These Southwestern Saucers are bite-sized Tex Mex appetizers made in your muffin tin. Super easy, cheesy, and completely delicious! Perfect for lunch or game day!
If you want to make these more of a meal, serve them with cilantro lime rice and wash it down with a glass of horchata!
Tex-Mex Cheesy Tortilla Bites
I know a few moms who soak their own beans overnight, make their chicken stock from scratch, and refuse to buy corn from a can. But I’m not one of them. I love the convenience of canned goods, and also the ability to use ingredients all year long, that aren’t in season anymore.
If you think you can’t serve up quality, nutritious, homemade recipes from canned goods, you’re wrong! These Southwestern Saucers are a great example made with canned beans, corn, cheese, and salsa. They’re perfect for a game day appetizer or afternoon snack.
Ingredients Needed
You only need a short list of ingredients to make these.
(Scroll below to the printable recipe card for details and measurements.)
- Canned pinto beans – Rinsed and rained.
- Canned corn – Rrinsed and drained.
- Salsa – Choose from mild, medium or hot depending on preference.
- Roma tomatoes – Dice them up small.
- Cheese – Shredded Mexican blend or Pepper Jack cheese.
- Scallions – Minced.
- Seasonings – Simple salt and pepper.
- Flour tortillas – You’ll need 6 of the 8-inch size.
How to Make Southwestern Saucers
This tex-mex appetizer is super easy to make in just a few steps.
(Scroll down to the printable recipe card for details and measurements, and don’t miss the video below.)
- Prepare muffin tins. Lightly coat 2, 12-cup muffin tins with non-stick cooking spray.
- Warm the filling. In a medium skillet, heat the beans, corn, and salsa until warmed through. Remove from heat and stir in the tomatoes. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Set aside.
- Cut the tortillas. Place tortillas on a cutting board; using a 3-inch cookie cutter or the bottom of an empty 15 ounce can, press firmly enough in a rocking motion to cut through the tortillas. (You should get 4 circles per tortilla, for a total of 24.)
- Fill the tortillas. With your fingers, press a tortilla circle into each muffin tin (it should be snug.) Fill each tortilla with a heaping tablespoon of the bean mixture, sprinkled with a little cheese and scallions.
- Bake. Bake at 425F for 10 minutes, until tortillas are crispy and cheese has melted. Wait a minute and then remove from the cups with a small spatula or fork. Serve immediately.
Serving Suggestions
These are best served right away while the cheese is still hot and melty, but leftovers will keep up to 3 days in the fridge in an airtight container. I recommend heating them back up in the oven.
If you want to enjoy these more as a meal instead of an appetizer, they go great with cilantro lime rice or our Instant Pot Mexican rice, shrimp fajitas, and a tall glass of Mexican horchata.
More Tex-Mex Recipes:
I hope you love this delicious and easy recipe – be sure to give it a review below! Also don’t forget to follow Belly Full on TikTok, Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, and YouTube!
Southwestern Saucers
Ingredients
- 15 ounce can pinto beans , rinsed and rained
- 15 ounce can sweet corn , rinsed and drained
- 1/2 cup salsa
- 3 roma tomatoes , diced
- Salt and pepper to taste
- 6 8-inch flour tortillas
- 1 1/2 cups shredded Mexican blend or Pepper Jack cheese
- 2 scallions , minced
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 425 degrees F. Lightly coat 2, 12-cup muffin tins with non-stick cooking spray.
- In a medium skillet, heat the beans, corn, and salsa over medium-high until warmed through. Remove from heat and stir in the tomatoes. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Set aside.
- Place tortillas on a cutting board; using a 3-inch cookie cutter or the bottom of an empty 15 ounce can, press firmly enough in a rocking motion to cut through the tortillas. (You should get 4 circles per tortilla, for a total of 24.) With your fingers, press a tortilla circle into each muffin tin (it should be snug.) Fill each tortilla with a heaping tablespoon of the bean mixture, sprinkled with a little cheese and scallions.
- Bake for 10 minutes, until tortillas are crispy and cheese has melted. Wait a minute and then remove from the cups with a small spatula or fork. Serve immediately.
My husband gave them 5 stars! (So did I). I made a half batch and the amounts were spot on. Next time I’ll add a few minutes to the baking time to hopefully brown up the bottom a bit.
Sounds good !
Do these work with corn tortillas? Thank you!
Hi Jo – I’ve never made these with corn tortillas, but I can’t see why not. Just make sure they’re the best quality, fresh, and pliable.
I’m going to make these today. I’m going to use Rotel Tomatoes and I’m opting for corn tortillas instead of flour. Hope they turn out good.
Can we use canned diced tomatoes?
Sure! Just make sure they are completely drained. You don’t want added moisture.
Would 1 can or 2 be better?
These look so good going to make them tonight for tv night at the neighbors, but I think I might add a little taco chicken meat I have in my freezer.
Oh my gosh I love these!
Very nice! I love recipes like this that I can whip up from what’s in my pantry!
YES! My favorite, too!
Hi,,, these look easy and delicious,,,, but could they be frozen? Thanjs
Hi Cathy – hm. I don’t know. But I can’t see why not. Try it!
I love miniature muffin tin recipes and these sound delicious!
These are so fun! Totally perfect for game day, like you said. And easy to mix up with different ingredients. I will most definitely be trying these for our next football get together!
This is such a great gameday idea! LOVE it!
I love having a well stocked pantry of canned goods. Dinner is always going to be easy and good. These little bites are such a great idea, my family would go crazy for them!
Love recipe
Can I visit you just so we can go to Raley’s together??? Sounds fun. LOVE this recipe!
I’m not picky about which canned goods to buy. I am, however, always wary of the sodium content. If the sodium is low or no salt, it goes in my shopping cart. There’s convenience to using cans and when you’re a busy mom, it helps. Now let’s talk about these saucers!! Holy yum. I would’ve eaten them all. ALL!
I live in the cold white north so using canned is normal here. During the cooler months fresh produce is hard to come by, so I have learned to adapt. Plus I find as a busy mom having those staples in my pantry go a long way to making homemade instead of ordering takeout some nights.
This looks fantastic, I would eat all 500 too.
These look so good! I’m definitely picky about what i buy canned, but for things like beans or tomatoes there’s really no other viable option in my house.
Adorable appetizers! Perfect!
Too cute! I could eat the whole batch.
They are the cutest appetizer ever or kid friendly dinner/snack!
Southwest flavors are always a win!
Heck, even I can’t find the energy to make everything from scratch all the time..and I don’t even have kids yet! A gal’s gotta do what a gal’s gotta do. And sometimes a gal’s gotta eat potato skins. For realz.
Although I am typically a soak-the-beans-overnight kind of girl, you can’t beat the convenience of having a pantry that’s well stocked with canned goods. Your saucers look seriously cute and adorable!
Love these!! I would’ve devoured all of them too. And now that Raley’s is around the corner, I’m going to bump into you all the time! ;)
Those. Look. Amazing. They would be so fun to serve at parties this holiday season!
These saucers look delicious – great idea for our next party!
These saucers are just the cutest things. They look totally yummy too!!!
Such a perfect party bite! Would be great for all of our upcoming holiday parties!
What a smart idea using the muffin tins. I will be doing this very soon.
These are so fun! What a great idea!
These look amazing! I’m with you on the cans…I’m always stocked…will look for Raley’s…wondering if we have them in Florida!
These look so yummy, and super easy! Thanks, Amy!
Raley’s is one of my favorite stores too. And I love these little bites of deliciousness!!!
Hey, local sponsorship! Raley’s is a great company. (Alas, beans disqualify this from being made in my house, but I can tweak the basic concept for our–well, not my :)–tastes.
They sure look fun!
Not only do these sound delicious, they are so stinkin’ cute! I’m not really a can snob either. In the summer I prefer fresh but I use store bought broth and corn all the time
I LOVE using canned beans and stock. I do not have the time to make all of those from scratch. These little saucers look fantastic. My hubs would love them for game day :)
While I do soak my own beans and make my own stock, I also keep a wide variety of canned goods on hand because HELLO CONVENIENCE! I love canned beans! These look so tasty, Amy!
These look so fun, I know my kids would adore them!
Oh, these are so much fun – I love that tortilla base! And yeah, beans and tomatoes are two things that are ALWAYS in my pantry. And usually corn, as well.
The thought of soaking my own beans from scratch makes me shudder. I’m all about the canned beans! And these are a fantastic appetizer, totally making them for dinner sometime!
What a great appetizer, or lunch. I know one person at this end would enjoy it.
I think I could have ate them all myself too!
Well I for one use canned goods like beans. I am grateful I can just go to a market and buy canned goods and don’t need to can them myself.
These little jobbies you made turned out pretty cute as well as tasty.
Amy these sound delicious! I do most often make everything from scratch but in a pinch cans are your friends! Love my ghetto Bel Air, their products and staff! Could put that $75 gift card to VERY good use!!
Those look perfect for Game Day. Easy and fun!
oops…. hit too soon….. great recipe… Eagles vs Giants tomorrow!!!! I’m going to make those!
good giveaway… I can use a RALEY’S CARD when I visit w my brother and his family in Cal. It’s only a few blocks away!
These look soooooo good!