A delicious healthy recipe for Enchilada Casserole (aka “Enchilada Pie”) with black beans and corn and our 5-Minute Enchilada Sauce. Easy and delicious and can be made in 45 minutes!  Vegetarian, Vegan-adaptable!

A fast and easy recipe for Enchilada Casserole, with black beans, corn, sweet potatoes and a quick 5 Minute Enchilada Sauce. Comforting and healthy! Keep it vegetarian or add cooked chicken or ground turkey!

It is the soul itself that has brought us to this difficult place in order to enlarge us,
to ask more of us than we planned on giving
.~James Hollis~

Here’s a quick and easy dinner recipe, perfect for busy weeknights –  Enchilada Casserole with black beans and corn and our quick and our easy homemade, 5-Minute Enchilada Sauce. It can be kept vegetarian as you see it here, or for heartier appetites, add rotisserie chicken, ground turkey or beef.  Swap out the cheese for vegan cheese and make it totally plant-based.  Your call!

The flavorful enchilada sauce is simple yet delicious and whips up in a blender. No cooking is involved! When pressed for time, this hearty meal can be assembled in 20-25 minutes, with the oven doing the rest of the work. Top it with cilantro, avocado, and sour cream and dinner is ready!

Enchilada Casserole | 45-sec video

What You’ll Love About this Enchilada Casserole Recipe

  1. It’s Fast and Easy. No rolling up the tortillas- just a quick layering!
  2. It can be made ahead. Assemble it ahead, refrigerate it for up to 3 days, then bake when ready to serve.
  3. Highly adaptable! Use any veggies you like. Add chicken or keep it vegetarian. Make it vegan with vegan cheese.
A fast and easy recipe for Enchilada Casserole, with black beans, corn, sweet potatoes and a quick 5 Minute Enchilada Sauce. Comforting and healthy! Keep it vegetarian or add cooked chicken or ground turkey!

What you’ll need:

  • Enchilada Sauce – store-bought or Homemade Enchilada Sacue 
  • Black beans (or ground meat or leftover chicken)
  • Onion and Garlic
  • Veggies: corn, sweet potato, bell peppers, zucchini, etc. Pick 2.
  • Cheese: Pepper Jack, cheddar, Mozzarella, Queso fresco, or vegan cheese
  • Garnishes: Avocado, cilantro, sour cream

How to make Enchilada Casserole

Step one:

Make the 5-Minute Enchilada Sauce– or use store-bought. I like Trader Joe’s brand – but this literally takes  5 minutes, so why not just make it?  😉

Blend up the Enchilada Sauce ingredients in a blender until smooth, and that’s it! No cooking required!

In winter I use canned tomatoes, but in summer, when fresh ripe tomatoes are available, I prefer those. This would also be something really great to can or freeze for winter if you are one of those lucky ones who can grow multitudes of tomatoes.

enchilada sauce in a blender.

This recipe makes about 2 cups of enchilada sauce.

Step two

Make the filling. Saute onion, garlic and any veggies you like. Sometimes I’ll add bell pepper and zucchini, sometimes diced sweet potatoes- then add the corn and black beans. Season.

making the filling.

Step Three

Assemble the Enchilada Casserole!

assembling the casserole.

Grease the casserole dish then, layer the ingredients, first with a little sauce to coat the bottom, then add tortillas.

assembling the casserole.

Spoon in half of the filling, cheese, sauce, more tortillas, and repeat, finishing with the remaining enchilada sauce.

Feel free to add cheese to the top layer,  or leave it off. 

the top layer of casserole with sauce.

Step four

Bake for 30 minutes!

Step Five

Garnish! Add fresh diced avocado, cilantro and sour creamSimple Enchilada Casserole w/ Two Minute Enchilada Sauce! A fast and healthy version of enchiladas  made with layered tortillas instead of rolled- very time saving! Keep it vegetarian or add chicken! | www.feastingathome.com #enchilada #enchiladacassarole #enchiladas #vegetarian #chickenenchiladas

And there you have it …. fast and easy Enchilada Casserole! This could easily be made ahead, and refrigerated. Or bake it ahead for mid-week meals.

What to serve with Enchilada Casserole

More recipes you may like!

On the homefront: I just got back from a dreamy little getaway, a town in Mexico, called Sayulita, just South of Puerto Vallarta. It’s amazing what a little sunshine does for the soul. Not to mention the food. Somehow the warm vibrant flavors revive the palate, and I always come home feeling refreshed and inspired.

I traveled with my friend Mikki who I met 20 years ago in the Counseling Psychology Program at Gonzaga University – and though she lives far, whenever we connect, it’s just like old times.

She gave me a book, which, when I first read the title, made me want to throw across the room, because well, it’s called Finding Meaning in the Second Half of Life by James Hollis and it’s hard for me to get my head around the fact, that yes, I’m in the second half of my life, because… when did that happen?!  😂

But title aside, the book is a treasure – and it has been a while since I’ve been this moved. It just reaches right in and speaks the truth, about what we probably already know, but don’t normally have the courage to face.

The writing is incredible, the author so candid and eloquent. If you are over 40 and are seeking depth, meaning … give yourself a gift. You will love it. There is a section on relationships that is particularly poignant.

Ok.. I hope you enjoy this recipe! let me know what you think and how you adapt it in the comments below. 🙂

xoxo

Sylvia

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enchilada Casserole

Enchilada Casserole

5 Stars 4 Stars 3 Stars 2 Stars 1 Star 5 from 51 reviews

Description

A fast and easy recipe for Enchilada Casserole, with black beans, corn, sweet potatoes and a quick 5 Minute Enchilada Sauce. Comforting and healthy! Keep it vegetarian or add cooked chicken or ground turkey!


Ingredients

Units
  • 12-ounce bottle of enchilada sauce (or make my 5-minute enchilada sauce)
  • 12 x 6-inch corn or flour tortillas
  • 23 cups grated Mexican style cheese (or try a vegan cheese)
  • 4 ounce can green chilies, (optional)

Garnish: chopped cilantro, diced avocado, sour cream, hot sauce

5 minute Enchilada Sauce:

Casserole Filling:

  • 2 tablespoons olive oil
  • 1/2 an onion, diced ( see notes)
  • 4 cloves garlic, rough chopped (see notes)
  • 1 large yam or sweet potato, diced into 1/2 inch cubes (optional, or sub 1 large bell pepper, or zucchini)
  • 1216 ounce bag frozen corn (regular or fire-roasted ) – or sub fresh corn.
  • 15-ounce can black beans, drained( like Trader Joe’s Cuban Style Black Beans) Or substitute with 2 cups cooked chicken, browned seasoned ground turkey, or beef.
  • 2 teaspoons cumin
  • 2 teaspoons chili powder
  • 1 teaspoon kosher salt


Instructions

  1. Preheat oven to 400 F
  2. Make the Quick Enchilada Sauce: Place all ingredients in a blender and blend until smooth, set aside.
  3. Make the filling: Saute onion, garlic and sweet potatoes in the olive oil over medium heat, until tender, about 10-12 minutes, covering ½ way through, allowing potatoes to steam and get tender. Add corn and black beans, cumin, chili powder and salt and saute until warmed through.
  4. Assemble: In a greased 9 x13 inch baking dish, spread out ½ cup of enchilada sauce, to lightly coat the bottom. Spread out 4 tortillas on top of the sauce.  Spread out ½ of the filling over the tortillas. Scatter half of the canned green chilies (if using), and 1 cup of the grated cheese.  Drizzle with a ½ cup enchilada sauce. Top with 4 more tortillas, add the remaining filling, green chilies, 1 cup cheese and top with 4 more tortillas. Lather the top with the remaining enchilada sauce and any additional cheese if you like a cheesy top.
  5. BAKE Cover tightly with foil(use parchment to prevent foil from touching the casserole) and bake for 30 minutes. Uncover, and bake 10 more minutes.
  6. Garnish with diced avocado, cilantro and sour cream. The sour cream really adds a nice creaminess.

Notes

If really short on time, you can sub granulated onion and/or garlic powder for the fresh onion and garlic. Add about a teaspoon each to the veggie filling.

In winter, I love adding the diced sweet potato for extra richness, but in the warmer months I’ll opt for zucchini and/or bell pepper.  Feel free to load the filling up with seasonal veggies- tasting and adjusting salt and seasoning accordingly. Or add a protein like cooked ground meat or chicken.

Nutrition

  • Serving Size: 1/8
  • Calories: 436
  • Sugar: 5.6 g
  • Sodium: 1396.4 mg
  • Fat: 20.7 g
  • Saturated Fat: 8 g
  • Carbohydrates: 51.1 g
  • Fiber: 10 g
  • Protein: 16.2 g
  • Cholesterol: 35 mg

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Comments

  1. I love this recipe. I omit the tortillas and add mushrooms, fresh cilantro, and kale to the mix. It’s amazing alone, but sometimes I serve it over lime rice. So appreciate you all…this is the only recipe site I subscribe to….never disappoints, especially for my mostly vegetarian diet.






  2. I made both the vegetarian version (using diced zucchini) for my vegetarian family members and one with cooked shredded chicken for a family gathering. Both were delicious and a hit and I would definitely make this again. It’s a keeper. The only change I made was to use 6 tortillas in each layer instead of the suggested 4.






  3. This is yummy! Have made this a couple times with Trader Joe’s sauce. No more! It has sadly been reformulated and is thick and tomatoey like a chili base. 🙁
    Made this with the sauce recipe and yellow corn tortillas (white corn disintegrated). Served with a side of honeydew sprinkled with lime juice and Tajin. Everyone was happy! Adding this to our ‘Tried and True’ binder!






  4. What a fantastic recipe! I divided the dish with dairy shredded cheese on one side and nondairy on the other – turned out perfectly as written. Your enchilada sauce is spot on. Thanks so. much😊

  5. Yummy! Hubby loves it too, probably because I put both black beans and shredded chicken in it. Some cilantro too in filling and sprinkled on top.

  6. Hello! I would like to make the Enchilada casserole and then freeze in individual servings.
    Does it freeze well?
    Thanks,
    Arlene

    1. Hi Arlene, this freezes well! I would make the recipe, bake it, then divide and freeze.

  7. Delicious! I decided to make the enchilada sauce myself instead of purchasing it from the store. It was quick and easy and delicious paired with the casserole. Everyone loved it and as a 13 year old who is trying to cook more often, I found this is an easy-to-follow and relatively simple recipe! 5 stars from me and I will definitely be making this again!






  8. Absolutely love this! My absolute favourite vegetarian meal. I swap out the sweet potato for white potato and wallah! Thank you for posting this recipe🤗






  9. Oh my goodness, this was sooo, soooo good. The homemade enchilada sauce was quick and flavorful. The whole family liked this meal and could imagine their favorite ingredients added to it for next time. I made one filling of sweet potato & red bell pepper that I immediately added to the freezer and another filling of minced leftover chicken, black beans, zucchini and red bell pepper that I used same day. Next time I make these, I’ll be ahead of things with the sweet potato filling. For quick weekly lunches, I plan to make this, without the tortillas, for a grain-free enchilada bowl. Every recipe of yours that I’ve tried is flavorful, satisfying and plant-forward. Thank you!

    1. Love that preparedness Amy! So happy to hear you are enjoying the recipes- really appreciate your share!

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