Enfrijoladas Pintos
- Total Time
- 45 minutes
- Rating
- Notes
- Read community notes
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Ingredients
Yield:4 servings
- 1small red onion, halved and thinly sliced
- ½cup lemon juice
- ¼teaspoon dried oregano
- ¼teaspoon red-pepper flakes
- 1dried bay leaf
- 1½tablespoons kosher salt
- Pinch black pepper
- 1whole dried chipotle morita or meco chile
- 1¾ to 2cups drained pinto beans, from 1 (15-ounce) can or homemade
- 1¼ to 3cups vegetable broth or bean cooking liquid
- Kosher salt
- 4tablespoons neutral-flavored oil, plus more as needed
- 12corn tortillas
- 4tablespoons sour cream, vegan if you’d like
- 4tablespoons roasted salted pepitas
- ¼cup cilantro leaves
- 2ripe medium Hass avocados, pitted, peeled and sliced
For the Pickled Red Onion
For the Enfrijoladas
Ingredient Substitution Guide
Nutritional analysis per serving (4 servings)
852 calories; 39 grams fat; 6 grams saturated fat; 0 grams trans fat; 21 grams monounsaturated fat; 9 grams polyunsaturated fat; 104 grams carbohydrates; 26 grams dietary fiber; 6 grams sugars; 30 grams protein; 1139 milligrams sodium
Note: The information shown is Edamam’s estimate based on available ingredients and preparation. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.
Powered byPreparation
- Step 1
Make the pickled onion: Combine the onion, lemon juice, oregano, red-pepper flakes, bay leaf, salt and pepper in a medium bowl and mix. Let sit at room temperature for 30 minutes to allow the flavors to meld together and the onion to soften. The onion can be covered and refrigerated for up to 3 to 5 days before serving.
- Step 2
Make the enfrijoladas: Place the chipotle in a small bowl and add enough hot water to cover (see Tip). Let stand to rehydrate for 10 minutes. Once rehydrated and pliable, drain and remove the stem. To a blender or food processor, add the beans, 1¼ cups vegetable broth or bean cooking liquid, and the softened chipotle. Blend until completely smooth. Add more of the broth, ¼ cup at a time as needed, to make a smooth bean sauce. Season to taste with salt.
- Step 3
Heat a medium pot over medium-low. Add 2 tablespoons oil and heat, then add the bean mixture. Stir to incorporate; the mixture may sizzle and spatter. Allow the mixture to come to a low simmer and reduce heat to low to keep warm. Add additional liquid as needed to thin to a cheese-sauce consistency.
- Step 4
Heat a comal or cast-iron skillet over medium heat. Add 2 tablespoons oil, then add 1 to 2 tortillas and lightly fry until softened and blistered, 30 to 60 seconds per side. Transfer the fried tortillas to a plate, and continue to add more oil to the comal as needed to cook all the tortillas.
- Step 5
Use tongs to slightly submerge each fried tortilla in the hot bean mixture one at a time. Flip the tortilla over to coat the second side, then fold the tortilla in half, pull out of the pot and place on a dinner plate. Continue this process until all the tortillas are coated in the enfrijolada sauce, dividing them among 4 plates. Spoon any remaining bean sauce over the top of the tortillas. Garnish with the sour cream, pickled red onion, pepitas, cilantro and avocado.
Tip
- If making a fresh pot of beans, add the dried chipotle to the simmering bean to soften.
Private Notes
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Cooking Notes
MexicoCooks
Chris, the three chiles you mean are the chipotle meca, the mora, and the morita. All three start life as the chile jalapeño: the large chipotle meca is the first harvest from a chile jalapeño plant, the smaller mora (it means 'berry') is the second harvest from the same plant, and the chile morita (little mora) is the third harvest from the same plant--all in the same season. Each of those chiles is processed in a similar way: allowed to mature on the plant until red, then dried and smoked.
MexicoCooks
I ran out of space. The meca, the mora, and the morita have similar flavor profiles, with the meca being smokier, the mora having a slightly fruity back flavor, and the morita very similar to the mora. I am a long-time professional food writer and culinary tour guide, living and working in Mexico for the last 40 years. Here's my website, specializing in all aspects of the food of Mexico's interior. https://www.mexicocooks.typepad.com
Cheryl
I use canned chipotles en adobo a lot. To make things easier, I blend the entire can upon opening, push the purée through a sieve to remove seeds, and keep it in a jar in the fridge. Use teaspoons as desired to sub for whole chipotles in recipes, which are usually chopped or blended anyway.
Chris
What are chipotle morita and meco chile? And substitutions?
Cindy Holt
Chipotle morita are smoked peppers available dried or these are the peppers sold in cans with adobo sauce. The meco chile is also a smoked chipotle, but smoked for a longer period of time. It is mostly sold and consumed in Mexico according to Google.
Robin
Oh, my goodness, this was so good. Easy & inexpensive. I cut the recipe in half, because I'm one person. Made enough for two meals. Was happily surprised that there was a good amount of smoky heat. Two minor cheats. A nod to my mother, I heated the bean mixture in bacon grease, because that's what mom cooked her refried beans in, and I didn't have a dried chipotle or meco, I used half a dried ancho chile because that's what I had. Again, really, really good. I will make this again,for sure!
Nadia
Beans are protein.
Desertbluecat
Those are the pumpkin seeds (pepitas) not whole beans. And the beans are a sort of thin sauce so the tortillas show through it. You can see the sauce pooled on the edges.
Kathy Watson
Chris, for chili substitutes for these dried chilies (it is hard to find them except in Mexico or the Southwestern US and Southern CA) just use canned chipotle in adobo. Remove one of the chilies from the can. Use two if you like it a bit more spicy. Freeze the rest for another use.
Emma
I also add shredded chicken inside the tortilla.
Dona
Kalustyan's in NYC sells about 50 varieties of dried chilies- including chipotle meco and morita. You can order them online at: kalustyans.com *full disclosure- I'm the manager there and love chiles!
Dawn
Can I used canned chipotles?
jazzlet
That's what I do too! Pureed chipotles in adobo are a staple in my house. Delicious in breakfast burritos w/eggs, potatoes, chorizo and toppings or anytime called for in a recipe.
stephanie
not only are beans protein, but chips are just tortillas that have been deep fried so...i'm kind of mystified how that plus beef would make this dish lighter lol. i mean listen it sounds good! i'd eat it! it just wouldn't have the intended consequences.
MrsChill
I used a chipotle and a bit of adobo for the sauce. Much quicker and easier. Made my beans from scratch and used bean cooking water. Definitely had to keep adding water to ensure I had enough sauce to coat all the tortillas. Use the best quality corn tortillas you can find. The awful grocery store ones will disappoint you with this recipe. (Recommend El Milagro from Chicago! You can order online.)
Kristin Ansel
I did not have pinto beans so I used black instead. Worked perfectly.
denise l
Delicious! Had to simmer the beans a little so they wouldn’t be so runny. Stuffed with a little shredded cheese and topped with Greek yogurt
SH
My Step 2: I added 1/2 t gr cumin, pinch of salt and squeeze of lime to 1 c Greek yogurt and refrigerated. Also squeezed 1/2 lime over thinly sliced radishes as addl garnish. Used the leftover frozen pinto beans from Jocelyn Ramirez's recipe in place of beans here to cut down on cooking time. A bit sweeter, and very good (better than in the squash). http://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/1016970-baked-stuffed-acorn-squash?action=click&module=Global%20Search%20Recipe%20Card&pgType=search&rank=17
DMF
Soaking the sliced red onion in hot water for about 30 seconds speeds up the pickling process.
LJ
Wow, this exceeded expectations. I used canned chipotles. I pickled the onions in lime juice, oregano, salt, and a bit of sugar because that’s what I usually do and we love lime. So delicious and simple!
SS
Blending was too much work for me after climbing half dome yesterday (woo!!) so just made these into tacos with pinto beans and the various other ingredients. Unsurprisingly still delicious!
Kathleen
Yum! I've made this twice. Once with a guajillo dried pepper and the second time with the chipotle pepper. Love the smokey flavor of the chipotle. Worth ordering those. The second time I made it more like a tostada. With lettuce and tomato on top of the beans. Delicious!
Joe A.
Instead of using oil, get tubs of excellent lard at most Mexican markets, which they render themselves and sell for a few bucks. Much richer flavor.
Robert
A comment or two on the tortillas used in enfrijoladas: In the port of Veracrúz and other spots I’ve had enfrijoladas prepared with fresh, not fried tortillas. However, if prepared with fresh tortillas they must be served and eaten promptly, as most American made tortillas don’t hold up well, quickly disintegrating into mush. If you fry the tortillas it works better if you use stale (slightly dry) tortillas. A fresh tortilla will act like a sponge, soaking up far too much oil.
stephanie
pati jinich makes her frijoles colados by cooking the bean puree with onion, so i decided to take a hint from that and sauteed half a sweet onion with a couple cloves of smashed garlic, cumin, and lawrys and added that to the beans before pureeing. i used only 3/4c of homemade stock to get the consistency i wanted. i will try the morito or meca chiles in the future but today used 1-2 chipotles en adobo because that's what i had on hand. the sauce is so delicious and such a beautiful color!
Amy Christine
These beans are exceptional. I was making a few different recipes at a time and got confused and sautéed finely chopped onion and garlic in the beans pan before adding the dried beans (delightful Pintos from Rancho Gordo). It added great depth of flavor. Delicious!
Kate
Absolutely loved this! Used pintos I cooked last week (I always add cumin to the cooked beans because I love it.) Also cut back on the oil & added a bit of garlic. So easy, so good & the pickled onions are everything. Texture, flavor, meatless, fabulous. This will be a regular.
Emily
This was terrific! If you make the toppings in advance, it comes together very quickly at the end. Even my kids who don’t love beans thought this was winner!
Audra
I made this as is, and we loved it! We loved the smoky and creamy beans against the crispy corn tortillas, and the quick pickled onions were the perfect acid topper. The only thing I changed the second time was to basically double the bean mixture, though I found I did not need as much broth as called for to achieve the desired consistency. Thank you so much for a new and delicious weeknight vegetarian recipe!
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