These simple but scrumptious vegan enchiladas make a crowd-pleasing Mexican feast for friends. Packed with black beans, sweetcorn, peppers and chipotle paste, and smothered in a vegan cheese sauce.
One of the things I love about vegan food is how intensely colourful even the most cosy, comfort-food meals can be. Take these smoky vegan enchiladas - if they were made with the traditional meat filling they would be, well, brown and beige. But look at the photo below of these ingredients - a rainbow of plants, that taste as vibrant as they look.
This is one of those really handy crowd-pleasing recipes that you can cook for everyone if you have a vegan coming round for dinner, and no one will feel hard done by.
Make them as spicy as you dare. The combination of a fiery chilli hit from the filling which is then extinguished by the creamy, 'cheesy' sauce is what these enchiladas are all about.
Even if you're not a fan of vegan cheeses, I urge you to give it a try in this dish - I find even those I wouldn't eat on their own work quite well melted into cheesy sauces, and when used in a spicy and flavour-packed dish their own flavours aren't overpowering.
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🌮 What are enchiladas?
If you haven't had enchiladas before, they are basically a tortilla wrap rolled up with fillings inside, then covered in a savoury sauce and baked. They are a bit like fajitas but you make them in advance, and bake them in a cheesy sauce.
Enchiladas are perfect for people like me who can't manage to eat a fajita without 48% of the filling ending up in their lap! Baking them seals up the fillings in their tortilla pockets, and also means you eat them with a knife and fork rather than your fingers.
📝 What you need
Ingredients
- red onion
- peppers
- courgette
- spring onions
- fresh coriander
- dairy-free margarine
- dairy-free cheese
- dairy-free milk
- tinned sweetcorn
- tinned black beans
- ready-chopped garlic / garlic purée
- chipotle paste
- rapeseed or sunflower oil
- passata
- tortilla wraps
- plain flour
Equipment
- large lidded frying pan or casserole
- small saucepan
- roasting tin
👩🏽🍳 Variations on the enchilada recipe
You can make all sorts of tweaks to this recipe to suit your own taste. How about:
- Swap the black beans for lentils, or your favourite brand of vegan mince?
- Speed it up by using a jar of vegan cheese sauce (now available in most supermarkets) instead of making your own?
- Use leftover chilli (like my Vegan Chilli con Carne or Black Bean Chipotle Chilli) to fill the tortillas instead?
❄️ Freezing
I wouldn't recommend freezing these enchiladas as the tortillas will turn soggy and lose their texture.
However, if you're planning to make these for a special occasion, you could most definitely get ahead by making the filling in advance and freezing it. Then on the day you would just need to defrost it, roll up the tortillas, make the cheese sauce then bake.
Sometimes the spices and seasonings are tamed a bit during the freezing process, so I would recommend tasting a little of the filling before using it, and adjusting the chilli and seasoning as required.
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📖 Recipe
Easy Vegan Enchiladas
Ingredients
For the filling:
- 2 tablespoon rapeseed or sunflower oil
- 1 red onion
- 2 peppers
- 1 courgette
- 1 teaspoon ready-chopped garlic / garlic purée
- 400 g tinned black beans
- 165 g tinned sweetcorn
- 2 tablespoon chipotle paste (or 3 if you like it spicy!)
- 500 g passata
- 1 teaspoon sugar
- handful fresh coriander
- 8 tortilla wraps
For the 'cheese' sauce:
- 2 tablespoon dairy-free margarine
- 2 tablespoon plain flour
- 300 ml dairy-free milk (I used oat, but soya or nut would work well too)
- 60 g dairy-free cheese
- 2 spring onions
Instructions
To make the filling:
- Heat a large, lidded frying pan or casserole. Finely chop the onions and add to the pan, frying gently for a couple of minutes.
- Finely chop the peppers and courgette and add to the pan along with the garlic. Cook for 4-5 minutes until starting to soften.
- Drain and rinse the black beans and sweetcorn and add to the pan, followed by the chipotle paste. Stir and cook for a further minute, then add the passata and sugar, and stir to combine.
- Remove the leaves from the coriander stalks and set aside for later, then finely chop the stalks and add to the pan. Cover and cook for 10-15 minutes, adding a little water if it becomes too dry, (or removing the lid for a while if it is too runny to fill your tortillas neatly!). Taste and add salt and black pepper as required.
To make the 'cheese' sauce:
- Whilst the filling is cooking, heat the margarine in a small saucepan over a gentle heat. Add the flour and stir until a thick paste is formed, then add the dairy-free milk little by little until the sauce is thick and bubbling. Remove from the heat, and season well with salt and black pepper.
- Grate the dairy-free cheese and add two-thirds to the sauce, (keeping one-third aside for later). Stir until melted through the sauce.
To assemble:
- Preheat the oven to 180ºC (fan) / 350ºF / Gas Mark 4.
- Take each tortilla wrap, fill it with the black bean filling, then fold in the ends, roll up and tuck neatly into a lightly oiled roasting tin.
- Pour the cheese sauce over the top, and sprinkle with the remaining cheese. Bake for 20 minutes or until the sauce is bubbling and just turning brown.
- Finely chop the coriander and spring onions, and sprinkle these over the enchiladas just before serving.
Jessica Formicola says
These enchiladas would be perfect for our family's meatless Monday dinners! They look delicious and I can't wait to try them!
Claudia Lamascolo says
This is was so delicious and healthy we just loved it and will make it often!
Stephanie says
These are delicious! As someone who recently found out I'm allergic to all dairy, having great vegan options like this have been a lifesaver when it comes to dinner! And, my boys don't even realize it isn't "real" cheese in there.
Alisa Infanti says
I made these last week for meatless Monday and they were amazing and adored by even the kids!
francesco caselli says
This is delicious! I will prepare this evening for my partner. Thank you very much
Diane Lyman says
Those appearance exceptional! i love that they come together so really, and that i assume enchiladas are an appropriate way for me to sneak in an amazing vegan night time with out all people even noticing they aren’t consuming meat.
Sean Mahan says
So easy! I love this recipe already, can't wait to make it for my family, they'll sure love it too.
Eb Gargano | Easy Peasy Foodie says
Oh wow - they look delicious! I am suddenly very hungry #occupationalhazard Eb 🙂
Pamela singleton says
This looks awesome. I like it. Thanks for shearing!
Ginny McMeans says
Mexican style food is my favorite cuisine. Love that you've made this completely vegan and it looks so delicious. I've never used zucchini my enchiladas before and I'm really looking forward to the new recipe.
Dannii says
I love how much veg you have managed to pack in to this. One of my favourite Mexican dishes too.
Jill says
I've not ever tried dairy-free cheese but it looks like it melts well and your photos look very enticing. Usually I eat chicken enchiladas but I would totally give these a try!
Jenni LeBaron says
These look fantastic! I love that they come together so simply, and I think enchiladas are the perfect way for me to sneak in a good vegan night without anyone even noticing they aren't eating meat.
Julia says
These vegan enchiladas look delicious! Love the presentation :)!
Corina Blum says
These sound delicious! I was just thinking the other day that we haven't had enchiladas for months but fajitas are quite a regular meal in our house - I'll have to vary things a little soon! Thanks for sharing with #CookOnceEatTwice!
Jacqui Bellefontaine says
They look fabulous we love enchiladas in our house. Thank you for linking to #CookBlogShare