Beef Enchilada Rice Casserole is a quick and easy dinner your family is sure to love! It uses basic ingredients so it is easy to make any night of the week.
Ground beef is one of my favorite ingredients to cook with because when it comes to meat it is so budget friendly. You can’t get much cheaper than ground beef.
One of the other great things about ground beef is that it is easy to stretch. Yes, you can use a few pounds to make hamburgers, but you can also use one pound of hamburger in a casserole and turn it into a whole meal.
It is also very versatile. You can use it for Mexican foods like tacos. But you can also use it in pasta dishes, soups, chili, and more. Ground beef is one of the most versatile meats you can buy.
A few years ago I did a series on ground beef recipes and those recipes have become some of the most popular recipes on my site. You all seem to love ground beef recipes as much as I do, so I am hoping to start sharing more ground beef recipes over the next few months.
Today’s recipe for beef enchilada rice casserole uses ground beef. It is actually inspired by a recipe my sister told me about for enchilada rice casserole that she made with chicken.
I make a skillet enchilada rice that my family loves, so I knew they would love a baked enchilada casserole like my sister made.
But because I can’t follow a recipe, I totally changed what my sister told me she did. I did not have any chicken on hand, but I had quite a bit of ground beef in the freezer. I also knew my family would prefer a ground beef version over a chicken one.
I also added canned tomatoes and of course more cheese. I tweaked a few other things too. So basically it was inspired by my sister’s version, but I totally did my own thing.
If you need a new quick and easy dinner idea I think you will enjoy this one!
Beef Enchilada Casserole is also gluten free as long as you read labels to make sure your ingredients are gluten free. This is a gluten free casserole that is so good no one will realize is gluten free. It is a normal food that is gluten free. I love recipes like that!
Beef Enchilada Rice Casserole
Beef Enchilada Rice Casserole is a quick and easy dinner.
Ingredients
- 1 pound ground beef
- 4-5 cups cooked rice
- 1- 10 ounce can enchilada sauce or homemade enchilada sauce
- 1- 14 ounce can diced tomatoes
- 1 - 16 ounce can refried beans
- 1- 15 ounce can of corn, drained (You could also use frozen corn)
- 3 cups shredded colby jack cheese
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350.
- In a skillet cook ground beef until browned and done. Drain off any fat.
- In a large bowl combine cooked ground beef, cooked rice, enchilada sauce, tomatoes, refried beans, drained corn, and 1 1/2 cups cheese.
- Stir well to combine.
- Spread into a 9×13 pan or similar sized casserole dish.
- Spread remaining cheese on top.
- Bake for 30 minutes or until heated through.
Notes
This casserole is gluten free as long as you read labels to make sure that your ingredients are gluten free.
Nutrition Information:
Yield:
10Serving Size:
1Amount Per Serving: Calories: 756Total Fat: 21gSaturated Fat: 10gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 9gCholesterol: 72mgSodium: 539mgCarbohydrates: 107gFiber: 5gSugar: 4gProtein: 33g
Yum! I have been looking for some new ground beef recipes (got a great deal). I know my family will love this and I always have these things on hand. Thank you!
This looks wonderful. A great recipe for family dinners.
Easy recipe! Added a can of sliced olives and browned a chopped onion along with the ground beef. Delish! Will make again!
I love the olive idea! Growing up we always ate olives in things like this, so I am going to have to try that. Thanks for the idea!
Its easy to cut the beef by adding in cooked lentils also same texture cheaper and healthier. I just replace part of the beef with them .
Yes, lentils are a great way to stretch meat. I used to use them in tacos all the time.
This was sooo delicious.. I did add a little bit of salt and pepper, oregano, and a 1/2 tsp of cumin.
I am glad that you enjoyed it!
will this freeze well?
I have never tried it, but I think it would freeze fine. The texture of the rice might change a little, but besides that I think it would be fine.
Use a can of Rotel instead of diced to,stores and kick it up a bit
I wonder if this would be good with noodles instead of rice…
Yum!!! I just made this with ground turkey. And black beans cuz I didn’t have retried. Also made Lynn’s homemade enchilada sauce. Super good!!! Thanks for great recipes !!!
I am so glad that you liked it! And I love that you changed it up to use what you had on hand!
Just my DH and I at home these days, so I’d probably cut this recipe in half for just the two of us. He’s not big on rice but will eat it in certain things so I’m gonna try this. Also, we detest store-bought enchilada sauze – most of it is absolutely gross, but your homemade recipe sounds ok. DH looked at the recipe and said “just substitute a jar of salsa for the enchilada sauce and we’ll be good to go”. I might try that, as well. The black olives and browned onions are a must! We also like to sprinkle chopped green onions on top of everything and this would be a good casserole for that, I think.
You could easily half this recipe since it is just the two of you. I also think salsa would work fine. The enchilada sauce gives it liquid and flavor, salsa would work similar or use an enchilada sauce that you like. I think this is one of those recipes that would be easy to change up to how you like it!
I used this as a base recipe and it turned out pretty well. I had to wing it on the enchilada sauce since the canned type we had tasted metallic and bitter. So after I tossed that, I substituted V-8 juice and that worked. I added Rotel tomatoes, corn, and black olives to the hamburger/onion mixture. I should have added more spices, though, to make up for not having flavorful enchilada sauce.
This is really the kind of recipe that’s easy and you can cook out of your cupboard, so to speak, with what you have on hand. My husband is a fan and is plotting his recipe variations lol.
I love how you made this your own! You are right, this is one of those recipes that you can make your own using whatever you have or like. Thanks for sharing the changes that you made.
Since there is only 2 of us, can I half this recipe? Or should I just make it in two 8×8 pans and freeze one. Does it freeze well?
Thanks, Janet
Either one would work. You could half the recipe and make it in an 8×8 or similar size pan or make a full recipe and freeze part of it. The texture of rice changes slightly when frozen, but I have frozen the leftovers of this in small containers for my husband’s lunches and it works fine. You might try to half the recipe to see if you like it and then freeze the extra in the future. I hope that helps.
What size can of refried beans? 16-oz? 30-oz?
The 16 ounce. I will update the recipe to say that.
When baking it in the oven, do you cover with foil or leave it uncovered!?!
I usually leave it uncovered.