Minced Beef Enchiladas

Enchiladas are popular with my kids, especially these chicken enchiladas and so making minced beef enchiladas seemed like a no brainer. And it was. They're super delicious, easy to make with some very simple ingredients and you're going to end up with a pretty impressive looking dinner that's (Shhh...) taken you, well, very little time to make. Perfect, right?!!

Kid Friendly Minced Beef Enchiladas

Fancy something homemade with a rich taste, cheesy and comforting that the kids are gonna go wild for? I've found it! These ground beef enchiladas are so good I make them over and over. They're easy to make, so easy in fact they're on my list of meals to make when there's not a huge amount of 'mid week making dinner' time and they get eaten every-single-time. And those are the kind of meals I like.

While if there's time I like to make these flour tortillas and while these are super simple to make (2 ingredients!) they do add an extra step and so if I have some decent, Clean store bought tortilla, i'll use them to speed it up.

The filling cooks in a few minutes in it's own red enchilada sauce and the beauty of these is not only in the flavor but in that you can add the filling you know your kids like and will eat.

The store bought packs of ready made enchiladas I used to buy would often contain something the kids would try and pick out, since I've been making these at home I can add in the kids favorites and leave out the things they're going to pick up on.

Honestly, having kids you'll likely be aware how one piece of 'the wrong sized onion chunk' can mean a whole meal not eaten! Well, no more :) Get a baking dish out and get these in the oven tonight!

More Easy Meal Recipes

• Slow cooker Mongolian beef
• Beef Bourguignon with potatoes
• Minced beef curry on a budget
• Chicken and mushroom curry
• Clean eating Tacos
• Fajitas for fussy eaters

Beef Enchilada Filling

Obviously minced beef is the main ingredient of the filling but there's more to it than that! To make the enchilada filling I use an onion, diced very small so it's almost undetectable. My kids are (finally!) ok with onions, but just 'ok'. Too much and there's going to be a fuss, but they're so good for you and add a good flavor, so it's a balancing act between adding them and making them almost disappear.

I add tinned corn and black beans to my enchilada filling, drained and rinsed. Corn is a staple in this house, and black beans are the one bean my kids have taken to, and so both these always get added to the sauce.

Cheddar cheese is the best cheese for adding that melted cheesy topping we all love, so I use it liberally and get a nice crisped up cheesy oozing layer on top when these come out of the oven.

I have also made these with red peppers before if I have them hanging around in the fridge and need using up, chopped up to the same size as the corn they make a good addition if your kids will eat them.

The enchilada flavor comes from spices, Cumin, Oregano and Paprika, it's a classic spice combo and it's good! You could add a little garlic or chili powder if you like it, i've left them out for this recipe to make sure they're as kid friendly as possible but feel free to turn the heat up a touch if you want to.

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I used to be a quite scared of spices and had no idea how to use them, so I didn't. But once you get used to adding them to recipes you'll start to know how much you like to use and what works etc and if like me you had a few little jars of spices in your kitchen that collected dust and you didn't really know how to use, now's the time to dust them off and get acquainted! You'll be glad you did!

How To Fill Enchiladas

Have your baking dish out and ready as you put your enchiladas together so you can pop them straight into the dish as they're rolled and wrapped. I very lightly grease my baking dish to stop the tortilla sticking with a little butter.

I warm my tortilla through a little before I start using them to make them a little softer and easier to work with. Just put them in some foil and give them a few minutes in the warmed up oven.

I add a tablespoonful of sour cream to each tortilla, spreading it out like you would cover a pizza base and then add my beef mixture filling. It's temp[ting to add a lot of filling but this makes the enchiladas hard to wrap and they're more likely to fall apart, so resist the urge to load them up too much!

Add filling to the middle of the tortilla. Once you have your filling spooned into the centre of the tortilla, wrap it up to the edges overlap by an inch or so, then tuck the open edges up so the filling is enveloped in tortilla. Then place it seam side down in your baking dish. Then you're ready for the red enchilada sauce and cheese topping.

Should You Cover Enchiladas While Baking?

Is there an official answer to this? I'm not sure. However, I do cover mine while they're cooking and then remove the foil for the last 10 minutes of cooking time to let the cheese bubble and crisp up. I've tried not covering these when I'm cooking them and I've found the tortilla, if there's any exposed, can become dry and too crisp.

I use the aluminum foil I warmed the tortilla through in on top of the baking dish making sure it's not pushed down onto the cheese topping to stop it sticking. Feel free to try this both ways, but I'm an Enchilada coverer!

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What To Eat With Enchiladas

These minced beef enchiladas are good on their own. Really good! On their own they've got carbs in the tortilla, protein in the beef mixture and veggies, corn and onions, in the mixture. So they're good as they are. But...if you fancy some sides and frankly who doesn't, you could try these:

• As well as the sour cream spread onto the tortilla before baking you could serve a little pot on the side for extra creaminess!
• Avocado - we love some chopped avocado with beef enchiladas
• This Mexican style rice does well with this recipe
• Serve a salad with these for a Summer dinner, this cucumber and tomato salad works well, as does this Caprese salad caprese

Ground Beef Enchilada Leftovers

If you have beef enchilada leftovers you can keep them in the fridge either in an airtight container or covered with the foil you used to cover them while baking them. Reheating these is as simple as microwaving them for a couple of minutes until they're fully heated throughout and the cheese has melted again, and although you won't get the crispy cheesy bits you would when they first come out of the oven, they still make a pretty awesome next day lunch!

Keep these in the fridge for no longer then 2 days.

How To Make Minced Beef Enchiladas

Ingredients

• 8 Tortilla
• 1 lb Minced beef
• 1 Cup Black beans Drained and rinsed
• ½ Cup Corn Tinned, drained and rinsed
• 1 Cup Tomato paste Passata
• 1 Cup Beef stock Made up
• ½ Cup Cheddar cheese Shredded
• 1 Onion Finely diced
• 2 Cloves Garlic Peeled and crushed
• ½ Cup Sour cream
• 1 tbsp Apple cider vinegar
• 1 tbsp Cumin
• 1 tsp Sweet Paprika
• ½ tsp Dried Oregano
• 1 tbsp Olive oil
• ½ tsp Salt Sea salt, not table salt
• ¼ tsp Black pepper Ground

Instructions

• Heat your oven to 190c or 350f and grease your casserole dish or baking dish with a little butter. You can also use olive oil to do this
• In a large pan heat your olive oil over a medium-high heat and fry the diced onions for a few minutes, moving them round the pan often to stop them burning, until they're cooked through
• Add the minced beef, salt and pepper to the onion pan and cook, breaking it up as it cooks
• Sprinkle the spices, Oregano, Paprika and Cumin to the pan and combine well making sure the meat is coated well in spice mix. Cook for another couple of minutes
• Pour in the stock, tomato puree, vinegar, black beans and corn. Combine and then simmer the beef mixture for 20 minutes until the sauce had thickened
• Near the end of the mixture simmering time, heat your tortilla gently in the warm oven for a few minutes in foil to soften them
• When the beef mixture has thickened up, use a colander to drain the sauce from the mixture, keeping the sauce to one side
• On a large plate put one tortilla on it, spread some sour cream over one side of it and then spoon some beef mixture on top and fold your tortilla and place it in the greased baking dish. Repeat until all your tortilla are filled and arranged in a single layer in your baking dish
• Pour your red enchilada sauce (the drained sauce from the filling mixture) over the top of the layer of filled tortilla and then sprinkle with your grated cheddar cheese
• Cover the dish with the foil making sure the foil isn't pressed down onto the cheese to stop it sticking and bake for 15 minutes in the oven
• After 15 minutes remove the foil from the top of the dish and bake uncovered for another 10 minutes until the cheese is golden and bubbling
• Remove from the oven and serve!

Minced Beef Enchilada Recipe