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Beef Enchiladas an amazing Mexican casserole perfect for entertaining guests!
This post has been delayed over 2 months, no lie.
Not because it was bad, but because I wasn’t too proud of the pictures. I mean, how do you photograph enchiladas without having them look like a pile of meh? At least, I haven’t mastered the art of photographing them, yet.
However, despite the ugly pictures, I felt that I needed to share this recipe because it was so flippin’ good. Homemade enchiladas just can’t compare to the restaurants. Even the enchilada sauce is homemade and it’s simply to die for. It made our entire hallway in our apartment smell of a Mexican restaurant and as this was cooking, I kept peeking at it, as if that would help it cook faster.
J & I had friends over that evening so they got to enjoy this dish along with the refried beans I made a while ago. Amazing combination and it was so filling. All 4 of us polished off the entire casserole dish and we were left very satisfied. This is the best enchilada recipe I’ve ever made and it’s something I would definitely make again in a heartbeat. Next time, I just wish I had a huge slab of guacamole on top!
beef enchiladas
Equipment
Ingredients
- 1 medium onion, finely chopped
- 2 jalapenos, seeded and finely chopped
- 3 clove garlic, minced
- 3 tablespoon chili powder
- 2 teaspoon ground cumin
- 2 teaspoons granulated sugar
- 15 ounce (425 g) can tomato sauce
- 1 cup (236 ml) water
- 1 large tomato, finely diced
- 1 pound (454 g) lean ground beef
- 1 ½ cups (170 g) extra sharp cheddar cheese, shredded
- 1 ½ cups (170 g) monterey jack cheese, shredded
- 12 6 inch soft corn tortillas
- Cooking spray
- Salt and pepper, to taste
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 425 °F (218 °C). Grease a 9 x 13 casserole dish. Set aside.
- To make the red sauce: In a large skillet, sauté the onions and jalapeños until softened, about 8 minutes. Then stir in the garlic, chili powder, cumin, and sugar. Cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds then stir in the water, tomato sauce, and tomato. Bring to a simmer and cook until slightly thickened, about 5-7 minutes.
- Meanwhile, cook the ground beef in another skillet until no pink remain. Drain and set aside.
- Once the sauce is done, season with salt and pepper, to taste. Remove from heat. Take about 1/2 of the red sauce mixture and mix it in with the beef. Reserve the rest of it.
- If you have a gas stove, toast them on the open flame for flavor and that nice charred effect! If not, no worries. Stack your tortillas and pop them in the microwave for about 40 seconds to warm them up and get them pliable.
- When ready to assemble, on a flat surface, take a tortilla and in the middle, sprinkle a mixture of the two cheeses then add a spoonful or two of the beef mixture on top. Tightly roll each tortilla and lay them seam down in the prepared casserole dish. Repeat until the casserole dish is full.
- Take the cooking spray and spray the tops of the enchiladas. Place in the oven, uncovered, for 7 minutes, or until the tops of the enchiladas start to brown.
- Reduce oven temperature to 400 °F (204 °C) and take out the casserole dish. Pour the remaining red sauce you reserved from earlier evenly on top and top with leftover shredded cheese. Cover with foil and bake for an additional 20 minutes, or until heated through.
- Remove the foil and let bake uncovered for another 5 minutes to brown the cheese.
- Remove from oven and let sit for 10 minutes before serving.
- Serve with whatever sides and toppings you like. Suggestions: guacamole, refried beans, sour cream, salsa, etc.
Notes
Nutrition
How many servings will this recipe produce? Thanks, Jim
I love this sause..it’s perfectly seasoned. One addition I add to my meat after cooked and seasoned I’d a can of low sodium black beans. My kids love it this way…also when I make taco meat!
Made this tonight. It was very good. Loved the homemade enchiladas sauce. Did tweak it slightly by adding chopped green onions on top of the sauce at the end. Gives it a bit of crunch.
Sorry, but this recipe is poorly written. The end result may be good but if you’re going to make it, read it over a few times first and tweak as needed. Firstly, jalapeños come big and they come in small sizes. Taste test to see how spicy you want your sauce. Second, be sure to both skin and chop your tomato (don’t plop it in whole). Third, what do you saute the onions & garlic in (EVOO, lard, butter, veg oil)? Fourth, and most important, when you get to step 6 of the recipe, don’t do as the recipe says and use up all the ingredients — if you do, when you get to step 8 you will find that you have no cheese left!
Thanks for the feedback, Jim! I wrote this recipe back in 2012 when I just begun blogging so I admit, my recipe writing was probably flawed but I’m happy to say I’ve come a long way so even though this recipe is ‘poorly written,’ I’m still glad it was delicious. I will take your notes into consideration and rewrite some of the instructions.
Julie: Actually my daughter (who is not an experienced cook!) made this for me since she knows that I like Mexican. Before she made it, she sent the recipe to me to ask if it would be something I’d like. Truly — her first question to me was “do I just put the whole tomato in or should I mash it up after I put it in?” With my “little bit of help” she put it together and it was very good.
For those of you who are too lazy to roll, this also makes a delicious traditional casserole… I layered it like so: tortilla, cheese, sauce, beef, tortilla, cheese, sauce, beef, tortilla, cheese, sauce. Doing it this way – cooking at 425 will burn everything, so omit that part. Great recipe Julie!!
So glad you made it, Marc! I like that you made it into a casserole instead of rolling it. That’s always the hardest part – everything seems to fall out if you put too much in one!
Yea that’s the part I hate about enchiladas too! If you do it the way I said above it ends up being like a Mexican lasagna. It actually held together a lot better than I expected.
These sound great! Dinner is served.
The picture makes me hungry! Great photography! I’ve made this recipe before but never with homemade enchilada sauce–it’s very important, also, to have fresh tortillas, as stale ones crack in half when trying to roll-enjoy all!
My family LOVED this!!! Thank you. We actually had squabbling about who got the left overs the next day.
These enchilasas are great! Thanks!
Oh yes, sold! That is now officially on tonight’s menu!