Easy Beef and Bean Enchiladas
If you love the flavor of traditional enchiladas but don’t want to spend time rolling individual tortillas, this layered beef enchilada casserole is the recipe for you! Layers of seasoned lean ground beef, creamy beans, corn tortillas, plenty of melted cheddar cheese, and rich homemade enchilada sauce come together to make an easy enchilada casserole that’s hearty, comforting, and perfect for busy nights.
This is one of those recipes that makes an easy weeknight dinner without sacrificing great flavor. You can use store-bought enchilada sauce to keep things extra simple, or make your own enchilada sauce if you have a little more time. Either way, this bean enchilada casserole is a family favorite—and the leftovers may be even better the next day!
Why I love Beef & Bean Enchiladas
What makes this meal perfect is that as good as it is the first day the leftovers are twice as good! Layers of corn tortillas, beef and beans, cheese, and red enchilada sauce, this meal comes together in less than 30 minutes! Beef and Bean Enchilada’s are a crowd pleaser!
This recipe is a new favorite at our house. My son told me that it was definitely blog worthy and on top of that it was restaurant quality! Wow really?! I’ll take it. I kinda found his statement funny because aren’t restaurants always trying to make food “just like homemade”. And we are trying to copy-cat our favorite restaurants all the time.
Well, I’ve never had beef and bean enchiladas quite like this in any restaurant. Not only is this recipe super easy it is a great make-ahead meal, it’s also easily doubled, freeze one for later and throw one in the oven for dinner tonight!
Gather these ingredients
How to make Beef & Bean Enchiladas
1. Preheat the oven.
Pre heat oven to 350°F. Lightly grease a 9×13-inch casserole dish.
2. Make the beef and bean filling.
Heat a large skillet over medium heat. Add the onion and bell pepper to skillet, cook until tender. Add the lean ground beef and brown meat, breaking it apart as it cooks. Drain any excess grease.
Stir in the refried beans, chili powder, cumin, and your favorite taco seasoning, if desired. Cook for another couple of minutes until everything is well combined and the beef mixture is hot.
3. Prepare the tortillas.
For the best results, lightly fry the corn tortillas in a small amount of oil for about 10 seconds per side. Drain on paper towels. This step is optional, but it helps give the tortillas more texture and helps define the layers.
4. Start layering the casserole.
Spread about 1 cup of the enchilada sauce over the bottom of the casserole dish. Arrange a layer of tortillas over the sauce, overlapping them slightly as needed.
Spread one-third of the beef and bean mixture over the tortillas, followed by shredded cheese.
5. Continue layering.
Repeat the layers of tortillas, enchilada sauce, beef mixture, and cheese until you have three layers of filling and four layers of tortillas.
6. Add the final layer.
Top the casserole with the remaining tortillas, then pour the remaining enchilada sauce over the top. Sprinkle generously with the remaining cheese.
7. Bake.
Cover the casserole with aluminum foil and place in the preheated oven. Bake for 45 minutes. Remove the foil during the last 10–15 minutes if you want the cheese to become extra golden and bubbly.
8. Rest and serve.
Let the casserole rest for about 15 minutes before cutting into squares. Garnish with green onions and garnish with fresh cilantro just before serving. Add sour cream, guacamole, fresh tomatoes, lettuce, or your favorite toppings.
Tips & Variations
Use homemade or store-bought sauce.
This recipe is delicious with homemade enchilada sauce, but a good store-bought enchilada sauce makes this an even easier dinner. If you have a favorite sauce, use it!
Try different beans.
I use refried beans in this recipe because they make the filling creamy and help hold the layers together. You could experiment with black beans or pinto beans for a different texture and flavor.
Change the meat.
Lean ground beef gives this enchilada recipe its hearty flavor, but ground turkey can be substituted if you prefer.
Switch up the cheese.
Cheddar cheese is my go-to, but Monterey Jack cheese, pepper jack, Colby Jack, or a Mexican blend cheese would all be delicious. Pepper jack is especially good if you like a little extra kick.
Make it with flour tortillas.
Although I use corn tortillas in this recipe, soft flour tortillas can be used if that’s what you have on hand. Keep in mind that flour tortillas will give the casserole a softer, less traditional texture.
Don’t skip the resting time.
Let the casserole sit for about 15 minutes after baking. This gives the layers time to set, making it much easier to cut and serve.
Make it ahead.
This is a great make-ahead meal. Assemble the casserole, cover tightly, and refrigerate until you’re ready to bake. You may need to add a few extra minutes to the baking time if you’re putting a cold casserole directly into the oven.
Freeze for later.
This hearty casserole freezes beautifully. Once assembled, cover tightly with plastic wrap and then aluminum foil to prevent freezer burn. Thaw in the refrigerator before baking.
Leftovers are delicious.
Store leftovers in an airtight container in the refrigerator and enjoy them the next day. In my opinion, the flavors have even more time to come together overnight!
Make it spicier.
Add diced jalapeños to the beef mixture, use pepper jack cheese, or choose a spicy enchilada sauce.
Looking for chicken enchiladas?
You can easily adapt this basic method for chicken enchiladas by replacing the ground beef with shredded cooked chicken. It’s a great way to use leftover rotisserie chicken.
More great South of the Border Recipes:
- The Best Ground Beef Wet Burrito
- Easy Mexican Street Corn Recipe
- Authentic Spanish Rice Recipe
- Guacamole
- Pico De Gallo (fresh salsa)
If the rush of the holidays are pulling you away from the table, I encourage you to make your family this easy meal, grab a bag of chips and some salsa call everyone to the table and spend some time with those you love! From my table to yours with love, Sheila
Easy Layered Beef and Bean Enchilada Casserole
Ingredients
- 1 pound ground Beef
- 1/2 cup chopped Onion
- 1 cup chopped Pepper red or green or a combination of both
- 1 16 ounce can Refried Beans
- 1 teaspoon Chili Powder
- 1/2 teaspoon Cumin
- 12 Corn Tortillas
- 1/3 cup Vegetable Oil
- 28 ounce can red Enchilada Sauce CLICK this link for my homemade enchilada sauce
- 2 1/2 cups shredded Cheddar or Colby Jack Cheese
Instructions
- preheat oven to 350 degrees
- In a medium sized skillet brown ground beef, when meat is completely browned add in onion, and pepper, cook until soft. Add in refried beans, chili powder, and cumin stir and continue to cook for an additional 2 minutes. Remove from heat.
- This step can be skipped, however I think it adds more texture and defines the layers of the casserole more, but it you are in a hurry or rather not add the calories skip 2. and move to 3.
- In a small frying pan add 1 tablespoon of vegetable oil just enough to coat bottom of the pan, heat until oil is smoking place corn tortillas in oil one at a time for 10 seconds on each side, remove from pan with tongs and place on paper towel help soak up excess oil. Repeat this, adding more oil as you need it, until all 12 corn tortillas have been fried.
- Next step assembly. Spread a ladle of sauce over the bottom of baking dish, place 4 tortillas over sauce in a pattern that will best cover the sauce. Take 1/3 of the meat mixture and spread it over the tortillas, sprinkle with 1/2 cup of cheese. Place 4 more corn tortillas over cheese, spread a ladle of sauce over tortillas, then meat, and cheese and repeat. There should be 3 meat layers and 4 tortilla layers. After the last layer of tortillas ladle the remaining sauce over the top and sprinkle remaining 1 cup of shredded cheese over the top.
- Bake at 350 degree for 45 minutes, remove from oven allow to sit for 15 minutes before cutting into squares.
- Serve with sour cream, guacamole, lettuce, fresh cut tomato, whatever your heart desires!
What brand of Enchilada Sauce do you recommend?
I usually use La Victoria because that’s what they sell in my grocery store, I think any brand would work as long as you like the flavor. Hope this helps!
Just the recipe I was looking for!! Thank you food savior!!
Ha I’ve never been called the food savior before! xoxo love it! love you! Sheila
This recipe got rave reviews from my teenage boys and husband! The math wasn’t quite right though with the tortillas – If you do 4 layers of 4 tortillas, you need 16…Unless it is really 4 layers of 3 tortillas?
Anyway – I did 16 and it turned out great! Thanks Sheila!
I’m glad you enjoyed it, and thanks for letting me know…I will review the recipe and make the needed corrections. I do quite a bit of scribbling as I’m developing a recipe and sometimes I don’t translate it properly…so I appreciate it when I get feed back! Merry Christmas! Sheila
I agree, definitely blog worthy. I think it’s funny we try to create restaurant “quality” meals at home and they try to cook like dear old mom.
I want to eat these with you!! xoxo
Hahah thanks for not saying….wheres the rest of your post???! I forgot that I had this scheduled OOPs! Ill finish-her up tonight 😉