I live in Chicago, there aren’t more than a couple million Mexicans here. I am describing how I make delicious food in my kitchen, not applying for certification from the Mexican Culinary Institute for Prescriptivist Dorks.
I was trying to give you the benefit of the doubt. If any place, certified or not, served me “enchiladas” with salsa instead of enchilada sauce, I would ask for a refund. It would be akin to putting salsa on spaghetti and calling it marinara sauce.
Thanks for this. I’m planning to finally make these for dinner tonight, and I want to recreate as fully as possible the traditional original Taco Bell Enchirito. I checked three copycat enchirito recipes and they all call for refried beans and not sour cream, so that’s how I’m going to make mine. Oh, and I’m going to season the ground beef. I didn’t pick up any Old El Paso taco seasoning, just the enchilada sauce, so I’ll make my own taco seasoning. I should probably try to find a copycat recipe for Taco Bell style seasoning…
ETA: I found three Taco Bell copycat seasoning recipes online (I like to triangulate when I’m trying a copycat recipe). They are all pretty much the same, and not too different than how I would normally season my taco meat. Looks like all systems go for enchiritos.
So I made the enchiritos yesterday. Were they tasty? Sure. Were they reminiscent of the Taco Bell enchirito flavor I remember from days gone by? I…don’t think so. I think it may have been the Old El Paso enchilada sauce I used. I didn’t expect it to be like authentic enchilada sauce, I expected it to be similar to whatever Taco Bell used back in the day. But it was even more insipid and flavorless than I expected. I think whatever Taco Bell used for their sauce was, not exactly spicier, but.. a little-- zestier? I don’t know 
OK, so here’s the last thing I’m going to say on enchiritos-- I had the leftovers for an early lunch just now, and, maybe overnight in the fridge to merge the flavors helped, or maybe I wasn’t judging with such high expectations of recreating a flavor of my youth, but I think, just now, it did taste more like my memory of an old fashioned Taco Bell enchirito. A little added hot sauce helped. And I think I was too hard on my judgement of the Old El Paso enchilada sauce in my last post-- it does kind of have the ‘taste of 1979’ as @AHunter3 put it so well.
Thanks @AHunter3 ! I’m adding this recipe to my comfort food collection. I think it’s also the perfect dish for potlucks!
Anyhow, I don’t think I ever had an original TB enchirito, so I didn’t feel too much like a desecrator when I made a few modifications to your recipe. I had a pound of ground Italian sausage in the freezer, so I used that in place of ground beef. There was also a 1/2 a package of Southwest style vegetables in the same freezer, so I threw them in too, plus a small can of diced green chiles I found in the cupboard. The addition of these vegetables instantly converts TB junk food into A Healthy Meal, right?
Everything else was “by the book.” I had 1-1/2 enchiritos for dinner and froze the rest. They were very tasty! The sausage had a milder flavor than beef, and I think beef would have been better. But I’d really like to try shredded chicken (did TB offer a chicken version?)
I used Old El Paso enchilada sauce, but it was a bit tame for my taste. Do other brands have a little more kick?
You know, Taco Bell sells its seasoning in packets at the grocery store.
Anyway, on the topic of enchilada sauce, the kind I grew up eating at 'Berto’s style taco shops in San Diego was almost entirely red chiles and water thickened with roux, with little if any tomato in it. It’s got a consistency a little thinner than gravy and it tends to be a dark reddish-orange and slightly bitter. I’ve never found a good copycat recipe for it.
Personally, I like the Hatch enchilada sauce. Not sure how widely available it is though. They offer a “medium” version of their red that has a lot more flavor than Old El Paso.
505 red enchilada sauce is my favorite brand, but the store I work at discontinued it a few years back and it’s hard to find around here.
It’s good for making New Mexico-style enchiladas - the kind with soft-fried corn tortillas stacked three or four high, with cheese and onion (and optionally meat) in between, smothered in sauce, and topped with a fried egg.
Planning on making one of those for dinner later tonight, actually.