Mexican Tostada are a fantastic and fast meal that you can have on the table in under 15 minutes. With an infinitely adaptable list of toppings, you can mix and match them to please everyone. The key to this Bean and Cheese Tostadas recipe lies in the seasonings so be sure you don’t skimp on them!
I don’t know about you, but I’m always in the mood for Mexican food! Whether it’s tacos, enchiladas, burrito bowls, or nachos, I’ll basically never turn down an opportunity to eat my favorite Mexican recipes.
And to that end, I’ll also never stop creating new recipes for you to enjoy at home either! I mean, so much of the fun of owning and running a recipe blog is that I get to share my favorite recipes with all of you!
And I know you’re going to love these Bean and Cheese Tostadas just as much as my family does!
What’s So Great About Tostada?
Want to know why we love tostadas so darn much? Here are just a few of the reasons:
- Adaptable with so many different toppings you can mix and match
- Fast weeknight dinner that can be made in under 15 minutes
- Loaded with protein
- Affordable dinner to feed a crowd – tostada shells are sold pre-toasted in large packages!
- Delicious Mexican flavors that always make everyone’s bellies happy!
What is a Tostada?
The word tostada in Mexican means toast. So, a tostada is a corn tortilla that is toasted or deep fried and is then with layered toppings.
Tostadas are a popular Mexican meal you’ll find in most Mexican restaurants in the U.S. and guess what?! They’re incredibly easy to make at home for dinner or a fast weekend lunch!
Tostada toppings usually include a protein like shrimp for shrimp aka cerviche tostada or beef for ground beef tostada. Many versions also include refried beans.
However, you can put just about anything on top of your tostada!
Tostada Ingredients You’ll Need
Here’s the basic shopping list for this tostadas recipe. Keep in mind that you can add whatever toppings you’d like your tostada! The “Easy Swaps and Additions” section below includes some excellent ideas.
Be sure to keep scrolling down to the recipe card below for the full printable Ingredients list for this great recipe!
- Tostada shells
- Canned pinto beans
- Garlic powder
- Ground cumin
- Salt and pepper
- A lime
- Shredded cheese – cheddar, pepper jack, or a Mexican cheese blend all work great here!
- Sour cream
- Guacamole
- Scallions
How to Make Easy Mexican Tostada
Here are the basic instructions for how to make my easy tostadas. Be sure to keep scrolling down to the recipe card below for the full set of Instructions!
STEP 1: Cook the beans along with some water, the spices, and some salt and pepper in a small nonstick pan. Once the beans start to soften, mash them roughly with a fork or potato masher. Stir a good squeeze of lime into the beans.
STEP 2: Meanwhile, heat the tostada shells on a sheet pan in the oven for a few minutes until they are warm and crispy.
STEP 3: Top the warm tostada shells with a layer of the beans and then a sprinkle of shredded cheese. Bake for a few minutes, until the cheese is melted.
STEP 4: Dollop the sour cream and guacamole on top of the Mexican tostadas and then sprinkle the top with scallions and more lime juice.
Tostada Toppings: Easy Swaps and Additions
Cheese: Even though I developed this recipe with shredded Mexican cheese, other types of cheese work too. Try cheddar (the sharper, the better!), Monterrey jack, pepper jack for a bit of heat, creamy queso dip, queso fresco, or cotija cheese.
Other proteins: Grilled shrimp, chicken barbacoa, ground beef, shredded Mexican chicken, grilled steak, barbacoa beef.
Seasonings: Instead of cooking the beans with garlic powder and ground cumin, you can also try taco seasoning, chile powder, or chili seasoning.
Salsa: Instantly boost the flavor of your tostada recipe with some salsa! Green salsa (salsa verde), tomato salsa, mango salsa, and spicy peach salsa are all great additions!
Beans: To save time, you can easily pop open a can of refried beans to make these bean and cheese tostadas instead of seasoning and cooking a can of pinto beans. Black beans work great in this recipe too!
Greens: To boost the nutritional value of this meal, feel free to mix in some fresh greens with the beans as they cook. Fresh spinach and baby kale are perfect here since they cook down quickly. I don’t recommend bigger kale varieties (like curly, etc.) or chard because they need longer cooking times to soften.
Veggies: Feel free to add some extra veggies to this meal too! Chopped cherry tomatoes, shredded lettuce, sautéed bell peppers, sautéed onions, and sliced avocado would all be delicious in this adaptable and easy recipe.
How to Eat Tostada
When I first made tostada many years ago, one issue question came up immediately: “How do we eat these??“
We went on that night to eating them with our hands, like you would eat a flat taco. But that got messy super fast and we soon pulled out the forks and knives.
My advice to you is to eat tostada with a fork and a knife. The toppings will soften the crispy tostada shell a little before you have a chance to eat the tostada. So, using silverware will make them much easier to eat.
Readers’ Favorite Mexican Recipes
Mexican food is our favorite food to eat at home so I have loads of incredible recipes to recommend to you! Here are a few 5-star recipes also recommended by Smells Like Home readers:
- Hot and Cheesy 7 Layer Taco Dip
- BBQ Pulled Pork Taquitos
- Spinach and Black Bean Quesadilla
- Mexican Chicken and Rice
- Chicken Tamale Pie
Bean and Cheese Mexican Tostada
Mexican Tostada are a fast, easy, and completely delicious weeknight dinner the whole family will love. This recipe is a bean and cheese tostada recipe but you should feel free to also add ground beef, taco meat, shredded chicken, or shrimp to your tostada. Refer to the write-up above for a huge list of Swaps and Additions for this recipe!
Ingredients
For the tostada:
- 1 can (14.5 oz) pinto beans, drained and rinsed
- ½ tsp garlic powder
- ½ tsp ground cumin
- Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper
- ½ cup water
- ½ fresh lime, cut in half
- 8 corn tostada shells
- 2 cups shredded Mexican cheese
For topping:
- Sour cream
- Guacamole
- Thinly sliced scallions
Instructions
- In a medium saucepan over medium high heat, stir the beans, garlic powder, cumin, 1 heavy pinch of Kosher salt, a few cranks of black pepper, and the water together. Bring to a boil and then reduce the heat to medium low. Cook for 7 to 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. Using a fork, mash the beans up into a chunky mixture, stirring every so often so the beans absorb the liquid as you mash them. The finished beans should be thick and chunky. Squeeze the juice from one of the lime quarters into the beans and stir to combine. Season with salt to taste. Keep the pan over low heat, stirring occasionally, until the shells come out of the oven in Step 3.
- Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 350° F. Arrange the tostada shells in an even layer on a large baking sheet. Warm the tostada for about 5 minutes as you finish making the beans in Step 1.
- Remove the sheet pan from the oven and keep the oven on. Spread about 2 tablespoons of the beans over the top of each tostada shell, followed by a small handful of shredded cheese. Return the sheet pan to the oven and bake for about 5 minutes, until the cheese starts to melt. Turn the broiler on low and continue to cook the tostadas until the cheese is melty and bubbly, and edges of the shells are starting to brown just a little. This should only take 1 to 2 minutes so watch them closely.
- Remove the pan from the oven and transfer the tostadas to a serving platter. Drop a few small dollops of the sour cream and guacamole, a sprinkle of the scallions, and spritz the last quarter of the lime over all tostadas before serving while they are still hot.
Nutrition Information:
Yield: 4 Serving Size: 1Amount Per Serving: Calories: 400Total Fat: 24gSaturated Fat: 12gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 10gCholesterol: 55mgSodium: 678mgCarbohydrates: 33gFiber: 5gSugar: 6gProtein: 18g
No comments yet.