Beef Enchilada Quinoa Bake
This Beef Enchilada Quinoa Bake is a hearty, healthy casserole that tastes like the saucy, cheesy, meaty Mexican comfort food you’ve been craving. The servings are very filling, packed full of flavor and each contain 27 grams of protein and 6 grams of fiber! After my Buffalo Chicken Quinoa Bake and Chicken Parmesan Quinoa Bake were both big hits I couldn’t wait to take the same concept and mix in some tasty new flavors. I loved this dish, and it’s just in time for Cinco de Mayo! To view your WW PersonalPoints for this recipe and track it in the WW app or site, click here!
This casserole is absolutely crave-worthy on its own, but you can have fun with it by adding optional toppings like scallions, black olives, avocado, peppers, guacamole, sour cream, cilantro, etc. Choose your favorites or leave it alone! I also like to make my quinoa ahead of time (I always just toss it in my rice cooker) to cut down on the meal prep.
Beef Enchilada Quinoa Bake
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon chili powder
- ¼ teaspoon garlic powder
- ¼ teaspoon onion powder
- ¼ teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
- ¼ teaspoon oregano
- ½ teaspoon paprika
- 1 ½ teaspoons ground cumin
- 1 teaspoon sea salt
- 1 teaspoon black pepper
- 1.25 lb 95% lean ground beef
- 3 cups cooked quinoa
- 1 cup frozen corn kernels, thawed
- 1 (15 oz) can black beans, drained and rinsed
- 2 (10 oz) cans red enchilada sauce
- ½ cup fat free sour cream
- 4 oz (about 1 cup) shredded 50% reduced fat sharp cheddar, divided
- Optional toppings, not included in nutrition calculations: scallions, cilantro, black olives, avocado, sour cream, guacamole, peppers, etc.
Instructions
- Pre-heat the oven to 350. Lightly mist a 9x13 baking dish with cooking spray and set aside.
- Combine the chili powder, garlic powder, onion powder, red pepper flakes, oregano, paprika, cumin, salt and pepper in a dish and stir together to make your own taco seasoning. Set aside.
- Bring a large nonstick skillet over medium heat and add the ground beef. Cook while breaking up with a wooden spoon until beef is completely browned and broken into small pieces. Drain grease from the pan. Add the taco seasoning from step 2 and stir together until well combined. Transfer the mixture to a large mixing bowl and add the quinoa, corn and black beans. Stir until well combined. Add the enchilada sauce, sour cream and 2 ounces (half) of the shredded cheddar and stir until thoroughly combined.
- Transfer the contents of the mixing bowl to the prepared baking dish and spread evenly. Sprinkle the remaining 2 ounces of cheese over the top. Bake for 35 minutes until the bake is bubbly and heated throughout and the cheese is melted.
Notes
8 per serving (P+ calculated using the recipe builder on weightwatchers.com) an Emily Bites Original, seasoning mix is from allrecipes
OOOh will try this because I’m trying to incorporate more quinoa and this is perfect! Thanks 🙂
Do you think this would freeze well?
I think so…I haven’t tried freezing it, but I am assuming it would freeze just fine 🙂
This freezes beautifully! I assembled the whole casserole, covered with foil, and froze. Put it in the oven when I turned it on and baked for about 40 minutes once pre-heated. It was delicious! Another home run by Emily 🙂
How do you cook your quinoa?
I make mine in a rice cooker usually, but if you buy a package of quinoa it has directions on the package 🙂
My boys aren’t big fans of quinoa, do you think they will notice or do you think the other flavors will keep them from noticing?
Hm, it’s hard for me to say for sure that they’d like it, but I do think the other flavors overpower the quinoa flavor, so it’s definitely possible!
So good. made it last night & cant wait to have it again for leftovers tonight! Kids loved it too. Added a few olives & a couple of slices of avocado.
I made this last night. It was so easy and so delicious. The only thing I changed was I only used 1 lb. of ground beef since that’s what I had on hand. Plus it’s just my son and I. He loved it too. Although he added more spice to his. He adds tobasco to everything 🙂
Very good!! Leftovers will make great stuffed peppers!
Dumb question…I’m inputting this to myfitnesspal and it’s telling me over 500 calories per serving?? I’ve triple checked the ingredients but not sure what’s going on. Would appreciate feedback from anyone as I’m trying to watch my diet and calories closely to lose weight. Thanks!
Did you input the ingredients individually or just run the recipe link? I have heard from many that the second option is not very reliable. Maybe they’re counting the quinoa as uncooked? It’s really impossible for me to know what’s being calculated wrong but I suggest inputting the ingredients into the recipe calculator individually for accuracy. I am certain your current calculation is incorrect.
I always like to see reviews from people who have actually made the dish, so I just wanted to share that I made this earlier this week (actually on Cinco de Mayo!) and it is awesome! I put the casserole together the night before and then cooked it when I came home from work, which made things really easy (although, aside from cooking the quinoa, it was super easy to put together anyway!). Topped it with FF sour cream, salsa and green onions. Super filling! Will definitely make again! Another favorite from Emily Bites!
Thanks Elizabeth, I’m so happy you loved this one! Thanks so much for leaving a comment 🙂
This tastes amazing and is very, very filling. I was surprised though after it baked for 35 minutes it was the same consistency (and maybe even less firm) than before I cooked it. Is the cooking time just to meld the flavors other than just heating it up?
The cooking time does meld the flavors and make sure the bake is heated through. If you’re looking for a thicker consistency you could certainly use less enchilada sauce and see if that helps. Glad to hear you liked it!
I had the same experience as Cami–there was just a bit of a soupy consistency. I also only used 1# of beef so I thought maybe that’s why. I’m going to add some onions next time to try to add more solids. The flavors were great though.
Hm, I’m not sure why that happened, but you could definitely add less enchilada sauce or some veggies for filler to fix it for next time. Glad you liked the flavors 🙂
Would Greek yogurt substitute well for the sour cream?
I always sub Greek yogurt for sour cream and it comes out great
How much is a serving size?
Nvrmd! Just found it!
Have you tried this with green enchilada sauce because that’s all I have in the pantry right now
THIS IS THE BEST!!!!!! Modified to follow simply filling. Took to my daughters high school swim banquet & it was GONE as soon as people tasted it (cause it didn’t look as pretty as yours) !! yum my favorite dinner.
I made this tonight with ground turkey instead of beef. I sauteed some onions in oil spray before adding the turkey to the pan. It turned out great!! I’m going to eat it with chopped romaine, tomatoes, cilantro and raw onion on top. Thank you for the recipe 🙂
Beefy Enchilada Quinoa Bake
I have to tell you that I have just started to eat quinoa. I am experimenting with several different recipes at this time. I made this one and the only thing I did differently was I added some diced green pepper and some chopped Hungarian and hot peppers (tastes like a mild to moderate jalapeño pepper). and since I do not eat any type of beans, I omitted dumb and added more corn. I absolutely love this recipe.
I’m so glad you loved it, Joy!
Looking forward to trying this – just found your blog and all your quinoa recipes look great, I plan to try them all. Any new ones on the horizon? I was thinking that a pizza-flavored variation might be yummy!
Made this tonight with ground turkey and it was amazing. Couldn’t find red enchilada sauce and so I substituted Neal brothers salsa and it was so good, definitely make this again
I seen a previous comment about the calories being higher or more than stated… I just did the same thing and put all ingredients into the new recipe builder and according to that for 8 servings, it is 13 sp a cup. not sure if it is a glitch or what is going on. I did double check that I put the quinoa in as uncooked, then as cooked, it was not a different value.
still trying to figure out why…
OH MAN. Made this last night and it’s SO good. I had no issues or differences in nutrition information when I put it in to verify, but then I swapped out the ground beef for ground turkey. This will be put into a part of my rotation. LOVE it.
Glad you loved it!
I loved this! I am new to Weight Watchers and your website is really helping me get started. The quinoa disappears into the casserole and creates a great substitute for cornmeal. I liked it so much I started trying to think of other things it would work well with. Any possibility you might create lightened up version of King Ranch Chicken? Thanks so much!
I’m so happy you loved this! I have a Chicken Parmesan Quinoa Bake and a Buffalo Chicken Quinoa Bake that are made similarly, so you may want to try those as well! Just head to my recipe index and click “quinoa” in the ingredients section. I have never heard of King Ranch Chicken so I will have to do some research! Thanks for the suggestion. 🙂
Made this tonight for tomorrow’s meal – looks delish! I didn’t have sour cream or plain yogurt so I used full fat coconut cream. I’ll post back how family liked it!
Turned out great. One other thing I changed out of necessity, only had 1 can of enchilada sauce so used can of tomato sauce for 2nd can. Which was probably better for my daughter, she doesn’t do spicy very well and this was just at the edge of too hot! (I had already cut the chili powder to 1/2 Tbsp). Thanks for the great weeknight dish!
Glad to hear it was a hit!
Do you think brown rice could be substituted for quinoa?
I made this and my mom, who hates quinoa, LOVED it. I only used 1 pound of beef, since I had that on hand, and instead of black beans I used Bush’s Borracho beans (I dislike black beans) and it was so good! I’m trying it again tonight with shredded chicken instead of beef.
This is amazing! The whole family loved it. This will become one of my weekly go to meals. I’m going to try the Buffalo Chicken Quinoa bake tonight. If it half as good as this one it will be another hit. Thanks!
Definitely going to make this looks delicious!! I was wondering if you used ground turkey instead of beef, what would the calories be for one serving??
Hi Melissa, I’m sorry, I only calculated the nutrition information for this recipe as written. If you want to make changes to the recipe I would recommend using the nutrition calculator on MyFitnessPal, which is what I do 🙂
Love this recipe. It’s in the rotation plus love to freeze it. My question is if u use ground turkey does that lower the freestyle smart points
Wow, this was amazing! I’ve been experimenting with quinoa and this is by far my favorite recipe I’ve found. It’s spicier than I typically eat, but soooo good!
This is my favorite recipe of yours! I make it every week because my picky husband LOVES this! I sautéed onion and add green chilis to the meat to make it extra spicy, it’s always a hit! Thank you!!
Planning on making his tonight using 4%. Ground beef and prob one can of enchilada sauce but coming p with 9 points per serving, seems enchilada sauce is high in points any other thoughts?
What about the sodium ?
Made as is and it was amazing! Kids ate seconds and thirds. Loved it!
I’m so glad your family loved it!
Great casserole. I used ground turkey & was really good with less calories.