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!
Made these tonight — oddly, I inadvertently made some “passata” of my own thinking for a pasta sauce a few weeks ago, so that’s a no-brainer, but better than using tomato paste or jarred tomato sauce. A suggestion: throw the 2 TBSP of spice mix in at start of enchilada sauce “roux” to help release the oils and fragrance and likewise the rest with the garlic and onion at start of beef mixture taking care not to burn any of it. I love this easy enchilada sauce, it’s not as greasy as other recipes I have tried. At any rate, I would never buy a canned/ jarred enchilada sauce when this is so easy from scratch and tastes so much better. ~love (hope Japan was amazing Nagi and you had some good times).
I’m so glad you enjoyed this Martin! Thanks for letting me know – and japan is amazing! Still here for another couple of days! N xx
Mmmmm! Nagi, this recipe is delicious! Very filling & has a great depth of flavour. I doubled the recipe so we have leftovers for a few days!
Also, this was super easy to make!
JOSIE! Now you have ME craving this and I want someone to make it for me!!!?
If I wanted to prepare a day early. Would you suggest putting enchilada sauce on right before putting in oven?
Yes! Thanks for asking, I’ll add that tip into the recipe 🙂 N x
These sound so good. Gonna have these for tea i think. Thanks for sharing.
Simon
Just wanted to thank you! This is the first time I tried to make homemade enchilada sauce. I was out of paprika so I substituted ground chili ancho (being of Mexican descent I usually keep a variety of ground dried chilis aound) and ground red chile. I knew it would work. I also had Mexican oregano on hand too. So good!
Hi Patricia, I’m so happy to hear that! Thank you for taking the time to let me know – N x
Delicious, Nagi!!! I had a big Mexican food craving and this totally hit the spot, and it was sooo easy! Thank you for another winning recipe! 🙂 🙂
I’m so touched you tried this Jamieanne! Thank you so much for letting me know! N xx
Musze sie wam pochwalić w końcu zrzucilam – 8 kilogramów.
Przewaliłam chyba cały polski internet zeby znaleźć cos na
odchudzanie i znalazlam. Wpiszcie sobie w google: xxally radzi jak szybko schudnać
Hi Nagi. I made your Pork Carnitas Enchiladas and it was absolutely delicious. I also loved your frying pan approach to make the your Pork Carnitas crispy on the outside. Tried that one and loved it as well. Thank you.
I have a question if I may. I noticed that the Enchilada Sauce that you used for the Beef Enchiladas was slightly different with the one for the Pork Carnitas Enchiladas. The one for the Beef Enchiladas does not have sugar in it and also has lower proportion of tomato passata/water (broth). Was that intentional due to the difference in filling (pork vs beef) ? or Was it the result of you have tinkered with sauce recipe further and you liked your newer version better? I am a fan of your website. Thanks Nagi.
Hi Jasmine! I love that you’re so thorough – flattered! 🙂 I do always tinker with my recipes but I do have slightly different sauces for beef vs carnitas. They texture is completely different, carnitas already has flavour whereas beef is made from scratch and the beef one is definitely “saucier”. I hope that helps!
Delicious !!!
I can’t wait to try your other recipes. .:)
I have made these several times and they are easy and absolutely a hit. I would love to replace the black beans with rice to try a different version.
Ooh YES to that Beth!! Brilliant!
We were on our way home from a long day at work and stopped off at IGA to pick up some dinner for our dog child, Thomas “TJ” Jefferson (by the way, your woofle is beautiful, and I bet that coat came in extra handy for that Storm), when I was trying to come up with an idea for the humans in this house. I saw some pre-made enchiladas in the deli section and my partner told me they were easy to make. So off we hopped to the “International” aisle and we were lamenting at how expensive the self make packs were. I read the ingredients on the pack of the sauce jar and decided I could do this, and I went back to the passata sauce display (they were having a sale) and grabbed a jar, grabbed some chicken and skipped the self serve check out and talked to a real person.
When I got home, I looked at what I had and didn’t feel that same confidence I did in the store.
Jumped onto the google and looked up enchiladas sauce recipes.
Still feeling disheartened, I did what I should have done all along, and opened up your website.
Seeing the recipe for creme brulee, and thought this diabetic has had enough sugar with the chocolate bar at work (they were selling it for a charity, you can’t say no, right?), so I searched for your enchilada recipes. I found the white chicken recipe, and though it looked amazing (and will try later), I decided to use the beef recipe and slightly megan-ise your recipe (which is use what ya got…)
Considering this is the first time I have ever made enchiladas, these were amazing. My partner said they were the best ones he has ever had, and went right up to get seconds. Luckily I doubles the recipe so that there is enough for lunch tomorrow.
The humans in the house thank you for all you recipes, they are pretty much our diet at the moment.
WOO HOO!!! I am so glad you enjoyed it! Love that you “Meganised” it, I “Nagi” almost every recipe I use!! 🙂 PS Seriously telling me TJ didn’t get a taste test???
O My gosh! So I am sitting here like a fat panda now!. These are delicious. I feel like restaurants are hit and miss on the old staple, but this hits home. My wife said these were the best enchiladas she’s ever had and I have to agree with her. This will be going into the personal recipe folder. I did, accidently, get diced tomatoes, but I mashed them up well and the sauce turned out a little lumpy, but tasty regardless.
Hey! Pandas are SO CUTE!!!! I’m so glad you enjoyed this Isaiah, thank you for letting me know! N xx
What do we serve with enchiladas? Or is it a meal on its own?
Hi Rebekah! I serve it with a simple salad usually 🙂 Just to get some greens into the meal!
Absolutely delicious! Enjoyed by everyone in my family including my 2.5 and 5 year old boys. For some reason my enchilada sauce wasn’t as dark as yours and I cooked it down even longer than the recipe said to. I wasn’t sure what size tortillas to use but I bought 7″ tortillas and had enough filling to do about roll ups. Corn tortillas were much better than flour tortillas with this dish.
Yay! So glad you enjoyed it Stephanie, thanks for coming back to let me know! N x
Oops that was supposed to say “eleven roll ups”. Sorry about that.
😉 Got it!!
I have never met an enchilada I didn’t like – tried your recipe for Beef Enchiladas on Sunday and loved the addition of the black beans. My mother’s recipe is very similar using refried beans, seasoning and enchilada sauce but she added some grated cheese to the mix as well. Next on the menu, Nagi, is your Satay Chicken Curry. Enjoy your blog so much – very impressed by the way you test everything and envious of your taste testers!
Thanks so much Ann! I am so glad you are enjoying my blog – thank you for trying my recipes! N x
Hi Dawn – I’m sorry you had trouble with this! It’s strange your filling was so runny – refried beans are so thick, almost paste like, it makes the filling very thick like the photos, not runny at all. Did you definitely use refried beans? Also the bake temperature is the 1st step under “Filling” – it says to preheat the oven to 180C/350F. I hope you found it tasty still! N x
Greetings from suburban Chicago, Illinois U.S.A. I’ve tried another of your recipes & this one was also a hit. Our two granddaughters that don’t like any food that even sounds Mexican, ate them up. More importantly, my wife really enjoyed them as well. Getting ready to make them again today. Thank you kindly ma’am for sharing your recipes, you’re making me look good. ; )
Hi there Mr Chicago! 🙂 I am so glad you, your wife (yes, v important that she approves!) and your granddaughters enjoyed this! Extra impressed that your grand daughters enjoyed them, how on earth did you get them to try this if they hate Mexican??! I plan to visit Chicago next year, I am looking forward to it!!! N x
Grandma told them they were delicious. I told them they were Tex-Mex & the smell was hard to resist. : )
🙂 Love that! N x
hi Nagi,
have just got home from Coles with some ingredients to make these Beef Enchiladas. i seem to have had a mishap between Coles and my kitchen and lost my can of Refried Beans… DOH!
so… i had to mentally and physically use two of my favorite sayings to get by..
“Necessity is the mother of all invention”
and..
“Improvise. Adapt. Overcome.”
so… not going to let a missing ingredient slow me down i made my beef filling with the added black beans and at the end i stirred through a packet of Uncle Bens Mexican Brown Fried Rice. A little extra passata and water to make it still moist and… viola.. ta daa..etc still very yummy.
love the recipe.
love the site.
love your work.
keep it coming. 🙂
HA HA!!! Did you check under your car seat?? Oh my gosh, I found the oddest things under mine, all things I “lost” between Coles and my kitchen! So glad you enjoyed it Michael and it worked out!!
So, so good. It’s cold and windy and wintry in Melbourne – perfect enchilada weather! These were big and generous, bursting with filling and blanketed in that rich, warmly spiced tomato sauce. I’ll definitely make these again! My first time cooking with refried beans – although their appearance from the can rather horrifyingly resembled my cat’s food, they did indeed melt nicely into the filling. I think the enchiladas were even better a day or so after cooking as the flavours seemed to intensify. Thanks as always for sharing your yummy recipe Nagi!
I think you just described the refried beans PERFECTLY Beck!!! I know it looks horrific when you open the can but I’m so glad you agree it makes the filling! 🙂 STAY WARM! I’m about to head to the couch with a blanket and hot water bottle!!
I made these last week, Nagi, and they were yummy! (Mr. Fussy got so excited when I said I was making another rNagi recipe….) I went to easy on the cayenne so had to spice them up a bit when we ate them. I made 4 for our dinner; today I rolled up the other 4 to freeze for dinner when I’m not cooking over the next few weeks. I still have tons of filling left and may make a Mexican “Lasagne” as well.
Woah! Hang on, do I have my dates wrong?? Aren’t you supposed to be going in for your procedure???
Yes, I go in a few hours! I had the sauce and filling made, all I had to do was roll the tortillas yesterday.
Well, not going today after all. Surgery postponed until Friday for some reason. Bummer!
That’s so annoying!!!! Please let me know how you get on! N x
Hi Nagi,
I made this tonight and it was sensational! I was going to say you were a bit heavy on the Cayenne pepper, but then I re-read the recipe and realised it was me, not you! Thanks!
Thanks Steve! So glad you enjoyed it, thanks for coming back to let me know! N x