Frito Pie is a crowd-pleasing favorite, great for game day and a family meal everyone will agree on!
This casserole starts with a rich beefy base (similar to a chili) with ground beef, seasonings, and beans. Before baking, it’s all topped with heaps of cheese and… you guessed it… FRITOS!!
Add your favorite taco toppings like tomatoes, sour cream, and jalapenos!
What is Frito Pie?
Frito pie is not really a pie, it’s a kind of a taco casserole (like Dorito casserole)!
- Also known as Frito taco pie, this easy dish can be made at home with a few simple ingredients.
- It can be made ahead of time and baked just before serving.
- The corn chips on the bottom of the casserole soften, almost like tortillas while the Fritos on top stay crisp and crunchy.
- Swap up your typical taco night and add some toppings to the table and let everyone create their own bowl.
Turn it into a Party Favorite!
You can make this into a walking taco style meal!
Prepare the filling and simmer on the stove top (instead of baking). Use single serving Fritos corn chips bags and scoop the heated filling into the bag right on top of the Fritos. Hand it off to a hungry eater to add their favorite toppings! No mess and no dishes!
Frito Pie Ingredients
FILLING: Ground Beef (or ground chicken) is seasoned with taco seasoning. The addition of beans, beans, tomatoes, and corn turns it into a zesty and hearty filling. We used diced tomatoes but you can substitute salsa if you’d prefer.
Add in your favorites from diced bell peppers to garlic and cumin! To stretch the filling even further stir in a little bit of rice.
FRITOS: The Fritos on top add crunch and flavor while the Fritos on the bottom of the baking dish soften slightly and take on a texture almost similar to a tortilla.
CHEESE: We love to add lots of cheese, either TexMex or shredded cheddar cheese.
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!
Add Some 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
- The Best Chili Recipe – everyone’s favorite
- Quick Hot Dog Chili – so much yum
- Green Chili Recipe – great for a crowd
- Texas Chili – a classic no bean favorite!
- Easy White Chicken Chili – healthy and delicious
Frito Pie
Ingredients
- 1 pound lean ground beef
- 1 onion diced
- 1 package taco seasoning & water as indicated on package
- 1 tablespoon chili powder
- 10 ounces diced tomatoes with chilies or salsa
- 1 ½ cups tomato sauce
- 15 ounces kidney beans drained
- 1 cup corn drained
- 1 bag Fritos® corn chips divided, about 5 ½ cups
- 2 cups Mexican cheese blend divided, shredded, 8 ounces
- ¼ cup green onions chopped
- sour cream for serving (optional)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease a 9"x13" 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 Frito chips to the bottom of 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
Nutrition Information
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.
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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.
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!