Cheesy Beef Enchilada Skillet takes everything you love about enchiladas and makes it weeknight, busy schedule easy. Instead of rolling tortillas one by one, this recipe cooks the seasoned beef, onions, and green chiles right in the enchilada sauce, then tosses in pieces of tortilla that puff up like pasta as they simmer. A cap of irresistible melty cheese adds the finishing touch for a saucy, cheesy, one-pan meal that hits every comfort-food craving.
The easy way to big enchilada flavors
I’ve been cooking for most of my life, but I’m not perfect. I have a silly skills gap that I’ve never been able to close: I can’t roll things up in a tortilla wrap and have them hold together, bite after bite. It just doesn’t happen. Any burrito I make will eject its contents out the backend by the third bite.
I’ve learned to accept my limitations, lol.
Or more accurately, I’ve learned to work around them. So, instead of rolling up a dozen enchiladas — which, granted, is easier than a burrito, but still — to bake in the oven, I make a deconstructed skillet meal, like today’s recipe.
Same delicious enchilada contents — lots of seasoned beef smothered in enchilada sauce and capped with melty cheese — different presentation.
Oh, and the tortilla wraps? They get a special treatment that gives them a surprise starring role in the recipe. I cut them up into small pieces and cook them along with everything else in the pan. The result? They puff up slightly and become these pillowy morsels with a texture that’s almost like pasta. Insanely delish.
Cheesy Beef Enchilada Skillet is —
- Much easier to pull together than a pan of rolled enchiladas.
- Quick and easy to make, just 30 minutes on the stovetop and done!
- Packed with beefy, cheesy flavors and a surprise flavor bonus: puffy tortilla pieces that taste like pasta if it were made with masa harina. Unique and delicious!
- A hearty meal that the entire family will love.
Easy skillet meals have a special place in my cook’s heart, and if you feel the same way, you might enjoy my Tex-Mex Beef and Rice and my Marry Me Beef and Rice Skillet. Classic flavors, one pot, happy family.
Key Ingredients
Lean ground beef — Use lean ground beef to keep the grease factor at a minimum. There’s plenty of flavor in this dish, so you won’t miss the extra fat.
Tortillas — I highly recommend flour tortillas for this recipe. Corn tortillas are delicious, but because we’re cutting them up and cooking them in the sauce, they’ll likely fall apart. Flour tortillas will hold together.
Aromatic vegetables — I keep things simple here and use onions and green chile peppers. A really good enchilada sauce will have lots of peppers and chiles to round out the vegetal flavors.
Spices — I season the beef and veggies with a generous helping of taco seasoning — make sure yours has cumin, or plan to add a 1/2 teaspoon — along with some smoky notes from smoked paprika and ground chipotle powder.
Enchilada sauce — An authentic or mostly authentic enchilada sauce should be made primarily with peppers. Most commercial brands that you’ll find at the grocery store will also include tomatoes as a filler. It’s okay. They’re complementary flavors and go well together. But check the ingredients label: some brands use only tomatoes and add spices to try to recreate the chile pepper presence. That’s no where near authentic.
Cheese — A melty cap of cheese is a must-have component of this enchilada skillet meal. I use two kinds of cheese: a medium cheddar, and queso quesadilla, which is mild, like Monterey Jack. Pre-shredded bagged cheese is really convenient, but note that it also contains fillers, such as cellulose, which mutes flavor: You’re paying for tasteless ingredients mixed in with your cheese to bring the bag up to the specified weight. Grating cheese off the block almost always gives a better result.
How to Make a Cheesy Beef Enchilada Skillet
Ready to make the recipe? Skip to the recipe card now to see the full ingredient list, quantities, prep/cooking times, and printable, detailed instructions. Or, keep scrolling for a visual walk-through of making the soup.
Prep notes
Here’s a quick guide for prepping the ingredients, if you need it (not including anything that simply needs to be measured out of a container, such as dried herbs and liquids).
- Slice the soft flour tortillas into 2″ pieces. Stacking the tortillas and running a pizza cutter over them makes quick work of it.
- Peel the onion and cut off and discard the root and stem ends. Chop into small dice.
- If using a block of cheese, grate on the fine hole side of the grater.
- Clean the green onions and remove and discard the root end. Slice thinly. All parts can be used from the white to the dark green tips.
- Pluck the cilantro leaves from their thick stems and rinse under running water. Pat dry, and mince.
Step 1: Brown the beef
Brown the ground beef in a little oil, breaking it up as you go. These funky new meat mashers that you see everywhere do a pretty good job, once you get the hang of it — kind of a stab-and-twist motion.
Step 2: Saute the aromatic vegetables and season
Add the onions and green chiles and saute until the onions have softened. Stir in the spices and salt.
Step 3: Simmer with the tortilla pieces in the enchilada sauce
Pour in the enchilada sauce and stir well with the meat mixture. Add the tortilla pieces and stir to coat. Let everything simmer to thicken. As it cooks, the tortilla pieces will puff up slightly.
Step 4: Finish with cheese
Sprinkle the grated cheese over the skillet, along with the cilantro and green onions, cover with a lid, and let the cheese melt. Then call everyone to dinner!
Storing
The Cheesy Beef Enchilada mixture itself stores very well in the refrigerator for 5 days, but of course, transferring it to a container will disturb the “aesthetics” of the skillet dish. But, as leftovers, it’s perfect.
If you’re thinking about making this ahead, you could make the recipe up until the cheese step and stop. Let it cool, transfer to a container and refrigerate. Then, when preparing the meal, add the beef mixture to a skillet, and continue with the cheese step to finish up.
This skillet meal has become my go-to when I’m craving enchiladas but not terribly excited about all the rolling. If you make this Cheesy Beef Enchilada Skillet, I’d love to hear how it turns out. Drop a comment below and let me know what you think or tag me on IG (@soupaddict).
Cheesy Beef Enchilada Skillet
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon olive or avocado oil
- 1 pound lean ground beef
- 1 small onion , diced (about 1 cup)
- 4 ounces canned mild green chiles
- 2 tablespoons mild taco seasoning
- 1 teaspoon smoked paprika
- 1/2 teaspoon chipotle powder
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 28 ounces red enchilada sauce
- 2 or 3 soft flour tortillas (“soft taco” size), cut in 2” squares*
- 1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
- 1 cup shredded quesadilla cheese**
- 2 tablespoon chopped fresh cilantro leaves
- 2 green onions , thinly sliced
Instructions
- Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the ground beef and cook until browned, breaking up the clumps as you go.
- Add the onions and green chiles and saute until the onions have softened, about 5 minutes.
- Sprinkle the taco seasoning, smoked paprika, chipotle powder, and salt over the mixture and stir well to incorporate.
- Pour the enchilada sauce over the meat mixture and stir. Let the mixture come up to a light simmer (small bubbles breaking the surface). Increase the heat slightly if you need to.
- Spread the tortilla pieces over the sauce, and fold in gently to coat all of the pieces with the enchilada sauce. Let the mixture cook for 5 minutes.
- Sprinkle the shredded cheeses over the top, followed by the cilantro and green onions. Cover with a lid (if the skillet doesn’t have a lid, you lay a large baking sheet or piece of foil over it). This traps the steam and helps the cheese to melt.
- When the cheese is melted, it’s ready to serve!