A quick and easy dinner idea, Baked Enchilada Beans are made with homemade, 5- Minute Enchilada Sauce , pinto beans and Mexican cheese, baked in the oven until warm and melty. Turn them into burrito bowls for a delicious healthy dinner!
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Here’s a quick dinner we’ve been enjoying for a while. Baked Enchilada Beans. It’s simple, rustic, Mexican comfort food made with baked pinto beans and enchilada sauce, topped with melty cheese. Serve it up with your favorite rice- here we are using yellow rice (recipe in the notes below) and top it with fresh summer tomatoes, avocado, cilantro, radishes and pickled onion, to create a flavorful Mexican Burrito bowl.
Why you’ll love this!
- It’s Fast and Easy! To save time, we use canned pinto beans and our homemade, 5-minute enchilada sauce and bake these together with melty cheese. This becomes the meal’s base- to pair with yellow rice or tortillas and flavorful toppings.
- Vegan-adaptable – use vegan cheese, or leave it off, for a completely plant-based meal.
- Great for meal prep– The leftovers get better and better with time! Beans can also be frozen.
- Delicious & healthy! My husband actually groaned with delight the last time I made this- so did I. The flavors are so good here and paired with rice and fresh toppings you cant go wrong!
Baked Pinto Bean Ingredients
- Beans- Make with canned pinto beans, black beans, red beans, or kidney beans (or soak and cook dry beans ahead). I love the buttery pinto beans in this recipe.
- Enchilada Sauce– Make our 5- Minute Enchilada Sauce for the best flavor- or use your favorite store-bought enchilada sauce. This Roasted Enchilada Sauce is great, too, if time allows. You’ll need ½ cup enchilada sauce per can of beans.
- Cheese– Queso fresco, Oaxacan string cheese, shredded cheese (like shredded Mexican cheese, Mozzerella, or jack) or use vegan cheese!
- Serve with Rice or Tortillas. Here we made yellow rice, see the recipe card below.
- Toppings– fresh tomatoes, pickled onions, cilantro, avocado, radishes, lime wedges, hot sauce, sour cream or Mexican sour cream.
How to make Baked Pinto Beans
Step One: Preheat the oven and start the Yellow Rice if making. Place drained cooked beans in a greased baking dish, cazuela (Mexican clay pot), or oven-proof skillet.
Step two: Pour in the homemade Enchilada Sauce with the beans and mix together. Add oregano and season with salt if needed. You want this quite saucy!
Step three: Top with optional cheese and oregano, and bake until heated through and the cheese is melty.
Step four: While the beans are in the oven, prep the toppings. slice the radishes, avocado, limes and tomatoes. Make our quick pickled onions if you like!
How to serve Enchilada Beans
- Use in a Burrito Bowl with rice and toppings like crumbled queso fresco, chopped cilantro, sliced avocado, tomatoes, and a dollop of tangy crema.
- Serve as hearty side dish with your Mexican feast.
- Serve as a Mexican breakfast, with warm corn tortillas, eggs, and salsa, or make breakfast tacos. The beans can also be topped with a fried egg and salsa for a hearty breakfast bowl.
Make A Burrito Bowl
Spoon the yellow rice on the bottom of a bowl and top with the warm and saucy enchilada pinto beans. Top with avocado, tomatoes, radishes, cilantro, lime, hot sauce, and sour cream. Enjoy!
Whether enjoyed as a side dish, a main course, or as a breakfast delight, baked enchilada beans will become your new favorite. I know you will love this one, and can’t wait for you to make it. – xoxo
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Baked Enchilada Beans
- Prep Time: 20
- Cook Time: 20
- Total Time: 40 minutes
- Yield: 4-6 1x
- Category: dinner idea, main, beans
- Method: baked
- Cuisine: Mexican
- Diet: Vegetarian
Description
A quick and easy dinner idea, Baked Enchilada Beans are made with homemade, 5-minute enchilada sauce and Mexican cheese, baked in the oven until warm and melty. Turn them into burrito bowls for a delicious healthy dinner!
Ingredients
- 3 x 14-ounce cans pinto beans, drained (4 1/2 cups cooked pinto beans)
- 1 ½ cups Enchilada Sauce -make this 5-minute Enchilada sauce for the best flavor!
- 1 tablespoon fresh oregano – or sub 1 teaspoon dried oregano
- 1/2 – 3/4 cups melty cheese- crumbled queso fresco, Oaxacan string cheese, shredded jack, mozzarella, Mexican cheese blend, or meltable vegan cheese.
- 1 teaspoon olive oil, for greasing the pan
Serve with: Yellow Rice or tortillas, cherry tomatoes, avocado, red onion or pickled onion, cilantro, sour cream or Mexican crema, hot sauce, and lime wedges.
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350F
- If making yellow rice, start this first (see notes).
- Make our 5-Minute Enchilada Sauce. (You could do this up to 4 days ahead)
- Grease a 9×9 inch baking dish, 10-inch cast iron skillet, or 10-inch round cazuela with spray olive oil. Place the drained beans in the pan and stir with the enchilada sauce. You want roughly 1/2 cup enchilada sauce per 1 1/2 cups of beans- so quite saucy. Taste for salt and add more if needed. Stir in the oregano. Sprinkle with cheese.
- Bake uncovered on the middle rack of the oven until the beans are heated through, and the cheese is melted, about 20 minutes.
- To create the bowl, first, spoon the rice in the bowl, add the saucy beans, and arrange the fresh ingredients over top. Serve with sour cream and hot sauce.
Notes
Yellow rice: Rinse 2 cups of basmati or jasmine rice. In a medium pot, bring 3 cups of chicken stock or veggie broth to a simmer. Whisk in 2 tablespoons olive oil, 1 teaspoon salt, ½ teaspoon garlic powder, and 1/2 teaspoon turmeric. Add rinsed, drained rice, stir, bring to a rapid boil, cover, lower heat to low. Simmer covered for 15-20 minutes, until water has been absorbed. Turn the heat off, let stand 10 minutes.
Enchilada Sauce– while you can use store-bought enchilada sauce- I feel our homemade sauce (with a little chipotle) truly elevates this dish.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: ¾ cups beans
- Calories: 237
- Sugar: 4.5 g
- Sodium: 634.5 mg
- Fat: 2.7 g
- Saturated Fat: 1.3 g
- Carbohydrates: 39.2 g
- Fiber: 12.6 g
- Protein: 15.1 g
- Cholesterol: 4.8 mg
Delicious recipe and so quick and easy. It was a real hit with the family tonight. Thanks so much!
Great to hear Dianne!
So quick and so delicious. I’ve made these so many times already. The 5 minute enchilada sauce is brilliant. Thanks for this recipe!
Thanks Nikki, appreciate the review!
So easy and delish! Served them with carne asada and ate the rest plain…they are that yummy!
Awesome Teresa! Glad you enjoyed!
Delicious and so easy! I served it with your Cilantro Lime Rice, Quick Pickled Red Onion, tomatoes and avocado. Fantastic! Thanks for this.
Sounds perfect Lauren!
A favorite and so easy to do. I did do homemade enchilada sauce and had a mix of bean types as didn’t have 3 cans of pinto. Wonderful as a side with cauliflower mexican rice and some taquito done in air fryer. Will do often. Like your ideas for serving them and breakfast ideas. Thank you
Thanks Frances- glad you gave these a go!
I could eat these every day! So easy and so delicious. The Five Minute Enchilada Sauce is amazing! Definitely making these again.
Awesome Sharon, so glad you enjoyed!
So good and easy. The homemade enchilada sauce was delicious and couldn’t be easier to make. We like spicy and so added in a few adobo peppers for some heat. 😉. This recipe is sure to be in regular rotation.
Glad you tried this one Allison!
We made this tonight and it was a big hit with the kids and adults. We did burritos and bowls. Adding to the rotation. Thank you!
So happy you enjoyed this!
Delicious! My whole family loved it.
This is probably the 10th recipe I’ve made from this site and every single one of them has been amazing! The recipes are easy to follow, healthy, and delicious. This is my go-to site for new recipes for my family. THANK YOU for sharing your recipes with us!
Great to hear Kelly! I’m so glad you enjoyed this one. ❤️
I made this as a side for taco night and my 11 year old daughter ate only the beans. Then in the morning she ate the beans for breakfast, and asked me to make more for lunch 🙂
Haha! Love it! Glad she enjoyed. 🙂