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!
Sanyu says
Made this last night and it was so yummy!
Euphemia says
This was fantastic! I took another reviewers recommendation and added a 1/2 tsp of chipotle powder and chili powder. The sauce was very spicy on its own with the cayenne and chipotle but mellowed in the dish.
Love that it’s so simple to put together .
I’m never buying canned enchilada sauce again.
Thank you,,,
Charlotte says
Wonderful recipe! Made this tonight and was so moist and delicious. Thank you for all you do in sharing great recipes!
Jennifer says
These were a hit with my family! Agreed that the refried beans are a secret ingredient. Is there any suggestions on how to keep the flour tortillas from getting soggy?
Mummy’s Kitchen says
I used to live in LA so am familiar with tasty Mexican food. Now we are in Perth and found this, DELICIOUS!
G Girl says
This was delish. I’m looking forward to trying the chicken version. Your recipes are always the s**t. Thanks!
Josiah says
absolutely amazing, so so so much better than the old el paso mealkits. was much easier than i thought it would be and it tasted amazing. the refried beans especially is what made it great imo, first time i have ever had them. will def be making this lots in the future!
Debbie says
Can these be frozen before they are baked? Should I bake, freeze, and then reheat?
Ann says
We made a batch and froze half of them without sauce. Froze half a batch of sauce too and took it all out the night before we used it. It was excellent! Just had to grate some cheese!
Brown says
Fantastic recipe, thanks so much! I just made this tonight for my girlfriend and I and it was a complete hit. This will be on my regular rotation list. The only thing I did different is add chili powder and chipotle powder to the (enchilada sauce) yet I kept the original recipe spices for the ground beef. That was more of a personal thing as I tend to enjoy the taste of ancho Chile in my enchilada sauce. The original spice selection is extremely good though. It’s such a flexible recipe that you can mix it up anytime you want to play with the flavors. It was probably the easiest and tastiest enchilada recipe I’ve made so far. Thanks again!
Catharine Schneider says
Beautiful. A touch spicy as I added maximum cayenne pepper, will halve next time. Serving for 4 would have suited my 6 person family but we have extra to freeze. Large servings.
Carrie says
This is my new go-to Enchilada recipe! Easy to cook and very tasty. I wasn’t sure if my picky family would eat refried beans , so I only used half of a 20oz can. They didn’t even notice! I’d highly recommend this recipe and wouldn’t change a thing.
Ron Self says
WHAT TYPE OF TORTILLA DO YOU USE, NEVER SAW IT MENTIONED IN RECIPE ??CORN OR FLOOR??
Shannon Walz says
WHY ARE YOU YELLING AT PUBLISHER? It’s definitely not floor 😂
Shannon Walz says
Sorry Ann this comment was meant for Ron Self
Ann L. says
I personally use flour in all my enchilada dishes but I’m sure corn can easily be substituted!!
Kristina D says
This is a great dish and I use my left over beef roast meat, I just mince it. All of the seasoning covers the beef roast flavor and the homemade red sauce makes it delicious. My family loves it.
Chris says
Really good dish. I think the spice mix is perfect and gives a wonderfully authentic flavour. Another great recipetineats recipe.
Francois says
Hi Nagi from Quebec !
Thank you so much for this superb recipe…it is soooo good…everybody loved it.
Jackie says
Love that your recipes can be adjusted for serve numbers, saves me time. Your recipes are great too. Give Dozer a treat and a pat from me – he looks deprived!
Stephen Turney says
The flour just clumps and the flour soaked up the oil so I ended up using more oil. I did it have it on high. Could this be the reason?
Lea says
Thank you! This tasted so authentic to me, I used whole oregano and it was delish!
Paul says
Really yummy. They are big and filling. We only ate one and with a salad one was a plenty.love your recipes.
Christine Cheshire says
All I can say, is “WOW”. This had a fabulous flavor that both my hubby and I loved. We only made half and still have lots of leftovers. I used 1/2 a teaspoon of cayenne pepper. Perfecto, Nagi!
kim says
this was so good! i accidentally added too much refried beans but the meat filling and the homemade enchilada sauce is SO GOOD!! totally going to make this again with less refried beans 🤣