Enchiladas are Mexican comfort food at its best: soft tortillas rolled around a juicy filling, covered with chili sauce and gratinéed with cheese. The dish is easy to make at home and perfect when you want to serve something other than Friday tacos.
What are enchiladas?
The word comes from "enchilar" – to dip in chili. In Mexico, corn tortillas are dipped in a red or green chili sauce, filled, and served immediately. The gratinéed version with lots of cheese is more Tex-Mex, but just as good.
Ingredients (4 servings)
- 8–10 tortillas – corn tortillas for authentic flavor, wheat for softer rolls
- 400 g chicken thighs, shredded beef, or black beans
- 1 onion and 2 cloves garlic
- 400 g chopped tomatoes
- 2 tbsp dried chili or chipotle – see spice selection
- 1 tsp cumin and 1 tsp oregano
- 200 g grated cheese
- Sour cream, cilantro, and lime for serving
Instructions
- Make the sauce: sauté onion and garlic, add tomatoes, chili, cumin, and oregano. Simmer for 15 minutes and blend until smooth.
- Cook the filling and mix in a couple of spoons of the sauce.
- Warm the tortillas until soft, fill and roll them, and place them tightly in an ovenproof dish with the seam side down.
- Pour over the rest of the sauce, sprinkle with cheese, and gratinée at 200 °C for 15–20 minutes.
- Top with sour cream, cilantro, and lime.
Tips
Want to take a shortcut? A good Mexican salsa works excellently as enchilada sauce. And if you make the tortillas yourself, you only need masa harina and water.
Everything for Mexican cooking can be found in our Mexico selection – salsa, tortillas, dried chili, and beans.
