My taco fiesta bubble-up casserole dish is one of my most popular recipes, it is packed with so much deliciousness, a meal the whole family can enjoy.
Looking for a tasty casserole dish, try my popular taco fiesta bubble-up casserole. I’m so excited fall is on the way and I can spend some time playing around in the kitchen and creating new casseroles. This layered taco bubble-up is simply put…delicious!! 🙂 A bubble-up dish is a term given to the biscuit dough that bakes up and “bubbles” into the dish so to speak.
This recipe makes 6 generous servings at 254 calories per serving, 8 points if you are following WW. This is sure to be a family favorite, it is at my house. Leftovers are equally delicious if not better haha.
Weight Watchers Friendly Ingredients:
- Extra-lean ground beef 12 points
- Pillsbury biscuits or equivalent 18 points
- Taco seasoning 2 points
- Salsa 0 points
- Peppers 0 points
- Onion 0 points
- Shredded cheese 14 points
- Green onion 0 points
- Sour cream *optional
How to make Taco Fiesta Bubble Up Casserole (step by step):
- Cook the ground beef in a pan on the stove, add the taco seasoning, and simmer for a few minutes.
- Preheat the oven to 350F, spray a 9×13 casserole dish with nonstick cooking spray and set aside.
- Mix the ground beef and salsa together in a bowl.
- Cut up the peppers and onion, and then cut the biscuits into 6 pieces each.
- Place half of the biscuit pieces in the bottom of the casserole dish, top with half of the meat mixture, half of the peppers and onions, and half of the cheese. Repeat layers and finish with the chopped green onion on top.
- Loosely cover with foil and bake in the oven for 35 minutes. Remove the foil and continue baking for 15 minutes. Let cool for 5 minutes then cut into 6 servings. Top with a spoon of fat free sour cream (optional)
What kind of biscuits do you use for this casserole?
I first created this recipe when I would cross the border into the U.S. for groceries and buy the great value biscuits at Walmart. They used to sell a 4-pack bundle of small biscuit tubes, 10 biscuits, 7.5oz per package. These have since become hard to find. I think Aldi might sell their own brand as I have seen others post them. If you are in Canada like me you can buy the Pillsbury country tea biscuits. These are larger biscuits though so what I do is weigh out 7.5oz, I think it is 6-7 biscuits. Then you need to ensure you have enough small pieces to spread through the dish. I cut each biscuit open so I have two halves, then each half into 6 pieces. This should give you enough pieces of dough for the recipe.
Some people mention that some of the biscuits don’t bake all the way through. I never struggle with this so I wonder if it comes down to different oven temperatures. If this happens then you can prebake the dough pieces for 5 minutes.
I love using a 3 cheese blend in this recipe, however, any cheese will work and be just as delicious. Be sure to spread the cheese evenly so you can enjoy it in every bite.
Can I use something other than ground beef in this dish?
If you are looking to lighten up the recipe a little you can swap out the ground beef for ground chicken or turkey. This will lower the overall calories and if you follow WW then it will lower the points per serving. I have a lot of followers telling me they use ground turkey in this dish and love it.
Another ingredient people have shared with me that they added was beans, you can bulk up the dish by adding some black beans.
I have had others share that they made the dish without the biscuits, to keep the carbs low and it can be a keto-friendly recipe. You could also replace the biscuits with rice, granted it won’t be a low-carb meal but I am sure it will be delicious.
Taco fiesta bubble up casserole
Ingredients
- 1 lb cooked extra lean ground beef
- 1 7.5 oz package pillsbury biscuits, (10 biscuits to the pack, the ones In the 4 value pack, if you can't find that size you can buy the bigger size and weigh it out)
- 1 package Taco seasoning, 30g
- 1 1/3 cup salsa
- 2 cup diced peppers, I used red, orange and yellow
- 1 cup diced onion, I used red onion
- 1 cup reduced fat shredded cheese, I use a 3 cheese blend
- Green onion
- Fat free sour cream for topping, optional
Instructions
- Cook the ground beef in a pan on the stove, add the taco seasoning and simmer for a few minutes.
- Preheat oven to 350F, spray a 9x13 casserole dish and set aside.
- Mix the ground beef and salsa together in a bowl.
- Cut up the peppers & onion, and then cut the biscuits into 6 pieces each.
- Place half of the biscuit pieces in the bottom of the casserole dish, top with half of the meat mixture, half of the peppers and onions and half of the cheese. Repeat layers and finish with the chopped green onion on top.
- Loosely cover with foil and bake in oven for 35 minutes, remove foil and continue baking for 15 minutes.Let cool for 5 minutes then cut into 6 servings. 8 personal points per serving, 7sp or 6 points plus. Top with a spoon of fat free sour cream (optional)
Notes
Storing and re-heating…
I cut it into 6 equal-sized servings. Optional to top it will a little dollop of sour cream. I like adding a little franks hot sauce as I am all for the spice.
Leftovers can be stored in an air-tight container in the fridge for 1-2 days, you can also freeze this dish either before or after baking. If you like to prep meals to add to the freezer and then bake when ready this dish will work for that.
Please feel free to share your reviews in the comments below, I love to hear from everyone. I hope you and your family enjoy this dish as much as we do.
Looking for some similar recipes? Try my Easy taco pie, or my Sloppy joe bubble up
Hi Kate!
I am also from Canada and had a question about the biscuits.
I just made this for dinner tonight and I too ran into the problem with the biscuits not cooking throughout on the top layer. After reading further into the comments I’ve found out the biscuits from Canada are 340G which is equivalent to 11.99OZ. If I were to continue buying these but just measure out 7.5OZ of biscuits do you think that would fix the problem completely?
Thanks!
Hi Megan, yes it might be a case of too much dough.. I suggest people weigh out 7.5oz then cut each biscuit open into 2 halves (cause the biscuits are bigger in the bigger pack) then cut each half into 6..this way you will still have enough dough pieces scattered.. also you could try pre baking the biscuits a little (5 min or so) then add the filling
Do you mix the pack of taco seasoning as per the package, example mix seasoning with water?
I usually add a bit of water when I use the seasoning, not always what the package says but some so that it is not too dry
I always read comments to see if anyone adds an ingredient I might be interested in or gives tips/tricks that might apply to me. I think these comments are EXTREMELY nervy for people getting a free recipe and you have done all the math added leg work. If they found a discrepancy they should figure it out themselves and move on. I’ve never read anything more entitled. Thank you for your time and your recipe. I much appreciate your hard work and efforts
Thank you Christie 🙂 I do my best and some people just like to argue or be negative.. I can’t please everyone and I just focus on the positive comments like yours that make me smile 🙂
Hi. Have you calculated this for the various colors of WW programs? I’m sure the smartpoints values you calculated are correct for the ingredients you used. The store I was at didn’t have the right biscuits, so I had to by the Pillsbury grands flaky biscuits and then measure 7.5 oz. I’m not sure if they are the same dough or not but I chose those in the app and put 7.5 oz in the recipe builder. I used 93% ground beef and great value reduced fat fiesta blend cheese. You may have used leaner ground beef. I ended up with 9 smart points per serving in the recipe builder for the green plan. I’m going to do it again to double check, but just wondered if the biscuits and ground beef are where I’m getting a different amount. 🙂
Hi Heather, yes it very well might be the biscuits and/or ground beef, all products vary so much, even cheese can vary in points by brand, all I can do is go off my app and the products I use
What kind of taco seasoning do you use? If I can use one that is zero, that would be great. Mine had 3. It was the Ortega mild.
Sometimes I use the President’s Choice (Canadian brand) sometimes I buy it at the bulk store
I think I figured out where my numbers were different. The PIllsbury Grands buiscuits, even at just 7.5 oz are 24 points for some reason. Also, the ww app calculates 30g of taco seasoning at 3 points on the green program.
the smaller great value 7.5oz packs are 17SP for the whole pack so yes that is quite the jump in points
Hi. Does anyone know if this can be made in advance and froze? I didn’t know if the biscuits would freeze and then bake okay?
Hi Kate, I have never made it and frozen before baking I typically freeze afterward but I would imagine it should still bake ok
I plan on making this tonight, but with 93% ground turkey. Can’t wait, as I’m sure it will be as delicious as your other recipes!
PS – I always input recipes into the WW Recipe Builder, as I know that variations in ingredients can change the point value of a recipe. That allows me to be as accurate as possible in my tracking, and then it’s also available in the app for future meals and tracking. If I ever see a large discrepancy in my points vs. what is listed by a recipe author I immediately 1) review my ingredients and measurements, and 2) look to see where I can make adjustments to further lower the point value.
Thank you for all of your amazing recipes!
Hi Sharon, I hope you enjoy it.. I think building each recipe in your own App is great, products can vary for sure.
Just finished baking this yummy looking asserole for the first time and hubby and I can’t wait to dig in!
HI, I hope you both loved it 🙂
This casserole is fabulous! I added a can of pinto beans to bulk it up and add more protein. I also baked it for probably an hour so the biscuits were cooked through.
So glad you enjoyed it Diane, thanks for sharing your tips 🙂
I want to make and freeze this but worried to biscuits will get soggy especially when thawing. Has anyone tried it?
I made this on Thursday , leftovers on Friday . Heated up just great in the microwave .
I didn’t have the 7.5 oz . can of biscuits , so I used 4 of the Grand Biscuits and cut each one up into 8 pieces .
So yummy . I saw this on your Instagram page. I tried to look it up under your bubble up section of recipes . It was not there ,
so I just typed it in by name . ” Found It ” 1
Thanks for sharing, so glad you enjoyed it 🙂