Real Recipes From Real Home Cooks ®

authentic beef enchilada's

(1 rating)
Recipe by
Melissa Turner
EAST MOLINE, IL

This is messy and time consuming. So when I make enchilada's I never make less than 3 dozen. Sounds like a lot but don't worry. You don't have to eat them all at once. I normally make 5-6 dozen and have never thrown a single enchilada away. This recipe may sound like a lot of work, but it is well worth it and you will astound your friends and family. Every time I have made these I get asked why I do not have my own Restaurant. They are that good. So dig in and lets begin.

(1 rating)
yield 3 dozen
prep time 1 Hr
cook time 2 Hr
method Bake

Ingredients For authentic beef enchilada's

  • 3 lb
    lean ground beef
  • 3 stick
    mexican chorizo (sold two sticks to a pkg)
  • 1
    bag frozen cubed hashbrowns (not shredded)
  • 1 can
    peas (small can)
  • 9 c
    shredded cheddar cheese (about 1 3 cup bag per doz)
  • 3
    dozen flour tortilla's
  • MOLE (MY ENCHILADA SAUCE)
  • 5 Tbsp
    ground mole pablano (heaping tblsp)
  • 5 Tbsp
    heaping tblsp flour
  • 5 Tbsp
    canola oil
  • 1 pinch
    salt
  • 1 Tbsp
    peanut butter, creamy
  • water

How To Make authentic beef enchilada's

  • 1
    Time to prep. First take out tortilla's so they will come to room temp by the time you start rolling your enchilada's. This makes them not stick and less likely to break while rolling. If you forget you can zap them in the microwave for a bit. Don't get them hot just enough to warm them up.
  • 2
    Now we're going to make the mole. Making mole is just like making white gravy. Don't be intimidated. Prepping mole. Get a large sauce pan with deep sides. A pitcher of warm water. In a small bowl mix your mole powder and flour. Add oil to your pan and heat on high until hot. When hot whisk in your mole and flour. It should form a very thick dry paste. Now start adding water slowly at first. You want to keep bringing it back to a thick paste for a bit. Keep repeating this process until it starts to become thinner and not thickening back up quickly on you. Turn off heat and add salt to season and whisk in peanut butter. As time goes by mole might thicken up on you. If it gets to thick when rolling you can whisk some water in. Just go slow. You don't want it too thin or you will have light tasteless tortillas.
  • 3
    Now for the filling. Brown ground beef in a pan and drain. While doing this in an electric skillet if you have one cook your hashbrowns adding salt and pepper to taste. Now drain ground beef. While beef is draining in the same pan remove chorizo from casings and cook until crumbly and looks like ground beef but with juice. Do NOT drain chorizo. That's where all your flavor is. In a BIG bowl mix your beef, chorizo, cooked hashbrowns and drained peas. That is your filling.
  • 4
    Put your shredded cheddar cheese in it's own bowl. Freshly shredded is the best but also a lot of work so you decided on which you want to use. Time to set up the rolling station. First goes Mole, then meat filling then cheese.
  • 5
    Time to roll and good luck lol. We're going to do 3 tortillas at a time to start you off. Once you hit your groove you can do more. I roll a dozen at a time but you have to be quick or tortilla's will get soggy on you and fall apart. A rolling partner is great for this stage. Just ask my hubby. Okay, you will need at least two plates for this. First you dip your tortilla's in the mole brushing off the excess on the side of the pan. Don't want them dripping. Once all three have been dip add a handful of meat mixture forming a line down the middle of the tortilla. Then a handful of cheese. You regulate how cheesy you want them (we like lots). Now grab end of tortilla, pull ingredients towards you and roll. Poke your ends so not so much falls out while frying. Place lip side down on a separate plate (no need for toothpicks).
  • 6
    Time to fry. Heat up the same pan you cooked the hashbrowns in and coat with canola oil (Grandma is probably spinning right now. She never used anything but lard, but I can't bring myself to do it.) If using electric skillet it's about 300 degrees. Add enchilada to heated pan lip side down first to seal it and prevent from unrolling. As soon as it starts to crisp just a bit on you flip and fry other side. Put fried enchilada's in an aluminum foil lined baking pan also adding a sheet of foil in between layers. Rinse and repeat until your done turning off frying pan in between time. That's why I like a rolling partner. He rolls I fry. Now that all enchilada's have been fried cover baking pan with foil and heat in a low temp oven (275)for about an hour. This will melt cheese and dry out your mole on the enchilada's a bit.
  • 7
    As a rule of thumb it's 1 lb hamb, 1 stick chorizo and 1 bag of cheese (3 cup) for every dozen. 1 bag of hashbrowns for every 3 dozen enchilada's. So you can adjust to however many you choose to make.
  • 8
    Now what are you going to do with all those leftovers? Why freeze them of course. Wrap you leftovers by 2's or 3's in cling wrap and now you have lunch or dinner anytime you want. Just take them out of wrap and microwave. You can microwave them frozen, but best results are thawed. These will keep for at least 3 mos in the freezer. Not that they will stay there that long. Hope you enjoy and feel free to ask if you have any questions.
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