Skillet Enchiladas is a one pot meal a.k.a wonder. 30 minutes and you have lazy beef enchiladas for dinner. And healthy!
Healthy dinners prepared in same pot like Tuscan chicken pasta and ground turkey and broccoli pasta are a saving grace for any working parent!
Healthy Enchiladas
Juicy ground beef simmered in homemade healthy enchilada sauce with a lot of veggies and tortillas until soft and all ingredients have “married” each other. Then top with cheese until melted and serve with your favorite toppings like avocado, jalapenos, cilantro, lime, green onions and yogurt.
Kids will love their dinner. It is not too spicy. Good thing you can adjust spiciness to your taste.
Truth is besides low carb chicken enchiladas I do not have any other healthy enchiladas recipe on the blog. I guess a bit too much work for me right now. Where as skillet enchiladas are super easy.
And cheesy!
Ingredients
- Ground beef
- Black beans
- Corn
- Tomato sauce and paste
- Onion
- Spices
Skillets and Pots that Work
As you can tell, I made skillet enchiladas in a Dutch oven. Just because I do not have large cast iron skillet. You can make it work with pots you have on hand.
- Dutch oven – Dutch oven is essentially cast iron “wrapped” in enamel. Once the lid is on, Dutch oven retains all of the heat. Like an oven. I am obsessed with mine’s (I have 2)!!! And if you don’t want to break the bank with Le Creuset, I highly recommend Lodge. I tried other no name brands and meh.
- Large non-stick skillet – Just make sure it is at least 12″ and you have a tight lid for it. I personally have had great success with Green Pan. Out of all ceramic skillets, this one holds its “non-stickiness” the longest. Just FYI they all need to be replaced eventually.
- Large cast iron skillet – Again, 12″ with a good tight lid. Lodge is the best quality in my opinion.
- Regular pot – This would be my last choice but coming from Ukraine I can tell you that anything is possible.:)
What Is the Best Meat to Use?
Ground beef.
Are you shocked seeing me using ground beef? Me too! But here is the truth. Beef has way more fat than ground turkey as we figured out with turkey burgers. Like 15 times more. K, heart attack, literally. But it is so tasty and remember, moderation?! We eat beef maybe once in 2 months.
Beef adds a lot of flavor to this enchilada skillet recipe! All other ingredients are so lean, this healthy one pot meal begs for extra fat.
Ground turkey.
I tested skillet enchilada bake with ground turkey and was not impressed although ground turkey is my go to for ground meat. Enchiladas had very prominent turkey taste and smell. Yes they were healthy but OK tasty…
Ground chicken.
If you really want to be healthy, more healthy than me obviously, use ground chicken. It will be better than turkey but not as good as beef haha. Hahahahaha.
Healthy Enchilada Sauce
We will not use store-bought canned enchilada sauce. It usually has a lot of preservatives, is expensive and a specialty item for me. Instead we combine tomato sauce, tomato paste, a bit of maple syrup (to offset acidity in tomatoes), garlic, onion, chili powder and cumin.
There is your healthy enchilada sauce.
Difference Between Tortillas
Are you team corn or wheat tortillas? Me – corn, Alex – wheat. I used both kinds for the sake of experiment. Just like I suspected, corn tortillas incorporated with the sauce creating more of a traditional Mexican experience. Just like chicken tortilla soup.
Where as whole wheat, stayed more intact and absorbed moisture. Up to you and your pantry.
Tips
- Use cooked shredded chicken instead of beef.
- If using not low sodium canned beans and tomato products add less salt to taste at the very end.
- You can use Rotel or diced tomatoes with chiles if that’s what you want. Red colour will not as deep.
- I used frozen corn, no need to thaw.
- I also freeze tortillas and cooked black beans.
What to Serve with Skillet Enchiladas
You really do not need anything to go with this one pot dinner. But in case you would like to serve it to a crowd:
- Top with guacamole instead of avocado.
- Serve avocado salad on a side.
- With cilantro lime cauliflower rice for “eat more veggies”.
- With very simple lettuce salad.
More Healthy One Pot Dinners
Skillet Enchiladas
Ingredients
- 1 lb ground beef
- 1 large onion chopped
- 3 garlic cloves minced
- 10 corn or 7 whole wheat tortillas cut into strips
- 14 oz can low sodium black beans rinsed and drained
- 2 cups frozen corn
- 14 oz can tomato sauce low sodium
- 6 oz can tomato paste low sodium
- 1 cup water or broth
- 1 cup Tex Mex or cheddar cheese shredded
- 2 tsp maple syrup honey or sugar
- 2 tsp chili powder
- 2 tsp cumin
- 1/2 tsp salt
- Ground black pepper to taste
Instructions
- Preheat Dutch oven or large deep skillet on medium-high heat. Add ground beef, onion, garlic, chili powder, cumin, salt and pepper. Cook until browned or for about 10 minutes, stirring and breaking into pieces often.
- Add tomato sauce, tomato paste, maple syrup, water, black beans, corn and tortillas. Stir, cover, reduce heat to low and cook for 10 minutes.
- Turn off heat and sprinkle enchiladas skillet with cheese. Cover and let stand for a few minutes or until cheese has melted.
- Garnish with desired toppings like cilantro, green onion, jalapenos, lime and yogurt. Spoon into plates and serve hot.
Nutrition
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My family loved this dish! We all agreed we should add it to a regular rotation. Super easy too! Thanks for a great recipe!
Love hearing that my recipe will be on regular rotation at your house. Thanks for sharing Janice!
can I use white flour tortillas?
sure
If wanting to try this green chile verde style but I just leave out the canned tomatoes?
Chili verde uses lots of tomatillos.
Should I drain the fat from the ground beef before adding the tomato sauce and paste?
Hi Lauren. Nope, you don’t have to drain the fat unless you find there is too much. The other ingredients in this recipe are pretty lean.
Olena, the recipe doesn’t mention what size Tortillas. 10 inch?
Yes, 10 inch.
Kids loved it!
Thank you for this recipe. I was looking for something quick for Cinco de mayo.
I am going to use frozen chicken and my Ninja foodi. Beginner.
Any suggestions on how you would adapt the cooking instructions?
Also, I was thinking of using corn tortilla chips (what I have on hand), your thoughts?
Hi Marie. This is not a pressure cooker recipe but rather a stovetop. If you would like to make something in your Ninja Foodi, feel free to browse my Instant Pot recipes and they should all work in your Ninja. let me know if you have any questions.
Dear Olena, I just discovered your website, and I love it. We tried the skillet enchiladas tonight and my family gave dinner a thumbs up. I really appreciate quick and healthy meals as this is sometimes a challenge with two parents working full time. Thank you
You are very welcome Kim!
Is there a way that you can post nutritional information for this and other recipes. It is very helpful in planning and logging meals!
Hi Lindsay. Nutritional info card is located inside each recipe card. 🙂
This recipe is a game changer!!!
Just made it and came out perfect and extremely tasty! Can’t wait to have it with some fresh cilantro and spring onion for dinner!
We love enchiladas but always so messy and time consuming to make. Well,this one changed it all and was super quick and easy with 5 times less dishes to wash afterward. I’m seriously impressed with your blog and can’t wait to try more of your recipes! Thank you very much!!!
Can you recommend more recipes that are 30minutes or less to make and very filling?
We are making healthy changes in our diet and I feel your recipes will be go to from now on for my family! Xx
Awesome!!! Happy to hear, Kristiana. Check out this section of my blog https://ifoodreal.com/healthy-30-minute-meals/ please. Thanks for taking time from your busy schedule to let me know you enjoyed my recipe. 🙂 Happy and Healthy New Year!
Great recipe! We had some sides, and so we didn’t finish all the ground beef mixture…. I am going to serve the leftover mixture on burger buns and called it “Sloppy Jose!” Is that wrong?
We used the corn tortillas, and we loved the meal. Thanks for another great recipe 🙂
Haha not wrong. Or on top of baked potatoes…mmm. My fave for cooking are corn not wheat tortillas!
Loved it
Fantastic! Glad you enjoyed the recipe, Nancy!
Yay my husband loved it
Yay! So happy to hear, Trish!
Making this tonight!! Adding some Hatch green chile for heat. Otherwise, sticking close to the recipe!
Yay! Let me know how it goes.:)
This was a great addition to my ground beef recipes. I made it pretty much as written except used bean medley because we wanted chick peas too. I also made the mistake of buying canned corn that had salt and sugar added oops! I was hesitant about the tortillas being thrown in but we bought some corn tortillas and they turned out fine.
We added cilantro, guacamole and sour cream on top.
I made a bigger batch than the recipe and we all took some for lunch the next day.
Sounds good! I love soaked up corn tortillas in Mexican soups and stews.
Overall we found the recipe to be pretty good. I used low sodium chicken broth instead of water, 2 tsp honey to overcome the acid, and corn tortillas to be gluten free. It seemed to lack a brightness in the flavor. Maybe next time water vs. broth, and 1 tsp honey. Green onions for sure and jalapeños (optional), touch of sour cream, I don’t want to be too healthy. 🙂
Well, let me tell you that not being healthy is easier than being healthy. So you are good LOL. Sure, add your twist on it.:) Can’t even imagine what would you say if you used ground turkey LOL. You made me laugh today. Thank you!
This dish was fantastic!!! Everyone loved it! This recipe is a keeper, for sure! I added black olives too, which was good.
I will definitely share this recipe with my friends!
Thank you for all your recipes! I’ve tried many of them and they are all winners! Haven’t made one, yet, that wasn’t a keeper!
Sincerely,
Vicki
You are very welcome and thank you so much for sharing! All recipes go through at least 2 tests between 3 boys haha. Enjoy!
Where do the tortillas come in? No mention of them in the instructions.
Ah, I see what you mean. You want to add tortillas.:) Fixed that. Sorry about that and thanks for catching!
Got it! Thank you! Making this right now!
Thank you so much!
Let me know how it turns out.:) And enjoy!:)
What about the tortillas?
What about them?
Where do the tortillas come in? No mention of them in the instructions.
I did add them in Step 2.