4 Easy Enchilada Recipes for Busy Weeknights

Enchiladas are a great option for busy weeknights - as long as you have tortillas and a few basic pantry ingredients, you're in the game. But you can make them really exciting in a number of ways. Customize the fillings by using a variety of meats (maybe even some of that leftover grilled chicken from the night before), vegetables (grilled poblano peppers, anyone?), and fresh herbs and spices. To help speed you on your way, look for jarred enchilada sauce in the international food aisle at the grocery store. And to up the health quotient, use whole-wheat tortillas instead of flour or corn for that extra boost in fiber.

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So, if you're ready to wrap dinner up, check out the highlights below:

Vegetarian Enchiladas

Using store-bought enchilada sauce, canned beans, and canned corn makes this recipe a snap to put together in a pinch. This is pantry cooking at its best.

Click here to see the Vegetarian Enchiladas Recipe.

Smoky Black Bean Enchiladas

Lindsay S. Nixon, author of The Happy Herbivore, created these smoky vegetarian enchiladas perfect for the after-work dinner rush.

Click here to see the Smoky Black Bean Enchiladas Recipe.

Angie's Enchiladas Verdes

These enchiladas are addictive. You can straight up eat the filling by itself if there's too much left over (I have). But I can't claim credit for the recipe. It's my girlfriend's, adapted from a family recipe and gleaned from years of growing up in San Antonio. She says there are four central things that will make your enchiladas a success: using thigh meat, fresh ground cumin, frying and dousing the tortillas in tomatillo salsa before rolling them up, and lastly, having the right accoutrements.

Don't mess with her accoutrements, man: thinly-sliced radishes, lime wedges, pickled jalapeño, cilantro, and Mexican cheese. Refried beans and guacamole make a nice added touch, but if you're just trying to get the essentials right, well then, here you go.

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INGREDIENTS

2 pounds tomatillos
1 large red onion, sliced
9 cloves garlic
3 serranos
½ cup cilantro
Salt and pepper, to taste
3 pounds chicken on the bone (she recommend thighs)
Olive oil
2 tablespoons ground cumin
Corn tortillas
¾ cup crema (or sour cream)
4 cups Monterey Jack cheese, grated
Radishes, sliced, for serving
Lime, for serving
Pickled jalapeños, for serving
Cilantro, for serving
Cotija or queso fresco, for serving

DIRECTIONS

Preheat oven to broil. Get your tomatillo salsa going: coat the tomatillos, red onions, 6 garlic cloves, and serrano peppers with oil, then spread out on a sheet tray. Roast for about 15 minutes or until charred. Remove and blend with the cilantro. Season with salt and pepper, to taste.

While the tomatillos roast, start the chicken. Rub salt, pepper, oil, freshly-ground cumin, and the 3 remaining garlic cloves (minced) on the chicken. Heat a pot, add oil, and sear, about 3 minutes on each side. Put on sheet tray and roast in the oven for about 35 minutes, then let cool. Shred chicken and mix it with crema (use sour cream if you can't find crema), 2 cups of shredded Monterey Jack cheese, salt, and pepper. (You want the filling to be wet.)

Set the oven to 350 degrees. Get a pan hot with oil and cook the tortillas one by one on each side for about 10 seconds. Line a glass or ceramic baking dish with a thin coating of tomatillo salsa. Douse each tortilla in the salsa (both sides). Roll each tortilla up with the chicken filling inside and line them up against each other in the dish.

When finished, cover the enchiladas with the remaining tomatillo salsa, and throw the rest of the shredded Monterey Jack evenly over the top. Bake for 20 minutes or until bubbly. Dress with crema, serve with radish, spritz of lime, pickled jalapeño, cilantro, and Mexican cheese.

Recipe Details

Total Time: 1½ hours
Servings: 8

Cat Cora's Healthy Version of Enchilada Pie

Here's an interesting twist on enchiladas: the lowest layers of the pie turn into a "beefy enchilada-like base" as the top crisps up in the oven.

Click here to see Cat Cora's Healthy Version of Enchilada Pie Recipe.

-Will Budiaman, The Daily Meal

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