Shredded Beef Enchiladas Recipe - Gonna Want Seconds (2024)

My homemade shredded beef enchiladas recipe is truly, off-charts delicious! They’re loaded with tender, juicy, shredded, braised beef, authentic homemade beefy enchilada sauce, and plenty of gooey melty cheese to hold it all together. The enchilada sauce is so delicious, I hate to even call it sauce. Frankly, it’s more like a heavenly chili gravy than it is a plain ol’ sauce!

If the mere thought of Mexican food gets your family giddy with excitement, you’re gonna’ L-O-V-E this homemade recipe! If your family is as crazy for enchiladas as mine, I hope you try our cheesy chicken nnchiladas, shrimp enchiladas, honey lime chicken enchiladas, and our most popular white chicken enchiladasnext!! I promise you’ll devour all of these recipes! ♥

Let’s make these!

What Cut Of Beef Is Best For Shredded Beef Enchiladas

I use a beef chuck roast for these enchiladas. It’s an economical cut of meat and when it’s braised, it’s mouth wateringly, tender and luscious! It braises in a sauce that is infused with beefy goodness and fat from the beef, so that the sauce turns into the richest, most luscious enchilada sauce on the planet! If you need a great sauce for other enchiladas, try my easy-peasy, 5-minute enchilada sauce recipe!

Shredded Beef Enchiladas Ingredients

Shredded Beef

• Beef Chuck Roast: The best cut for this recipe!
• Salt + Black Pepper
• Bacon Grease Or Vegetable Oil: Bacon grease is my preference!
• Onion: Use yellow or white onions.
• Garlic: Fresh not jarred garlic.
• Crushed Tomatoes: I generally use Contadina brand.
• Water: Just tap water.
• Chili Powder: . I typically usethis chili powder,which has a mild complex flavor.
• Cumin: Dried and ground.
• Oregano: I like to rub this in my palms and crush it as I add this.
• Bay Leaves: Be sure you you fish the leaf out before using the sauce.
• Apple Cider Vinegar: This adds the right amount of acidity to the sauce with subtle notes of sweet fruit.
• Worcestershire Sauce: Adds subtle layers of umami and savory flavor.
• Granulated Sugar: Gently balances the acidity in the sauce.

Enchiladas

• Tortillas: I use flour tortillas because thats what my family likes! Corn tortillas are a more authentic choice.
• Shredded Meat: Cooked meat from above.
• Sour Cream: I use full fat but you can use low fat sour cream or even Greek yogurt.
• Cheese: I use a combo of extra sharp cheddar and jack cheese. You can use different cheeses per you family’s preferences.
• Fresh Cilantro: I love the freshness and flavor that cilantro adds. I know some people have a strong aversion to it, so so feel free to omit it if you do!

Storing + Freezing + Make-Ahead

• How Long Can You Keep This In The Fridge? According to the USDA, your shredded beef enchiladas recipe will stay fresh and yummy for 3-4 days in the fridge. That said, I’ve literally never had leftovers. These things are just so darn delicious they get gobbled up on the serving day!
• Can You Freeze This? Because these are made with flour tortillas and sour cream, these aren’t great to freeze.
• Make-Ahead Tips:The best way to make this meal ahead is to prep all your ingredients, roll up your enchiladas, and store the sauce separately in the fridge for up to four days. When you’re ready to cook, pour the sauce on, and pop it in the oven as usual!

Shredded Beef Enchiladas Tips + Notes

• Braising: Because the meatbraisesin the oven, it will be succulently tender when done. Remember, the given cooking time is an approximation. Your cooking time can and likely will vary depending on the exact size of your roast, your exact oven temperature (these vary), and how well your Dutch oven seals.
• Beef chuck roast: The best tip for this authentic Mexican beef enchilada recipe involves using a beef chuck roast which adds a ton of tender flavor. Be sure to pat it dry before browning to help create that nice crust that coaxes out layers of yum as it braises in the oven!
  • You’ll also want to toss the beef in your pan sauce (which we’ll now call enchilada sauce) before assembling your shredded beef enchiladas.
• Tortillas: This particular recipe also calls for using flour tortillas instead of corn. They’re tender, versatile, and often blister just a tad when cooked which adds yet another scrumptious layer of complex flavor. Plus, I find them easier to work with. If you prefer corn tortillas, which are admittedly a more authentic choice, feel free to use them!
  • In order to prevent your tortillas from getting soggy, some people recommend frying them until they’re crispy before wrapping up the meat and cheese. If you make this recipe with corn tortillas,frying them is an important step because it also makes them pliable and easy to roll up.
  • Truthfully, I’ve never had an issue with this recipe getting soggy and I do not fry my tortillas. But, if you’d like to try frying the tortillas, I recommend frying them just a little bit. Don’t overdo it they’ll have time to cook in the oven too.
• Sauce: After the beef gets shredded, toss it with one cup of the (spectacular) sauce before assembling the enchiladas. Don’t skip this, the sauce toss is an important step in making the meat taste so good.
  • Don’t forget to add some of the sauce to the bottom of the pan before you assemble the enchiladas. It prevents the enchiladas from sticking to the bottom of the pan and makes sure they don’t get too tough on the underside.
  • If you have leftover sauce do not throw it away. It’s too good to go to waste. Use it for eggs ranchero or toss it in with some rotisserie chicken for quick chicken tacos.
• Cheese: Make sure to note that the cheese mixture is divided. Half of the cheese is used inside the enchiladas—it gets all melty and delicious and blends with that savory shredded beef.
  • The other half is reserved to sprinkle on top of enchiladas once they’re assembled. Believe me, smothering your enchiladas in melted cheese is exactly what you want.
  • Feel free to switch up the type of cheese you use. While the cheddar/Monterey jack combination is excellent with this recipe, I sometimes use cotija and pepper jack cheese instead. Both are wonderful and can be switched out to vary the dish.
• Make it Spicy: Some people (like my son) really like these enchiladas served spicy! In order to heat up the enchilada sauce, you can add the cayenne powder in addition to the chili powder. Alternatively, you can add hot sauce at step 3 of the instructions, along with the crushed tomatoes.
• Sour Cream: There are a lot of things you could use as a sour cream substitute with this recipe (cottage cheese, evaporated milk, etc.), but my favorite has always been plain yogurt. It’s a little less flavorful than having sour cream on the enchiladas, but if you have picky guests that can sometimes be a good thing.

Serving Recommendations

I usually serve these with Mexican corn salad, Mexican street corn casserole, or Southwest salad. Both have plenty of veggies and sweet corn to enhance the authentic South of the Border flavor profile of the main course. Then I serve one of these with jalapeno cornbread, Mexican rice, and/or charro beans!

How To Make Shredded Beef Enchiladas

Make The Shredded Beef:

1. In a Dutch oven, add chuck roast and brown on both sides. Remove the roast to a plate and set aside.

2. Saute onion and garlic.

3. Add the roast back to the Dutch oven, along with any pan juices that have accumulated, the crushed tomatoes, water, chili powder, cumin, oregano, bay leaves, apple cider vinegar, Worcestershire sauce, and sugar. Boil. Place in the preheated oven and cook for 3-3 1/2 hours, or until the roast is falling-apart tender.

4. Remove the roast to a shallow pan and shred with 2 forks. Add 1 cup of the pan sauce. Add salt and pepper to taste.

5. Add 1 cup of water to the pan sauce and salt and pepper to taste (I added 1 1/2 to 2 teaspoons of salt and 3/4 teaspoon of pepper).

Assembly:

1. Add 1/2 cup of pan sauce to a 9 X 13-inch baking dish. Fill each tortilla with an equal amount of shredded beef (about 1/3 cup), 1 1/2 tablespoons of sour cream, a layer of cheddar, and a layer of Jack.

2. Roll up tightly and place seam side down in the baking dish. Ladle cooled pan sauce evenly over top of the enchiladas,

3. Sprinkle with cheese.

4. Bake in a 350-degree oven until the sauce is bubbly and the cheese is melted about 20-25 minutes.

***See Full Instructions On the Recipe Card Below

More Authentically Delicious Mexican Recipe

• Chicken Posole
• Pollo Asado
• Carne Picada
• Carne Guisada
• Sopes
• Pozole Verde
• Mexican Casserole
• Mexican Spaghetti
• Mexican Chicken Casserole

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