These Vegetable Enchiladas are made with homemade enchilada sauce and corn tortillas stuffed with corn, spinach, black beans and cheese.
Vegetable Enchiladas
These Vegetable Enchiladas are family-friendly since they don’t have any strange vegetables tucked inside, just a combo of spinach and corn + Jack cheese and black beans. You get to make your own enchilada sauce with this recipe, and PLEASE take the time to do so. You’ll find that it’s so darned better than the canned stuff. 100%. This particular sauce is loaded with the flavor of cumin (one of my favorite spices).
🛒Ingredients needed:
- olive oil
- cumin
- flour
- tomato paste
- vegetable broth
- water
- Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
- grated Monterey Jack
- canned black beans
- frozen spinach
- corn kernels
- green onions
- tortillas
- optional toppings
✏️How to make Vegetable Enchiladas:
*The complete, printable recipe with all ingredients and instructions is at the end of this post.
Make the ENCHILADA SAUCE:
In a medium saucepan, heat the oil over medium heat. Add 2 teaspoons cumin, flour and tomato paste. Cook, whisking constantly, for 1 minute. Slowly whisk in the broth and water; bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to low and simmer until slightly thickened (5 to 7 minutes). Season with salt and pepper to taste, and then set aside.
Assemble the ENCHILADAS:
- In a large bowl, combine 2 cups of the cheese, beans, spinach, corn, green onions (white parts) and cumin. Sprinkle with salt and pepper.
- Preheat the oven to 400℉. Spray one 10×14 inch pyrex pan with nonstick spray (or two 8×8 inch pans).
- Wrap 4 tortillas in a damp paper towel and microwave for 20 seconds. Lay a tortillas on a flat work surface and pile about ⅓ cup of the filling down the middle. Roll the tortilla tightly around the filling and place it seam-side-down in the prepared pan. Repeat with remaining tortillas (microwaving 4 at a time) and filling until you’ve used it all up.
- Drizzle the sauce on top, and sprinkle with the remaining 1 cup of cheese. Bake, uncovered, until hot and bubbly, 20 to 25 minutes. Sprinkle with chopped green scallions and serve with desired toppings.
➡️Recipe Tips:
- If you’re not a humongous fan of cumin, this enchilada sauce recipe is also very good.
- It’s worth it to hunt down the brand of corn tortillas that I mention in the recipe below: Guerrero. Many corn tortillas fall apart when you try to roll them up, and this brand does not! Yahoo!
- To make this recipe gluten-free: Use ¼ cup rice flour or GF all-purpose flour in place of the regular all-purpose flour. And be sure to use brands of vegetable broth and tortillas that are known to be GF (Guerrero is noted as GF).
✔️What to serve with Vegetable Enchiladas:
- I like some toppings on my enchiladas, if you do too be sure to sprinkle them with scallions, avocado, sour cream or whatever you’d like.
- A dish of Spanish Rice served on the side is perfect with these enchiladas.
- A fresh green salad is also a nice counterpoint to the warm enchiladas.
★How to Store:
Leftovers store beautifully in the refrigerator for 2 to 3 days. These also freeze well. I’d put two enchiladas each in smaller sized containers. That way you can pull out a meal for one anytime in the next couple months.
❤️Why I love this recipe:
- I love that this recipe is so easy to make gluten free (see tips on recipe card). My mom was gluten free and it always felt good to be able to make a meal we all could enjoy together. This recipe always reminds me of her.
- These enchiladas are one of those things that taste even better the second day. I love having the leftovers for lunch!
- With the recipe making 16 enchiladas, I can feed my family plus hungry guests!
Vegetarian Dinners to Try:
Vegetable Enchiladas
Ingredients
ENCHILADA SAUCE:
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 2 teaspoons ground cumin
- ¼ cup all purpose flour
- ¼ cup tomato paste
- One 14.5-ounce can vegetable broth
- ¾ cup water
- Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
ENCHILADAS:
- 3 cups grated Monterey Jack cheese (or Jack/Cheddar blend), divided
- One 15-ounce can black beans, rinsed and drained
- One 10-ounce box frozen chopped spinach, thawed and squeezed dry
- 1 cup corn (canned, frozen or fresh)
- 4 medium green onions, thinly sliced (white and green parts separated)
- 1 teaspoon ground cumin
- Sixteen 6-inch corn tortillas (Guerrero brand is much preferred since they do not fall apart!)
- optional toppings: sour cream, avocado/guacamole, sliced olives, chopped tomato
Instructions
Make the ENCHILADA SAUCE:
- In a medium saucepan, heat the oil over medium heat. Add 2 teaspoons cumin, flour and tomato paste. Cook, whisking constantly, for 1 minute. Slowly whisk in the broth and water; bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to low and simmer until slightly thickened (5 to 7 minutes). Season with salt and pepper to taste, and then set aside.
Assemble the ENCHILADAS:
- In a large bowl, combine 2 cups of the cheese, beans, spinach, corn, green onions (white parts) and cumin. Sprinkle with salt and pepper.
- Preheat the oven to 400℉. Spray one 10×14 inch pyrex pan with nonstick spray (or two 8×8 inch pans).
- Wrap 4 tortillas in a damp paper towel and microwave for 20 seconds. Lay a tortillas on a flat work surface and pile about ⅓ cup of the filling down the middle. Roll the tortilla tightly around the filling and place it seam-side-down in the prepared pan. Repeat with remaining tortillas (microwaving 4 at a time) and filling until you've used it all up.
- Drizzle the sauce on top, and sprinkle with the remaining 1 cup of cheese. Bake, uncovered, until hot and bubbly, 20 to 25 minutes. Sprinkle with chopped green scallions and serve with desired toppings.
Notes
- To make this recipe gluten-free: Use ¼ cup rice flour or GF all-purpose flour in place of the regular all-purpose flour. And be sure to use brands of vegetable broth and tortillas that are known to be GF (Guerrero is noted as GF).
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
I made them today, added smoked tofu, zucchini and chilli and cooked the mixture. So delicious. Thank you so much
Most brands of tortillas work as long as they are fresh. Warm tortilla over open flame before stuffing it. That will keep it from breaking.
Have made these a couple of times for my extended family and everyone loves them! The second time I made double the amount of sauce and found out it was perfect.
hi i was wondering if i could add some stuff like zucchini, sour cream, potatoes and if so how to cook them. will the potatoes cook all the way through in the oven??
thank you!!
I’m not sure- you’ll just have to try some variations and see what works. I would think it would be best to add already-cooked potatoes.
I made these last night and they were deeeeelish!