Cream Cheese Enchilada Casserole has soft, warm flour tortillas, tangy cream cheese, gooey Colby Jack, ground beef and the perfect blend of herbs and spices. You are going to love serving this casserole at your next friends and family fiesta. Ole!
If you love Mexican food, try these Easy Taco Empanadas for a quick weeknight dinner.
My roommates and I started making Cream Cheese Enchilada Casserole when we were broke and starving all the time. In other words, when we were in college!
With a limited budget we skimped on ingredients -- using just burger, sauce, tortillas and the cheeses. Now this recipe ranks as one of my families top 10 with the addition of cilantro, Rotel and a fabulous spice combination.
Serve this dish with chips and this Easy Mexican Salsa.
Ground Chuck vs Ground Beef
When we came up with this recipe back at the University of Missouri, we probably used the cheapest ground beef we could find. Now, I prefer the flavor and texture of beef that is no more than 15 percent fat.
When you're thinking about ground meat, remember that fat brings the flavor. Regular ground beef is cut from the shank or brisket of the cow and it contains about 30 percent fat. That's perfect for a juicy burger, but all that fat melts away when you brown it and your casseroles will not be as hearty.
Ground chuck is a great all-purpose ground beef since it is not as fatty as regular ground beef but still gives you the richness of regular, fattier, ground beef. Ground chuck is considered lean ground beef.
Make it vegetarian
Don't forget that black beans, either cooked from dry or drained right out of the can make Cream Cheese Enchilada Casserole a vegetarian delight that still packs a protein punch!
Yes, you can freeze this casserole
Like so many of my recipes, you can make this beef casserole in big batches and freeze for a last minute dinner at home or a sure-hit when it's your turn on the meal train!
How to make Cream Cheese Enchilada Casserole
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- Brown ground beef in skillet. Drain and return to skillet.
- Add Enchilada Sauce, Rotel, corn and all of the spices. Simmer for 5 - 10 minutes.
- Spread 1 oz of cream cheese over half of each tortilla and fold into half.
- Add ½ c of ground beef mixture to the bottom of a 9 x 13 pan. Layer four tortillas over the bottom of the pan. Spread ⅓ of the mixture over the tortillas. Add the remaining four tortillas and cover with remaining sauce.
- Cover with cheese.
- Cook covered for 30 minutes.
- Remove cover and bake for an additional 5 minutes.
- Garnish with green onions and cilantro.
- Serve with chips and salsa.
Cream Cheese Enchilada Casserole
Cream Cheese Enchilada Casserole
Ingredients
- 1 lb Ground Beef Cooked and Drained
- 1 10 oz can Rotel
- 8 Flour Tortillas 8" works great
- 8 oz Cream Cheese
- 1 ½ c Colby Jack Cheese shredded
- 2 c Enchilada Sauce
- 1 tsp Cumin
- 2 tsp Chili Powder
- ¼ tsp Salt
- ½ tsp Pepper
- ½ tsp Garlic Powder
- 1 11 oz can Corn frozen or fresh works as well
- Cilantro
- Green Onion diced
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- Brown ground beef in skillet. Drain and return to skillet.
- Add Enchilada Sauce, Rotel, corn and all of the spices. Simmer for 5 - 10 minutes.
- Spread 1 oz of cream cheese over half of each tortilla and fold into half.
- Add ½ c of ground beef mixture to the bottom of a 9 x 13 pan. Layer four tortillas over the bottom of the pan. Spread ⅓ of the mixture over the tortilla. Add the remaining four tortillas and cover with remaining sauce.
- Sprinkle cheese over the top of the casserole.
- Cook covered for 30 minutes.
- Remove cover and bake for an additional 5 minutes.
- Garnish with green onions and cilantro.
- Serve with chips and salsa.
Allie
This is good but it doesn’t tell me what to use the corn for 🙂😕
Jill
You can not know how much time I put into editing this post and I still forget the corn! You add the corn to the ground beef mixture. Thanks for letting me know, I fixed the post.
Thomas N.Kelly
It was very good and not all that hard to make and did not take long. TK
Jill
Awesome! Thank you, TK.
Grissell
Absolutely outstanding!
Jill
Thank you!
Randi
My good friend made this for a gathering of 15 people. It was a hit!!
We all loved it and the leftovers were gone before I got any.
I made it today, it was very easy to make and turned out just as good!!
Jill
That's awesome! So glad you guys liked it!
Amy
Yummy and even good the next day!
Jill
Thank you Amy!
Wilma Todd
I. I made this for my family and everyone really really liked it!!! Definitely will make again often!!!
Jill
I’m so glad you all enjoyed! Thanks for for the comment!❤️
Anonymous
I added rinsed and drained a can of black. It was great
Kristin
I made this gluten free with corn tortillas- it was fabulous! Thanks for the recipe - it will make it into the monthly rotation.