Salsa is an easy way to add flavor to these beef enchiladas!

One cuisine my entire family agrees on is Mexican food. Even my most particular eaters in the house have lots of Mexican favorites. While the guys would be happy with tacos or nachos all the time, my daughter and I like to shake things up a bit more. I tried making beef enchiladas first with a meal kit, and now I’ve made the recipe my own.

These beef enchiladas are super easy to put together and have a delectable Mexican flavor your whole family will like. You can make them as spicy as you like. My kiddos and I aren’t big on spicy food at all, so I got mild with ours, but there are easy ways to increase the spice like by using medium or hot salsa.

You can also make other variations on this enchilada recipe as well. I use ground beef, because that’s what the majority of my family prefers. But you can also use chicken or ground pork. I actually made a couple of the batch I photographed with cheese and onion, because I’d been craving a cheese enchilada.

On the stovetop

This recipe starts on the stovetop. Put about 1 tablespoon of vegetable or olive oil into a large skillet. Add 2/3 cup of diced onion and sauté the onion over medium-high heat for 3 minutes.

Next add in 1/2 to 1 pound of your meat. You can use chicken or ground turkey. I use ground beef. I usually use about 1/2 pound, because my family isn’t big on eating meat. But you can do up to a pound to make enough enchiladas for four people. Crumble the meat into small pieces and cook it completely through.

Once the meat is cooked, then you need to season it. I use 1/4 cup (or one packet) of taco seasoning. Mix the seasoning in with the meat without adding water.

Stir in the taco seasoning and then add 1 cup of salsa to the meat mixture. I use mild salsa, but you can go for whatever heat level your family prefers. (If your family doesn’t like chunks of veggies in their salsa, use a food processor or blender to puree the salsa before adding it in.) Feel free to also add salt and pepper to taste.

Let the meat mixture simmer on the stovetop for 2 to 3 minutes. Then remove the meat mixture from the heat.

Build your beef enchiladas

Now you’re ready to build your beef enchiladas. I usually get out a paper plate to build mine on. Dollop 1 to 2 tablespoons of the meat filling into taco-sized flour tortillas.

(Honestly, if I were making these for just me, I’d add a sprinkle of cheese to the inside of each enchilada as well, but my crazy family doesn’t like melted cheese as much as I do. So I refrain. Sigh.)

Roll the tortilla and place it seam-side down into the 9×13-inch baking dish that’s been sprayed with non-stick cooking spray. Put them right next to each other to keep them from opening up.

(You’ll notice in the photo below that the enchiladas on the far right have cheese already. This is because I made a couple of cheese and onion enchiladas as well and wanted to “mark” them.)

Pour about 1 cup of salsa over the top of the enchiladas.

Sprinkle the top of the enchiladas with shredded cheese. You’ll notice that mine increases in cheese amounts as you go to the right, because I can’t give up all melty cheese just because my family doesn’t like it as much as I do!

Place the baking dish in the oven and turn the broil on low. Broil the beef enchiladas for 3 to 4 minutes until the cheese is melted, lightly browned and bubbly.

Serve immediately. We love to put sour cream on ours. Mexican rice from a box goes well with these beef enchiladas as do tortilla chips.

Don’t miss these easy weeknight family dinner options as well!

• Honey mustard chicken with bacon and cheese
• Easy homemade sloppy joes
• Baked mac and cheese with Ritz cracker topping
• “Grilled” hot dogs from the oven
• Taco soup

Find other family friendly recipes like this one in the FREE “Favorite Recipes from Families with Grace” cookbook!