We absolutely love this easy stacked enchiladas recipe! It makes a quick and easy meal that’s great for families! Our entire family loves it, including the kids and I have often served it when I don’t feel like spending a lot of time in the kitchen!
Easy Enchiladas Recipe!
This stacked enchiladas recipe is different from a traditional enchilada recipe in that you don’t roll the enchiladas. Instead, you layer the toppings between 2 or more layers of filling and then add cheese and salad toppings on the top.
As written, the recipe serves 4, and includes 2 tortillas per stacked enchilada, but I often included an extra layer in the middle for my husband or brother. My husband and the kids absolutely love this recipe. The kids love it with homemade tortilla chips and sopapillas!
I often cut tortillas into quarters and fry them in oil to make tortilla chips, especially when I have a pack of corn tortillas that is not quite as fresh and the tortillas are more brittle than flexible. These make great chips and give life to tortillas you might otherwise throw away.
This easy enchilada recipe is very flexible. I make it with these ingredients because everybody likes them, the recipe doesn’t cost a lot to make and it’s super easy. If you wanted to make it fancier, you could add a can of black beans or pinto beans to the mixture. If you prefer, you could leave out the beef.
You could also add black olives or chopped green onions to the top for a different kind of garnish. Or smother it in green chile if you prefer! Oh YUM! Really, any kind of Mexican food type modifications would probably be wonderful! If you make any modifications, tell us about them in the comments and how they turned out!
Easy Stacked Enchiladas Recipe
- Yield: Serves 4.
Ingredients
1/2 lb. ground beef
1 onion, chopped, or 1 tsp. onion powder
2 1/2 cups enchilada sauce
vegetable oil for frying*
1 cup Cheddar cheese, grated
1 onion, chopped, or 1 tsp. onion powder
1 tomato, chopped
2 cups lettuce, chopped
Instructions
- In a saucepan, brown ground beef and onions.
- Drain.
- Add enchilada sauce and simmer for 10 minutes.
- Heat 1/2 inch of oil in a frying pan.
- While you are waiting for the oil to heat, prepare bowls of tomatoes, lettuce and cheese.
- The oil is hot enough when you place a tortilla in it and it sizzles. Have your plate ready in one hand and dip the tortilla in oil for 5 seconds.
- Using kitchen tongs, turn over the tortilla and cook 5 more seconds.
- Lift the tortilla out of pan, hold over the oil and drain slightly.
- Place the tortilla on the plate and put 1/4 cup beef mixture on top.
- Dip another tortilla in the oil and fry the same as above. Place on top of beef mixture.
- Top with more beef mixture, tomatoes and lettuce.
- Finish with a little cheese, sour cream and olives if desired. Serve warm. Serves 4.
Notes
For more hearty stacked enchiladas, you can stack additional layers of tortilla and then beef mixture before topping off with lettuce and tomatoes. If you do, you will want to adjust the recipe to make sure it serves the number of people you are feeding.
*For lower fat enchiladas, dip in warmed enchilada sauce or just warm the tortilla in the microwave for 8 seconds; then add meat and toppings.
For more quick, easy and delicious recipes like this Homemade Stacked Enchiladas Recipe, check out our cookbook!
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Other Recipes That Go Great With These Stacked Enchiladas:
Easy Homemade Sopapillas! Just as good as in your favorite Mexican restaurant!
You forgot to mention what kind of tortillas to use for this recipe. They should be corn tortillas, and probably not the thin white ones.
We mostly use corn but use white also.
I tried the Stacked Enchiladas last night for dinner, and it was a surprise instant hit. My DH is a little fussy about trying new recipes, but last night he went back for thirds! We all got a kick out of heating the tortillas in the hot oil too. (I usually just heat them on a dry griddle, and they sure don’t ‘blow up’ like that.) I altered the recipe a bit to fit what I had on hand, but I can see I need to make sure I have what I need to make this again. I used red chili sauce instead of enchilada sauce, and added canned diced tomatoes instead of fresh. I also left out the lettuce, but I think next time I will try shredded cabbage. BTW, I used flour tortillas and they were great.
It would be great in a crockpot too, if dinnertime is hectic. I use flour tortillas and they get super soft and moist cooking in the enchilada sauce for a few hours on low heat. No need for frying in oil either. Lettuce and tomatoes are obviously put on after.
You can do it in the crockpot but it changes the recipe quite a bit in the same way chicken taste different when you fry it compared to cooking it in the crockpot. Two totally different recipes. Both taste good but they are very different
We do a layered enchilada that is so quick and no added fat. We just layer corn or wheat tortillas in a 9 x 13 baking pan with cheese. When it’s all layered, we pour enchilada sauce over all and bake until cheese is all melted. We cut it into squares to serve.
You can add other things in it if you like or garnish on the plate. I have to fight to have leftovers.
You can also toss all the ingredients with micro–chips instead of the tortillas. Micro-chips are the small chips left at the bottom of the bag that won’t work for dipping in salsa. We save up tortilla chip bags until we have enough to make the casserole. Then we call it, “Micro-Chip Casserole.” Quick, fun and easy!
G’ Morning, Thank you for all this helpful information (I’m still at the learning level) and it really helps to have recipes to try out. :) It’s appreciated.
G’Morning to you Chandra and you are very welcome. I love to hear from our new cooks and how they are doing. Way to go.
Jill
You are a great cook and I’m happy to get all your recipes. I can really appreciate your recipes. Because you like me have been cooking for a while!
I love the recipes because they are not expensive and easy to fix. When I have the extra money I will buy a cookbook.
Thank you so much for your time and love to everyone!!!
Oh thank you so much Brenda. I am so glad you are enjoying the recipes and everything.
Ladies, I’m in (happy) tears over this recipe. I’m a mom of 2 autistic children, and food is a huge issue for them. (We’ve got them in occupational therapy 3 times a week for their food issues. They’ve made great progress, but still a long road ahead.) Plus, we have a family member who can’t have any meat and one who is sensitive to gluten and dairy. Add it all together, and meals are stressful. I made this for dinner last night and was able to customize it EASILY to meet everyone’s needs. You have no idea how much it means to me to be able to just make 1 easy meal for the entire family. Plus, one of my autistic kids actually asked to touch a slice of avocado. (That’s HUGE for him.) Anyway, thank you so much for your website and videos. They’re such a blessing.
Oh Liz I am so glad this recipe worked out for you. Meals can be sooo stressful in so many families but in your case it sounds really tough so am glad that this worked for you. If you don’t have our book you might roam around our website and see if you can find more recipes that might help you. Many of our recipes are simple and easily adaptable so there might be something else on here for you.