Nancy!
This is a great recipe! I used a drained can of fire roasted corn and only a teaspoon of chili powder.
Those sound like great additions!
This is the best place for me to get recipes
Thank you so much Georgia!
Please send me your taco Frito chips for the taco salad thank you. Judy
You can find our Frito Taco Salad recipe here.
So good!! I ended up adding 2 more tablespoons of taco seasoning and a tablespoon of cumin to suite our tastes but this recipe was amazing! Even my sometimes picky 3 year old absolutely loved it! We’ll for sure be adding this to our dinner rotation :)
That is great Erika! I am glad you all enjoyed it.
Your recipe calls for 1 TBSP of chili powder but nowhere in the instructions does it call for it. Just FYI.
Thanks for catching that Melissa! It should added in Step 2 with the taco seasoning.
HI Holly :-) Even though I’m not a fan of Mexican food, this recipe caught my eye, since I LOVE Fritos Corn Chips (go figure). This actually sounded delicious to me, but the sodium content is ‘waaay’ through the roof, as are most Mexican dishes. I can’t see a way to make this any ‘healthier’, so too bad. :-(
Fritos do contain quite a bit of sodium however most of the remaining ingredients can be purchased with no sodium including the diced tomatoes, tomato sauce, beans and taco seasoning (I use homemade). Hope that helps!
We ALWAYS use “Lightly Salted” FRITOS in all dishes using them!! It’s a huge difference full circle!