Vegetarian Tortilla Pie with Black Beans & Zucchini Recipe (2024)

Published: Oct 11, 2015 · by Nicole · Updated: Feb 15, 2021 · This post may contain affiliate links.

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I am fascinated by casseroles. Maybe it's because I grew up eating them. I'm pretty sure a good half of the recipes in my mom's dinner rotation were some form of casserole. There was Cheesy Beef Casserole, Potato Casserole, Green Bean Casserole, Shipwreck Casserole--and pretty much every casserole involved a can of soup, cheese, or sour cream. My favorites usually included cereal on top too. I always wonder where these recipes originated. Who came up with these ideas?! And why? If I ever went back to school, I think I'd write a dissertation about casseroles.

(This is probably why I shouldn't go back to school.)

I don't make casseroles a lot for us, but once in a while, usually in fall or winter, I'll find myself craving them. I pinned this Tortilla Pie from Everyday Food a few weeks ago and decided to give it a try, with a few tweaks. Instead of 3 cups of black beans, I used half of that and added zucchini to lighten things up a little bit. I planned to cut down on the cheese a little, but as I was assembling the layers, I realized sticking to the original recipe was probably best. Hey, it's a casserole! Why not?

When you bake this Tortilla Pie, the cheese gets all melty and the tortillas soften from the veggie-and-beer filling. It's a little bit of a mess when you slice it (casseroles are my least favorite thing to photograph for this reason!), but I think when it comes to casseroles, the messier the better.

This post was originally published on October 7, 2013.

Recipe

Tortilla Pie with Black Beans & Zucchini

A vegetarian tortilla pie adapted from Everyday Food's

Tortilla and Bean Pie.

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Prep Time: 15 minutes minutes

Cook Time: 45 minutes minutes

Total Time: 1 hour hour

Course: Main Course

Cuisine: American

Diet: Vegetarian

Keyword: Tortilla Pie, Tortilla Pie with Black Beans & Zucchini, vegetarian tortilla pie

Servings: 6 servings

Calories: 318kcal

Author: Oh My Veggies

Ingredients

4 10-inch flour tortillas
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 large onion diced
2 jalapeño peppers seeded and diced
2 garlic cloves minced
½ teaspoon ground cumin
½ teaspoon chili powder
1 large zucchini quartered lengthwise and sliced
1 ½ cups cooked black beans or one 15 ounce can, rinsed
1 10 ounce package frozen corn
1 12 ounce bottle beer (I used pilsner) or 1 ½ cups vegetable broth
⅓ cup sliced black olives
Salt and pepper to taste
2 ½ cups shredded Mexican blend cheese
Chopped cilantro green onions, lime wedges, salsa, and sour cream for serving

US Customary - Metric

Instructions

Preheat oven to 400ºF.
Trim the tortillas to fit a 9-inch springform pan. Discard the excess or save it to make tortilla strips for salads or soups.
Heat the olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the onion, jalapeños, and garlic and cook until softened, 5-7 minutes. Stir in the cumin and chili powder and cook about one minute, until fragrant. Add the zucchini to the skillet and cook until just beginning to soften, about 3 minutes.
Increase the heat to high and add the beans, corn, and beer. Once the mixture reaches a boil, reduce heat to medium and simmer for 10-15 minutes, until the beer has thickened and has almost evaporated. Stir in the olives and season to taste with salt and pepper.
Place a tortilla on the bottom of the springform pan. Top it with ¼ of the veggie mixture, ½ cup of cheese, and another tortilla. Repeat with each tortilla; top the last layer with a cup of cheese. Bake for about 20 minutes, or until the cheese has melted and is just beginning to brown. Cut the pie into 6 wedges and serve with cilantro, green onions, lime wedges, salsa and/or sour cream.

Nutrition

Calories: 318kcalCarbohydrates: 26gProtein: 18gFat: 17gSaturated Fat: 7gPolyunsaturated Fat: 1gMonounsaturated Fat: 7gCholesterol: 29mgSodium: 623mgPotassium: 364mgFiber: 5gSugar: 3gVitamin A: 473IUVitamin C: 13mgCalcium: 585mgIron: 2mg

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Reader Interactions

Comments

Genevieve says
October 12, 2013 at 1:28 pm

I usually think of casseroles as the creamy, cheesy, soup-mix variety that you mentioned, which is probably why I never make them for myself (plus I didn't really grow up with them)! This tortilla pie is definitely something I could get on board with though - I like that it has a mix of beans, veggies, some cheese and even beer! I also like that it looks like a layered slice of pizza 🙂
Reply
- Kiersten says
  October 13, 2013 at 5:34 pm
  
  As far as casseroles go, this one is definitely on the lighter side!
  Reply
Jenn @TheRebelChick says
October 13, 2013 at 12:18 am

Wait, you think THAT looks messy? LOL! It looks so good! I think leaving the cheese as-is was a smart move, I think the cheese in these casseroles is what really binds the ingredients together!
Reply
- Kiersten says
  October 13, 2013 at 5:31 pm
  
  Ha! Yeah, well, it looks messy compared to the photo on the Martha Stewart website. 🙂
  Reply
Kelly @ Texas Type A Mom says
October 13, 2013 at 8:49 pm

That looks awesome! So many of my favorite ingredients in one dish!
Reply
Sarah says
October 15, 2013 at 1:43 pm

So I actually made this dish the other night and it was fabulous! I loved the idea of adding the zucchini to it. I didn't add as much broth - only 1 c. and cut down on the cheese to about 1 c. (I know, I love cheese too but really am trying to cut back on it!). I think next time - yes, there definitely will be a next time - I will add the salsa on a layer so it isn't cold at the end. I also put a pile of spinach on the top of my slice. It wasn't nearly as messy as you described. And the best part is that it was easy to assemble and fast! I love those kind of recipes. Thanks you!
Reply
- Kiersten says
  October 16, 2013 at 1:54 pm
  
  I'm glad you enjoyed it--thanks for the feedback! 🙂
  Reply
Megan @ Monroe Makeshift says
October 30, 2013 at 11:15 pm

Made this for dinner tonight. It was awesome!
Reply
- Kiersten says
  November 02, 2013 at 9:01 pm
  
  I'm glad you enjoyed it! 🙂
  Reply
Christina says
November 12, 2013 at 3:03 pm

Oh wow. This is SO happening! I too grew up on casseroles. Ours also included cheese, sour cream, and always potatoes, it seemed. This looks like a much better (and healthier) version of one! I'll be making this soon 🙂
Reply
- Kiersten says
  See Also
  Eggless microwave fudge mug cake recipe - Raks Kitchen
  November 12, 2013 at 7:59 pm
  
  Yup, that is exactly the kind of casserole I grew up on too! Well, usually they also had a can of soup in them. 🙂
  Reply
Kristin says
November 12, 2013 at 3:42 pm

Looks delish! Thank you for all that you do!
Pinned!
K-
Reply
- Kiersten says
  November 12, 2013 at 7:57 pm
  
  Thanks for the pin!
  Reply
Henrietta says
November 12, 2013 at 3:56 pm

This looks amazing! My mom made a lot of casseroles as well -- which is probably why I end up making so many! It's easy to throw together whatever's lying around and call it a casserole 🙂 Definitely pinning this for later!
Reply
- Kiersten says
  November 12, 2013 at 7:57 pm
  
  It's nice to have a one-dish dinner, isn't it?! 🙂
  Reply
celine says
February 11, 2014 at 2:02 pm

I made this last night with a couple of changes: I added a grated carrot to the veg/bean mix as i didn't have enough corn. I used a less cheese and had one layer of feta. I took Sarah's tip and added the salsa to one of the layers. It was delicious, served with fat free greek yogurt and cilantro. I can't wait to have the leftovers!
The only (small) problem was that it took about 30 mins for the stock to reduce.
Reply
- Kiersten Frase says
  February 11, 2014 at 7:33 pm
  
  I'm glad you enjoyed it! That's really strange that it took so long for the stock to reduce though--I'm not sure why that would have happened!
  Reply
Julia says
June 03, 2014 at 11:09 am

This looks delicious! Can you use a regular casserole dish instead of the springform pan?
Reply
- Kiersten Frase says
  June 03, 2014 at 1:20 pm
  
  You can, but I think it might be a little bit messy. As long as you're okay with that. 🙂 Another possibility would be to make it in a small square baking dish and instead of keeping the tortillas whole, you can cut them into thick strips and layer them that way. I make a tortilla casserole like that!
  Reply
Sara E. says
June 26, 2015 at 9:57 pm

Suggestions for making this dairy-free?
Reply
- Dana Raidt says
  June 30, 2015 at 1:03 pm
  
  Hi Sara, you could just omit the cheese and sour cream, or use a store-bought vegan cheese like Daiya.
  Reply
Rami @ Tasteaholics says
October 11, 2015 at 1:55 pm

Such a beautiful mexican style recipe! I love anything tortilla so would love to give this a try
Reply
Angela Thredgold says
October 14, 2015 at 12:23 pm

This is SO good!! It's my son's favorite vegetarian dish that I have made. I love this blog, so many ideas!
Reply
- Kiersten says
  October 20, 2015 at 9:02 pm
  
  I'm so glad you enjoyed it! 🙂
  Reply
Becky says
November 15, 2015 at 12:47 am

This is one of my new favorites! Thanks!
I don't have a springform pan so I used a large pie plate (without trimming the tortillas) which worked great (the edges of the tortillas curled up and crisped which I loved) and like someone else said will probably use less liquid next time (I poured off the excess) but otherwise this came out awesome. I also left out the jalapeno and used stock for the liquid...yum!! Wasn't too sure about the zucchini but I loved it! An unusual but tasty twist 🙂
This recipe made it to my recipe file and I'll be making it a lot!
Reply
Kim says
July 27, 2017 at 7:08 pm

AhhMazing is all I can say! This was a hit with the family, thank you for the Great recipe!
Reply
Ioana says
February 21, 2018 at 4:21 pm

This was so good. Me and my niece loved it!! Will definitely make it again!
Reply
- Katie Trant says
  February 22, 2018 at 4:05 am
  
  Yay! Glad you and your niece loved this dish as much as we do, Loana!
  Reply
Susan Gaydon says
August 18, 2023 at 1:15 pm

I was looking for an alternative to enchiladas and this was just the thing! Super-easy and yummy. Next time I’ll try to add some color, maybe chopped red pepper, and cook veggies less. I used 1/2 the liquid (veg broth) + a can of green chiles instead of jalapeños, and the liquid was almost too much. I’ll try jalapeños next time. Thank you for this!
Reply

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