This Slow Cooker Ground Beef Enchilada Casserole is a take on our family favorite enchiladas that my mom has made for years. Absolutely delicious!
I am so late in getting this post up. I’m going to blame it on the fact that I fixed dinner for 16 teenagers over the weekend and I’m tired. My son Taylor and his friends had Junior Prom on Saturday and ate dinner at our house. I loved every minute of it and I’m pretty sure the kids did too.
Look at what an adorable group of kids they are. I loved all the girls dresses, they were absolutely beautiful (and modest). Everyone of them thanked me over and over again for dinner. Everything went off without a hitch. Well, except for the dead bug a girl found in her salad (stupid mixed greens from Costco . . ugh!). She was so great about it! She just picked it out and kept eating her salad.
So now onto this Slow Cooker Ground Beef Enchilada Casserole. I debated posting this today because I really wanted to get better pictures , but I decided that these pictures were just going to have to do. Taking pictures of things like enchiladas and casseroles are not my favorite thing. Truth is they just don’t photograph well, so please just trust me when I say this stuff is amazing.
It may just look like a big old blob of something, but it’s not. I have 5 boys that will vouch for me on this one. They inhaled this in about 57.8 seconds. They 110% declared it blog worthy and are already begging me to make it again even though I’ve made it twice in the last two weeks.
My mom’s ground beef enchiladas have been a family favorite for years. I took that recipe and turned turn them into a slow cooker meal. I changed up the sauce a bit, and added some sour cream in between layers and it turned about amazing. I can’t wait to make it again.
IMPORTANT TIPS FOR MAKING THIS CASSEROLE: (TIPS ADDED 04/8/20):
- Corn tortillas absorb the liquid way more than flour tortillas do. So when you pour the sauce on it may seem like it’s too much, but as this cooks, the corn tortillas absorb the sauce and this turns out perfectly.
- Flour tortillas do not absorb the sauce like the corn tortillas do. So please note that if you choose to use flour tortillas, you will not need all of the sauce! You will only want to use about 1/3 of the amount of sauce made. Just pour enough over the top to cover the final layer of tortillas. I know you’re then stuck with extra sauce which is kind of a nuisance. You can refrigerate it and use it for other Mexican recipes (it’s a great sauce for chicken enchiladas) or you can choose to make half a batch of the sauce, but then you’re stuck with half cans of enchilada sauce and tomato sauce. You decide what works best for you.
- Honestly, I love this the most with corn tortillas, and my boys who prefer flour tortillas for tacos and enchiladas, actually love this more with corn tortillas. I highly recommend using corn tortillas.
Slow Cooker Ground Beef Enchilada Casserole
- Total Time: 4 hours 15 mins
- Yield: 8 to 10 servings 1x
Ingredients
Meat Filling:
- 1 1/2 lbs ground beef
- 1 teaspoon cumin
- 1 1/4 teaspoons salt
- 1 can (16 oz) refried beans
- 1 cup grated cheddar or Colby jack cheese
Sauce:
- 1 1/4 cups half-n-half
- 1 can (10 oz) red enchilada sauce (I use mild)
- 1 can (7.75 oz) Mexican Tomato Sauce (I used El Pato Brand)
- Corn tortillas (about 15-18, depending on the size of your slow cooker and how you lay them. *SEE TIPS)
- Sour cream (about 1/3 to 1/2 cup)
- 1 1/2 cups grated cheddar cheese
- 1 1/2 cups grated Monterey Jack Cheese (or mozzarella)
Garnishes
- Shredded lettuce, cilantro, salsa, olives, avocados, sour cream
Instructions
- In a large skillet cook ground beef until no longer pink. Add cumin and salt and mix well. Stir in refried beans and 1 cup grated cheese. Season with more salt, if needed. Set aside
- in a large glass Pyrex measuring dish (or a large bowl) mix the half-n-half, enchilada sauce and tomato sauce.
- Spray the inside of a 4 or 6 quart slow cooker. Pour about 1/2 cup of the red sauce in the bottom of your slow cooker and spread around (it doesn’t have to cover everywhere). Place a layer of corn tortillas in next to cover the bottom of your slow cooker ( cutting if necessary to fit).
- Carefully spread half of the meat mixture over the tortillas. Drop about 4-5 spoonfuls of sour cream randomly over the meat layer, spread around a little. Sprinkle with 1/3 of the each of the cheeses. Repeat layers one more time (tortillas, meat, sour cream and cheese). Top with a final layer of corn tortillas. Pour the remaining red sauce over the top and then sprinkle the rest of the cheese (you can grate more for the top if you need it, I usually do).
- Cook on low 4 hours or high for 2 hours.
- Top with lettuce, olives, sour cream, avocado, salsa, etc.
Notes
You can use flour tortillas in place of corn tortillas if you like, but READ THE TIPS section of this post.
The Mexican tomato sauce definitely has a little bit of kick, so if you want to you can substitute regular tomato sauce, but I highly recommend the Mexican style. I am kind of a whimp about spicy foods and this was not too hot for me, it has just enough kick and the half-n-half mixed in with it definitely mellows the heat.
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 4 hours
- Category: Main Dishes
Recipe Source: 5 Boys Baker
I linked up at Buns In My Oven
Hi! I’m Jodi, a mom of five boys and lover of chocolate, sweets and everything in-between. Here you’ll find simple, delicious recipes that are all tried and true.
These enchiladas sound wonderful.
But what you really need to tell us is what you served for the Junior Prom dinner – ???
Hi Judy! I can’t believe I didn’t mention what I served for dinner. . .this is a food blog after all (lol!). I served sugar & spice pork tenderloin, my kids favorite rice, brown sugar & butter carrots, rolls, salad with candied almonds & strawberries and a cinnamon vinaigrette dressing I make. For dessert I made brownies then topped them with my homemade peppermint ice cream with my homemade chocolate sauce. The kids loved everything. The pork, rice, brownies, ice cream and chocolate sauce are all on my site (some in desperate need of updated photos). I really need to share the dressing one of these days, it’s delicious! Thanks for asking.
Yum! What diameter of corn tortillas works best?
Colleen I use the fajita size corn tortillas, they’re about 5 1/2 inches in diameter. Any size will work, because you can just cut them to fit. It’s ok if they overlap a bit.
Definitely a new family favorite! Love that it can be done in a crockpot!
Hello!
Thank you so much for this recipe. It sounds like something my boys would enjoy.
I do not have a crockpot (gasp), and definitely need to invest in one. Until then, could I use a casserole pyrex dish, and If so what degree would be the degrees and length of time I would bake the dish?
Have a wonderful day!
So sorry for my poor editing job in my last post! Thanks again!
Hi Jennifer! How can you get by without a crockpot?! I would die without mine! Anyway, you absolutely could layer this in a 9×13 or a large casserole dish. I would bake it covered at 325 degrees for 30 mins give or take a few minutes. Just check it and make sure it’s nice and hot and bubbly. Good luck.
made this tonight and it was a mushy, runny mess. I triple checked the liquid amounts and I followed the recipe as written. Possibly good for a dip as it did have good taste.
Hi Stacy! I’m so sorry this was a runny mess for you. A couple things, did you use flour tortillas? If you did then that is why this didn’t turn out for you. I always use corn tortillas and this turns our beautifully! After reading your comment, I was worried so I retested this recipe this weekend. I used corn tortillas in one half of the slow cooker and flour in the other half. The half of the casserole with the flour tortillas did not absorb the sauce like the side with the corn tortillas did. So my sincere apologies that I didn’t double check that before I posted the recipe. I have added updated tips in the post about this. If you did use corn tortillas, then I’m honestly not sure why this didn’t turn out. The recipe did have the amount of half & half wrong, it should be 1 1/4 cups instead of 1 1/2 cups, but that’s only 1/4 cup too much half & half and wouldn’t have made a huge difference. Again, I’m so sorry this didn’t turn out, but thank you for letting me know.