Nutrient Dense Enchiladas
Delicious and nutrient dense, omnivore or vegetarian — or both! Perfect for dinner parties. One main dish for both omnivore and vegetarians guests. Make one tray of each.
What makes it nutrient dense?
✅ onions
✅ garlic
✅ bell pepper
✅ poblano pepper
✅ beans
✅ tomatoes
✅ cilantro
✅ spices: chili, cumin, garlic powder, onion powder, paprika, sea salt, black pepper
Variations
- Vegetarian: use 1 1/2 cup cooked lentils instead of ground meat
- Spicy: keep the poblano seeds or add 1/4 – 1/2 red pepper flakes
- Chicken: use chopped up leftover (or rotisserie) chicken instead of ground meat
- Dairy free: use pecorino romano and goat cheeese
Enchilada Sauce
You can use store-bought. Always read ingredient labels for minimal ingredients. If you want to make it, I use this recipe
Enchilada Sauce – Gimme Some Oven
Taco Seasoning
Again, you can use store-bought, but I think it’s totally worth making your own.
Homemade Taco Seasoning – Family Fresh Meals
Leftovers
So many ways to use leftover enchilada filling that I make extra. Freeze another day.
- Shepard pie with mashed sweet potatoes
- Stuffed bell peppers, or zucchini or paghetti squash (scoop out seeds first), sprinkle cheese on top and cook in oven for 30 – 40 minutes.
- 2 tablespoons avocado oil
- 1 onion chopped
- 1 1/2 pounds ground meat turkey, bison, grass-fed beef
- 4 garlic cloves minced
- 1 tablespoon taco seasoning
- 1 poblano pepper seeded and chopped (keep seeds for more kick)
- 1 bell pepper chopped, any color
- 1 tomato chopped
- 1 15 oz can black beans
- 1/2 cup cilantro chopped
- Salt and pepper to taste
- 8 large whole-wheat flour tortillas
- 1 1/2 - 2 cups Mexican-blend shredded cheese
- 1 batch red enchilada sauce or 1 can store-bought enchilada sauce
- Extra cilantro
- 2 cups corn kernels OPTIONAL - I use frozen
- Heat oven to 350°F. Grease a 9 x 13-inch baking pan with avocado or olive oil. Set aside.
- Heat avocado oil in a pot over medium heat until it just starts to shimmer. Add onion and cook, stirring occasionally for 5 minutes. Add ground meat and cook, stirring occasionally until no longer pink.
- Mix in garlic and taco seasoning. Cook 2 – 3 more minutes.
- Mix in 1/4 cup of enchilada sauce. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
- Add poblano and bell peppers, tomato and black bean. Mix again and cook just until poblano and bell peppers soften. Stir in 1/2 cup chopped cilantro.
- Spread a thin layer of enchilada sauce on the bottom of your baking dish. Set up an assembly line with the enchilada sauce, filling, tortillas, cheese. Spread a spoonful of enchilada sauce on a tortilla, a spoonful of filling and carefully roll up the tortilla. Place in baking dish. Continue until it is filled up.
- Spread remaining enchilada sauce on top of the enchiladas,
- Sprinkle 1 1/2 - 2 1/2 cups shredded cheese on top, (depends how cheesy you prefer)
- Bake uncovered for 20 minutes.
- Remove from oven, sprinkle another 1/4 cup chopped cilantro on top and serve.
- OPTIONAL: Top with sliced avocado or guacamole to serve, with the cilantro sprinkled on top.
NOTE: You can layer filling and the tortillas like for a lasagna instead of rolling them up, especially if using corn or gluten-free tortillas which tend to fall apart.
Look forward to making these enchiladas and some of the other recipes. Just discovered this blog and love it. Besides the food, I enjoy reading the words. So good to read about healthy, delicious, life enhancing eating. Thanks. I’ll be back!
So glad you found Color My Food! I hope you find the enchiladas simple to make. I’ve made them with ground turkey, bee and even bison from the Farmer’s Market. Let me know how it goes! 🙂