Creamy Beef Enchiladas
Creamy Beef Enchiladas filled with seasoned beef, cheese, and peppers, baked in a rich creamy enchilada sauce for an easy, delish, family dinner.
A Creamy Enchilada Recipe
These Creamy Beef Enchiladas are the kind of comforting dinner that disappears as fast as they hit the table. They’re filling, cheesy, and baked in a creamy sauce – it doesn’t get much better than that! It’s a simple meal made with simple ingredient. These are in no way authentic Mexican at all but they sure are good!
Frequently Asked Questions:
I think this recipe actually holds up better with flour tortillas. You technically could use corn but sometimes corn tortillas don’t always like to hold up well with so much creamy, heavy sauce on top. If you absolutely must use corn tortillas, just remember to warm them up first before filling and rolling so they don’t tear.
Nope, but it does give the shells more texture, but they must be enjoyed after they come out of the oven or they lose that texture pretty quickly. If you heat them later, the shells will be softer since they would be sitting in the cream sauce for longer.
You can add corn, beans, red or yellow bell peppers, or jalapenos. You can top the enchiladas with salsa, pico de gallo, lettuce, or tomatoes. There are lots of ways to make this your own.
You bet. You can assemble this ahead of time and then wait to pop it all in the oven until you’re about ready to serve if you’d like to.
Nope, your kitchen, your rules. If you don’t want to use cumin, onion, powder, garlic powder, salt and pepper, you can substitute all of those seasonings with a packet of taco seasoning. Homemade Taco Seasoning is always a good option too.
Some of my favorites to serve with these creamy enchiladas are Mexican Rice, Refried Beans, side salad, steamed veggies, or some chips and salsa or chips and Queso.
You can keep the leftovers for up to 4 days. The shells will get a little soggy when reheated. You can freeze them for up to 2 months, but the tortilla shells will get a little soggy when baking.
Ingredients Needed: (See Recipe Card Below For The Full Recipe)
- ground beef– I prefer to use lean ground beef so there isn’t really any grease to drain but please use whatever kind of ground beef you have available. You can use ground chicken or turkey as well.
- green bell pepper– if diced bell peppers aren’t your thing, you can leave them out. No need to replace them with anything else. Or if you prefer red or yellow peppers than please use those.
- yellow onion – don’t like onions? Leave them out.
- shredded Colby-Jack cheese– You can use any of your favorite cheeses for this recipe. You can also use more cheese if you like. Colby Jack is my favorite because it melts so well, but you can use Monterey Jack, cheddar, or even pepper Jack cheese. Or a Mexican cheese blend works perfectly too.
- ground cumin, onion powder, garlic powder, salt, black pepper – a little tip about the seasoning, you can substitute all these spices with one packet of taco seasoning.
- green chile enchilada sauce– You can use red enchilada sauce in place of green enchilada sauce but I like the green with the creaminess of this recipe.
- cream cheese– You can use these Tips to Soften Cream Cheese Quickly if you need them. I know someone will ask for a substitute for the cream cheese because their husband doesn’t like it. I don’t have a substitute here. You could maybe try heavy cream but it still isn’t as thick as cream cheese. I don’t think you taste the cream cheese very strong here because it mixes with the green enchilada sauce. You could try adding a little heavy cream at a time and go from there until you get it at a good consistency but I can’t tell you any amounts from personal experience.
- flour tortillas– you could technically use corn but the corn doesn’t always hold up well to a lot of sauce like this. Corn tortillas are also a lot smaller so the enchiladas would be a lot smaller. Just keep in mind, you do have to warm up corn tortillas before filling and rolling or they will tear.
How To Make Creamy Beef Enchiladas:
Preheat the oven to 400° F. To a skillet, add the ground beef, onions, and peppers. Over medium heat, cook and crumble the meat until the beef is no longer pink and the peppers and onions are soft.
Drain any excess grease and place back into the skillet. Add ⅓ of the shredded cheese and all the seasonings to the beef mixture. Mix until combined and cheese has melted. Remove from the heat and set aside.
To a medium saucepan over medium heat, add the enchilada sauce, cream cheese, and ⅓ of the shredded cheese. Whisk until the cream cheese has fully melted and everything is combined well. Remove from heat.
Add a half cup of the beef mixture to the middle of each tortilla. Roll it up. Continue with the rest of the enchiladas. Optional: add the rolled enchiladas to a heated skillet to brown the sides.
Transfer them (seam side down) to a 9×13-inch baking dish. Top the enchiladas with the creamy enchilada sauce.
Sprinkle the remaining shredded cheese on top. Bake uncovered, on the middle rack, for about 20 minutes.
Sprinkle dried parsley on top then serve!
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Creamy Beef Enchiladas
Ingredients
- 1 pound ground beef (I used lean ground beef)
- 1 green bell pepper, diced
- 1 cup diced yellow onion
- 2 cups shredded Colby Jack cheese (divided use, see notes below)
- 1 teaspoon ground cumin
- 1 teaspoon onion powder
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon black pepper
- 28 ounce can green chile enchilada sauce
- 8 ounce block cream cheese, softened to room temperature
- 8 (8-inch) flour tortillas
- 1 teaspoon dried parsley (optional, for garnish)
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 400° F. Spray a 9×13-inch baking dish lightly with nonstick cooking spray. Set aside.
- To a skillet, add 1 pound ground beef, 1 green bell pepper, diced, and 1 cup diced yellow onion. Over medium heat, cook and crumble the meat until the beef is no longer pink and the peppers and onions are soft.Drain any excess grease and place back into the skillet.
- Add 2/3 cups shredded Colby Jack cheese, 1 teaspoon ground cumin, 1 teaspoon onion powder, 1 teaspoon garlic powder, 1/2 teaspoon salt and 1/2 teaspoon black pepper to the beef mixture. Mix until combined and cheese has melted. Remove from the heat and set aside.
- To a medium saucepan over medium heat, add 28 ounce can green chile enchilada sauce, 8 ounce block cream cheese, softened to room temperature and 2/3 cups shredded Colby Jack Cheese. Whisk until the cream cheese has fully melted and everything is combined well. Remove from heat.
- Add about half a cup of the beef mixture to the middle of each flour tortilla. Roll it up. Continue with the rest of the enchiladas.
- Optional: add the rolled enchiladas to a heated skillet to brown the sides. If not using a nonstick skillet, spray with a bit of nonstick cooking spray first. Transfer them (seam side down) to the baking dish.
- Top the enchiladas with the creamy enchilada sauce.
- Sprinkle the remaining shredded Colby Jack cheese on top.
- Bake uncovered, on the middle rack, for about 20 minutes until bubbly around the edges.
- Sprinkle 1 teaspoon dried parsley evenly on top, then serve!
Video
Notes
- Please refer to my FAQ’s (Frequently Asked Questions) and ingredient list above for other substitutions or for the answers to the most common questions.
Nutrition
Nutritional Disclaimer
“The Country Cook” is not a dietician or nutritionist, and any nutritional information shared is an estimate. If calorie count and other nutritional values are important to you, we recommend running the ingredients through whichever online nutritional calculator you prefer. Calories and other nutritional values can vary quite a bit depending on which brands were used.
This looks delicious but what can use in place of enchilada sauce for someone who loves Mexican but not any spice .
I don’t find it spicy at all but perhaps you can make something homemade. This is the only way I have made it so can’t give you any other suggestions, sorry
These are definitely happening for dinner as soon as we’re back home. Thinking I may try a mixture of Mexican Crema with the cream cheese; for some reason that just sounds really good. Thank you, Brandie! I do thoroughly enjoy many of your recipes. Have a blessed week.
Thanks so very much Lori! That means so much! Hope you love this one!!