I just might hunker down for the rest of winter and eat this Mexican tempeh skillet casserole on repeat until spring comes. Seriously, it is that good! Winter in Chicago definitely makes me feel like hibernating. These are the months when we like to binge on Netflix and Hulu under a warm blanket with a big bowl of popcorn. We’re finally almost finished with Breaking Bad. (Yes, I know we are seriously late to that party!) Of course we also had to watch all 10 hours of Making a Murderer since literally everyone was talking about that one! Some other favorites include: Portlandia, Bates Motel, and New Girl. How about you?!
I adapted this casserole recipe from a turkey taco quinoa skillet recipe from Danae at Recipe Runner. It just looked so tempting that I had to make a vegetarian friendly version! The blog was long overdue for a new tempeh recipe, so this Mexican tempeh skillet casserole recipe was born. To make this even more like an all-in-one meal, I added in a few more veggies since I like to sneak in as many servings as I can at any given meal. Honestly, I have a feeling this Mexican tempeh skillet casserole will become a weeknight staple for us! Everything is cooked up in the same skillet in around 40 minutes from start to finish. Plus, it’s gluten free too! (Just make sure to double check the ingredient list on your tempeh as some brands add grains to their tempeh which may mean that it contains gluten.) I used our favorite tempeh with flax in this version.

Mexican Tempeh Skillet Casserole
Prep Time: 5 mins
Cook Time: 40 mins
Total Time: 45 mins
Yield: 6 1x
Category: Entree, Main Dish
Method: Stove-Top
Cuisine: Vegetarian, Gluten Free, Mexican-Inspired
Description
This simple, one pot Mexican tempeh skillet casserole is sure to become one of your favorite vegetarian and gluten free weeknight meals!
Ingredients
- 3 tablespoons olive oil
- 8 oz. tempeh, crumbled
- 1 teaspoon cumin
- 1 teaspoon dried oregano
- 1/2 yellow onion, chopped
- 1 green bell pepper, chopped
- 1/2 cup chopped cremini mushrooms
- 1 small zucchini, chopped
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 (14.5 oz.) can diced fire-roasted tomatoes
- 1/3 cup salsa
- 1 (4 oz.) can chopped green chiles
- 3/4 cup vegetable broth
- 1/2 cup uncooked quinoa, rinsed
- 1 (15 oz.) can black beans, drained and rinsed
- 2/3 cup frozen corn
- Salt and ground black pepper, to taste
- 1 cup shredded cheddar cheese (a mix of yellow and white looks great melted on top!)
- Chopped cilantro for garnish
Instructions
- Heat 2 tablespoons of the olive oil in a cast iron or non-stick skillet. Add the crumbled tempeh, cumin, and oregano. Stir and cook until tempeh is lightly browned, about 5-7 minutes. Transfer tempeh to a bowl and set aside.
- Add the other 1 tablespoon of olive oil to the same skillet. Add the onion, green bell pepper, mushrooms, and zucchini. Cook for 3-5 minutes or until onion is translucent.
- Stir in the garlic, tomatoes, salsa, green chiles, broth, and quinoa. Bring to a simmer and cover. Cook for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally.
- Remove lid and stir in the black beans, corn, tempeh, and salt and pepper. Cook for another 2-3 minutes.
- Sprinkle with cheddar cheese and cook until cheese has melted on top. (If using an oven safe skillet, you can also place it under the broiler to melt the cheese at this point.)
- Garnish with chopped cilantro and serve.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1/6th recipe
- Calories: 380 kcals
- Sugar: 4 g
- Sodium: 430 mg
- Fat: 18 g
- Saturated Fat: 5.5 g
- Unsaturated Fat: 12.5 g
- Trans Fat: 0 g
- Carbohydrates: 35 g
- Fiber: 8 g
- Protein: 20 g
- Cholesterol: 19 mg

I still haven’t tried tempeh yet-this looks like a delicious recipe to start with!!
Yes! This dish would definitely be a great one for testing the waters with tempeh!
Guess who just bought tempeh and has no idea what to do with it? THIS GIRL! That is until now 🙂
Welcome to the tempeh life. 🙂 I think you’ll find that you love tempeh after making this dish! I actually like tempeh so much more than tofu. We use it ALL the time now.
This looks seriously delicious!
What do you think of Breaking Bad? It got me hooked, but it was hard to watch because I just disliked the person Walt became SO much haha.
Umm…. yes! Walt just keeps getting worse every season! I’m not sure I even want to watch the last one.
I never liked tempeh until I learned to boil it in veggie broth for 10 minutes before using it.
What a huge difference.
This recipe was delicious.
a great recipe but… for those gluten free watch on which variety of tempeh you purchase. Some varieties contain barley or regular soy sauce.
Thanks for pointing that out. I’ve added a disclaimer above!
Trying out this recipe tonight and winging it, but I notice that it doesn’t actually say at what temperature to cook the tempeh and veggies. I went with my sort of “default” setting of medium-high.
Medium-high heat is the way to go! Thanks for pointing that out.
Love this! But what kind of super skillet are you using?? This was like double the volume of my 10″ cast iron!
★★★★
Ours is a 12″ skillet, but it is definitely full!