These are the Best Vegetarian Enchiladas! They’re filled with veggies, beans and cheese making them healthy, flavorful and filling. They’re also easy to make and great for a vegetarian family dinner!
I’ve been making enchiladas for many years but I think I have finally come up with my favorite Vegetarian Enchilada Recipe! When it comes to enchiladas the possibilities are endless of what you can fill them with. This time I went with cheese, refried beans and tons of veggies. These really are the Best Vegetarian Enchiladas!
When I go out to eat I usually just get cheese enchiladas, which are good, but I love being able to stuff lots of veggies into them when I make them at home. They’re much more filling that way and you can feel a little better about eating them 🙂
Vegetarian Enchilada Recipe
There are probably over 1,000 vegetarian enchilada recipes out there. So, here are a few reasons to try my Vegetarian Enchilada Recipe over the other ones 🙂
- They’re packed with lots of healthy vegetables! You can really add whatever veggies you like, but for this recipe I used corn, red pepper, zucchini and onion.
- They have cheese inside of them and on top of them. I share a lot of vegan recipes and eat a vegan diet a lot of the time, but I do happen to love cheese. I hate it when a burrito or enchilada only comes with cheese on the top, you need it on the inside too! It also helps to hold the filling together.
- I use refried beans in the filling. I don’t know about you but I’m a sucker for refried beans. Not only do they add a nice flavor to these enchiladas but they also help the filling stick together so it doesn’t spill out the ends.
- I also flavor everything up with lots of delicious spices so this healthy vegetarian enchilada recipe is not bland at all!
Easy Vegetarian Enchiladas
I always think of making enchiladas as being a huge undertaking, but these actually didn’t end up taking too much of my time. Here are a few tips to make them super easy:
- Buy soft tortillas. I used a tortilla that was made of corn and wheat and specifically said on the bag that they were soft and flexible. I usually use just corn tortillas and I have to heat each one of them up so that they don’t break when I roll them up.
- Used canned enchilada sauce. This one is really just about preference. If you’re very against store-bought enchilada sauce it’s probably worth the time to make your own. But, if you can find a canned one you enjoy it does save some time. I always use this mild red sauce from Hatch.
Healthy Vegetarian Enchiladas
I don’t usually think of healthy when I think of enchiladas. They tend to be a little indulgent when ordering them out but it’s easy to give them a healthy spin when making them at home. Here’s a few ways to make them even healthier:
- Go easy on the cheese. I do like my cheese and added about 1 cup to the filling and 1/2 for topping. If you want, you can omit the cheese all-together or just use a little less to cut the fat in the recipe.
- Add extra veggies to the filling. You can really add just about any vegetables to these enchiladas as you like. You just want to make sure they all cook for about the same amount of time so none are overcooked or undercooked.
- Use veggies as your toppings. I love topping my enchiladas with tomato, avocado, onion and cilantro. This adds some freshness as well as extra vegetables.
The Best Vegetarian Enchiladas
- Total Time: 50 minutes
- Yield: 8 1x
Description
These Vegetarian Enchiladas are packed with tons of vegetables and flavor! Such a great comfort food recipe!
Ingredients
- 1 teaspoon olive oil
- 1 medium zucchini, diced
- 1 red bell pepper, diced
- 1/2 red onion, diced
- 1 cup corn kernels, frozen or fresh
- 1 cup refried beans
- 1 1/2 cups grated cheese, divided
- 1 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
- 1 1/2 teaspoon paprika
- 1 teaspoon granulated garlic
- Salt and pepper
- 8–10 small tortillas
- 1 (14 oz) can enchilada sauce (or 1 1/2 cups)
Instructions
- Heat oven to 375 degrees F. Heat a large pan over medium heat and add olive oil and diced veggies. Season with salt and pepper. Cook veggies until tender and beginning to brown, about 10 minutes.
- In a large bowl, add the cooked veggies, refried beans, 1 cup of cheese, spices and 1/2 teaspoon salt and 1/4 teaspoon black pepper. Mix until combined.
- Pour about 1/2 cup enchilada sauce on the bottom of a large baking dish and spread out until it’s completely covered.
- Lay a tortilla flat and spoon about 1/3 cup of mixture onto it. Form the mixture into a log in the center of the tortilla and roll up tightly. Place the tortilla, seam side down, in the pan and repeat until the pan is full of enchiladas. Cover with the remaining enchilada sauce and sprinkle with 1/2 cup cheese.
- Place in the oven and bake until heated through and cheese is melted, 25-30 minutes. Let cool for a few mintues before serving. Top with desired toppings.
- Prep Time: 20 mins
- Cook Time: 30 mins
- Category: Dinner, Vegetarian
- Method: Oven
- Cuisine: Mexican
Can the enchiladas be frozen?
Yes! Just let cool completely and then freeze in an airtight container
Love your blog and I’ve tried a few of your dishes.
This looks like one I’ll add to my collection. I would like to recommend 2 other recipes that would make this GF and “all” homemade.
These HAVE to be the BEST GF (and vegan) tortillas. I just spent 4 months in Spain and I was craving them. Unfortunately, either the chickpea flour or the tapioca starch there was not the same as what I buy here at the bulk store in Canada. https://elavegan.com/gluten-free-tortillas-recipe/
and I adapt this Enchilada Sauce to use GF flour and I add a cup of water. https://damndelicious.net/2014/03/17/homemade-enchilada-sauce/print/
Together with your recipe (ooh, and replacing the refried beans with perhaps mushed up black beans), I envision a favourite that makes it into my 3-ring binder!
Thank you
I’ll have to check out those recipes! Thanks!
I’m with you, I’m a fan of enchiladas too! And I also love filling them with veggies to make the dish more nutritious.
How can they be 0 net carbs when they start out as 92g carbs and 9g fiber?
Hi! The nutritional calculator I was using had some issues, but I now have a new one and I’ll add the info soon! Thanks!
Looks delicious! Would you say it serves 6? I see recipe calls for 8-10 tortillas, but your baking dish looks like 6 filled it.
There’s actually two more hidden enchiladas down the side of the pan, so 8 all together! You could probably even make more than 8 because I used a smaller pan and had a little bit of the filling leftover.
Is there something we can use in place of refried beans. They are so high in fat since they are made with lard. Usually pork lard. Any suggestions for a substitute?
You can buy vegetarian refried beans that shouldn’t have any lard in them. I’ve also seen fat free refried beans but not sure they’re vegetarian or not. Or, you could make your own by mashing up some pinto beans 🙂
Looks good ; I will use vegan cheese ( several stores carry them) and look forward to this recipe Thanks
I hope you enjoy!
Hi from Czech Republic. 🙂 We don´t have refried beans here and when I´m too lazy to make them from scratch, I use just red canned beans. Still very tasty.
That sounds like a great substitute!