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!
Delicious!!!
I made the filling to accompany to serve as an enchilada bowl to go with my first effort at making Nagi’s enchilada sauce as I don’t love tortillas. I used two tins of kidney beans instead of the refried beans. It was good. Sorry you are so sad at the moment Nagi.
Excellent recipe! Thinking of you Nagi. Sending you love and strength!
Living in Houston, Texas for many years when I reviewed your recipe I was hesitant about the refried and black beans. I followed the recipe as written, but used only half of each type of bean. Totally amazing. Definitely will make a scan and again.
I forgot the 5-Star Rating!
This was the Sunday dinner I cooked for my family and it was delicious! It’s a big bite and very satisfying. I’ve never made enchilada sauce from scratch only ever using a packet that you add water to. No lumps; a whisk helps! I made it with my own ground chuck, seasoned black whole beans, refried beans and served it with shredded ice berg lettuce, diced tomatoes, guac, sour cream, extra cheese, cilantro, chips and salsa. It made enough for leftovers the next day. So good! Thank you!
Made this whilst looking after friends 13 & 10 yr old kids on the school holidays! Everyone loved it and great value for feeding the kids. Adults loved too!
This recipe sort of sums up this website- it’s ok and family/kid friendly but quite frankly it is dull and bland. The sauce thickened to a porridge and the enchiladas weren’t cooked enough.
Sometimes Doug, when your opinion is different from everyone else’s a bit of self reflection might be needed.
To say that all the recipes are dull and bland is a sweeping albeit inaccurate generalisation. I would more question your recipe attempt.
Doug ~ I’m no chef but I believe you may have added your stock too quickly which led to a lumpy gravy. I followed her recipe exactly as written, and found that it was extremely flavorful. I did use less meat filling in each enchilada, and added a small amount of Monterey Jack to each enchilada. Personally, I found these enchiladas, an amazing Tex-Mex recipe and comparable to some of the best Tex-Mex restaurants in Houston.
Doug, since you are clearly a world class chef, with immense culinary knowledge and skill, please show us mere mortals your website and wonderful, scintillating recipes. Sadly, you are the kind of person who takes great joy in ripping others apart for your own enjoyment. What Nagi has does with this website and the joy she brings others is magical. Do better. Be better.
I made this with a few tweaks, I used canned enchilada sauce and I added 1/2 of both red and green peppers, along with a few slices of fresh jalapeno. Finally, I garnished with slices of black olives, jalapenos and cilantro and broiled the dish in the last few minutes to slightly brown the cheese. The family LOVED them. TY <3
Made this it was so good, flour mixture was lumpy but it was still good. Made with hunts.
I have made this with beef, which was great. Just made it again with chicken also great. I used refried beans.
I love your recipes Nagi.
I have been making these for years now maybe since 2019 and I keep forgetting to leave a review. They are soooo yummy. We use ground turkey in replace of ground beef.
Another happy family. I upped the spice level because I added some more sneaky veg – carrot and celery.
So yum!
Beef enchiladas and baked ziti are awesome thank you so much
Wow wow wow, loved it, thought a lot of steps but when I got started I just went with the flow, wasn’t as daunting as I thought, loved it, so tasty
Love your recipes, videos and you. I’ve ventured out of my usual humdrum repertoire of recipes to find we enjoy ethnic dishes we normally only ate in restaurants. I trust your content. I now have so many condiments and seasonings I never used before a year ago. Thanks for sharing your knowledge.
I made beef enchiladas for the first time and they were delish!! The homemade sauce was super easy and delish! My kids told me to put it on our dinner rotation! Yum!
Great recipe. I can’t stop eating! I did add a can of Ro-tel tomatoes to the beef, but otherwise kept it as is.
It was a hit at our place! The kids and hubby loved it. I used thigh fillet and added some avo and sour cream to the side as well.
Very good