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!
I never order enchiladas when I eat at a Mexican restaurant because they are usually bland and boring. These were the best enchiladas I’ve ever had. Followed the recipe exactly, but only used 1/2 can of retried beans. Just perfect. Thank you for sharing this recipe.
Sorry to clarify my earlier comment- if I wanted to make this vegetarian- can I just double the black bean mixture and add some corn? What proportions would you recommend? Thankyou
Hi Nagi,
What changes should I make to this dish if I wanted to make it vegetarian (apart from removing the beef of course)
Hi J – one to add to my recipe list to create! N x
I don’t normally comment but I have made plenty of your recipes and these were delicious and for anyone that doesn’t like black beans I subbed them for a tin of corn kernels and they were perfect!
Wow! I made this for friends the other weekend! They all wanted the recipe! Thanks!
Wow.. Made these on Saturday night and they were gorgeous!! Going to make the chicken ones next. Thanks for the easiest recipe x
Louise
Would these still work out (&bot be dry & lumpy) without the refried beans?
Hi Nagi,
Is there any substitute for refried beans?
It not readily available here in our place in Ph.
Delicious!!! Not normally my thing but COVID lockdown does strange things. A flavour explosion. I ended up with more than needed so next time will split into smaller baking dishes and freeze one for another time. Definite winner!
This will be my new go-to beef enchilada recipe. It was very good. I did add one diced jalapeno pepper when I cooked the onion for the beef filling and the spice level was perfect. However, next time I will double the sauce recipe. We each had one fairly large enchilada the first night and there is a lot of filling left but not sufficient sauce. (I guess we like a lot our sauce.)
Outstanding! Sauce entirely as written was delish. USA Hunts tomato sauce cans are by weight, so used the 15 oz can that was about 1.5 cups by volume. Only had 12 oz ground beef, so reduced beans by about the same (but not the spice mix). We had extra sauce at the end that will be added to leftover enchiladas, beans, etc. Any sauce after that will be frozen for future use.
Hi Nagi, can i I use beef broth if i don’t have chicken broth or stock on hand? Thanks!
Hi Nagi, could I use beef broth if I don’t have chicken broth on hand? Thanks
Delicious beef enchiladas! They were wonderful. I used flour tortillas! I will
Definitely make them again!
I can hardly wait to make this. I am salivating. Question: How can I freeze these?
Yes 100%! They make the best freezer meal – freeze before baking. N x
YIPPEE!
Backyard… I’m speechless it’s so beautiful. Wow!
I really enjoyed the enchiladas and they were really easy to prepare. I wondered where all the fat came from as I used fat free beans and Laura’s ground beef at 20 grams fat for a pound and 32 grams of fat for cheese.
Hi Tracy, I’m so glad you enjoyed them!! The fat listed in the nutrition comes from the beef and mores from the cheese. N x
Tortillas, what kind? Corn or flour?
Hi Geri, either work fine in this recipe! N x
What can I sub for refried beans??
These are the absolutely most delicious enchiladas I’ve ever tasted! I’ve made them twice now in less than a week. Thank you so much for sharing this yummy recipe.
You’re so welcome Kelley, I’m so glad you loved it!! N x
Traditionally corn (white or yellow) tortilla are used. But if you like flour that style is popular in Southern California.
Made these last night and had to leave a comment. They were so good, I’m eating two for breakfast as I write this! Great recipe, I highly recommend. Thank you for sharing it!
Best enchiladas ever!