Turn up the fun on dinner time with these cheesy and flavorful Ground Beef Enchiladas. With simple ingredients and a whole lot of flavor, they could be your newest weeknight staple.
Ground Beef Enchiladas
You can never go wrong with enchiladas. Anything wrapped up in a tortilla with melted cheese and a kick of sauce is an A+ meal in my household. This is one of those dishes that's simple enough to make on chaotic weeknights and delicious enough to serve a crowd at any potluck or party.
A great part about enchiladas is you can really play with them and customize them. In this rendition, you could always use ground turkey instead of ground beef. You could also use only one cup of meat and mix in a cup of cooked rice or a can of beans to the filling mixture. Try out different enchilada sauces, or even make your own. This is a great starter recipe that you can make time after time, changing subtle details to make a ton of delicious variations.
Can you make Ground Beef Enchiladas with corn tortillas?
Definitely! This is just one more way to personalize your enchiladas. Enchiladas are traditionally made with corn tortillas actually, but my family just so happens to really love flour tortillas. Flour also tends to hold up to heavy fillings better than corn tortillas. You can also check and see if your store has 50-50 flour-corn tortillas! These are so yummy; they have more of a thick flour tortilla consistency with a little bit of grainy corn taste.
Do you have to fry tortillas for enchiladas?
Some people prefer frying their tortillas in a skillet with a little olive or vegetable oil before putting together their enchiladas. It can help hold the tortilla together if you're prone to broken tortillas as you build your enchiladas. It can also add an extra dimension of flavor, but if you're making these on a busy evening, it's a small step that I'd go ahead and skip.
What do you eat with enchiladas?
You can never go wrong with chips and salsa on the side of any Mexican-esque dish. (Try these simple homemade chips and restaurant-style salsa recipes!) Because these enchiladas are pretty filling, any light side with Tex-Mex flavors would go nicely. This Mexican guacamole bruschetta is divine, and this grilled corn and avocado salad is too good.
Ground Beef Enchiladas
- Total Time: 50 minutes
- Yield: Makes 8 enchiladas 1x
Description
Turn up the fun on dinner time with these cheesy and flavorful Ground Beef Enchiladas. With simple ingredients and a whole lot of flavor, they could be your newest weeknight staple.
Ingredients
- 2 pounds ground beef
- 1 medium white or yellow onion, chopped
- 1 medium green bell pepper, chopped
- 2 tablespoons taco seasoning
- 1 can red enchilada sauce (20 ounces or about 2 cups) or a batch of homemade red enchilada sauce
- Salt to taste
- 8 flour tortillas (8 inch)
- 3 cups grated shredded cheddar cheese (I like sharp cheddar)
Instructions
- In a large skillet over medium-high heat, add the ground beef, onion, and bell pepper and cook until the beef is well cooked and no longer pink, about 8 minutes. If you have a lot of extra grease in the bottom of the skillet from the ground beef, drain some of the excess grease.
- Add the taco seasoning, and stir to combine. Cook 1 minute.
- Add ½ cup of the red enchilada sauce to the ground beef mixture and stir to combine.
- Add salt to the beef mixture to taste.
- Spread ½ cup of the red enchilada sauce in the bottom of a 9 x 13-inch dish.
- Assemble the enchiladas by placing ⅓ cup of the ground beef mixture in down the center of one tortilla. Add a little bit of cheese to the top (plan on using 1 ½ cups of the grated cheese to fill the enchiladas). Roll up the enchilada, and place it in the pan.
- Repeat with beef mixture, cheese, and remaining tortillas.
- Spread the remaining enchilada sauce over the top of the rolled tortillas in the baking dish.
- Place the remaining cheese on top of the enchilada sauce.
- Bake uncovered in a 425 degree F. oven for 20-25 minutes, or until the cheese is melted and everything is hot.
Notes
- You can reduce the ground beef by half and replace it with 1 cup of cooked rice or a can of beans if you like.
- You can use green enchilada sauce in place of the red if you like.
- TO FREEZE this recipe, make it as directed but do not bake. Cover well, label, and freeze for up to 3 months. To cook, thaw overnight in the fridge and cook until heated through, about 30-35 minutes.
- Prep Time: 25 min
- Cook Time: 25 min
- Category: dinner
- Method: bake
- Cuisine: American, Tex-Mex, Mexican
Keywords: enchiladas, enchilada recipe, ground beef recipe, dinner
You might also like these enchilada recipes:
- Cilantro Rice and Bean Bake (vegetarian enchilada casserole)
- Easy Chicken Enchiladas
- One Pan Chicken Enchilada Casserole
- Black Bean and Sweet Potato Enchilada Bake
- Creamy Pumpkin Chicken Enchiladas
Long live all the easy dinners that the whole family loves. I can't wait for this one to fall into your regular dinner rotation.
Kaysha
I made this with your homemade tortilla recipe and your homemade enchilada sauce. I also substituted a pound of beef for a cup of brown rice. It tasted delicious!
★★★★★
Melissa
Kaysha! You killed with with all three from scratch recipes into one dish! That's some serious homemaking! So so awesome!
Cassie Neal
Made this last night with one pound ground beef, one steamer bag of rice cauliflower and it was delicious! Also, no one had a clue there was cauliflower in it. Win-win! 😉
★★★★★
Melissa
Ohhh thank you for the tips, I love the idea of cauli rice!