Forget stopping for takeout. This slow cooker Mexican recipe is even better.

Cooktop Cove: Forget stopping for takeout. This slow cooker Mexican recipe is even better.

By Robin Donovan

What’s better than a beefy burrito? A beefy burrito that’s loaded with meat that has been slow cooked with savory enchilada sauce and green chiles, and then smothered in the cooking sauce and topped with melted cheese. This slow cooker burrito recipe has it all.

Cook the meat for these burritos in the slow cooker. After assembling the burritos, douse them in the reserved cooking sauce, top them with cheese, and bake them in the oven. An even easier method (with less cleanup) is to nestle the burritos right into the sauce in the slow cooker, and cook them for another 30 minutes or so, but you can probably only fit half of the burritos in the slow cooker at a time. It’s a great method if you plan to serve four one night and four the other.

Slow Cooker Smothered Beef Burritos

8 hours and 10 minutes

8 hours and 25 minutes

2 pounds beef stew meat, cut into cubes

1 teaspoon kosher salt

1/2 teaspoon black pepper

1 (28-ounce) can red enchilada sauce

1 (4-ounce) can diced fire-roasted green chiles

1 yellow onion, diced

1 teaspoon dried oregano

2 cups shredded cheddar cheese

1 (16-ounce) can refried beans

8 flour tortillas

Season the beef with the salt and pepper and add it to the slow cooker.

Add the enchilada sauce, chiles, onion and oregano, and stir to combine.

Cover the slow cooker, and cook on low for 8 hours.

Heat the refried beans (in a saucepan on the stove or in a bowl in the microwave).

Heat the oven to 350 F.

Lay the tortillas out on the work surface.

Use a slotted spoon to remove the beef from the sauce in the slow cooker, reserving the sauce.

Spread a spoonful of refried beans on the tortilla, and add a spoonful of the beef to the middle of the tortilla.

Add about 2 tablespoons of the cheese on top of the beef, and roll up the tortillas, folding and tucking in the ends to contain the filling.

Arrange the burritos in a 9-by-13-inch baking dish, and ladle the reserved sauce over the top.

Sprinkle the remaining cup of cheese over the top.

Bake in the oven for about 10 minutes, until the cheese is melted and the sauce is bubbling.