These ground beef enchiladas are made with a homemade enchilada sauce, stuffed with Mexican beef and loaded with plenty of cheese.
If you’re looking for an epic enchilada recipe that uses simple, store-bought ingredients, then look no further! Follow me…
Homemade Enchilada Sauce
Step away from the store-bought enchilada sauce. I repeat, step away from the store-bought enchilada sauce. All jokes aside, enchilada sauce is WAY too easy not to make. It’s great to prep ahead of time, and I bet you’ve already got half the ingredients on hand.
Red Enchilada Sauce
Enchilada sauce typically comes in the ‘red’ or ‘green’ variety. Today we’re going red. To make the base of the sauce, you’re essentially making a roux, which will help thicken the sauce. However, instead of using your regular butter, flour and milk, you’ll use oil, flour and stock.
Tomato Puree
I.e. Tomato Paste in the US. This will not only give you that gorgeous colour, but it also offers a nice base flavour for the sauce. One tip is to ensure you fry off the tomato puree. This will take the ‘bite’ out of it and ever-so-slightly sweeten it. So, once you stir the flour into the oil, stir in the tomato puree and fry before whisking in the stock.
Chilli Powder
This gives the bulk of the flavour. You can easily work to your spice preference and just add in as much as you’d like. Just absolutely make sure it’s regular chilli powder NOT cayenne pepper.
Process shots: heat oil (photo 1), stir in flour (photo 2), add tomato puree (photo 3), stir into paste (photo 4), gradually whisk in stock (photo 5), add seasoning (photo 6), simmer until able to coat the back of a spoon (photo 7).
Ground Beef Enchilada Filling
The beef filling again is very simple. I usually go for beef that’s around 5-10% fat – that way it doesn’t leak out too much fat and make the enchiladas oily. Alongside the beef and spices, I throw in some red pepper, onion and garlic and some of the enchilada sauce to keep the filling nice and juicy!
What else can I add to the beef filling?
To make them extra spicy, you could add jalapeños, to bulk everything out a bit more, consider adding black beans.
Process shots: fry pepper, onion and garlic in oil (photo 1), add beef (photo 2), break up and brown (photo 3), stir in seasoning (photo 4).
How to wrap enchiladas
Refried beans
These will not only add flavour, but they’ll not only stop the filling from drying out and keep everything intact. I highly recommend adding these – you’ll find them in most mainstream stores.
Cheese
Because why only put cheese on top of enchiladas when you can stuff cheese through the centre? Here I sprinkle a pinch of Mexican/Spicy cheese blend in the centre, you know, just to be extra.
Process shots: lay tortilla flat and spread with refried beans (photo 1), add beef (photo 2), add cheese (photo 3), roll (photo 4).
Baked Beef Enchiladas
To kick things off, you’ll want to pour around 1/4 of your enchilada sauce into the base of the dish. You’ll also want to pour a little in between each enchilada and between the outside enchiladas and the pan, just to stop everything from sticking together.
From there, it’s just a case of pouring over the rest of your sauce, sprinkling over infinite amounts of cheese and popping in the oven until golden and delicious.
What cheese to use for enchiladas?
In reality, you can use most ‘melty’ cheeses. As mentioned earlier, I use a spicy cheese blend in the centre, and here I top with cheddar. Monterey Jack also works nicely!
Process shots: pour sauce in dish (photo 1), stuff in enchiladas (photo 2), pour over more sauce (photo 3) top with cheese and bake (photo 4).
Serving Beef Enchiladas
Once they’re fresh out of the oven, I go in with a good sprinkling of fresh coriander/cilantro. From there, I usually serve individual portions with the following toppings:
- Sour Cream
- Avocado
- Tomato
- Spring Onion
- Lime Wedges (optional)
Can I prep these ahead of time?
I don’t recommend prepping them fully because they’ll go soggy, but you can definitely make the sauce and roll the enchiladas in advance, which actually make up the bulk of prep!
Alrighty, let’s tuck into the full recipe for these beef enchiladas shall we?!
How to make Beef Enchiladas (Full Recipe & Video)
Ground Beef Enchiladas
Equipment
- Sharp Knife & Chopping Board
- Large Pan & Wooden Spoon
- 11" x 14" Baking Dish
- Jug (for stock)
- Cheese Grater
- Plastic Spatula/Turner
- Whisk
Ingredients
Enchilada Sauce
- 3 tbsp Vegetable Oil
- 3 tbsp Flour
- 3 tbsp Tomato Puree (Tomato Paste in US)
- 720ml / 3 cups Chicken Stock
- 1 tbsp Hot Chilli Powder, or to spice preference (see notes)
- 1 tsp Cumin
- 1/2 tsp Oregano
- 1/4 tsp EACH: Garlic Powder, Onion Powder
- Salt & Pepper, to taste
Ground Beef
- 1 large Red Pepper, finely diced
- 1 medium White Onion, finely diced
- 2 cloves of Garlic, finely diced
- 500g / 1lb lean Ground/Minced Beef (5-10%)
- 2 tsp EACH: Paprika, Cumin
- 1 tsp Oregano
- 1/2 tsp Salt
- 1/4 tsp Black Pepper
Enchiladas
- 8x 6"-7" Flour Tortilla Wraps
- half a 435g/15oz can of Refried Beans
- 200-250g / 2 – 2.5 cups Cheddar, to top
- 100-150g / 1 – 1.5 cups Mexican/Spicy Cheese Blend, to stuff inside (or more cheddar)
To Serve (optional)
- Sour Cream (recommended)
- Avocado, diced
- Fresh Tomato, diced
- Green/Spring Onion, finely sliced
- Fresh Coriander/Cilantro, finely diced
- Lime Wedges
Instructions
Sauce
- In a large pot or pan over medium heat, add 3 tbsp oil. Once hot, stir in 3 tbsp flour until blended, then stir in 3 tbsp tomato puree. Fry it off for a minute or so, then gradually add in the stock, whisking as you go to avoid any lumps forming.
- Season with chilli powder, cumin, oregano, onion powder, garlic powder and salt & pepper to taste. Simmer for a few minutes to thicken, then remove from heat (it will thicken more as it rests).
Beef
- In a large pan over medium heat, add a drizzle of oil, then add in the onion, red pepper and garlic. Fry until it all softens and begins to take on colour, then add in the beef. Break up with a wooden spoon and fry until browned.
- Stir in the paprika, cumin, oregano, salt and pepper, then stir in 1/4 cup / 60ml of the enchilada sauce. Remove from heat.
Enchiladas
- Preheat the oven to 180C/350F.
- Lay out all of the wraps and spread each one with a dollop of refried beans in the bottom 1/3 of the wrap. Top with the beef, finish with some cheese, then tightly roll up.
- Spread 1/4 of the remaining enchilada sauce in a 11" x 14" baking dish, then place in the enchiladas seam-side-down. Pour over the remaining sauce, sprinkle with cheese, then bake in the oven for 25-30mins, or until the cheese is golden and gooey on top with the sauce bubbling around the edges.
Serve
- Sprinkle over coriander/cilantro whilst in the pan, then serve up individual portions with desired toppings!
Video
Notes
Your Private Notes:
Nutrition
Looking for more?
You’ll find plenty more delicious comfort food like this in my Debut Cookbook ‘Comfy’
If you’re after more ground beef Tex Mex recipes check out my Ground Beef Tacos and Ground Beef Quesadillas!
For more similar recipes check out these beauties too:
Delicious Tex Mex Recipes
- ALL TEX MEX RECIPES
- Chicken Fajita Nachos
- Sweet Potato Black Bean Quesadillas
- Chipotle Chicken Taquitos
- Mini Burrito Tortilla Cups
Hi Chris, i have not cooked your enchilada yet, but the recipe looks awesome. Unfortunately I cannot eat chili at all, so I have to leave the chili pepper out, but I like to enjoy the mexican flavors totally. Thanks for the recipe.
Zoltán
Hope they go down well, Zoltan! 🙂 C.
Hi, thank you for the details on ingredients in the recipe. I’m not american, but we have tomato products called “tomato puree” and “tomato paste”. just wanted to further clarify the chili powder product type. Is it dried, ground chili peppers for this recipe, or the spice powder mix used to make the all round favorite beef chili?
Hi Janet! In the US you’re looking for tomato paste. The chilli powder we have in the UK is pretty much pure ground chilli. Although I’m sure 1 tbsp of your version of chilli powder will work just fine. C.
Made these last night. They were a delight. Everyone enjoyed them. Definitely a keeper 🙂
So pleased to hear! Thanks Emma! 🙂 C.
Such a great recipe! It’s so fresh and delicious. I like to add mushrooms and top with mango pico!
Thanks for the review, Emma! 🙂 C.
Made these tonight and WOW – stunning, will be making these time and time again – love every recipe of yours I’ve made so far Chris (especially the Chilli Hot Pot which is now a family favorite) – keep them coming!! Lee
So pleased to hear, Lee! Thanks so much for popping back for a review 🙂 C.
Yummm these remind me of what we call wet burritos here in California. They have similar ingredients just in a bigger tortilla, bigger portions and smoothered in enchilada sause and melted cheese. We like to top with shredded lettuce, pico de gallo, sour cream, salsa etc..Super tasty!
Sounds delish Betty! C.
Hello Chris from Canada! First, I just have to let you know that I love your new cookbook! Congratulations! I commented earlier on this beef enchilada recipe and I was wondering if you could come up with a version of enchiladas using shredded or pre cooked chicken. I’d love to try your version!
Hey Lynn! So pleased the book has found its way to you 🙂 I’ll definitely put a chicken enchilada on the ‘to-cook’ list! C.
I’ve just made these with shredded chicken, followed the exact same recipe but instead of the ground beef I just added shredded chicken thighs that I had already pressure cooked, it was delicious
Thanks so much for the review, Ingrid! 🙂 C.