Crockpot Mexican Beef Enchilada Casserole
We’re talking all the flavors of beef enchiladas, but without any filling and rolling! Layers of corn tortillas, seasoned ground beef, black beans, corn, enchilada sauce, and plenty of cheese come together for the best kind of shortcut dinner. It’s family friendly, oh so easy, and it might just be your new favorite way to serve up Mexican food!
If you like the sound of this one, I think you’ll love my crockpot white chicken enchilada casserole and my crockpot sweet chili sloppy Joes!
Why You’ll Love This Recipe:
- All the flavor of beef enchiladas but less work (there’s some layering but then we’re good to go!)
- Easy slow cooker dinner with minimal hands-on time
- Layered with beef, cheese, tortillas, beans, and corn
- Family-approved and great for feeding a crowd
- Perfect for busy weeknights or lazy weekends
- Easy to customize with your favorite toppings
What You’ll Need
We love a good shortcut recipe round here, and this is exactly that. Taco seasoning, canned enchilada sauce, canned tomatoes with green chilies, black beans, and frozen corn help build lots of flavor without a lot of prep work.
The rest of the recipe is made up of simple ingredients like ground beef, corn tortillas, and plenty of shredded cheese, creating all those classic enchilada flavors in casserole form.
How It Comes Together
Once the beef mixture is prepared, it’s really just a matter of layering everything into the slow cooker.
Corn tortillas, seasoned beef, enchilada sauce, and cheese are stacked in layers, much like a lasagna, before the slow cooker takes over.
A few hours later, the tortillas have softened, the cheese is melted, and all the flavors have come together into a hearty casserole that’s ready to be topped with your favorite garnishes and served.
Recipe Notes & Tips
- Corn tortillas hold up much better than flour tortillas in the slow cooker and help give the casserole more of that classic enchilada flavor and texture.
- If you like things spicy, add extra green chilies, diced jalapeños, or a dash of hot sauce to the beef mixture.
- Feel free to switch things up with green enchilada sauce instead of red enchilada sauce.
- Colby Jack melts beautifully, but cheddar, Mexican blend, or pepper jack cheese all work well too.
- This casserole is easy to customize with your favorite toppings. Try avocado, guacamole, sour cream, black olives, taco sauce, diced tomatoes, or extra cilantro.
- Let the casserole sit for 5–10 minutes before serving to help the layers set up a little.
Storage
Store leftovers in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 3 days.
Crockpot Mexican Beef Enchilada Casserole
Ingredients
- 1 pound ground beef browned and drained
- 1 1 ounce envelope taco seasoning
- 2 cloves garlic minced
- 10.5 ounce can tomatoes with green chilies
- 1 cup frozen corn
- 1 15 ounce can black beans, rinsed and drained
- 3 10 ounce cans red enchilada sauce
- 12 corn tortillas
- 3 1/2 cups colby jack cheese shredded & divided
- Tomatoes & scallions & cilantro for toppings
Instructions
- In a large bowl, combine the cooked ground beef, taco seasoning, garlic, tomatoes with green chilies, corn, and black beans.
- Lightly spray the slow cooker with nonstick cooking spray.
- Pour one can of enchilada sauce into the bottom of the slow cooker.
- Layer 4 corn tortillas over the sauce, followed by half of the beef mixture and 1½ cups of the shredded cheese.
- Add another layer of 4 tortillas, followed by another can of enchilada sauce.
- Top with the remaining beef mixture, another 1½ cups of cheese, and the final layer of 4 tortillas.
- Pour over the last can of enchilada sauce and finish with the remaining cheese.
- Cover and cook on LOW for 4 hours.
- Top with scallions, diced tomatoes, or any of your favorite enchilada toppings before serving.
As always, if you’ve tried this one, I’d love to hear your thoughts and feedback! You can leave a star rating and a review below. It helps other readers, and it also helps me to create and develop more recipes you’ll love.