Beef Enchiladas with an extra tasty, saucy filling, smothered with a homemade Enchilada Sauce. My time saving trick is to use one base Enchilada spice mix for both the sauce and filling!
This is a reader-favourite recipe included by popular demand in my debut cookbook “Dinner”!
Beef Enchiladas
I love that there are so many variations of Beef Enchiladas in this big-wide-world.
Simple ones, filled with a plain cooked beef filling then topped with enchilada sauce and (lots of) cheese. Fancy ones with the addition of chillies, beans, corn and even olives, sometimes even bacon. Hidden vegetable versions (don’t ever try that on me, I can pick them a mile away).
Shredded beef enchiladas, short rib ones.
And today I’m sharing mine. 🙂 It’s made with:
A simple homemade Enchilada sauce which is quick to make and so, SO much better than store bought;
A flavour loaded beef and bean filling which is made with ground beef (mince), a load of Tex-Mex spices, refried beans AND black beans. Bean overload? Definitely not! The refried beans add bulk while keeping the filling nice and juicy so we can have nice, big, plump enchiladas!
What you need for Beef Enchiladas
Here’s what goes in my beef enchiladas.
Just a note on a few of the ingredients:
Refried beans – the “secret ingredient” that really fills out the beef mixture so you can big, plump, generously stuffed enchiladas that are nice and juicy. I use this in my Chicken Enchiladas too – works a treat!
Black beans – to fill it out a bit and add a different texture to the filling. Diced vegetables are great to add too – especially red peppers / capsicum.
Homemade Enchilada Sauce – made with either tomato passata or canned tomato sauce (US, I like Hunts), plus a good hit of Tex-Mex spices.
Beef – This is a recipe for beef enchiladas so it’s made with ground beef. But it can be substituted with pork, chicken or turkey!
Here’s my little time saving trick: one spice mix to flavour both the beef filling AND the Enchilada Sauce.
How to make Beef Enchiladas
There’s a good back of Tex-Mex spices in this! Some of it is used for the homemade Enchilada Sauce, and the rest is used to flavour the Beef and Bean Filling.
Try these on the side
Grilled Corn or try this Mexican Corn
Ahhh. These Beef Enchiladas. I really hate using the words “these are the BEST!” for any of my recipes because we all have different palettes, and what I may think is the “best” might not be to someone elses’ taste.
But truly, to me, to this day, even after having consumed more than my fair share of Enchiladas at Tex-Mex restaurants across America, I still think these are better. Way, WAY better than the mainstream chain restaurants!
Hope you had a great weekend! – Nagi x
Watch how to make it
This recipe features in my debut cookbook Dinner. The book is mostly new recipes, but this is a reader favourite included by popular demand!
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Beef Enchiladas
Ingredients
Spice Mix
- 1 tsp each onion & garlic powder (Note 1)
- 1 tbsp each cumin powder, paprika and dried oregano
- 1/2 – 1 tsp cayenne pepper (optional, spiciness)
Enchilada Sauce
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 3 tbsp flour , plain/all purpose
- 2 cups (500ml) chicken stock / broth , low sodium
- 1 1/2 cups (375 ml) tomato passata OR US 1 can (8 oz) canned tomato sauce (eg Hunts) (Note 2)
- 1/4 tsp each salt and pepper
Beef
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 2 garlic cloves , minced
- 1 onion , finely chopped (~1 cup)
- 1 lb / 500g ground beef (mince)
- 400g / 14oz refried beans (1 can, I use Old El Paso)
- 400g / 14oz black beans, drained (1 can, Note 3)
Enchiladas
- 8 tortillas (or burrito wraps)
- 1.5 cups (150g) grated melting cheese, or more (I like Monterey Jack, tasty or cheddar cheese)
- Cilantro/coriander leaves , roughly chopped (optional garnish)
Instructions
- Mix together Spice Mix ingredients. Set aside.
Enchilada Sauce
- Heat oil in a large saucepan over medium heat. Add flour and mix to combine into a paste. Cook for 1 minute, stirring constantly.
- Add 1/2 cup chicken broth, whisk straight away then it will turn into a thick smooth paste quite quickly.
- Add remaining chicken broth, passata, salt, pepper and 2 tablespoons of SPICE MIX. Whisk
- Increase heat slightly to medium high. Cook for 3 to 5 minutes, whisking regularly, until the sauce thickens to the consistency of thick syrup (see video). Remove from stove.
Filling
- Preheat oven to 180C/350F.
- Heat oil in a skillet over high heat. Add garlic and onion, cook for 2 minutes.
- Add beef and cook for 2 minutes, breaking it up as you go. Add remaining Spice Mix. Cook for a further 2 minutes or until completely brown.
- Add refried beans, black beans, about 1/4 cup of Enchilada Sauce + salt & pepper. Mix (Note 4) and cook for 2 minutes then remove from stove (see video).
Enchiladas
- Smear a bit of Sauce on the bottom of a baking dish (stops sliding).
- Place filling on the lower third of a tortilla. Roll up then place in the baking dish, seam side down. Repeat with remaining Filling & Tortillas.
- Pour Sauce over the Enchiladas, top with cheese, bake for 10 minutes covered (Note 5) then 10 minutes uncovered. Serve hot!
Recipe Notes:
Nutrition Information:
Originally published June 2016. Updated August 2019 with new photos, new video, new process photos and refreshed writing – no change to recipe, I wouldn’t dare!
Mexican Mania
Life of Dozer
Rain, hail or shine, Dozer blasts through the dog door out into the backyard to chase rabbits and bark at birds.
Luckily, he has a raincoat to help keep him dry(ish) on wet days!
Hi Nagi & Dozer, our family enjoyed the beef enchiladas. Your book Dinner has given us many different and enjoyable meals. We love seeing Dozer and what he gets up to.
These are delicious, a regular go to in our household. Usually served with avo, sour cream and iceberg. The thickness of the filling makes these easy to assemble and who doesn’t love a cheesy top!
This recipe sounds delicious! Can I use ground Turkey instead of ground beef? If so, what would I need to change?
Hi can this be frozen? Krystal
I’ve frozen these before, and they reheated really well! I thaw them and reheat them covered in the oven
Do you know if you can freeze just the sauce? I’m making for one and freezing excess would be better
So, to freeze, cook them as normal and then freeze corrct? I like to make meals for my dad and would live to put these in his drop offs!
Made this yesterday.
So easy yet a flavor bomb.
Will be regular in our house.
Used 3/4 tsp cayenne pepper. Didn’t have any coriander.
Yummmm😋😋😋😋
Keen to taste this as it’s in the oven! But the recipe and video here are different to Dinner. Hmm.. when was I meant to put the cheese on? Before or after the first bake round? I don’t know which one to follow… Maybe it will be changed for next edition?
Really delicious enchiladas! I used ground venison and served them with your corn and avocado salad (YUMMMY!) and everyone loved them. I froze a few after baking and gave two to my son for a quick dinner and he also enjoyed them! Heated at 350° from frozen for about 45 mins. Turned out great. Having them again tonight! Thanks for a great recipe!
I believe in corn tortillas in enchiladas of any kind. Although it’s a bit messy, because I dip the tortilla in hot enchilada sauce, fill and roll. Or skip it and soak and layer the tortillas and meat! Easy. Your spice mix and sauce I want to try too.
Made this tonight just as the recipe was written. My husband and I both loved it! This recipe will be a staple moving forward! Exellent flavor, really delicious!
Loved making this and my family loved eating it!
Tasted fantastic, looked great in the tray. But the bottoms stuck even though I put sauce down first. Not a pretty site on the plate.
YUM! I do add extra veg to mince and I never bake. Just roll em up and fry until crispy, pour sauce over, cheese then grill. Great for when kids have sports etc and eating at different times, can just prep them and cook as and when. They love the sauce with pasta too!
Yum! I’m going to try this!
Yummy
This is a wonderful recipe and made at least once a month. But I highly recommend making your own refried beans, very simple and takes it next level. Always served with chopped spring onions and coriander on top and with a packed, chunky guac on the side. Sensational.
Absolutely brilliant dish. I used wheat tortillas and forgot to cover the dish for the first stage in the oven but it didn’t matter. I also used low fat beef mince. I think one of the keys is cooking the flour properly when making the sauce so as to lose the floury taste of undercooked flour, but not burn it and taint the sauce with that flavour. Thanks Nagi on yet another winner.
Hi Nagi, loving this!, ( recent stalker )
My wife put me onto a great hack for cooking mince beef – we now use a whisk to break it down. I was stunned at how good it is.
Hope it works for you to try.
Cheers
I made these last night but used the Mexican Shredded Beef recipe as the base – just added the Refried Beans & Black Beans. Absolutely delicious. If I had been served these in a Mexican Restaurant I would be very happy. Another Nagi Win!!! Thank you xxx
This was so yummy. I’d kind of given up on enchiladas because they always ended up so bland and sloppy. I used this recipe, but added in a step to heat the tortillas first, per the comments from below, and yay! A win! Nagi’s recipe was great, plus the toasting of the tortillas, fantastic! Only used a mini tin of black beans rather than the 400gm tin, still yummy. Thanks Nagi, and also people commenting tips 😍
My first time trying this and my family says it is a keeper. I may follow a reader’s comment and toast the tortillas on a cast iron skillet before wrapping the meat filling with them; my tortillas were slightly mushy and stuck to the bottom of the glass casserole dish. The enchiladas sauce was perfect, and the steps to flavor the meat during cooking are necessary to give it the punch it needs.
We’ve made this tonight and have lots of leftovers. Are they able to be frozen?
I have frozen the cooked leftovers individually- wrapped in aluminum foil. Reheat from frozen in a 350° oven for 45 mins. Delicious!