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Home » Dinner » Beef Enchiladas Verde

Beef Enchiladas Verde

Created: February 16, 2015 Updated: October 6, 2022 by lyuba 59 Comments

24.7K shares
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There is only one word to describe these Beef Enchiladas and it’s “WOW!” These amazing Beef Enchiladas Verde are made with ground beef, tomatillos, jalapeno peppers, and cheese and baked in creamy tomatillo sauce.

If you love enchiladas as much as we do, you should try our Beef Enchiladas, Chicken Enchiladas, and Enchiladas Verdes.

small rectangular plate with 2 portions of beef enchiladas on a wooden table with a fork resting between the plate and a baking pan in the background with additional portions of beef enchiladas as viewed from above

Amazing Beef Enchiladas

Let me just say that again…these enchiladas are amazing!!

I know that I say it about a lot of my recipes, but out of all the different enchiladas I’ve made, these are my favorite! I’m sure that the next ones I come up with, I’ll love even more though. That’s the creative process for ya, next best recipe is just around the corner.

I’m not lying though, these enchiladas are worth staying home for dinner and a movie…over Harry Potter world apparently. This is not an off-the-wall comparison, I promise. One of my close friends was coming over for our usual dinner and a movie girls night and she ended up blowing me off at the last minute because she got invited to Harry Potter world.

I joked with her that I was making these enchiladas and she will be sorry because they are better that the Harry Potter world. The following week, I made them for her again and she did agree with me, while licking her plate clean!

I do want to mention that you don’t have to use an immersion blender, like I mention in the recipe. I love mine and it is one of my favorite kitchen gadgets, so I use it all the time. But, if you don’t have one, don’t fret! Just quickly pulse veggies in the blender and add heavy cream and sour cream there. Return sauce mixture to the pot and heat through for a few minutes. Easy as that!

Brown baking dish filled with portions of beef enchiladas on a green and white cloth on a wooden table.

Storing and Reheating

You can easily store leftover enchiladas in the same casserole dish you baked it or transfer into an air-tight food storage container. Make sure to cover the casserole dish either with plastic wrap or with a lid that fits the dish to make it air-tight. Store in the refrigerator for 3-5 days. 

To reheat enchiladas, you can either reheat it individually in a microwave or you can reheat it in the same casserole dish in the oven. To reheat it in the oven, take plastic wrap or a lid off the dish and cover the top of the casserole dish with foil. Place a cold casserole dish with enchiladas into the oven so that the cold dish gradually heat up as the oven heats up. 

Reheat enchiladas at 350° just until hot in the middle, for about 15-20 minutes. 

Make It Ahead Instructions:

Enchiladas are actually a pretty good dish to make ahead of time. You can follow the recipe all the way to the baking step but instead of baking, cover the dish with plastic wrap (or a fitted lid) and refrigerate until ready to bake. When ready to bake, take the dish out of the fridge and discard plastic wrap. 

Let the dish sit on the counter for about 30 minutes and while the oven is pre-heating. Bake at 350° for 20-25 minutes. 

close up view of small rectangular plate with 2 portions of beef enchiladas on a wooden table with a fork resting between the plate and a baking pan in the background with additional portions of beef enchiladas.
Brown baking dish filled with portions of beef enchiladas on a green and white cloth on a wooden table.

Beef Enchiladas Verde

These amazing Beef Enchiladas Verde are made with ground beef, tomatillos, jalapeno peppers, and cheese and baked in creamy tomatillo sauce.
4.68 from 25 votes
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Course: dinner, Main Course
Cuisine: Mexican
Keyword: beef chili, Enchiladas
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 35 minutes
Total Time: 45 minutes
Servings: 8 (Makes 8 enchiladas)
Calories: 353kcal
Author: Lyuba Brooke

Ingredients

Meat Filling:

  • 1 Tbsp vegetable oil
  • 1 lb ground beef 85/15 or 90/10
  • 1/2 medium yellow onion diced
  • 2 large tomatillos diced
  • 1 large jalapeno seeded and diced
  • 2-4 garlic cloves minced
  • 1/4-1/2 tsp red pepper flakes to taste
  • 1/2-1 tsp chipotle chili powder to taste
  • 1 tsp cumin
  • Salt to taste

Creamy Tomatillo Sauce:

  • 1 Tbsp vegetable oil
  • 3 large tomatillos diced
  • 1 jalapeno seeded and diced
  • 1/2 medium yellow onion diced
  • 2 garlic cloves chopped
  • 2/3 cup heavy whipping cream
  • 2 Tbsp sour cream
  • 1 Tbsp minced cilantro
  • 1/2 tsp cumin
  • 1/4 tsp chipotle chili powder
  • Salt

For Enchiladas:

  • 8 flour tortillas
  • 1 1/2 – 2 cups Mexican shredded cheese mix
  • 1/2 cup shredded Monterrey Jack cheese

Instructions

Meat Filling:

  • Heat up oil in a medium sauté pan over medium heat.
  • Add diced onion and saute until transparent.
  • Add ground beef, breaking it up as much as you can. Cover and cook until almost done, stirring and breaking up clumps often.
  • Add diced tomatillos, diced jalapeno and minced garlic. Stir well.
  • Add spices, stir well and cook until vegetables are soft and meat is fully done. (Strain off the juice.)

Creamy Tomatillo Sauce:

  • Heat up oil in a small sauce pot.
  • Add diced tomatillos, onion, jalapeno, and garlic. Cook covered, over medium heat, until vegetables are softened. Add cilantro and spies, stir well.
  • Using your immersion blender, puree all the vegetables. (Be careful of the hot splatter.)
  • Stir in heavy cream and sour cream. Blend more if needed.
  • Preheat oven to 350° and lightly grease a 9×13 baking dish. Spread a little bit of sauce on the bottom of the baking dish.

Assemble Enchiladas:

  • Scoop some beef mixture in a tortilla and add some Mexican mix cheese on top. Roll tortilla and place it in the baking dish, seam down. Repeat with remaining tortillas, cheese and beef.
  • Pour remaining sauce all over enchiladas and sprinkle Monterrey Jack cheese on top.
  • Bake for about 20 minutes.

Video

Notes

Recipe from Lyuba @ willcookforsmiles.com All images and content are copyright protected. Please do not use my images without prior permission. If you want to share this recipe, please simply link back to this post for the recipe. Thank you.

Nutrition

Calories: 353kcal | Carbohydrates: 19g | Protein: 15g | Fat: 24g | Saturated Fat: 11g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 2g | Monounsaturated Fat: 8g | Trans Fat: 1g | Cholesterol: 71mg | Sodium: 313mg | Potassium: 322mg | Fiber: 2g | Sugar: 3g | Vitamin A: 509IU | Vitamin C: 8mg | Calcium: 135mg | Iron: 3mg
Tried this recipe?Mention @willcookforsmiles and tag #willcookforsmiles
3 picture collage of beef enchiladas verde

LYUBA

ABOUT LYUBA

I’m Lyuba Brooke, mother of 2, the cook, recipe developer, photographer, and author behind willcookforsmiles.com. I share many classic and original recipes, cooking tips, and tutorials. My passion is sharing delicious meals for everyone to try. Read more...

24.7K shares

Filed Under: Beef, Cinco de Mayo, Dinner, Mexican and Tex-Mex Tagged With: enchiladas, ground beef

All images and text ©Lyubov Brooke for ©Will Cook For Smiles. Please do not use my images without prior permission. If using my posts in collections and features, please link back to this post for the recipe. Disclaimer: Nutrition information shown is not guaranteed to be 100% accurate as most ingredients and brands have variations.

Comments

  1. Julie | This Gal Cooks says

    February 16, 2015 at 10:01 pm

    Being the Mexican-foodaholic that I am, I want to jump into a bucket of these. They look great, Lyuba!

    Reply
    • lyuba says

      February 17, 2015 at 5:42 pm

      Hope you get a change to try it! Thank you, Julie!

      Reply
    • Nikalette says

      November 18, 2019 at 9:17 pm

      5 stars
      These were fantastic! I usually don’t care too much for enchiladas but they’re one of my hubby’s favs so I make them often. This is by FAR my favorite recipe. I did up the amount of Chipotle powder and cumin just because that’s our preference and decided to add some pinto beans in the meat mixture just so I didn’t have to make a side lol but they turned out SO GOOD! Also added some olives on top. Even my picky 5 and 2 year old loved them. Thank you so much, I will be making these again and again!

      Reply
  2. Joanna says

    March 4, 2015 at 2:11 pm

    I made these enchiladas last night and they are seriously delicious! My husband told me that these are the best enchiladas we have ever made! The tomatillo sauce is what really makes this dish stand out. The only thing I will do differently next time (because there will be a next time) is buy higher quality tortillas.

    Reply
    • lyuba says

      April 9, 2015 at 4:20 pm

      YAY! I love hearing that, Joanna 🙂
      Sorry for a late response, I must have missed this comment.
      Thank you!

      Reply
  3. Mary says

    March 29, 2015 at 4:51 pm

    Thanks for the recipe but I would use corn tortillas instead of flour.

    Reply
    • lyuba says

      April 9, 2015 at 4:22 pm

      Thank you, Mary!
      Personally, for my recipe, I don’t recommend using corn tortillas because they have such strong flavor. But of course, it’s a your preference and if you like those better, you can use corn.

      Reply
    • Pen Hayes says

      October 2, 2016 at 4:06 pm

      I would, too. My fave Tex-Mex restaurant always uses corn tortillas for their green beef enchiladas. Can’t wait to try this recipe.

      Reply
      • Lyuba says

        October 4, 2016 at 9:04 pm

        Thank you, Pen! I’d love to hear how it went!

        Reply
  4. Julia@Vikalinka says

    April 23, 2015 at 9:24 am

    Lyuba, this looks so good. My kids have been asking for enchiladas for ever and I am so making this recipe!

    Reply
  5. Heather says

    July 25, 2015 at 5:55 pm

    I just made these for my family and we were blown away with how good they were. I was afraid that they were going to be too hot with all the peppers but they were full of flavor without beings too spicy. I will be making these again soon – thanks for the recipe!

    Reply
    • lyuba says

      July 26, 2015 at 11:25 am

      I’m so happy to hear that!! So glad everyone liked them 🙂
      Thank you, Heather!

      Reply
  6. Liz says

    February 5, 2016 at 10:09 pm

    Love all your recipes Lyuba. Thank you and have a great weekend.

    Reply
    • lyuba says

      February 10, 2016 at 9:18 pm

      Awe, thank you, Liz!

      Reply
  7. Sally says

    April 2, 2016 at 6:25 am

    Hey Lyuba,
    Good day from Australia. I have made your recipe for Beef Enchiladas three times. I love them but more importantly my husband LOVES them. I thank you and so does Shaun.
    Sally
    QLD, Australia

    Reply
    • Lyuba says

      April 4, 2016 at 9:16 pm

      Thank you, Sally! That’s always great to hear 🙂

      Reply
  8. Liz says

    April 5, 2016 at 10:51 pm

    Love all these recipes. Thank you Lyuba and have a great week.

    Reply
    • Lyuba says

      April 6, 2016 at 10:52 pm

      Thank you so much, Liz, it means a lot! I hope you have a great week yourself. 🙂

      Reply
  9. Sally says

    May 3, 2016 at 7:21 am

    Hello from Down Under,
    This is the forth time I have made this recipe. Love it. But more importantly my husband Loves IT. He requested this for his Birthday dinner. Thank you

    Reply
    • Lyuba says

      May 4, 2016 at 8:30 pm

      I’m so happy to hear that! Thank you so much, Sally!

      Reply
  10. Mike Hirsch says

    September 6, 2016 at 12:56 pm

    I made a practice batch of these over the weekend, half with gluten-free tortillas and half with regular-flour tortillas. I de-seeded the jalapenos and I thought they were lacking in flavor. So I am going to use a bit more cumin, some of the seeds from the jalapenos and maybe some other spices as well.

    However they were delicious. I am going to make 19 recipes of this for a group feed of college students at our church in a week. Since I can’t assemble them on the day we serve due to my “real job”, I am wondering if I should assemble and freeze or assemble as normal but don’t heat up. Any thoughts about the best way to do them ahead?

    Reply
    • lyuba says

      September 7, 2016 at 5:40 pm

      I’m glad to hear that they came out delicious! If you want more heat from the jalapenos, there is a little trick. Pick out jalapenos that have lots of lines on the skin. You can see when a jalapeno skin is all smooth on the outside or those that have lots of lines on them. The more lines on the skin, the spicier jalapeno tends to be. Of course, you can keep the seeds and membranes for additional heat.
      Thank you, Mike! I hope everyone will be happy 🙂

      Reply
      • Mike Hirsch says

        September 15, 2016 at 10:33 am

        Yesterday evening I served the 19 batches I had mentioned I was going to make. They turned out absolutely fabulous. They definitely packed the right amount of heat without being overpowering. I used fairly small tortillas so we made almost 200 enchiladas, including one pan with gluten-free tortillas. Everyone loved them. I will definitely do these again but probably not for a large crowd. I didn’t want to assemble them ahead so even though I had all the ingredients prepared, I didn’t assemble until yesterday afternoon. It took about 6 man-hours to assemble them all (3 people for 2 hours). The sauce was a little whiter than your pictures. One thing I struggled with is what is the size of a typical tomatillo. Wal-Mart is where I purchased them. And they varied quite a bit in size. I actually had to buy them in three trips to get enough. I think the sauce had the right flavor though. It was fabulous.

        Reply
  11. Desiree Campbell says

    November 16, 2016 at 12:51 am

    Looks yummy… Pinning!

    Reply
    • lyuba says

      November 16, 2016 at 7:35 pm

      Thank you, dear! 😀

      Reply
  12. Lacey Jo says

    December 4, 2018 at 5:23 pm

    5 stars
    I have easily made these 20 times. I dont’t change anything. I’ve got the recipe memorized, just came here to leave the review. Love Love Love. Thank you for this recipe.

    Reply
    • lyuba says

      December 15, 2018 at 12:07 pm

      Awe, thank you so much, Lacey! This is so wonderful to hear!

      Reply
  13. Rachel says

    May 27, 2019 at 10:47 pm

    Just made these tonight. They were so good. Thank you so much for the inspiration! Now to find some keto friendly tortillas! Yummmmmy!
    My whole family loved them…. they were a huge hit!

    Reply
    • LyubaB says

      May 28, 2019 at 1:15 pm

      Rachel, I am so glad you liked it!!!

      Reply
  14. Robin says

    September 2, 2019 at 6:10 pm

    5 stars
    Hubby and I just made this. One word, YUM!

    Reply
    • LyubaB says

      September 4, 2019 at 9:26 am

      Thanks, Robin! I am happy to hear that!

      Reply
  15. Melissa says

    October 4, 2019 at 9:14 am

    Hello, We make homemade salsa verde all the time so I appreciated the recipe was pretty true to authentic salsa. We added a little more spice/salt to bring out the flavor after scorching the veggies. I don’t like soggy tortillas so I wouldn’t put the salsa on the bottom of the pan, just over the top as we bake it. It softens enough. I didn’t feel like rolling tortillas and we’re a corn tortilla family so I just layered the tortillas on the bottom, spooned the filling over it and put another layer on top. It was easy to cut into after I let it sit 15 minutes after coming out of the oven.

    Reply
  16. Allie says

    October 25, 2019 at 12:00 am

    5 stars
    Lyuba,
    I’m one of those terrible ppl who tries a recipe and doesn’t leave a comment even though the recipe was delicious, but I have to tell you…. oh my goodness!!!! This recipe is unbelievable! My hubby who is a creature of habit and my three picky kids loved your recipe! We love Mexican food too so I was eager to try it! I haven’t made enchiladas in a while because the canned sauce and restaurant type was not happening. We are so sticking to this recipe!!!! Thank you so much!

    Reply
    • LyubaB says

      November 19, 2019 at 5:51 pm

      Wow! Thank you Allie! I love that you loved it so much!!! 🙂

      Reply
  17. Lidia says

    January 3, 2020 at 5:58 pm

    Hi , they look delicious. I live in England and can’t find the tomatillos, can I substitute them with something else?
    I am allergic to chilli so on mine I will not use the jalapeño but I will use them for my husband. Hope that not using them for me will not have to much impact on the taste of mine .
    But the important thing is what can I add instead of the tomatillos.
    Thank you.

    Reply
  18. Maryetta says

    February 9, 2020 at 3:32 pm

    These look amazing. I’m pinning and can’t wait to try. They are burritos though. Enchiladas are made with corn tortillas.

    Reply
  19. Anne Wolfington says

    August 12, 2020 at 3:19 pm

    Can you freeze these?

    Reply
  20. CATHERINE DILLON says

    October 21, 2020 at 11:27 am

    Have you ever tried using Mexican Crema instead of sour cream? I like Crema Oxaquena. I think I will try adding a roasted Poblano pepper to the sauce also. I love them. I may roast the tomatillos too.

    Reply
    • LyubaB says

      October 21, 2020 at 1:33 pm

      Hi Catherine,

      I haven’t tried it but I think it would be good, I think all your suggestions are very good. Let me know how you liked it! 🙂

      Reply
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Well, hey there!

I’m Lyuba Brooke, mother of 2, the cook, recipe developer, photographer, and author behind willcookforsmiles.com. I share many classic and original recipes, cooking tips, and tutorials. My passion is sharing delicious meals for everyone to try. Read More.

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