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25-Minute Healthy Mexican Pasta Bake

It only takes 25 minutes to bring this scrumptious Healthy Mexican Pasta Bake to the table. It’s easy, tasty, and even kind of healthy. Perfect weeknight meal without the fuss.

25-Minute Healthy Mexican Pasta Bake 2
Mexican Pasta Bake boasts all your favorite bold flavors in one dish.

Mexican Pasta Bake

What’s better than a terrifically comforting pasta dish on a busy weeknight?

Not much, except that exact pasta dish dancing with bold Mexican flavors, cooked up in just 25 minutes.

Generally speaking, I suppose pasta and cheese aren’t synonymous with the word healthy. Unless you use whole grain pasta, light cheese, and lean protein. Plus fresh herbs, lotsa garlic, and include the mighty avocado.

That’s a real food kind of meal I feel awesome about feeding my growth-spurting boys. They easily gobble this Mexican Pasta Bake up like nobody’s business.

Bonus: I still get my pasta and cheese fix 😇 …

25-Minute Healthy Mexican Pasta Bake 1
This Mexican Pasta Bake contains no heavy cream or butter.

This Mexican Pasta Bake is the best of both worlds – it has the big flavors of tacos, teamed up with pasta.

It bakes up to a deliciously yummy dream of a casserole.

No heavy cream or any cream involved. It’s light yet satisfying; it doesn’t weigh you down like casseroles can.

Easy, tasty, healthyish. It’s the perfect weeknight meal, without the fuss. Enjoy!

25-Minute healthy mexican pasta bake 3
Cheesy, healthyish, delicious Mexican pasta is super easy for a weeknight meal.
mexican pasta casserole

25-Minute Healthy Mexican Pasta Bake

5 from 2 ratings
It only takes 25 minutes to bring this scrumptious Healthy Mexican Pasta Bake to the table. It’s easy, tasty, and even kind of healthy. Perfect weeknight meal without the fuss.
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 20 minutes
Servings: 4
Author: Amy Dong

Ingredients  

  • 12 oz uncooked whole grain corkscrew pasta, or other pasta
  • 2 TB olive oil
  • 6 garlic cloves, chopped
  • 1 small onion, chopped
  • 1 lb lean ground beef or turkey
  • 1.25 oz or 2 1/2 TB homemade taco seasoning, or store bought
  • 32 oz jar chunky salsa
  • 1 can, 15 oz can black beans, rinsed well and drained
  • 1 can, 2.25 oz can sliced black olives, drained
  • 1 tsp dried oregano
  • 2 cups shredded Mexican blend cheese, divided
  • Garnishes: freshly chopped cilantro, avocado slices

Instructions

  • Preheat oven to 350F with rack on upper middle position. Grease a 2-quart baking dish and set aside.
  • Bring a large pot of generously salted water to boil; cook pasta just to al dente only, taking care not to over cook. Drain immediately. Add drained pasta back to the empty pot and set aside (sprinkle with a bit of olive oil if needed to prevent sticking)
  • While pasta is cooking: In a large heavy skillet, heat 2 TB olive oil over medium high heat. Add onions and garlic, stirring 2 min. Add ground meat and cook to brown. Stir in taco seasoning, salsa, black beans, olives, and oregano. Cook 1 minute until mixture is heated through.
  • Add browned meat mixture to the pot of cooked/drained pasta, stirring to combine. Stir in 1 cup of cheese. Transfer to greased baking dish and evenly top with remaining cheese. Bake uncovered 10 minutes just until cheese melts. Garnish with freshly chopped cilantro and avocado. Serve immediately.

Notes

Be sure to have the oven ready to go, so that once you combine the pasta and meat mixture, it immediately goes into the oven. Otherwise, your pasta might soak up too much sauce before it reaches the oven.
♡ If you enjoyed this recipe, please come back and give it a rating.

Nutrition

Serving: 1serving | Calories: 238kcal | Carbohydrates: 8g | Protein: 25g | Fat: 17g | Saturated Fat: 7g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g | Monounsaturated Fat: 7g | Cholesterol: 35mg | Sodium: 443mg | Potassium: 110mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 2g | Vitamin A: 329IU | Vitamin C: 3mg | Calcium: 658mg | Iron: 0.2mg
Course: Dinner, Main
Cuisine: Mexican, Tex-Mex
Method: Bake, Oven

Did you make this?

Leave a comment below and tag @chewoutloud on Instagram

Mexican Style Meals to Love:

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Mexican Chicken and Quinoa Stew
  1. Tender Carnitas – Mexican Pulled Pork
Carnitas

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Recipe Rating




8 comments

    • kazy
    • 5 stars

    Loved this. I increased the amount to serve 2 people for 4 nights’ dinner. I used my low carb Fiber Gourment brand of rotini pasta. You really can’t tell the difference between it and regular pasta. They’re 48% fewer calories and instead of the usual 41 grams of carbohydrates a serving, they have tons of fiber – 24 grams of fiber, making it only 17 grams of carbs. Highly recommend. I don’t like beans so I subbed them out for mushrooms instead. I also used pico de gallo as a garnish. Would’ve loved to do the avocado but between the pasta and the beef’s calories, I chose not to add more. Definitely a keeper. Will be rotating this for my week-end cheat days.

      • kazy

      I made an error. I did not increase this recipe. Used the same amounts as listed. Sorry.

      • Amy Dong

      So happy you guys loved this! 🙂

    • kazy

    HOW MUCH DOES THIS SERVE? THANKS

      • chewoutloud

      Hi, Kazy! It should serve 6 comfortably, as a main dish.

        • kazy

        Thanks. Making this for New Year’s Eve dinner. 2022-2023. Normally we go out for Mexican on New Year’s Eve, salsa, chips, Margaritas, but with bad weather being forecast, I decided to cook a Mexican dish myself at home. Will let you know how it turned out.

          • Amy Dong

          Thank you, and happy holidays 🙂

    • Corinne

    This lools,great! About how many servings do you find it makes?

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