Amazing enchilada casserole packed with the best flavors of beef enchiladas. This flavorful casserole is made with ground beef and bell pepper mixture, spices, homemade enchilada sauce, and topped with lots of cheese. A wonderful weekend family dinner that even the pickiest of eaters will enjoy.
After you fall in love with this beef casserole, make sure to hop over to my Chicken Mushroom and Rice Casserole and give it a try.
Table of Contents
If you’re looking for a delicious, comforting dinner for the whole family, you found it! This rice casserole has it all in one – meat, rice, vegetables, sauce, and cheese, all combined into one delicious dish.
Beef Enchiladas are one of my family’s most requested dinners. No surprise, because there is so much flavor coming from ground beef, bell peppers, spices, and enchilada sauce.
This is a great dish for the whole family and you can easily adjust the spice level. I use one chili in adobo sauce and spices but if you want to kick up the spice, you can add a jalapeno or serrano chili pepper (or two). Overall, the spice is about medium but it is balanced well with rice and cheese topping.
Ingredient Notes:
Ground beef – for this casserole, use 90/10 meat to fat ratio ground beef. This meat will still be juicy but not greasy.
Long Grain White Rice – long grain rice is important to use because it tends to cook fluffy and as separate grains. Long grain rice includes American long-grain rice, Basmati, and Jasmine rice. (Medium grain rice also cooks as separate grain but more moist and tender. Short grain rice tends to clump together. Medium grain rice includes Arborio rice and short grain rice includes sushi rice.)
Garlic – as aways, using fresh garlic provides the best flavor and aroma.
Chili Pepper in Adobo Sauce – use 1 chili pepper in adobo sauce and about a tablespoon of the sauce from the can. If you want to make the casserole more spicy, don’t add more chili peppers in adobo sauce because that will make the dish more bitter vs spicy. To increase spice, you can add a spicy chili pepper to the dish, like jalapeno or serrano and you can leave the seeds in to increase the heat level.
Tomato sauce – remember to use tomato sauce, not tomato paste.
Beef Stock – you can use beef stock or beef broth. Beef stock tends to be more rich and flavorful than beef broth.
See recipe card for complete information on ingredients and quantities.
Cooking Instructions
Preheat the oven to 350° and lightly grease a 9×13 casserole dish. (This casserole can actually be cooked right in the 12-inch skillet that you use to cook beef and vegetables or in a separate 9×13 casserole dish.)
Slice onions and bell peppers and sauté until softened. Add tomatoes and garlic and sauté until garlic is fragrant (1). Take vegetables out of the pan, and set aside. Sauté ground beef in the same pan as the vegetables, breaking up all the clumps until beef is browned. Mix cooked vegetables back into the beef (2).
Add spices, diced chili in adobo sauce, tomato sauce, salt, and sugar. Mix well, pour in hot beef stock, and add rice (3). Stir everything until evenly incorporated. You can cook the beef and rice mixture right in the skillet or transfer it into a casserole dish.
Cover the casserole dish tightly (or the skillet) with a sheet of aluminum foil (4) and bake for about 40 minutes. (Note: if using different rice, bake time will be affected.)
Take the baking dish out of the oven and take off the foil. Finally, sprinkle cheese evenly over the top of the casserole (5) and bake for another 5-7 minutes. Once finished cooking, you can garnish the casserole with some minced cilantro (6).
Recipe FAQs
Draining ground beef or not has been a hot topic on many of my recipes here and on my Facebook page. Many people are firm believers in draining beef as it cooks and others are not.
I stand firm on not draining the beef but using slightly less fatty ground beef. There is SO much flavor in the juices that you would be literally pouring it down the drain. All these juices should be incorporated into the sauce or the dish that it’s cooked in instead of thrown out.
If you want to lower the amount of fat, simply choose leaner beef, like 90/10%. But remember, leaner beef means not as tender and not as juicy.
Sure, you can use long-grain brown rice! You’ll need to adjust the cooking time as brown rice takes longer (and sometimes much longer) to cook. A rice casserole using brown rice could take up to 60 minutes of covered bake time.
Of course, you can use ground chicken or ground turkey meat instead.
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Beef Enchilada Casserole Recipe
Ingredients
- 2 tbsp canola oil
- 1 yellow onion
- 2 bell peppers
- 3 tomatoes on a vine
- 4 garlic cloves
- 1 lb ground beef 85/15%
- 1/2 tbsp chipotle chili powder
- 2 tsp cumin
- 1 tsp paprika
- 1 chili in adobo sauce
- 1 tbsp adobo sauce from the peppers
- 2 tsp garlic powder
- 1/2 tbsp sugar
- 1 tsp oregano
- salt
- 8 oz can tomato sauce
- 2 cups beef stock hot
- 1 cup long grain white rice
- 2 1/2 cups shredded Mexican cheese mix
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350° and lightly grease a 9×13 casserole dish. (This casserole can actually be cooked right in the 12-inch skillet that you use to cook beef and vegetables or in a separate 9×13 casserole dish.)
- Slice onions and bell peppers and saute until softened. Add tomatoes and garlic and saute until garlic is fragrant.
- Take vegetables out of the pan, and set aside. Saute ground beef in the same pan as the vegetables, breaking up all the clumps until beef is browned.
- Mix cooked vegetables back into the beef.
- Add spices, diced chili in adobo sauce, tomato sauce, salt, and sugar. Mix well, pour in hot beef stock, and add rice. Stir everything until evenly incorporated. You can cook beef and rice mixture right in the skillet or transfer it into a casserole dish at this point.
- Cover the casserole dish tightly (or the skillet) with a sheet of aluminum foil and bake for about 40 minutes. (Note: if using different rice, bake time could be a few minutes more or less.)
- Take the dish out of the oven and take off the foil. Sprinkle cheese evenly over the top of the casserole and bake for another 5-7 minutes.
Notes
- Long grain white rice: long grain rice tends to cook fluffy and as separate grains. Long grain rice includes American long-grain rice, Basmati, and Jasmine rice. (Medium grain rice also cooks as separate grain but more moist and tender. Short grain rice tends to clump together. Medium grain rice includes Arborio rice and short grain rice includes sushi rice.)
- Make it more spicy: If you want to make the casserole more spicy, don’t add more chili peppers in adobo sauce because that will make the dish more bitter vs spicy. To increase spice, you can add a spicy chili pepper (or two) to the dish, like jalapeno or serrano and you can leave the seeds in to increase the heat level.
- Want to use brown rice? You can use long-grain brown rice! You’ll need to adjust the cooking time as brown rice takes longer (and sometimes much longer) to cook. A rice casserole using brown rice could take up to 60 minutes of covered bake time.
MARY TOGNAZZINI says
WHAT BEEF BROTH DO YOU USE?
LyubaB says
I usually use Kitchen Basics or Pacific whichever one has the low sodium or no sodium added.
Carol says
I have this recipe in my weekly rotation my family loves it!