• Skip to main content
  • Skip to header right navigation
  • Skip to site footer
Renaissance Mom

Renaissance Mom

Better home cooking

  • Recipes
    • Breakfast / Snack
    • Sweets
    • Happy Hours
      • Cocktails
      • Small Bites
  • Breakfast / Snack
  • Sweets
  • Happy Hours
    • Cocktails
    • Small Bites
  • Contact
You are here: Home / Meat / Easy Beef Enchiladas

Easy Beef Enchiladas

We love chicken enchiladas but there are times when we have an inexplicable craving for beef. Beef enchiladas satisfy that beef craving perfectly. But, first, some trivia about enchiladas.

Beef enchiladas on a plate and a tray of more beef enchiladas in background

Did you know that stuffed tortillas smothered with sauce and cheese is more American than Mexican?

Stuffed tortillas were eaten by the Aztecs long before the word enchilada became associated with that kind of food preparation. The word enchilada itself entered the English-speaking world when it was first mentioned in the United States in 1885. And, based on its description, it was more tourist food than authentic Mexican.

It’s not as if the word enchilada was invented by the Americans. No. Enchilada is Mexican but not the stuffed tortillas that the Aztecs had long been enjoying. Mexican enchilada, it appears, is not stuffed at all but, rather, tortillas simply dipped in sauce.

While the idea of a simple snack of tortillas dipped in sauce intrigues me endlessly, here at home, we have come to love the kind of enchiladas that are smothered with sauce, topped with cheese and baked until the sauce is bubbly and the cheese is melted.

Easy Beef Enchiladas

Recipe by Connie Veneracion
Make beef enchiladas at home with this easy recipe. Make the sauce, mix the filling, stuff and roll the tortillas with detailed illustrations and instructions.
Prep Time 20 mins
Cook Time 40 mins
Total Time 1 hr
Course Main Course, Snack
Cuisine Mexican Fusion
Servings 8 people
Beef enchiladas topped with cheese on a plate
Print recipe

Ingredients
  

Enchilada sauce

  • 2 tablespoons olive oil not extra virgin
  • 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
  • 1 tablespoon cayenne powder
  • 1 tablespoon chipotle powder
  • 1 teaspoon onion powder
  • ½ teaspoon garlic powder
  • ½ teaspoon salt
  • ¼ teaspoon ground cumin
  • ¼ teaspoon dried oregano
  • 2 cups chicken bone broth
  • 2 cups diced tomatoes

Beef enchiladas

  • 5 to 6 cups cooked chopped beef
  • ¾ cup chopped bell pepper
  • ¾ cup chopped onion
  • ¾ teaspoon minced garlic
  • salt
  • pepper
  • 300 to 400 grams grated cheese
  • 16 tortillas six-inch flour tortillas were used here

Instructions
 

Cook the enchilada sauce

  • In a sauce pan, heat the olive oil.
    Adding flour to hot olive oil in pan
  • Add the flour all at once.
  • Stir the mixture until smooth and cook for two to three minutes.
    Making a roux
  • Add the cayenne, chipotle, onion and garlic powders, salt, cumin and dried oregano, and stir until blended.
    Adding spices to roux in pan
  • Pour in the broth slowly, stirring with the one hand as you pour with the other.
    Pouring in chicken broth to roux in pan
  • Cook until the mixture thickens.
  • Add the diced tomatoes.
  • Plunge in an immersion blender and process until there are no more large pieces.
  • Cover the pan, lower the heat and simmer for 10 to 15 minutes.
  • Strain the sauce.

Make the enchiladas

  • Preheat the oven to 350F.
  • On a baking tray, spread the tortillas and sprinkle with a little water.
  • Heat the tortillas in the oven for a minute to soften them.
  • In a bowl, toss the chopped beef, bell pepper, onion and a quarter of the shredded cheese.
    Stuffing tortilla with beef and cheese mixture
  • Lay a tortilla flat, spread the filling along the middle, and roll up to seal.
  • Repeat until you have used up all the filling or filled up all the tortillas.
  • Pour just enough sauce to moisten the bottom of the baking dish (or dishes) where you intend to bake your enchiladas.
    Stuffed tortillas smothered with enchilada sauce
  • Arrange the stuffed and rolled tortillas in the baking dish with the overlapping sides facing downward, then ladle the strained sauce over them.
  • Top with the remaining cheese.
    Beef stuffed tortillas smothered with enchilada sauce and topped with shredded cheese
  • Bake the beef enchiladas at 350F for 15 to 20 minutes or until the sauce is bubbly and the cheese is melted.
Keyword Beef, Tortilla
More Mexican-inspired food & Drinks
Coctel Adelkita (Tequila and Kahlua Cocktail)

Coctel Adelita (Tequila and Kahlua Cocktail)

A serving of chicken enchiladas

Chicken Enchiladas

Published: October 5, 2021 • Last modified: March 24, 2022 ♥ Meat, Baked / Roasted, Beef, Lunch / Dinner, Spicy, Viva Mexico!

This blog is moving. Go to Umami Days to update your bookmarks.

  • Contact

Except for stock photos and blockquotes, everything © Renaissance.Mom. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.