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Vegetarian Enchilada Casserole

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4 from 2 reviews

This vegetarian enchilada casserole is basically like a Mexican lasagna – layers of hearty corn tortillas filled with black beans, corn, peppers, green chiles, and plenty of shredded cheese! Garnish with a drizzle of sour cream and fresh chopped cilantro for a family dinner your kids will love!

Ingredients

Units Scale
  • 1 tablespoon olive oil
  • 1 red onion, diced
  • 1 red pepper, diced
  • 4 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
  • 1.5 teaspoons cumin
  • 1.5 teaspoons chili powder
  • 1 (15 oz.) can black beans, drained and rinsed
  • 1 (15 oz.) can corn, drained
  • 1 (7 oz.) can fire roasted diced green chiles
  • 1 (28 oz.) can enchilada sauce
  • 12 corn tortillas
  • 8 oz. shredded pepperjack cheese, divided
  • Kosher salt
  • fresh cracked pepper

Garnish:

  • fresh chopped cilantro
  • sour cream
  • diced tomatoes
  • sliced jalapeno
  • diced avocado

Instructions

  1. Heat oven to 325 degrees.
  2. Heat oil in a large pot over medium high heat. Add onion, and red pepper along with a couple large pinches of salt and pepper. 
  3. Saute, stirring frequently for 5 minutes. 
  4. Add garlic, cumin, and chili powder. Cook for another minute, stirring frequently. 
  5. Add a splash of enchilada sauce to deglaze the pot, scraping all the yummy bits off the bottom. 
  6. Add black beans, corn, and green chiles and stir to combine. Season to taste with salt and pepper. 
  7. Slice corn tortillas in half so you’ll have 24 halves total. 
  8. Pour 2/3 cup of enchilada sauce into the bottom of a lightly greased 9×13 baking dish. Place 8 halves of tortilla in a single layer on top of the sauce. 
  9. Add 1/2 of the veggie/bean mixture and 2/3 cup of enchilada sauce in an even layer. 
  10. Then add 1/3 of the shredded cheese. 
  11. Next add 8 more tortilla halves in a single layer. 
  12. Top that with the remaining veggie/bean mixture (reserve a 1/2 cup of the veggie/bean mixture for the top if you’d like). 
  13. Pour another 2/3 cup of sauce over the veggies. 
  14. Then add another 1/3 of the shredded cheese. 
  15. Add remaining tortillas in a single layer.
  16. Pour remaining sauce over the tortillas. Add remaining cheese and veggie/bean mixture if you reserved it. 
  17. Cover tightly with tin foil and bake for 25 minutes or until the cheese is melted and the sauce is bubbly.
  18. Remove foil and bake for another 5 minutes. 
  19. Let sit for 5-10 minutes, then slice, garnish and serve!

Equipment

Notes

If you’re worried about the corn tortillas getting soggy – DON’T!! The corn tortillas hold up really well in this casserole and still maintain their integrity even after being baked. I’ve also made this dish with extra thin corn tortillas and just doubled up the tortillas which worked out well!

Flour tortillas, however, do NOT work well in this casserole. I won’t lie – I’m a soft, pillowy, fluffy, flour tortilla lover all the way. But flour tortillas do best in a classic taco or a fried flauta. They do not work well for this casserole. They get soggy and nobody wants a sad, soggy casserole.

Feel free to add ground beef, ground turkey or chorizo to bulk up this dish. It’s quite filling with just the veggies and beans, but this casserole tastes great with the addition of meat as well! Just add cooked meat in with the bean and veggie mixture. I’d also recommend doubling or even tripling the cumin and chili powder in this recipe depending on how much meat you are adding.

You could also bulk this Mexican lasagna up with cooked lentils or quinoa too! Again, double or triple the cumin and chili powder and mix them right in with the beans and veggies.

Find it online: https://midwestfoodieblog.com/vegetarian-enchilada-casserole/