Veggie Enchiladas

Stacked New Mexico style instead of rolled, these veggie enchiladas are great for family or company. Try these with our enchilada sauce and spice them up or down to suit your taste.

About this recipe

I love enchiladas, and having grown up in Texas, I’ve been eating them all my life. However, finding Mexican restaurants that serve vegetarian entrees is a challenge, so we’re filling that need at home.

The vegetables and enchilada sauce provide lots of moisture and enough oil to make the corn tortillas tender. And because you’re stacking, not rolling, you don’t have to get the tortillas soft enough to roll without tearing. Just stack the tortillas, layer the ingredients, and let the oven turn this into a flavorful meal.

Ingredients

We used these ingredients in our veggie enchiladas. If you can’t find fresh cilantro, use the dried kind or check your produce section to see if your store carries it in a tube. The other ingredients should be easy to find. If you’re up for making sauce from scratch, try our enchilada sauce, or if you have a favorite, use that. The shredded cheese is not shown. Use cheddar or a Mexican blend.

We picked some of our favorite vegetables for this recipe, but as always, feel free to substitute one thing for another. You can use zucchini squash or yellow crook-neck squash instead of the calabaza squash. The white mushrooms were handy, but other kinds taste great in enchiladas too. By the time you’re ready to stack them in the pan, you’ll need about two cups of cooked vegetables for the assembly process.

Making Veggie Enchiladas

Making stacked enchiladas instead of rolled ones is kind of like making lasagna, but in this case, the layers are corn tortillas, sautéed veggies, enchilada sauce, and cheese. To get started, slice the veggies and saute them in a skillet. Get the onion going first because it takes longer to cook than the other ingredients. Add the mushrooms and squash next, and when those are almost ready, stir in the spinach which cooks very quickly. When the vegetables are done, they will look something like the picture below.

Then get the tortillas, enchilada sauce, and cheese ready so you can start layering the ingredients. Use the steps shown here and repeat until the cooked vegetables are used up. Be sure to use tongs for the sautéed vegetables since they might be too hot to handle by hand. If you have kids who like to cook, assembling these enchiladas is a fun way to include them in the dinner prep.

Add the last tortilla and put sauce and cheese on top. At this point, you can drizzle more enchilada sauce over the stack if you want. Sprinkle a little fresh cilantro on top to add some color.

Put a lid on top of the baking dish and cook the enchiladas in a 350-degree oven for 20 minutes.

Take the veggie enchiladas out of the oven and slice the stack into two or four pieces and serve. They go great with beans.

If these look good to you, you might also like veggie tacos.

Veggie Enchiladas

These spicy veggie enchiladas are stacked not rolled. Flavorful and colorful, they’re a great meal for family or company. 

Print Pin Rate

Course: Main dish

Cuisine: Mexican

Keyword: enchiladas, stacked enchiladas, vegetable enchiladas, vegetarian enchiladas, veggie enchiladas

Prep Time: 20 minutes

Cook Time: 20 minutes

Total Time: 40 minutes

Author: Cook-n-Easy

Ingredients

• 5-6 corn tortillas
• 2 T sunflower oil Other light oils work well too.
• 1/4 cup onion
• 1 cup sliced mushrooms
• 3 cups spinach fresh, bagged
• 1 medium squash Calabaza, zucchini or yellow all work well.
• 1 cup enchilada sauce
• 3/4 cup shredded cheddar or Mexican blend cheese
• 2 T fresh cilantro

Instructions

• Pre-heat the oven to 350 degrees.
• Slice the onions, mushrooms, and squash.
• Saute the onions for a couple of minutes in a skillet on medium heat.
• Add the mushrooms and squash, and cook for 2-3 minutes.
• Add the spinach and a little more than half of the cilantro, and cook the vegetables until the spinach is soft.
• Put the cooked vegetables aside in a bowl.
• Use vegetable oil spray to coat the bottom of a baking dish.
• Add the following to the baking dish: a tortilla, followed by a generous layer of enchilada sauce, a dollop of cooked vegetables, and some cheddar or Mexican blend cheese.
• Repeat this process for three more tortillas. 
• Spread enchilada sauce on the top tortilla and top with shredded cheese and the remainder of the fresh cilantro.

Notes

• Five tortillas are enough for two servings, but if you have excess cooked vegetables, add one or two more tortillas with sauce, veggies, and cheese before you top it off with the final tortilla.
• The prep time includes cooking the vegetables. The cooking time refers to the baking time.
• Use more enchilada sauce if you want these really juicy.