New Mexico claims ownership to the creation of stacked enchiladas. Instead of rolled, fried tortillas are flat enchiladas, stacked with a mixture of ground beef and melted cheese and red chile sauce. In traditional New Mexico style, the enchiladas are then topped with a fried egg. Stacked enchiladas are guaranteed to bring your taste buds alive with true Southwestern charm.
Why Are Stacked Enchiladas Easier?
Common in New Mexico, stacked enchiladas use the same ingredients as traditional enchiladas, but rather than rolled inside of a corn tortilla, the ingredients are stacked. Which makes for an easier no-fuss, quick-fix experience.
For this recipe, these New Mexico stacked enchiladas use stand alone corn tortillas that have been fried then layered with enchilada sauce, ground beef and cheese. Once stacked, the enchiladas are then baked long enough to simply melt the cheese and bring the ingredients together.
The corn tortillas stay crispy in spots and soft and chewy in others by absorbing the sauce and the juices from the ground beef and fresh tomatoes.
And there’s that ooey-gooey cheesy part. The strong Southwestern flavors of this wonderful creation are truly enhanced when the yolk of the egg mixes in with the other ingredients.
This recipe is compliments of one of my New Mexico born and raised chef instructors at Culinary School. He referred to them as Santa Fe Enchiladas.
Being a New Mexico Stacked Enchilada purist, he always tops the dish with a fried egg cooked sunny side up or over medium. His family made stacked enchiladas with ground beef, but these can also be made meatless.
For the sauce, make your own New Mexico Red Chile Sauce using a medium heat Chimayo chile powder. You can also use this Easy enchilada Sauce in place of the Red Chile Sauce.
Let’s take a look.
Ingredients You’ll Need:
Ingredients to Make Stacked Enchiladas
- Red Chile Sauce or Red Enchilada Sauce
- Diced fresh tomatoes (optional)
- Ground Beef: Choose a lean blend. 93-7% works well here.
- Sweet Onion
- Shredded Lettuce (for garnish – optional) Iceberg lettuce is a good choice here.
- Hatch Chile Peppers: Roasted, peeled, and diced
- Oil for frying tortillas. A neutral oil works well here. Canola and Vegetable oil are good choices.
- Eggs
- Yellow Corn Tortillas
- Shredded Cheese: I like to use a blend of cheddar and white melting cheese. Monterey Jack, Pepper Jack and Muenster are good choices here.
Ingredient Subs and Substitutions
- Enchilada Sauce: If you don’t want to make your own homemade enchilada sauce, purchase canned. Purchasing one 19-ounce, or two 10 ounce cans will give you plenty of sauce.
- Tomatoes: If fresh tomatoes are out of season, use Cherub cherry tomatoes. Don’t substitute canned tomatoes for fresh. Canned tomatoes, even drained will offer too much liquid, causing the tortillas to become soggy. Omit tomatoes in this case.
- Ground Beef: Substitute ground turkey or ground chicken in place of the ground beef. Shredded chicken will also work like a charm here. Or omit the meat entirely and make these vegetarian stacked enchiladas. You can also substitute black beans for the ground beef.
- Tortillas: I prefer yellow corn tortillas for this recipe because they’re sturdier and have a more defined corn flavor. You can substitute white corn tortillas if you don’t have yellow.
- Shredded Cheese: To make this recipe even easier, grab a package of Mexican blend shredded cheese at the grocery store.
Step by Step Instructions
Looking around on the web I found several versions of Stacked Enchiladas. Many don’t use ground beef, just cheese and the red chile sauce. We’ll make this version with ground beef.
- Step 1: Brown The Beef With Onions and Chile Peppers: Heat a fry skillet over medium heat. Once the pan is hot, add the ground beef and onions. Add a couple of pinches of chili powder to the ground beef to add a kick of flavor. Cook until ground beef is just starting to lose its pink color. Add the chopped chiles and stir until chiles are warm and ground beef is no longer pink.
- Step 2: How To Fry Corn Tortillas: The corn tortillas for are handled a bit differently than rolled and baked enchiladas. We’ll skip the step of dipping the fried tortilla in the enchilada sauce, and simply fry the corn tortilla. I like to use my omelette pan. Heat the pan on medium high heat. Once hot, add the oil and heat until the oil is shimmering. One by one, place the corn tortillas in the hot oil and cook for 30 seconds. No need turn them. Once you see bubbles starting to form on the tortilla (see photo of the tortilla in the pan above), using a spatula, remove the tortilla to a plate lined with a paper towel. Repeat with the rest of the tortillas.
- Step 3: Start building the stacked enchiladas.Using an oven proof pan, start by placing enough of the ground beef, onion and chile pepper mix on a corn tortilla. Then add ¼ cup red chile sauce or enchilada sauce.
- Step 4: Finish by adding a good handful of grated cheese and a sprinkle of chopped tomato. Repeat with one more layer. Add cheese and sauce to the top of the third tortilla. These stacked enchiladas are ready to bake just long enough to melt that cheese. Use a comal or a baking sheet.
Step 5: In the meantime, fry two eggs to sunny-side up stage.
Variations
These stand alone enchiladas are easy to customize and personalize. Switch things up and add sliced radishes, chopped cilantro. Add corn and even black beans to make this a vegetarian stacked enchilada dinner. A drizzle of sour cream will make this a Tex-Mex version.
FAQ’s
There are two reasons for this. Either your oil is not hot enough, or you’re not cooking them long enough. I always lose or sacrifice a couple of tortillas during this process. Play with the heat until the tortilla fries just enough to be almost crispy in 30 seconds.
I recommend that you assemble and bake these enchiladas when you’re planning on eating them. Storing fried tortillas can turn them soggy or rubbery. If you’re making red chile sauce or homemade enchilada sauce, that piece of this meal most certainly should be prepared ahead of time.
I’m so glad you asked! Try Hatch Green Chile Sauce for a verde experience. A mole sauce would bring this dish to a whole new level of earthiness.
Recipe for New Mexico Stacked Enchiladas
If you’re looking for fresh New Mexico cuisine, I hope you give this Stacked Enchilada recipe a try. They’re a wonderful treat and a great introduction to New Mexico Cuisine.
Serve this hearty fiesta style meal alongside Salsa and chips. Or with Cowboy Beans.
More Enchilada Recipes
And if you’ love Mexican food as much as we do, don’t miss my Mexican Food and Southwest Recipes Category. You’ll find lots of fun recipe to spice up your meal plans, including the most popular on my site for Hatch Green Chile with Pork.
If you’re chile pepper crazed like us, don’t miss my post on Chili vs Chile for more Hatch Green Chile Recipes.
If you liked this recipe, please leave a star ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ rating in the recipe card below and leave a comment. I always appreciate your feedback and hearing how everything went.
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New Mexico Stacked Enchiladas
Ingredients
- 2 cups New Mexico Red Chile Sauce or Enchilada Sauce
- 1 pound ground beef browned
- 1 cup sweet onion chopped
- 4 Hatch green chile peppers roasted, peeled and chopped. Or 1-4 ounce can chopped Hatch chile peppers
- 2 cups shredded Mexican Blend cheese
- 2 tomato chopped
- chopped lettuce for topping
- 6 yellow corn tortilla
- ¼ cup vegetable oil canola oil works well here
- 2 eggs fried over easy or over medium
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- Brown ground beef and onion in a fry pan until done. Drain excess grease, stir in the Hatch Green chile and set aside.
- In a fry pan, heat oil over medium high heat until hot. The oil should be hot enough that the tortillas bubbles as its lowered into the oil. Fry corn tortillas one at a time 30 seconds each. Place tortillas on a plate that's been lined with a paper towel. Place another paper towel on top of the tortillas as you cook them to help keep them warm.
- To build the enchiladas. In an oven proof dishes, I use my Comal, place one tortilla. Top with ¼ cup ground beef and ¼ cup New Mexico Red Chile Sauce and a good sprinkle of the shredded cheese and fresh tomato. Place a tortilla on top of of that and another layer of the ingredients. Place the third tortilla on top and sprinkle with cheese and sauce. Use three tortillas for each stack.
- In the meantime, fry two eggs until over easy.
- Bake or broil until cheese is melted and bubbly. Serve immediately topped with more fresh tomato, chopped lettuce and fried egg. If you want add a dollop of sour cream to the top and diced raw onions (after baking)
- This served the two of us with plenty of leftovers.
Video
Notes
Nutrition
Stacked Enchiladas …They’re what’s for Dinner.
Why Trust These Recipes? Lea Ann Brown has lived, worked and played in Colorado for 45 years. She has immersed herself in the Colorado Culinary space, is a Culinary School Graduate and publishes her Colorado food Blog, Cooking On The Ranch.
I’ve only had rolled enchiladas that my Spanish-Mexican mom would make. Then my sister moved here from Northern Arizona and made stacked enchiladas. I’m never going back to rolled! Thank you for the recipe, now I can make them for my family and no more complaints about broken tortillas when they try to roll them 😆😆
My mom would make us “Mexican pancakes”, my fathers name for it. She went to NMSU in Las Cruces and ended up coming to Hawaii and marrying a local rancher. She made us NM enchiladas on Sunday nights. I’ve never had or found anyone who made them like this. No meat just the egg for protein. Shed fry each tortilla to a count on one side (I can see her hand in her hip usually with a cigarette in it) and then flip for a couple more seconds then dip in the the sauce then flat on the plate cover with onions and cheese then repeat. Ended with an egg or two cover with more sauce. The whole thing ringed in chopped lettuce and tomato and sweet onions. Yum
Hi Caroline, and thanks so much for your note. I love your memories about those pancakes.
Lee Ann – Delish! I LOVE enchiladas and had never heard of stacked — they were fun.
Since you are in Colorado — do you have a recipe for green chili? Just like a green chili to eat by the bowlful or to smother burritos with? I lived in Colorado in the 80’s and miss the green chili from Farmer’s Inn in LaSalle, Colorado near Greeley. I can’t find a copy cat recipe LOL. Thank you.
Hi Karen and thanks for reaching out. I have a green chili recipe on my site. It’s Colorado style with pork. I’m not sure how it will compare with what you had at The Farmer’s Inn. Here’s the recipe and it’s very popular on my site: https://highlandsranchfoodie.com/how-to-make-hatch-green-chili-colorado-style/
I grew up in Northern NM. My maternal grandmother made the best stacked enchaladas I have ever eaten. Many local restaurants made enchaladas that way. I had never even seen any other kind until I ordered enchaladas in Arizona. I got a little rolled up ??? on a saucer. I was appalled!!! The waitress was mystified!!! I explained what a real enchalada was. I think I was banned from that restaurant…. not that I would have gone back anyway.
Hi William and thanks for this note. And living so long in Colorado, I had never heard of a stacked enchilada until my New Mexico raised co-worked told me about them. Once I tried them, I simply fell in love with the method. I do love the rolled blue corn enchiladas at The Shed in Santa Fe, but other than that, I’ll take them stacked. Again thanks for the note.
Oh my gosh these looks so so good can’t wait to make them as all your recipes look awesome can I ask what brand yellow corn tortillas you use pleas
Thank you
Nancy
Excellent. I buy my heirloom red chile (powder) at Chimayo NM when I go every year….expensive but worth every penny. I use my own New Mexico Red Chile sauce for these, and the Hatch green chile salsa — oh my. Great recipe.. Thanks!!!!
Actually, that is not correct. Stacked enchiladas started inSonora, Mexico, Enchiladas Sonorenses. And in Mexico they are not topped with egg.
These in my opinion are the only way to eat enchiladas but in my family we don’t add green chili or meat. The corn tortillas are never store bought made by hand on a griddle (comal) yellow corn masa is used and the corn tortillas are a little thicker and bigger than the ones from the store. We but lettuce, tomatoes, and sometimes avocado on the side. They are never complete without the egg on top. We usually only do two tortillas because we have rice and beans on the side.
Really 👍 good
Stacked enchiladas is one of our go-to meals. So easy to make and perfect when you don’t feel like cooking. My recipe is a little different. It doesn’t have meat, but I love your idea of adding the meat for a little protein. I also cheat and just stick them in the microwave for a couple of minutes. 🙂 Of course now you have me craving these.
Lea Ann, these enchiladas are absolutely drool-worthy! Love the idea of stacking them. So happy I found your site!
Much as I love regular enchiladas, I think stacked ones are better. And you’re right: Much easier to make! These look great. Suddenly, I’m hungry. 🙂
These look delicious especially with the eggs on top. I remember it from the previous post and saved the recipe but never tried it. Since I’ve been on a Mexican kick lately, I’ll tee this up for our next one. Do you have a recipe for the sauce from Chamayo powder.
This is to Lea Ann. You are absolutely right about those Texas Stacked Enchiladas! Texans just don’t know how to make ’em!!!
I have to tell ya, through my younger days, I would occasionally make the stacked enchiladas for boyfriends. I always got the same reaction: no words, but a facial expression that said “you really expect me to eat this sh..!” But, after I threatened them with their life if they didn’t at least taste them, THEY WERE HOOKED!!!
High Five! They may know some things, but New Mexico owns the bragging rights for stacked enchiladas WITH a fried egg. 🙂