Lazy Enchiladas: Quick and Easy Beef Enchiladas Skillet

The delicious flavors of your favorite beef enchiladas with the ease of a one skillet meal, this easy beef enchiladas skillet (AKA lazy enchiladas) are full of lean ground beef, tortillas, cheese, and enchilada sauce. With optional add-ins like onion, bell pepper, zucchini, and corn, this can be a full meal in only one skillet. 

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Lazy Enchiladas: Quick and Easy Beef Enchiladas Skillet

I’ll admit this quick and easy beef enchiladas skillet isn’t exactly authentic. I can already hear the comments letting me know – and trust me, I get it! This is a great weeknight recipe when you’re looking to get a filling meal on the table that your family will love, but I’ll never claim it’s traditional or authentic.

This recipe uses tortillas cut into small bite-size pieces using a pizza cutter with lean ground beef, enchilada sauce and cheese. Add in your favorite veggies to make a true one pan meal and top with sour cream or greek yogurt, pico de gallo, or avocado. YUM!

This meal is one my entire family loves, from my two and four year old to my husband. They all DEVOUR it and as we all know – it’s rare to find a meal everyone in the family is equally excited about. 

WHY THIS BEEF ENCHILADA SKILLET RECIPE WORKS

30 Minute Meal

This meal comes together in 30 minutes or less, making it great for busy weeknights. Given that all the items are chopped up and served together, no rolling of tortillas is necessary! It’s SO much faster and easier than making traditional rolled enchiladas.

One Pan Recipe

The entire recipe comes together in one large skillet, making cleanup SO easy! 

Easy

Simply brown your meat, add veggies (optional), sauce, and cheese, and mix in tortillas just before serving.  I like to serve with microwavable Spanish rice or corn and refried beans or black beans. 

Adaptable 

The base recipe can be easily tweaked to your preference. Swap ground beef for chicken, red sauce for green, change the cheeses, add veggies or black beans, and make it totally your own. I love using veggies I have on hand to spruce this up and make it slightly different every time. 

INGREDIENTS:

Ground Beef: I prefer 90/10 or any lean option.

Enchilada Sauce: I like the 29 ounce cans of Old El Paso for a budget friendly option but Siete and Frontera brands are my favorite flavor-wise. Feel free to make your own (but TBH I never do for this recipe).

Shredded Cheese: Mild or Sharp Cheddar are my faves. I like to shred my own using my cheese grater.

Tortillas: My family prefers flour tortillas in this recipe but you can sub corn tortillas for a slightly more authentic flavor. 

Seasonings to Taste: Salt and pepper, onion powder, garlic, powder, and chili powder. 

Optional: Diced onion, bell pepper, black beans, corn, zucchini, jalapenos, or rice.

HOW TO COOK LAZY ENCHILADAS:

1. Cook and crumble meat on medium heat until brown.
2. Saute any of the optional vegetables and warm beans if using.
3. Chop tortillas into bite size pieces. I like to use a pizza cutter for this.
4. Shred cheese
5. Drain ground beef if needed, add tortillas, cheese, any optional vegetables or beans, and enchilada sauce to pan and cook until cheese is melted and enchilada sauce has slightly reduced, approximately 7 minutes.

SERVING SUGGESTIONS

Serve with your favorite sides like black beans, refried beans, Spanish rice, Mexican rice, corn, southwest salad, chips and guacamole, etc.

STORAGE

I don’t recommend freezing leftovers as the tortillas don’t hold up well. Eat any leftovers within 3-4 days. The flour tortillas do get a bit soggy over time as they absorb the moisture from the dish. They still taste great and the tortillas take on a texture similar to a dumpling! If you want to avoid the soggy tortillas, mix in the tortillas to the meat and sauce mixture as you serve and not before.

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