Dutch Oven Cowboy Enchilada Bake
Layered tortillas, beef, beans, and sauce cooked under a lid over coals. Serves six out of one pot.
- calories
- 540
- weight
- 11 oz
- cal / oz
- 49
- protein
- 30 g
- serves
- 6, scales
- prep
- 15 min
- cook
- 35 min
- total time
- 50 min
- water
- none
- cost
- $$
Calorie and protein figures are my own estimates, good enough for planning a food bag and not meant as precise nutrition data.
- Dinner
- Dutch oven
- Campfire coals
- Car camping
- Basecamp
- Gluten free
- Nut free
- One pot
- Pre-mix at home
- Needs a cooler
- Basic
Ingredients
| Ground beef | 1 lb | brown it at home and chill it if you want a faster camp dinner |
|---|---|---|
| Yellow onion | 1 small | diced |
| Taco seasoning | 1 oz packet | |
| Canned black beans | 15 oz | drained and rinsed |
| Canned enchilada sauce | 15 oz | |
| Corn tortillas | 8 | |
| Shredded cheddar | 2 cups | |
| Sliced black olives | 1 cup | optional |
| Green onions | 1/4 cup | optional, chopped, added off the heat |
Method
- Rake a bed of coals and set the Dutch oven over medium heat. Brown the beef with the onion, about 8 minutes, breaking it up as it goes.
- Pour off the fat. Stir in the taco seasoning and the drained beans.
- Scoop the meat into a bowl or pot lid. Spread a thin layer of enchilada sauce across the bottom of the oven.
- Build layers: tortillas torn to fit, meat and beans, sauce, cheese. Three rounds. Finish with cheese and the olives.
- Lid on. Roughly 8 coals underneath, 14 on top. Bake 25 to 30 minutes, rotating pot and lid a quarter turn every 10 minutes so nothing scorches.
- Pull it off the coals and let it sit 10 minutes before serving. Scatter green onions over the top. Serve with a big spoon, not a spatula.
Layering is what makes this work over a fire. Coals give you uneven heat, and a stack of tortillas, sauce, and cheese spreads that unevenness out instead of concentrating it in one spot. The lid does the rest: top coals melt and brown the cheese while the bottom heat cooks slowly enough not to burn the base layer.
The rest is timing. Fewer coals underneath than on top, and rotate both pot and lid so hot spots keep moving. The ten-minute rest off the heat matters more than it sounds, since the layers are soupy straight off the coals and hold together once they cool a little. Corn tortillas, not flour, both because they take sauce without turning to paste and because they keep the dish gluten-free.
Packing
Beef, cheese, and green onions ride in the cooler. Cans, tortillas, seasoning, and olives go in a dry box. Bring a lid lifter, gloves, and something flat and heat-safe to set the oven on.
Variations
- Swap the beef for two cans of pinto beans and skip the cheese for a version that keeps without a cooler.
- Canned green chiles between the layers if the enchilada sauce is mild.
- Cook it in a covered skillet on a stove if you have no coals. Same layers, low heat, 20 minutes.
https://camprecipes.com/dutch-oven-cowboy-enchilada-bake