Vegetarian Bean and Cheese Enchiladas

By Ali Slagle

Total Time: 40 minutes
Rating: 4(3,928)
Notes: Read community notes

Enchiladas can be a bit of a project, but here, the process has been streamlined, making them a truly possible weeknight endeavor. Begin by sautéing peppers, onions and garlic until charred in spots, then blend half of the vegetables with canned tomatoes and chili powder for the sauce and combine the rest with black beans, shredded cheese and cumin for the filling. If you’re short on time, you could use store-bought enchilada sauce (you'll need three cups), but quality varies, so taste it and add whatever you think is missing: chipotle in adobo or chili powder for smokiness, hot sauce for heat, dried oregano or fresh cilantro for complexity and salt for overall flavor.

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Ingredients

Yield:4 servings

2tablespoons olive oil
2medium yellow onions, finely chopped
1red bell pepper or poblano chile, stemmed, seeded and cut into ¼-inch pieces
4garlic cloves, peeled and thinly sliced
Kosher salt and black pepper
1½teaspoons ground cumin
1(15-ounce) can fire-roasted tomatoes, preferably crushed (see Tip)
2teaspoons chili powder
½teaspoon hot sauce or 1 chipotle chile in adobo, chopped (optional)
¼cup sour cream, plus more for serving (optional)
2(15-ounce) cans black beans, rinsed
5ounces mild Cheddar or Monterey Jack cheese, grated (about 1¼ cups)
10 to 12(6-inch) soft corn or flour tortillas
Fresh cilantro leaves and stems, for serving

Ingredient Substitution Guide

Preparation

Step 1
Heat the oven to 425 degrees. In a large skillet, heat the oil over medium-high. Add the onions, bell pepper and garlic; season with salt and pepper. Cook, stirring occasionally, until softened and charred in spots, 6 to 8 minutes. Stir in the cumin and cook until fragrant, about 1 minute. Remove from heat.
Step 2
Transfer half the vegetable mixture to a blender; add the tomatoes, chili powder and hot sauce. Blend until very smooth. Season to taste with salt and pepper. (If your blender isn’t particularly strong and the sauce looks more like a chunky purée, add ¼ cup sour cream and blend again until smooth.)
Step 3
Add the black beans and ½ cup cheese to the remaining vegetables in the skillet and stir to combine. Some canned beans are already salted, so taste and adjust seasonings as needed.
Step 4
Spread out the tortillas directly on the oven rack and heat until warmed and pliable, 1 to 2 minutes, then wrap in a kitchen towel to keep warm. Pour half the enchilada sauce (about 1½ cups) into a medium casserole dish or a 9-by-13-inch baking pan and spread it to cover the bottom of the dish.
Step 5
Line up the filling, tortillas and baking dish in a row. Place a little more than ¼ cup of the bean mixture in the center of one tortilla. Roll up the tortilla and place in the casserole dish, seam-side down. Repeat with the remaining tortillas.
Step 6
Pour the remaining sauce over the enchiladas, then sprinkle with the remaining ¾ cup cheese. Bake until the cheese has melted, about 10 minutes. Top with sour cream and cilantro and serve immediately.

Tips

The sauce and the black bean mixture, minus the cheese, can be made, covered in an airtight container and refrigerated up to 5 days in advance.
Avoid diced canned tomatoes. They are mixed with calcium chloride to help them retain their cube shape, so they won’t break down as well in the blender. The sauce will taste fine, but it will be noticeably chunkier.

Ratings

4 out of 5

3,928 user ratings

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Cooking Notes

chris5 years ago

Made stacked enchiladas—easier than rolling and just as good. I spread some of the sauce in pan, placed six corn tortillas on top, added all the beans and veggies, blobs of goat cheese (that's what I had), and some sauce. Added next six tortillas, poured remaining sauce on top and added more goat cheese. Also, I used 3 t Chimayo medium chili powder. I’ll up to 4 next time. Sprinkled crushed Aleppo chilis on top. Cut down the cumin a little as I’m not a big fan. Used a poblano. Yum!

Scott R5 years ago

Except for adding some black olives to the beans + vegetable mixture, I made this exactly as written and it's fantastic. Used the poblano pepper. This recipe will go into heavy rotation.

Kayla T4 years ago

Liked this recipe and the tomato sauce was good - made with poblano pepper. Will make again, but add lime juice. The dish needed acid.

AMH4 years ago

THE best enchilada sauce I’ve ever made (added more cumin and used poblanos in adobe sauce) I cooked red beans from Rancho Gordo and used frozen Hatch green chilies - I took the path of least resistance and stacked the tortillas- sauce-6 tortillas-veg mix- 6 tortillas- remaining sauce and cheese. Delicious! I am a huge fan of Rancho Gordo beans which have amazing natural flavor but this sauce was delicious on its own.

CarrieH4 years ago

This was really easy and absolutely delicious! Followed the recipe except for adding some roasted zucchini to the veg mix. Lots of room for improvisation next time I make it!

Rikki4 years ago

Made exactly as written except I stacked instead of rolling them. The whole family loved it! We added avocado on top. 40 minutes is an accurate time estimate.

George4 years ago

I think the enchilada sauce is delicious made with a poblano pepper and a chipotle pepper in adobo sauce. I think the filling would better with one can of black beans and one can of refried beans to bind the beans together a bit and to add more flavor. Otherwise, I am a fan.

Gina5 years ago

Enchiladas are my ultimate comfort food and this recipe didn't disappoint. I'll be riffing on it next time, starting with adding more heat. We used pinto beans instead of black beans just because we had them.

Shirl4 years ago

Flour tortillas? If you use them instead of corn you’ll end up with a Gummy mess.

Janae4 years ago

I love this recipe but have taken to using one can of black beans and 8 ounces of mushrooms. It adds flavor and makes the dish a little less dense.

Cynthia4 years ago

Diced tomatoes are perfectly fine and DO break down in the blender. Other than that, I followed this recipe and it was terrific!

Really4 years ago

I spread about 1/2 cup of red or green sauce in the baking dish and then a layer of cheese over that (not tons of cheese, just enough so the tortillas are not in direct contact with the sauce, which will make them soggy/break). Using a small spatula to take servings from the casserole dish also helps. (I also individually fry my corn tortillas in oil and then coat them in the sauce before filling them, which I think helps keep them together)

Rebecca Hodges4 years ago

I made this with torn enchiladas casserole style, just as good as chicken enchilada casserole! I'll definetly make this again.

Karen L Davis4 years ago

Very tasty! I cut everything in half for 2 (6 enchiladas). Next time I will make all the sauce and use more than half the cheese for 2 and maybe leave the dish in the oven a couple minutes longer to be sure it’s all heated through evenly. Whole wheat tortillas worked well. A poblano in lieu of a bell pepper was perfect!

Diane4 years ago

I bake them in individual gratin dishes-two for each of us.

Name Suzanne H.1 week ago

This took me 2 hours to complete. The result was O.K. but I will not repeat this.

Hanif Adzmir1 week ago

Probably preferred if the beans were smashed or refried.

Kirsten1 week ago

I used leftover black beans that I had cooked a few days before. Very tasty and easy, a hit with the kids too.

Carol D2 weeks ago

Just wondering if anyone roasted the vegetables instead of sauteing? I did not, as I thought it might be too dehydrating. This cam out really yummy! I did smash the bean mixture just a bit before filling the corn tortillas. Used poblano and sprouted corn tortillas. A keeper!

Carol D2 weeks ago

Oh, yes, I felt it needed some roasted corn! will add that next time!

Katri2 weeks ago

My partner can’t eat peppers so I omitted all peppers from the recipe and subbed in sweet potato and mushroom. Turned out great!

Erin M2 weeks ago

This was delicious and easy. I added some rotisserie chicken to the bean mixture and everyone loved it.

ashley2 weeks ago

Made stacked enchiladas and added 1 cup frozen corn kernels in with the black beans. Everything else as written, using poblano and chipotle peppers. Served with sour cream, cilantro, lime wedges, chopped radish and avocado. Very delicious -- big crowd pleaser. The sauce is fantastic!

melissa3 weeks ago

So good. Really good made a little fatter. Might need to double sauce.

annie3 weeks ago

I made this for dinner tonight, really delicious and pretty quick and easy for a weeknight meal. Wish i had of read some of the comments beforehand as I agree that more cheese would have been better and I wish I had of used corn tortillas instead of flour as they were a little bit gloopy after baking. But super delicious nonetheless and will cook again!

Em1 month ago

These were AMAZING

P1 month ago

I followed the recipe and my husband and I agreed that it was HO HUM. Definitely won’t be adding this to our regular rotation.

Kate1 month ago

Excellent! Terrific sauce. I used Pinto beans -- perhaps not quite as tasty, but very good indeed.

Jeanmarie2 months ago

This sauce recipe is so much better than store-bought, I'll definitely use this from now on. Added garnish of avocado, tomato and lettuce salad and I mixed fresh diced jalapeños in with the sour cream for topping. Wish I'd had a lime to squeeze on top. Excellent!

Erinn2 months ago

I added black beans to the blender for the enchilada sauce to boost the protein content. I also used yogurt in place of sour cream. With additional adobo peppers for added heat, the sauce was perfect!

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