One-Skillet Beefy Enchilada Pasta Casserole
on Nov 29, 2019, Updated Apr 22, 2025
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A satisfying one-dish cheesy, beefy pasta recipe that hits all of those delicious flavor notes of enchiladas!
This cheesy beefy pasta dish is seasoned with chili powder, cumin, oregano, and a can of purchased red enchilada sauce. It is a perfect cool-weather weeknight one-pot dinner. Ground beef and pasta give it heartiness, and the melty cheese adds great flavor and kid appeal.
There is a recipe for One-Skillet Cheesy Beef and Macaroni in The Mom 100 Cookbook (oh, yes, and it’s also on this blog) that is one of my family’s favorite recipes, perhaps of all time. It’s also one of the recipes that people most often email me about, declaring it a staple in their weekly repertoires. It seemed only right to try to follow it up with a different beefy cheesy noodle-y pasta casserole encore, which I included in book two, Dinner Solved!
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This one-skillet beefy enchilada pasta casserole is essentially a Mexican twist on the original much-loved dish. It’s a meal that is always greeted in my house with thunderous applause. Okay, not thunderous applause, but requests for seconds, which is as close to thunderous applause as I can hope to get.
Serve this enchilada pasta casserole with a simple salad, like a Cherry Tomato Salad, a Kale Crunch Salad, or a simple side of sautéed broccoli or broccoli rabe.
Table of Contents
Ingredients
Most of the ingredients for this recipe are probably in your pantry!
- Nonstick cooking spray
- Lean ground beef – Our star player. Brown up your beef and prepare for applause.
- Olive oil, canola, vegetable, or peanut oil – Not picky on the oil here!
- Onions – For sweetness, bite, and depth of flavor.
- Bell pepper – Something I love about this recipe is how it allows for variety. Use red, yellow, or orange bell peppers for this dish. Any color will be delicious.
- Garlic
- Chili powder – This seasoning will add not only color but also richness in flavor.
- Ground cumin – To make your pasta dish nicely warm and smokey.
- Dried oregano – I love the contrast of this earthy herb against the heaviness of the other ingredients.
- Chicken broth, preferably low-sodium – The noodles will soak up all of this chicken-y goodness!
- Tomato paste – Make sure to cook it down for 1-2 minutes to remove the tinny, canned flavor.
- Enchilada sauce – You can generally find this in the Mexican food aisle at your grocery store, nearby the salsa.
- Fusilli, rotini, or egg noodles – Dealer’s choice, once again! I like these shapes for all of their nooks and crannies to pick up all of the beefy, cheesy, ooey-gooey deliciousness. Rotini pasta is featured in these images.
- Jalapeño pepper – For a little bit of heat! If you’re not a fan of spice, feel free to omit the jalapeño.
- Scallions or green onions – In this recipe, we’ll make use of both the white and green parts.
- Light or heavy cream or half-and-half – I love adding cream to a dish and watching the color beautifully transform.
- Monterey jack cheddar cheese – A Mexican blend will also work well here, and don’t shy away from the pre-shredded bags. I certainly don’t!
Variations and Substitutions
- Truly, it does not seem as though I will ever find another combination that pleases the family as much as cheese and beef. (America agrees.) However, you can also make this with ground turkey or ground pork.
- You could add some sliced or chopped mushrooms when you add the onions and bell peppers or some minced carrots. Use whatever color pepper you have on hand — the green ones are less sweet than the red, orange, and yellow (red are the sweetest).
- Also think about adding 1 or 2 cups of corn, either rinsed and drained canned corn, frozen corn, or fresh corn. Add the corn when you add the jalapeños and scallions.
- Add a cup of drained and rinsed cooked black beans when you add the jalapeños and scallions.
- Instead of the cumin, chili powder, and oregano, add 2 tablespoons of taco seasoning, homemade or storebought.
- Serve the casserole with a bloop of sour cream and some extra sliced scallions or green onions. Some fresh cilantro would also be nice.
How to Make Beefy Enchilada Pasta Casserole
- Cook the ground beef: Brown the beef, transfer to a colander, and drain.
- Sauté the aromatics: Heat the oil in the skillet over medium heat. Add the onions, bell pepper, garlic, chili powder, cumin, oregano, salt, and pepper. Sauté until the onions are softened, and the spices are nice and toasty and aromatic, 5 minutes.
- Create the sauce and add the noodles: Raise the heat to high, add 2 cups of the chicken broth, the tomato paste, and enchilada sauce, and bring to a simmer. Reduce the heat to medium-high, add the drained beef and noodles, and stir well. Cover and bring to a simmer until the noodles are cooked, following the package directions. Stir once halfway through the cooking time and add the jalapeño pepper and chopped scallions. When the noodles are cooked, the liquid should be pretty much absorbed, but the mixture should still look moist.
Kitchen Smarts
If the noodles absorb all of the liquid before they are cooked, add up to 1 cup of chicken broth to the pan, stir, and cover until the pasta is tender.
- Add the cream and cheese: Stir in the cream until incorporated, and then sprinkle over the cheese. Cover and cook until the cheese melts, just 1 or 2 minutes. Serve hot.
Make-Ahead, Leftovers, and Reheating
You can make this casserole up to the point that the noodles are about halfway cooked and store it in the refrigerator, covered, in an airtight container for up to 2 days. Bring it to room temperature and warm the casserole gently over low heat until the noodles are cooked through (you may need to add a bit more broth). When it is hot, stir in the cream and finish it off with the cheese.
You can also reheat the casserole in the microwave.
Kitchen Smarts
In a perfect world, you don’t want to add the cheese until the dish is basically cooked and hot so that the cheese melts invitingly over the top of the beefy noodle fabulousness and doesn’t melt so much that it simply sinks into the casserole.
Should this happen, or you’re reheating leftovers in a microwave with no control over how the cheese melts, it will taste every bit as delicious; it just won’t have that alluring melted cheese topping, and there will be less of a chance at an actual cheese pull. And we do all love our cheese pulls.
But we also love a dish that leaves us leftovers, so…if you are thoughtful about it and know you are only going to eat half of the casserole on any given night, you could only cover half of it with cheese. Put the rest in the fridge. And then, the next time you serve it and reheat it, add the remaining cheese once it’s hot, cover it, and get the same cheesy results another time.
What to Serve With Beefy Enchilada Pasta Casserole
More Ground Beef and Cheese Recipes
- Cheesy Beef and Hash Brown Casserole
- Cheesy Ground Beef Quesadillas
- One-Skillet Cheesy Beef and Macaroni
- Simple Baked Pasta with Bolognese Sauce
- Easy Ground Beef Enchiladas
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One-Skillet Beefy Enchilada Pasta Casserole
Ingredients
- Nonstick cooking spray (for the skillet)
- 1 ½ pounds lean ground beef
- 1 tablespoon olive oil (or canola, vegetable, or peanut oil)
- 2 onions (chopped)
- 1 red, yellow, or orange bell pepper (stemmed, seeded, and diced)
- 2 cloves garlic (minced)
- 1 tablespoon chili powder
- 1 teaspoon ground cumin
- 1 teaspoon dried oregano
- Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper (to taste)
- 2 to 3 cups chicken broth (preferably low-sodium)
- ¼ cup tomato paste
- 1 (28-ounce) can enchilada sauce
- 1 pound fusilli, rotini, or egg noodles
- 1 tablespoon finely minced jalapeño pepper
- 8 scallions (trimmed and chopped; white and green parts)
- ½ cup light or heavy cream (or half-and-half)
- 1 ½ cups shredded Monterey jack (cheddar cheese, or a Mexican blend)
Instructions
- Spray a very large, deep (12- to 13-inch; 6 quart) skillet with nonstick cooking spray and place over medium-high heat. Add the ground beef and cook, stirring frequently and breaking up the meat, until it is crumbly and browned throughout, about 5 minutes. Transfer to a colander and drain.
- Heat the oil in the skillet over medium heat. Add the onions, bell pepper, garlic, chili powder, cumin, oregano, and salt and pepper. Sauté until the onions are softened and the spices are nice and toasty and aromatic, 5 minutes.
- Raise the heat to high, add 2 cups of the chicken broth, the tomato paste, and enchilada sauce, and bring to a simmer. Reduce the heat to medium-high, add the drained beef and noodles, and stir well. Cover and bring to a simmer. Reduce the heat to medium-low and continue to simmer, covered, until the noodles are cooked, following the package directions. Stir once halfway through the cooking time and add the jalapeño pepper and chopped scallions. When the noodles are cooked, the liquid should be pretty much absorbed, but the mixture should look moist. If the noodles absorb all of the liquid before they are cooked, add up to an additional cup of chicken broth to the pan, stir, and cover until the pasta is tender.
- Stir in the cream until incorporated, and then sprinkle over the cheese. Cover and cook until the cheese melts, just 1 or 2 minutes. Serve hot.
So delicious ~ I did make it vegetarian with Beyond Beef and added nutritional yeast instead of cream and cheese.
This looks great. I do wonder what brand of enchilada sauce you prefer–seems like an important ingredient and I’d hate to get it wrong as I am unfamiliar with all the different brands.
Hi! I usually use old el paso because I live in New York, and there isn’t a plethora of choices here, but I’m sure down South there are so many other brands. Sometimes I make my own – recipe coming soon!
Excellent addition to my pre holiday cooking for my 3 sons who are home and require food food and more food! Delicious warm comfort food that is simple to prepare as well as leftover friendly….