Enchiladas Con Carne

Name: Enchiladas Con Carne
Total time: 1 h 30 min
Yield: 4 to 6 servings
Cuisine: southwestern
Ingredients: 1/2 cup all-purpose flour; 2 tablespoons neutral oil, like canola; 1 pound ground chuck beef, ideally 20 percent fat; Kosher salt and ground black pepper, to taste; 1 medium white onion, peeled and chopped; 2 cloves garlic, peeled and minced; 1 jalapeño pepper or more to taste, seeds removed if you want it less spicy, stemmed and chopped; 1 cup chopped or canned crushed tomatoes; 3 tablespoons chile powder; 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin; 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano, ideally Mexican; 2 cups chicken stock, ideally homemade or low-sodium if store-bought; 1/2 cup neutral oil, like canola; 12 yellow corn tortillas; 3 cups shredded Cheddar cheese, or a mixture of 1 1/2 cups Cheddar cheese and 1 1/2 cups American cheese, like Velveeta; 1 medium-size white onion, peeled and chopped (optional)

By Sam Sifton

Total Time: 1½ hours
Rating: 5(2,956)
Notes: Read community notes

There are a few cool tricks to this recipe, one of which I picked up from an old issue of Bon Appétit, one I learned from Robb Walsh, the great Tex-Mex scholar and restaurateur who runs El Real Tex-Mex in Houston, and a final one I learned by happenstance. First, for the thickening agent in the chile sauce, toast raw all-purpose flour in a pan until it is nutty and golden brown, then reserve it to stir in with the browned beef later in the recipe. Second, if you like truly melty cheese in the classic Tex-Mex tradition, use a mixture of American cheese, like Velveeta, with the Cheddar you use inside and on top of the finished enchiladas. Finally, if you’re fearful that a casserole of cheese, chili and fried tortillas may be a little rich for dinner, serve it with a bowl of tomatillo pineapple salsa on the side. The acidity provides a nice balance. (Note also that as with all recipes, but particularly this one, some planning and practice can get the preparation down to 60 minutes.)

Featured in: Enchiladas Are the Saucy, Cheesy Addition to Your Dinner Table

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Ingredients

Yield:4 to 6 servings

For the Chili Con Carne

½cup all-purpose flour
2tablespoons neutral oil, like canola
1pound ground chuck beef, ideally 20 percent fat
Kosher salt and ground black pepper, to taste
1medium white onion, peeled and chopped
2cloves garlic, peeled and minced
1jalapeño pepper or more to taste, seeds removed if you want it less spicy, stemmed and chopped
1cup chopped or canned crushed tomatoes
3tablespoons chile powder
½teaspoon ground cumin
½teaspoon dried oregano, ideally Mexican
2cups chicken stock, ideally homemade or low-sodium if store-bought

For the Enchiladas

½cup neutral oil, like canola
12yellow corn tortillas
3cups shredded Cheddar cheese, or a mixture of 1½ cups Cheddar cheese and 1½ cups American cheese, like Velveeta
1medium-size white onion, peeled and chopped (optional)

Ingredient Substitution Guide

Preparation

Step 1
Prepare the chili con carne: Put flour in a large sauté pan set over medium-high heat. Cook, stirring frequently, until it begins to turn golden brown and smell nutty, then pour it onto a plate to cool.
Step 2
Wipe out sauté pan and return it to high heat with 2 tablespoons oil. When oil is hot and shimmery, add ground beef to pan, and cook, breaking it up with a fork and stirring, until it is well browned, about 12 to 15 minutes. Season with salt and pepper, then use a slotted spoon to remove meat to a bowl, leaving drippings behind.
Step 3
Add onion, garlic and jalapeño to pan and cook, stirring to scrape up any browned bits of meat, for 10 to 12 minutes, or until vegetables are soft. Stir in tomatoes and cook until their liquid has evaporated, then add chile powder, cumin and oregano and stir to combine. After a minute or so, when mixture begins to turn fragrant, return browned meat to pan, along with toasted flour, and stir well to combine.
Step 4
Lower heat to medium-high and slowly stir in chicken stock, ½ cup at a time, until mixture has thickened and started to simmer. Lower heat again and allow chili to cook slowly for 45 minutes to 1 hour, until meat is tender. Add more stock or water if needed. Use immediately, or let cool, cover and refrigerate for up to a few days.
Step 5
When you are ready to cook the enchiladas, heat oven to 425 degrees. In a medium sauté pan set over medium-high heat, heat ½ cup neutral oil until it begins to shimmer. Using tongs or a wide spatula, place a tortilla in the hot fat; it should start to bubble immediately. Heat tortilla for about 10 seconds a side, until soft and lightly browned. Remove tortilla and set on a rack set over a baking pan, or just on a baking pan if you don’t have a rack. Repeat with remaining tortillas, working quickly.
Step 6
Assemble the enchiladas: Using a ladle, put about ½ cup chili in the bottom of a 9-by-13-inch baking pan and spread it out a little. Roll a few tablespoons of cheese into each tortilla, along with a tablespoon or so of chili, then place it seam-side down in the pan, nestling each one against the last. Ladle remaining chili over top of rolled tortillas and sprinkle with remaining cheese.
Step 7
Transfer to oven and bake until sauce bubbles and cheese is melted, about 10 to 15 minutes. Sprinkle chopped onions over the top, if using, and serve immediately.

Ratings

5 out of 5

2,956 user ratings

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Private Notes

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Cooking Notes

Marlys6 years ago

No,no,no! Velveeta is not American cheese! It is not even a cheese food. It is the lowest form of cheese, cheese spread(?), then comes imitation cheese. Please do not go to all the splendid work of making your own chili, then ruin it with a psuedo cheese. Pasturized processed American is as low as you should go in the search for melting. Mixing with cheddar of your choice should give you a terrific flavor you can serve over and over.

gale6 years ago

Try either brushing tortillas with oil, lay on sheet pan individually and baking until soft or the method in the recipe but only cooking every other one, laying a raw tortilla in between which gets softened in the residual heat. Less fussing with hot oil on the range top and they get cooked further in the oven. Gracias to my abuela.

KW6 years ago

Maybe blasphemous, but to speed things way up for a weeknight meal, you can just lay out the flat tortillas and layer chili and cheese a la lasagna. You can use spray oil on the tortillas, and/or brush oil on the top layer of tortillas. Once it's baked the difference in appearance is small, and in taste not at all. And if you don't like raw onions, put them on top before baking.

Jay Francis6 years ago

I would recommend against canola oil. When heated, it can impart a flavor like one had fried fish in it. I would recommend just a peanut oil, or non canola vegetable oil such as Crisco oil instead.

Lovin' nyc6 years ago

Add a bit of cocoa of dark chocolate to the chili to enhance flavor.

Burkhard6 years ago

Half a cup of flour for two cups of stock? I used only a quarter cup and got a sauce so fully congealed that I had to add another cup and a half of water. Next time—and I do like the recipe otherwise—I'll use at most a couple of tablespoons, or a little masa harina. But in truth the chili powder and long cook are thickener enough.

Kathy Roark6 years ago

A note from New Mexico: we never roll tortillas for enchiladas. We make them flat, by the plate or layer in casserole style. Rolling is just far too much work!

Sam Sifton6 years ago

I wouldn't.

kittypro6 years ago

I live in Houston and eat at El Real frequently. Their enchiladas are dynamite! The American cheese mixed with Cheddar is definitely the way to go. Pure cheddar does not give the creamy, melty consistency you're looking for. I use a combo of white and yellow American cheese to make my Chile con Queso dip, too. Cheddar just makes a rather oily, lumpy mess.

Caryle6 years ago

I made this yesterday, it was delicious! I used corn oil which worked perfectly, it can handle the heat of frying. The cooked flour was a great trick and it worked really well, filed in my memory (cough) for future reference. FYI it did take 1.5 hours, I drank a lot of wine to pass the time....

Brett6 years ago

I made this last night and it was delicious. Only modifications I made were beef broth instead of chicken, 1/8 cup of toasted flour, and a whole 14 0z can of chopped tomatoes (instead of just 1 cup). Also -and this surprised me - I didn't have time to fry the tortillas. I used Mission "super soft" yellow corn and they were pliable enough-but- be sure to top with remaining sauce only in the middle so the naked ends get toasted and crunchy (per the article).

Reginald Redmond6 years ago

I save the crumbs of the store bought chips like Tostitos. I soak them in hot water and microwave them until they are cooked soft . When you can stir them into a paste they are ready. Doesn't matter how thick or thin. Now add them to your chili as a thickener . Gives chili a nice earth kick. I do the same with corn tortillas that have been in the fridge to look

John A.6 years ago

This is about as far from Enchiladas as New York City is from Mexico. Absolutely gross and has NOTHING to do with enchiladas. The "chili" in the word "enchilada" is not TexMex beef and bean stew, it's chile colorado sauce- dried red chilies simmered in broth with tomatoes etc then pureed smooth. Tortillas are dipped in hot oil (lard) to soften, then dipped (soaked) in that red chile sauce, then rolled around stewed meat and/ or cheese and baked into a casserole.

Charlotte6 years ago

Good quality veg oil, not canola. Definitely less flour -- experiment with the proportions. And try masa harina (Mexican corn flour) instead of white flour to deepen the flavors of the chili or any chili gravy you make.

sundevilpeg6 years ago

Grapeseed oil is the best neutral oil. No flavor whatsoever, cold or heated.

Shawn4 weeks ago

Listen to the other commenters, the reviews on this one have to be from people who didn't make it. Even if you use 1/4 cup of flour or less, the chili is WAY too thick to use for enchiladas. Additionally, fitting 12 corn tortillas into one 9x13 pan with only a pound of meat is impossible even if the mixture wasn't far too thick. Don't bother with this one. The flavor is fine, but you're not eating enchiladas.

Rebecca1 month ago

Rich, thick chili, full of flavor. Mine came out pretty spicy with medium chili powder. But the consistency made me hesitant to use it with corn tortillas (just a texture thing) so I made burritos with rice, pinto beans, cheese and the chili. Absolutely perfect for burritos!

Jonathan D1 month ago

I spent nearly 2 hours making the chili only to have it be bland. If I make it again I'll boost the chili powder to something like Kashmiri chili and then triple the cumin.

amy1 month ago

All these commenters need to calm down. It clearly says they are Tex mex enchiladas, which they are, and they are delicious. If you don’t like American cheese, don’t make them. If you want a different kind of enchilada there are about 1 million different recipes.

louis2 months ago

Too much flour. Gets super thick.

denver cook2 months ago

I didn’t love this recipe. The sauce was too thick and just didn’t have enough flavor. It was much more like a casserole than an enchilada dish.

Grace2 months ago

This was delicious but I don't feel like it was necessary to fry the tortillas in oil before rolling. They were pliable but also incredibly greasy.

NR3 months ago

Not sure I understand the rave reviews. The process toward the finish is an intriguing one, but the flavors and texture of the final product are not all that satisfying. Would rethink the ingredients and then replicate the process.

VVS3 months ago

Can this be assembled and frozen?

TMS4 months ago

Used 3 bags of cheese instead of four. Added diced raw onions. Make ahead for best flavor.

Bobbi4 months ago

Reduce flour to 1/4C or less

allyson4 months ago

Reduce chili powder to 2 tablespoons increase cumin to 1 tablespoon and only use a quarter cup of flour

Priscilla Reichle6 months ago

I followed this recipe and used a mix of Velveta and shredded cheddar cheeses and it came out awful. Also I had trouble frying the tortillas either they broke up from being soggy or over cooked and became hard. The sauce was bland and very thick.

Nadia6 months ago

Wowza wonderful deep flavor! The key is thoroughly browning the flour so that it develops that peanut butter/Nutella color. If yours is too thick/gloopy—add more liquid. If it’s a pain to roll them (I agree) use them flat and make a lasagne, still looks great and equally delicious. If it’s not a “true “enchilada make something else. If something doesn’t work in the recipe by all means chime in but the peanut gallery of non constructive criticism detracts from the helpfulness of the notes

Tori H.6 months ago

These were not only the best enchiladas I've ever made, but the best I've ever had. I realize I might be showing my hand here as someone who's had little opportunity to enjoy authentic Tex-Mex. I followed the guidance of other reviewers and truly browned the flour until it took on a caramel color. The flavor it added was out of this world. Will steal for other recipes.

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