One Skillet Traeger Smoked Enchiladas

If you’ve never made smoked enchiladas on your Traeger grill, you’re in for a treat. Today I’ll show you how to make cheesy chili con carne Tex Mex enchiladas in one pan. It’s a super easy recipe and perfect for feeding a crowd.

And yes, these are the same enchiladas that earned an “If we weren’t already married, I’d propose to you” from my official taste tester and the other half of With the Woodruffs, my wife Vanessa.

How to Make Traeger Smoked Tex Mex Enchiladas

This recipe has two parts—the beef chili and cheese rolled tortillas. You’ll start the chili in a large skillet on the stovetop and let it simmer on the grill for about 30 minutes. That gives you plenty of time to prepare the cheese filling for the tortillas and have a cerveza or two.

Part One: Skillet Beef Chili

Start by sweating a diced onion and bell pepper or poblano pepper with about a tablespoon of olive oil. You’re not looking to brown the veggies (or ground beef) so stir them around for a couple minutes to soften before adding the beef.

Break the ground beef apart and stir everything together. Continue cooking for 6-8 minutes to fully cook the beef.

Once your ground beef is cooked, add a large can of crushed tomatoes (fire roasted if possible) and a packet of chili seasoning. I used H-E-B Texas chili seasoning, but you could make your own.

Stir everything together before adding two cups of beef broth. You can transfer the skillet to the Traeger or pellet smoker before adding the beef broth if you’re cutting it close on space in the skillet. I’d hate for you to look like Kevin from the office with the first part of your smoked enchiladas.

Let the chili ride for around thirty minutes at 500ºF on the Traeger. You want the chili to thicken a bit but still be plenty saucy. If the liquid is reduced too much after 30 minutes, you can stir in a bit more before adding the cheesy tortillas.

What about other styles of smoked enchiladas?

Let’s say you have some leftover Traeger grilled chicken or beef fajitas and want to make enchiladas. You can make homemade enchilada sauce, letting it simmer on the grill, and incorporate the protein into the filling below.

Part Two: Cheese Stuffed Tortillas

While the chili simmers on the grill, mix together mayo, shredded Mexican cheese, garlic powder, and scallions.

Feel free to play around with your smoked enchiladas filling. Mayo is easily replaced by cream cheese or sour cream, and scallions could be replaced by cilantro or omitted for picky eaters.

Enchiladas are traditionally made with corn tortillas, but I used the same corn and flour hybrid tortillas from my Traeger pulled beef tacos and reverse seared tri tip tacos. You get the flavor of corn tortillas and the sturdy characteristics of flour tortillas all in one. They’re the bee’s knees.

You want to roll tightly to keep the tortillas sealed and have room in the skillet for all eight. I like to leave a tiny bit of room between for optimal chili distribution.

All that’s left for your Tex Mex enchiladas is a second round of shredded cheese and an additional 15-20 minutes on the Traeger.

You’re looking for fully melted cheese and some browning around the edges. This creates great texture and ensures you’re giving the stuffed cheese plenty of time to melt and the chili con carne time to further reduce.

And that’s the whole enchilada. Your chili cheese enchiladas are ready to garnish and serve. I like to mix some sour cream or Greek yogurt with lime juice and pair that with fresh avocado, cilantro, and more scallions.

Herbs and acidic ingredients are key to brightening an otherwise heavy dish with all the beef and cheese. Something like a cilantro lime sauce or herb sauce would be a great addition as well.

Smoked Enchiladas Pairing Ideas

These smoked enchiladas would be perfect for combining with my Traeger esquites recipe. You could grill the corn and peppers right alongside the chili as it simmers. It’s a non-traditional spin on Mexican street corn salad, but it would still work perfectly here.

You could also speed up the cook time (adding broth as needed) on recipes like my Traeger charro beans or smoky drunken beans. Cheese enchiladas could always benefit from a high fiber side like beans, for obvious reasons!

If you have a partner to help with indoor sides, borracho beans are worth exploring. And I have a recipe for making refried black beans with canned beans that takes about 10 minutes for a last minute fix.

Okay, it’s time to get grilling. I hope you enjoy these Traeger smoked enchiladas. If you do, we always appreciate recipe reviews!