Crockpot Beef Enchilada Casserole

If you’re a fan of corn chip pie, chili con carne, and shredded beef enchiladas, you’re in for a treat. This crockpot casserole slowly cooks lean top round in a chile tomato sauce until it’s melt-in-your-mouth tender before it’s shredded and layered with corn tortilla strips and jack cheese. The end result is a beef enchilada casserole with 38 grams of protein, 360 calories, and 18 grams of carbs per serving.

Something this cheesy and unctuous should not be that macro friendly!

I’ll walk you through the ingredients (it’s a short list) below and cover all the lean beef options for making high protein shredded beef. And you’ll find a full recipe card at the bottom of the post you can save or print if you’re in a hurry.

Lean Beef Options for Low Calorie Shredded Beef

Most shredded beef recipes call for chuck roast, but that cut is typically very marbled with fat and packs a big calorie punch as a result. Luckily, there are plenty of lean cuts of beef to choose from that all work well for shredded beef in a Crockpot. That’s part of the beauty of slow cooking, after all!

The recipe calls for a two-pound choice top round steak, which I buy in packs of two from Costco. You may see this cut called London broil, top round roast, or top round steak in other butchers. All work equally well.

It might seem strange slow cooking a “steak” but you wouldn’t want to treat a top round steak like a ribeye or strip steak. Slow cooking or broiling actually works better at tenderizing the otherwise tough cut of beef.

Other options include eye of round and bottom round roast, beef shoulder roast, and even chuck tender roast. I’ve used all these cuts to make recipes like pot roast and shredded beef tacos.

I have a video about making homemade extra lean ground beef where I talk about which USDA grade to look for when selecting lean beef. Prime has the most marbling, followed by Choice and then Select. If you’re looking for a fatty ribeye or NY strip, you want to go with Prime. But if you’re looking to make low calorie shredded beef, go with Choice and Select cuts.

Just to clarify, I’m not saying fat content in beef is bad. I cook with beef tallow all the time! But the goal of this recipe is to make a lower calorie, high protein enchilada casserole. Using a lower fat cut of beef is the best way to do that.

If you have trouble finding the right cut of beef or love this recipe and want another variation, check out my slow cooker chicken enchilada casserole.

Slow Cooking the Beef

Cooking tough cuts of beef low and slow is the way to go, but you don’t want to go too slow. So the recipe calls for cutting the beef into three pieces. This will speed things up a tiny bit and create shorter pieces of shredded beef in the final product. The muscle fibers on cuts like top round are long and thick, so cutting them on the front end makes life easier when shredding.

I tested this recipe in a Crockpot and found the beef would shred easily after eight or nine hours on low. If you need this beef in a hurry, you should be able to cook it on high for five or six hours to get the job done. Like with any other slow cooked protein, you want to use the eye test more than a timer.

If your beef doesn’t shred easily, it’s unlikely you’ve over cooked it. Keep going until it basically falls apart when you poke it.

The Enchilada Casserole Components

I didn’t mention the fire roasted tomatoes and chili sauce the beef cooks in above, and that’s because it’s basically your enchilada sauce for the casserole. The minimal amount of fat in the top round along with collagen that breaks down during slow cooking create a thick, rich sauce that’s better than any sauce you’ll find on shelves.

In addition to this sauce, the only other two ingredients you need are corn tortillas and freshly grated cheese. I’m lucky enough to live in H-E-B country where getting freshly made corn tortillas is as easy as 1-2-3. If you’re less fortunate in the grocery department, try a Mexican market if you have one nearby.

With a minimal recipe like this, quality ingredients make a big difference!

That also includes cheese. Skip the bags of shredded cheese and buy a nice block of colby jack, pepper jack, chipotle gouda, or another melting cheese to run through a cheese grater.

In my chicken enchilada casserole recipe, I mentioned alternative cheese options that could further improve the nutrition profile of this casserole like blended cottage cheese or reduced fat cream cheese. It might sound weird, but cottage cheese queso and protein mac kinda slap.

Speaking of macaroni and things that slap, I’ve since used this beef to make Crockpot chili mac. So good!

Even if you get creative with the cheese situation, be sure to include at least an ounce or two to melt over the top for the sake of presentation and self-love. We’re after a delicious looking beef enchilada casserole, not beefy tortilla slop!

Garnishes and Tips for Serving

Pictured below, you will notice a drizzle of Mexican crema, fresh sliced chiles, cilantro, and lime. A little fresh diced white or red onion, salsa macha, and cotija cheese or queso fresco would also be nice.

As for sides, rice and beans are undefeated. Plate a serving of this casserole over Mexican or Spanish rice, add a side of black beans and some escabeche or pickled onions, and you’ll have yourself a showstopper.

Something else I mentioned in the chicken version was the option to include other ingredients alongside the corn tortillas and cheese like beans, roasted corn, and fresh peppers. While it’s an option here, I’d much rather let the beef shine and use the extras as accoutrement.

And that’s the way the casserole crumbles. I hope you enjoy this Crockpot casserole. If you do, let me know in a recipe review or comment, as those are always appreciated. Any questions you might have about the recipe or ingredient swaps are perfect additions to the comment section as well.