This Slow Cooker Beef Enchiladas recipe is the ideal fakeaway. No need to brown the beef mince… just throw it all in and go. So tasty and so simple!
I am so excited to share the latest recipe in my slow cooker collection – Beef Enchiladas! So, so easy but full of flavour, pretty inexpensive and everyone will love it.
There was so much positive feedback from my previous slow cooker series that it got me thinking about how we could use this handy technique for feeding the whole family, on a budget, but with more summer dishes rather than the usual hearty, wintry offerings we associate with slow cooking.
I hope you will love this collection of recipes I’ve put together to see you through the summer (or any season, frankly), without using the oven or hob too much.
You can watch me cook this Beef Mince Enchiladas recipe and all of the others in the series on Instagram, Facebook and TikTok.
See you there!
You’ll love this recipe because:
✅ ‘Dump’ it all in – no browning necessary
✅ A full-of-flavour Mexican style fakeaway.
✅ Easy, cheap and quick to prepare.
FAQs about the Slow Cooker Beef Enchiladas
Do I really not need to brown the mince beef?
I know it’s unusual to find a recipe that doesn’t involve browning the meat, but trust me on this one. I have done many versions and worked hard to perfect this dish to make it as simple as possible for you without compromising on flavour, and I really think we’ve cracked it here.
Is this a spicy recipe?
The heat is medium to low, but if you are serving this meal to small children you can either leave the chilli powder out or just reduce the amount. If it’s spicy beef enchiladas you’re after, you can add more chilli powder or fresh chillies on top to serve.
Why don’t I need to roll the enchiladas?
This method is a cheat’s way! But it still tastes the same, obviously. If you’d prefer to have your enchiladas rolled, just remove the beef mixture from the slow cooker and roll up your ingredients (reserving a little of the sauce), and then return it back to the pot, adding the reserved sauce and cheese on top.
Can I freeze this?
Yes you can but be prepared for the wraps being a little soggy, so it won’t be at its best (although fine if you’re having it for a leftover lunch probably).
There are a couple of things I’d do instead if you want this meal for the freezer: a) put together all of the ingredients in a bag and freeze raw, ready to ‘dump’ into the slow cooker when you want it, or b) just freeze the mince sauce base, without the wraps. Then add the rest of the ingredients when it’s thawed and heat it all thoroughly.
Is this recipe an authentic Mexican recipe?
No, this is my take on my favourite enchiladas I’ve eaten in restaurants here and also in Mexico. If you’d like to learn about more authentic enchiladas you can read about them (along with a recipe) at My Latina Table.
Can I do the prep the night before?
Yes! This is a great time-saver in the morning. Add all the ingredients to the pot and pop in the fridge overnight. Then put it into the slow cooker in the morning – and remember to turn it on! (Yes I have made this mistake before – epic fail).
Can I make this a meat-free recipe?
Absolutely. Replace the beef mince with a couple of cans of mixed beans and the beef stock cube for vegetable stock cube, and you have a veggie enchiladas. Cook as normal.
Can you give a slow cooker recommendation?
My favourite is Morphy Richards Sear & Stew Slow Cooker (because you can use it for browning on the hob if you want to, and it’s really light). If you’ve got an induction hob, I recommend Lakeland Digital 6.5l Slow Cooker. Another tip – you can buy a WiFi plug like this one (Tp Link Tapo Smart Plug) so you can switch the slow cooker from your phone while you’re at work. You can also set up your Google or Alexa device to ‘switch on slow cooker’. Ahh… these hacks give me life!
Fancy more slow cooker recipes?
- Slow Cooker Spag Bolognese – Another delicious ‘dump’ favourite
- Slow Cooker Lamb Curry – Super tasty fakeaway!
- Beef Joint Slow Cooker – An easy Sunday dinner
Hope you enjoy this recipe as much as we do. I’d love to know how you got on and what you thought of it if you make this recipe. Please rate the recipe using the ⭐️ by the recipe.
Also, if you’d like to show me a photo by tagging me on Instagram (@tamingtwins) I LOVE to see your creations.
Slow Cooker Beef Enchiladas
Ingredients
For the slow cook:
- 500 g Lean beef mince
- 1 Onion Finely chopped | See notes
- 800 g Kidney beans (2x cans) Drained and rinsed
- 75 g Tomato puree
- 500 g Passata
- 2 Beef stock cubes
- 2 tsp Ground cumin
- 1/2 tsp Chilli powder See notes
- 1 tsp Dried oregano
- 3 tsp Garlic powder
- 2 Red peppers Chopped
To finish:
- 6 Tortillas
- 200 g Mozzarella See notes
To garnish:
- Spring onions
- Red chilli
Instructions
- Put all of the slow cook ingredients into the slow cooker and cook for 6 hours on HIGH or 8 hours on LOW.
- Before serving, cut the tortillas into pieces, mix into the mixture and top with the cheese.
- Option 1: Pop back into the slow cooker with the lid on for 30 minutes on HIGH or until the cheese is melted.
- Option 2: Pop under a hot grill or into an oven heated to 200C for about 10 minutes or until the cheese is melted and golden.
Notes
I like to use frozen, pre-peeled and chopped for speed, but you can use fresh if that’s what you have. Chilli Powder
I recommend using this for the flavour and heat, however if you really don’t want spice for the kids, you could leave it out altogether. You can add chilli sauce to individual adult portions at the end. There’s also the option of making it spicier by adding more chilli too, of course! Cheese
I use mozzarella because of the lovely melted ‘pull’, but use whatever your prefer.
Georgina Millings says
Could I make this without kidney beans which I can’t stand? Am wondering if it would need to lessen the passata to make it not too runny?
Sarah Barnes says
Hi Georgina, how about a different bean, or sweetcorn (if you use that, add it in at the end with the tortillas). Just helps to give them some veggie ‘bulk’!
Kavitha says
Hi – excited about your new series. Can I use chicken mince instead of beef ?
Sarah Barnes says
Hi Kavitha, there’s a specific chicken version on the site if you search. Enjoy!
Susan says
so cool. i love chilli. am and that looks so easy i;m going to cook that for sure
Tricia says
Hi Sarah, I’m cooking the recipe today but am on a calorie controlled plan and when I calculated the recipe using the specific ingredients/brands I have here I got it at 736 calories a serving. And that’s with only using 1 can of beans as my kids arent huge fans of them. Have I mistaken something in the recipe? Thank you, Tricia
Sarah Barnes says
Hi Tricia, so sorry I just realised that for some reason it hadn’t logged the beans on ours. Thanks for letting me know, I’ve updated now. There will always be some variations I’m afraid variations as it uses an ‘average’ so best to calculate if you need to be very exact! Hope that helps.
Tricia says
Hi Sarah, thanks so much for replying so quickly! I’m glad it was just an oversight and I don’t need a new calculator 🤪…
I’ve reduced the amount of cheese and left one tortilla out so that’ll help. It smells so good, I’m so looking forward to it , thanks again
Tricia
Louise says
I made this today with lean beef chunks from Aldi rather than mince and left out the tortillas and cheese so I was more of a beef chilli… served it with rice and it was amazing! So rich and flavoursome! Thanks you!
Kate says
Made this today with 400g of Quorn mince as this was all I had in the freezer and added some frozen sweetcorn. Used wholemeal tortilla wraps as we already had some. It was delicious and the whole family enjoyed it. Hurrah! P.s. It served 5 of us with a little bit left over.
Rachel says
Hello, do you think this would work for half the ingredients?
Amanda Clarke says
We really enjoyed this recipe-family were a bit sceptical about putting the sliced tortillas into the meat before serving but it worked well. Added bonus were the leftovers for lunch the following day!
Mich says
My family (all adults) loved this. The first word out of their mouths was YUMMY!
Anouska says
Made this for dinner and everyone loved it! Easily enough for hungry teenagers to have seconds too
Kate says
Just had this for dinner was soooo nice. Beef and broccoli tomorrow, I’m loving these slow cooker recipes. So easy to do.
Amber says
This is one of our favourites in my house! Has full approval from toddler too! We switch out the kidney beans for sweetcorn as he isn’t a fan and add in a little more chilli powder and he loves it! 🤣 I also throw in some smoked paprika for a smokey element, really is a fab recipe especially when you work from home, spends the day teasing you with the smell! Got it on this morning!😊🤌
Rhiannon says
This is such a great recipe! We popped it in wraps, topped with cheese and popped undet the grill for 5 minutes and it was delicious!
Lara Worthington says
We loved this recipe. So rare to find one that all the various tastes of our family like! Thank you. Next time, I’d like to make a double batch, though I wonder how long extra I might have to leave the slow cooker on?
Yummy times!