Beef Chimichangas
Where’s the beef? In my freezer…and there’s A LOT of it. We picked up our beef share this week and holy cow (no pun intended) we’ve got some beef to eat. I’m hoping it will last us through next year, but who knows! This is our first year doing a beef share and I’m pretty excited about it. Not only to save money, but because I bought the beef literally three miles from our house. We watch the beef graze and hang out in green pastures every day on our way home. I can call up the farm and tell them something’s not right, and they’ll take care of it. These beef are happy cows, have room to roam, and have only the finest pastures to eat from. I’m pretty happy to show my son and teach him exactly how the food in our house goes from farm to table.
One of my favorite freezer books is Don’t Panic Dinner’s in the Freezer by Susie Martinez. The book is filled with easy recipes and written out for you to double, triple, quadruple etc. I especially love that all of the contributing writers are from right here in Colorado. When I came across this recipe I wasn’t too sure, it seemed crazy to have that much vinegar into a beef dish, but wow it enhances the flavor so well! This is now a staple ready made beef dish in our house and is super easy for those last minute meal nights.
Beef Chimichangas
Author/Source:
Kelly @ Onceamonthmom.com adapted from Don’t Panic Dinner’s in the Freezer
Ingredients:
- 1 teaspoon Salt
- 2 pounds Ground beef, preferably organic
- 2 tablespoons Garlic, cloves, minced
- 2 teaspoon Cumin, ground
- 2 teaspoon Oregano
- 0.5 cups Green chiles, chopped
- 1 cup diced tomatoes, fresh preferably
- .5 cup diced red onion
- 0.5 cups Franks hot sauce
- 0.5 cups Sour cream
- 0.25 cups Apple cider vinegar, preferably organic
- 8 each Tortillas
Directions:
1) Cook beef in skillet over medium heat. Sprinkle beef with salt. Add garlic and spices. Cook until brown. 2) Stir in rest of ingredients. 3) Remove from heat and cool. 4) Place 1/3 cup beef into tortilla, fold, place seamside down in foil pans. Repeat until ingredients are gone. Preheat oven to 450. Bake for about 30 minutes until crispy. Sprinkle with cheese and serve with toppings of choice..
Freezing Directions:
After step 4 cover and place into freezer until ready to serve. To Serve: Preheat oven to 450. Bake for about 30-45 minutes until crispy. Sprinkle with cheese and serve with toppings of choice.
Servings: 8
This Post will be linked at:
- Cooking Thursday at Diary of a Stay at Home Mom
- Full Plate Thursday at Miz Helen’s Country Cottage
- Recipe Swap Thursday at Prairie Story
- It’s a Keeper Thursday at It’s a Keeper
**This post contains affiliate links
**And if you haven’t gotten your copy of the Survive Before 5: Toddler Meals for Your Busy Days eCookbook, be sure to get your copy now. It is on sale through July 1st for just $5.99 with the code OAMM599.
Yummy! Would love to have you share at Turning the Table Thursday…stop by every Thursday to link up!
Wendy
Around My Family Table
How many servings does this recipe make? That seems to be missing. Thanks!
Oops it makes 8 servings!
Hi Kelly,
We would just love this great Mexican dish. Your recipe is awesome and I can’t wait to try it. Thank you so much for sharing with Full Plate Thursday and I look forward to seeing you again real soon. Hope you have a great week end!
Miz Helen
Sorry, I”m new to this. When freezing, do you bake, then freeze or just assemble, freeze and bake when you’re ready to eat it?
Assemble, freeze and bake when ready. You could bake ahead of time too, but I think baking after is better. Good luck!
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I made this tonight and it is VERY good. For my kids next time, I will decrease the amount of Frank’s hot sauce and increase the amount of sour cream (to help ease the spicy-factor). Yum and thanks for the recipe!
My daughter doesn’t like really spicy foods. What would be your guess for Frank’s hot sauce and sour cream amounts to give just a hint of heat? Thanks.
Sour cream wouldn’t make it hot. It makes it slightly creamy. As for the hot sauce, you could probably just put a few Tablespoons in and taste to see.
Thanks. I agree with Erin – sour cream can ease the spicy-factor. I’ll start with a few T and give it a shot. Thanks again for your website!
I’m getting ready to make these as part of the January OAMM set. I always thought chimichangas were deep-fried or at least cooked in oil? How do these not come out dry when baked — is there just enough moisture from the filling?
I do have a deep fryer (with unflavored coconut oil) and I was thinking of pre-frying them for a minute or two before freezing, like I’ve seen done with french fries. Any idea if that would work? Or is it not even needed?
Thanks!
These are not fried they are baked at a high temp to get that crispy exterior and moist center. I cannot recommend frying before freezing as I’ve never tried it, but you’re welcome to try it on a few and let me know how it goes!
Thanks, Kelly, I might do that – just do a couple. I love my mini deep fryer and I’m playing around with the “out there” theory that coconut oil (I use Tropical Traditions) is actually really good for us. Then again, I know how often my beliefs about healthy food change, so probably best not to have too much deep fried waiting in the freezer anyway.
Thanks again for the wonderful menus, getting started tips, etc — I spent the whole day yesterday reading everything, ordering a few missing tools from Amazon, etc (a lovely excuse for shopping, and will pay for itself in less than two times going to a restaurant). I have to re-organize my freezer (with the freezer inventory sheet :) before I can start shopping, then I’ll be off and running.
Well, I didn’t get a chance to try deep-frying these because my son decided they made excellent microwave lunches and has eaten them all! :) (The trick is to cook them on lower power, e.g., 60%) I’ll have to make another batch soon.
I did the January menu this month and LOVED these! Yum. Thanks for the recipe. I made extra and wrapped some individually in paper towels and froze. I put the burrito wrapped in the paper towel in the microwave for about 3 minutes for a quick lunch. We also did them as instructed in the oven. The flavor of the meat mixture is so good. I also added some shredded carrot and zucchini to the mixture to bulk it up/add veggies.
They’re some of our favorites around here!