If your zucchini feels like it’s multiplying and you’re not sure what to make, this easy Zucchini Taco Casserole is one of our favorite ways to use it all up.
Instead of using tortilla chips or layers of tortillas, this taco casserole uses fresh zucchini as the base for layers of seasoned ground turkey, quinoa, beans, pepper, and cheese. The result is a lightened up, leaner (but still hearty) casserole that has all your favorite taco-night flavors with an extra serving of veggies.
Whether you’re looking for a healthy weeknight dinner, a lower-carb taco casserole, or simply another zucchini recipe, this one checks every box. It’s easy to make and even picky eaters love it!
Why You’ll Love This Recipe
- Great way to use fresh garden zucchini
- Lean protein + veggies
- Ready in under an hour
- Easy to customize with your favorite taco toppings
Key Ingredients for Zucchini Taco Casserole
This recipe uses simple pantry staples combined with fresh zucchini to create a filling dinner the whole family will enjoy. Every ingredient adds classic taco flavor while keeping the casserole hearty without feeling overly heavy.
- Ground Turkey: (1 pound) you can substitute ground beef or ground chicken if that’s the taco meat you prefer.
- Yellow Onion: (½ onion) chopped. I’ve also used frozen, chopped onion can be used in this one, too.
- Cooked Quinoa: (2 cups). You can use cooked brown or white rice in its place, too. You’ll want to keep the measurement the same, so it will be about two cups of cooked rice.
- Chopped zucchini: (2 medium zucchini) this is the best recipe for a bumper crop.
- Red Pepper: (1 pepper) diced. You can omit this or sub it for drained diced tomatoes if you don’t like peppers.
- Black beans: (1 15 oz can) drained and rinsed. You can swap these out for pinto beans if you prefer those instead.
- Salsa: (1 cup) use your favorite salsa. We usually stick with mild, but if you want to add a little spice, go ahead and add a medium or hot salsa.
- Taco seasoning. You need 1 1-ounce packet, or around 2 Tablespoons. We like to use a taco seasoning packet to keep things quick and easy, but you can also make your own. Use the taco seasoning from this recipe. You can adjust the seasoning as needed.
How to make Zucchini Taco Casserole
- Prep. Preheat oven to 350°F, then prepare quinoa according to package directions. Saute turkey and onion in a large skillet until the turkey is no longer pink.
- Assemble the casserole. In a large bowl, toss together turkey, quinoa, zucchini, pepper, beans, salsa, and taco seasoning until seasoning is completely incorporated. Dump mixture into a greased 9 x 13 inch pan and top with Mexican blend cheese.
- Bake. Place the casserole in the oven and bake for 25 minutes or until zucchini and peppers have completely cooked through, and cheese begins to bubble on top.
- Serve. Serve with your favorite taco toppings, we like to serve ours with avocado, cilantro, and sour cream.
Casserole Variations and Toppings
This recipe is very forgiving and easily customizable. Try adding:
- Canned Corn
- Cauliflower rice (instead of quinoa)
- Jalapenos to add a little heat
- Pepper jack cheese
- Rotel (diced tomatoes and green chiles)
- Sour Cream
- Avocado
- Fresh Cilantro
- Pico de gallo
What to Serve with Zucchini Taco Casserole
This recipe pairs really well with Cilantro Lime Rice, Honey Lime Fresh Fruit Salad, and a big serving of fresh guacamole.
Equipment needed for this recipe:
For this recipe, you only need a few simple kitchen tools. We recommend using the following equipment:
Freezing, Storage, and Reheating
Freezing
Assemble and bake the casserole according to the directions. Allow to cool completely, then wrap tightly and freeze for up to 3 months. Thaw overnight in the refrigerator before reheating in the oven at 350 degrees F until warmed through (about 35-45 minutes).
Storage
Store leftover casserole in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 4 days.
Reheating
Reheat in the oven at 350°F until warmed through. You can also microwave portions of it for 1-2 minutes until it’s heated through.
Frequently Asked Questions
Yes. Assemble the casserole up to 24 hours in advance and refrigerate until ready to bake.
Absolutely! Yellow summer squash is a great substitute for zucchini (or addition – 1 diced squash and 1 diced zucchini is a great mix, too).
Yes! You can replace the ground turkey with an extra can of black beans or pinto beans.
Nope! The skin softens while baking and adds a great flavor.
More Casserole Recipes You’ll Love
Zucchini Taco Casserole Recipe
Ingredients
- 2 cups cooked quinoa
- 1 pound ground turkey
- ½ onion, chopped
- 2 zucchini, diced
- 1 red bell pepper, diced
- 1 (15.5 ounce) can black beans, (rinsed and drained)
- 1 cup salsa
- 1 ounce taco seasoning
- 1 cup shredded Mexican cheese blend
- 1 avocado, diced (optional topping)
- 2 Tablespoon cilantro, chopped (optional topping)
- ½ cup sour cream, (optional topping)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350℉.
- Prepare quinoa according to package directions.
- In a large skillet, saute turkey and onion until turkey is cooked through and no longer pink.
- In a large bowl, toss together turkey, quinoa, zucchini, pepper, beans, salsa, and taco seasoning until seasoning is completely incorporated.
- Dump mixture into a greased 9 x 13 inch pan and top with Mexican blend cheese.
- Bake for 25 minutes or until zucchini and peppers have completely cooked through, and cheese begins to bubble on top.
- Serve with your favorite taco toppings.
- We serve ours with avocado, cilantro, and sour cream.
Notes
Nutrition
Did You Make This Recipe?We’d love to hear your thoughts! Leave a review or a question in the comment section below the post.
This looks like a wonderful recipe! I can’t wait to try it. Do you have any nutritional information to go along with this recipe? That would be great.
Look delicious!! Would I be able to replace quinoa with brown rice and still bake it in the same way?
I replaced it with brown rice yesterday and it worked great!
Are the black beans rinsed and drained?
We usually rinse and drain our black beans.
I made this the other night. I totally expected a mini family revolt, as we tend to not like “things together” i.e. casserole style. The pre-dinner discussion was no one had eaten it, including the cook, so we were “going to try it, and if we didn’t like it, we could express that and no one would have hurt feelings. I wanted an easy and fast cooking experience. We changed several things to make this recipe work for our family. We used ground sirloin instead of turkey, frozen brown rice (pre-microwaved for 3 minutes) instead of quinoa (we only used 1 1/2 cups because that is what came in the package), peeled and deseeded, then diced the zucchini and pre-microwaved it for 2 minutes (to jump start the cooking time), left out the red pepper, drained 1 can pinto beans instead of black ones, used the salsa (added it to the meat and wish I had added the taco seasoning to the meat with it to get it to pre-dissolve better; so, as not to have as strong of a chili powder hit as ours had. We also added two cups of frozen yellow corn pre-microwaved for 5 minutes. Added about 3 tablespoons of butter for richness and we did doubled plus the cheese on top and added a dallop of sour cream to each serving (and some even had ranch dressing as a topper). We mixed the ingredient (minus the sour cream all together and baked it for 30 minutes. The vote was to have warmed leftovers in a warmed flour tortilla and to add this recipe occasionally to the dinner lineup. Pleasantly happy with the outcome. Even my picky spouse voted for it again. Happy and surprised indeed!
I was hoping for this as well.
Is it 2 cups dry quinoa or cooked? Think I added too much!
I’m wondering if you would be able to add serving size to your recipe. The nutritional values are posted in them but never the serving size.
Thank you for sharing your cooking talents with the world. 🙂
I was wondering this, too! My quinoa turned into four cups cooked. I only added about 2/3 of it to the mix because it seemed like too much. Any insights anyone?
Hi there. Is the 2C of quinoa cooked? Thank!
Yes, 2 cups cooked.
Can I use cauliflower rice instead?
Are you thinking to use cauliflower rice in place of the quinoa? We haven’t tried this recipe with cauliflower rice. I’m sure it would work. You would want it cooked before adding it in.
This was the best thing I have eaten all summer. Used my homemade salsa for extra flavor. Should be on the front page of you website!
Could this be made into a frozen meal? If so, how?
We have not yet tried making this into a freezer meal.
Can you use cauliflower rice instead?
I think that should work great. Let us know how it turns out if you try it!