In episode 023 we are making Enchilada Casserole for dinner. Susie shares one of the most popular recipes on Mom’s Dinner and Pinterest! It is a super easy way to get the flavors of beef enchiladas without all the work of traditional enchiladas.
Transcript
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Intro: Welcome to Let’s Make Dinner, your audio library of amazing dinner recipes you can get on the table any night of the week. I’m your host, Susie Weinrich.
Susie Weinrich: Hey everybody. If you’ve been around here for a while, then you know that one of my very favorite foods to eat is enchiladas. If we go to a Mexican restaurant, I’m going to order enchiladas. You better believe it. My favorite is when they have the enchilada trio and you can get a chicken enchilada, a beef enchilada, and a cheese enchilada all on one plate, the best.
However, what I don’t like is making enchiladas at home. If you make them the really traditional way, they can be absolutely time-consuming. From making the filling, making the sauce, warming and dipping the tortillas, then filling them, then baking it, like it’s a whole thing. So today we are gonna go over a wonderful recipe called beef enchilada casserole. That’s a wonderful way to get all of those enchilada flavors without going through all of the rolling and the dipping and the saucing of traditional beef enchiladas.
Tips and Tricks: I have a couple of tips before we get into this recipe. The first one is going to be for your beef. I recommend that you use an 85/15 for your beef enchiladas, and the reason is that you are sauteing the beef and it’s kind of cooking in its own fat, which is great because the fat is flavor, right? But you don’t want too much fat so that it is actually greasy. Like with my burgers in episode one, I recommend using an 80-20 because some of that fat will cook out into the fire. But when you’re sauteing your beef in its own juices, using something a little bit leaner, works a little bit better, in my opinion.
Now also, when you’re cooking your ground beef, I have a kitchen tool that I am obsessed with. I’m not somebody who likes to have a lot of kitchen tools just to have the kitchen tools and the coolest gadgets. I like to have things in the kitchen that I use often. This meat masher, I’m not even sure if that’s the correct term for it, but I use it all the time. I bought it. I wasn’t sure if I was going to use it. I use it all the time. It basically looks like a spatula that has four or five prongs that are crisscrossed so that you can mash the meat up and make it a nice crumble without having to work too hard. It especially works really well on any kind of sausage that can be really sticky.
All right, the next tip is for your tortillas. Traditionally enchiladas are made with corn tortillas, so that’s what I like to use in this recipe. My favorite for the most flavor is using yellow corn tortillas.
The last tip I have, and I will always give you this tip, shred your own cheese. I hate shredding cheese. It is probably one of my least favorite kitchen tasks to do. But I still do it because it makes that big of a difference. When you buy that pre-packaged, pre-shredded cheese, it actually has corn starch and different agents on it so that it doesn’t clump and it preserves. When you buy and shred your own cheese, it’s not gonna have that so it melts up creamier and tastier. So always shred your own cheese.
Enchilada Casserole Recipe: Let’s get on to making your beef enchilada casserole. You’ll start by grabbing a nine by 13 casserole dish and go ahead and just set that aside. You’ll also want to preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Now we’re going to turn to the stovetop and make that ground beef. In a large skillet over about medium heat, you’re going to brown and crumble your ground beef. Then drain off any excess grease. You’re going to add one medium white onion that’s been diced, three garlic cloves, and one teaspoon of kosher salt. Continue to saute that until the onions are slightly softened, so about five minutes. Then you’re going to stir in three tablespoons of water, two teaspoons of chili powder, and one teaspoon of cumin. Now if you want cilantro in your enchiladas, I know it’s not traditional, but if you like that flavor, you can also add in a third cup of fresh chopped cilantro. Give everything a stir and that is your filling.
Now it’s time to turn over and layer up our casserole. You’re going to need two 10-ounce cans of red enchilada sauce. If you want to make your own, you absolutely can. You’re going to need about two and a quarter cups of your enchilada sauce that you make. Pour about a third of a cup of enchilada sauce across the bottom of that 9×13 pan, and spread it so it coats the entire bottom of the dish. Then you’re going to take five of your corn tortillas, lay them out into the pan, and then that last one split it in half so it just covers both sides.
If you want to see a picture of this, you can go into the show notes and pop over to the recipe. I have pictures of all of the layering that goes on in this dish. So then you’re going to top those tortillas with half of the beef mixture. Then pour in three-quarters cups of that enchilada sauce and you’ll sprinkle on half a cup of cheese. Now with the cheese, you want to have a total of an eight-ounce block that has been shredded. You can use cheddar cheese or you can use a pepper jack or a Monterey jack, or the combination of all of those will work too.
So back to layering up our enchilada casserole. You’re going to top that cheese with five more tortillas, laying them out again so you have two whole, two whole, and then the last one you will break in half and just pop at the end. Sprinkle the remaining beef mixture over top of that. Three-quarters cup of enchilada sauce, another heaping half cup of cheese, and then you’re going to finish it with five more tortillas, the remaining enchilada sauce, and the remaining cheese. That’s it. That’s your whole layering process for these enchiladas. You’ll cover that pan with foil and bake it at 350 degrees for 20 minutes. Then remove the foil and bake for an additional 10 minutes. With any kind of casserole, you know, lasagna, tetrazzini, anything like that, once it comes out of the oven, you always want to let them cool for about five to 10 minutes so that everything kind of settles together. So go ahead and let it cool for about five minutes before cutting it and serving.
When I serve these beef enchiladas, I like to just cut them into squares and serve everybody just a nice large square portion. Some side dishes you can think about serving with this enchilada casserole are just your traditional Mexican side dishes. So refried beans. I have a great recipe for 15-minute refried beans. Which, let me tell you here, the secret to really good refried beans is using a can of whole pinto beans and a can of refried beans that you mix together with some seasonings and lots of cheese and you just bake ’em for a few minutes and that’s it.
Then I also have a recipe for Mexican rice that I will link for you in the show notes. As well as this really delicious chopped pineapple that has a cilantro, citrus honey sauce that you pour over it. It makes a great side dish if you want something fresh to serve with your enchiladas. Of course, don’t forget the margarita. Who doesn’t love a margarita with a little enchilada? Delicious.
So that does it for today’s episode of Let’s Make Dinner. Of course, I will link all of the recipes I talked about right in the show notes so you can find everything you need. They are all free printable recipes.
If you’re enjoying these episodes, I would love it if you would subscribe or follow in your preferred podcast player. That will just make it easier for you to find all of our future episodes right in your podcast feed.
Outro: Until next time, I hope this episode of Let’s Make Dinner, makes your dinner time a little easier.
Tips Shared
- Use an 85/15 ground beef to reduce greasiness
- Use yellow corn tortillas for the most flavor
- Shred your own cheese instead of using pre-shredded cheese.
Recipes Mentioned
- Beef Enchilada Casserole
- Mexican Rice
- 15 Min Refried Beans
- Cilantro Pineapple
- Classic Margarita on the Rocks
- Episode 1 – Ground Beef Grilled Burgers
Tools Mentioned (affilate)
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