Cheesy Enchiladas Recipe
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Enchiladas are made in both Mexico and the States, but their similarity stops at their name and the fact that they’re rolled tortillas filled with stuff. While Mexican enchiladas are made by dipping the tortillas in sauce, frying them, and filling them only with meat, the Tex-Mex versions are filled with cheese or meat and topped with lots more sauce (a.k.a. gravy) and cheese. This Tex-Mex-style recipe was a big hit here at CHOW.
Game plan: If 24 enchiladas are too many for you to consume at once, just save some for later. Make the enchiladas through step 3, then cover with plastic wrap and aluminum foil and refrigerate for up to 3 days or freeze for up to 2 weeks. To finish, heat the oven to 350°F, uncover the enchiladas and place in the oven while still cold or frozen, and bake until the cheese is melted and the centers are warm, about 20 minutes for the refrigerated enchiladas or 40 minutes if frozen.
This recipe was featured as part of our Super Bowl for a Crowd story.
- Chile Gravy
- 3 cups shredded extra-sharp cheddar cheese (about 10 ounces)
- 3 cups shredded Monterey Jack cheese (about 10 ounces)
- 1 cup vegetable oil
- 24 (6-inch) corn tortillas
- 1 cup finely chopped white onion (about 1/2 medium onion)
- Heat the oven to 350°F and arrange a rack in the middle. Evenly coat the bottom of two 13-by-9-inch baking dishes with 1 cup of the gravy each. Mix the cheeses together in a large bowl until evenly combined, and line a baking sheet with paper towels; set aside.
- Heat the oil in a large frying pan over medium-high heat until hot but not smoking, about 5 minutes. Test the oil temperature by carefully dipping the edge of a tortilla in the oil—it should bubble vigorously. Once the oil is hot, use a metal spatula to carefully submerge the tortillas one at a time until bubbles form around each, about 5 to 10 seconds. Flip and fry an additional 5 seconds or until the edges of each tortilla are slightly crisp but not browned. Transfer to the prepared baking sheet and arrange in a single layer. Repeat with the remaining tortillas, separating the layers with paper towels.
- Blot the tortillas with paper towels to soak up any excess oil, then fill each with 2 heaping tablespoons of the cheese mixture and 2 teaspoons onion. Roll to enclose the filling and set the tortillas in the baking dishes, seam side down, placing 12 enchiladas in each dish. Evenly distribute the remaining 1 cup gravy over both baking dishes and top with the remaining 2 1/2 cups cheese.
- Bake until the enchiladas are hot and bubbly, about 25 to 30 minutes. Let cool about 10 minutes before serving.
Beverage pairing: Pyramid Hefeweizen, Washington state. A light, bright wheat beer such as this will help heavy Tex-Mex like these enchiladas go down more easily and sit more comfortably once you’ve eaten. The beer isn’t going to be a major force, taste-wise, but its buoyancy and texture are perfect.
These were soooo good. These are my new go to enchiladas. Frying up the tortillas is a bit time consuming but so worth it.
keltrue, thanks for the correction on the beer pairing. The info's been updated accordingly.
Deborah from CHOW
"At this point, they can be refrigerated for up to 3 days or frozen for up to 2 weeks"
Really? These enchiladas can be frozen for up to TWO WHOLE WEEKS?! That's just reckless. Not everybody keeps a meticulous freezer log like I do, and you don't want to be responsible for all those exploding freezers.
I loved this recipe. I have been making enchiladas for years with a similar recipe, but the frying of the tortillas makes a world of difference. My enchiladas, although tasty, were always gummy. These have a wonderful texture, slight crunch around the edge. The only downside was the quality of the leftovers, not as good next day.
I also tried the gravy using canned chipotles in adobo instead of the dried peppers (skipping the boiling step) and the gravy was amazing, deep and smoky with sweet hot note. I also added a swipe of refried beans before filling the tortillas with cheese, I think that added a "meatier" flavor and texture.
My new fav enchiladas!!
I am compelled to speak on this issue--i am a native Arizona (USA) cook, who kinda specializes in making red enchiladas--i've been taught by the best and made my way up through using canned (uggh) enchilada sauce during the 70s. Even those enchiladas still got eaten, amazingly.
This recipe is right on, and can be adapted to make other kinds of enchiladas using different fillings. The sauce--No. The red chile sauce is very simple--you simply get a bag of whole dried new mexico chiles, which come in hot or mild, breaking the tops off and shaking some of the seeds out. You pack a bunch of them in a blender, along with several cloves of garlic. Then you pour in boiling water or broth--whatever you prefer, or have, wait a while and then blend till smooth. Very simple. I just pour it over the enchiladas, decoratively, and sprinkle with cheese and black olive slices, before heating the dish. There are never any left.
Enchiladas are kind of a Mexican fast food, one of my favorites. If you are camping, you can use ground red chile powder, and skip the frying. The tortillas do break, though, especially if they've been frozen. Plus, i use some olive oil mixed in with corn oil when i fry them--that can hardly be traditional, but i love the flavor.
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The picture of the enchilada sauce does not look like the recipe describes. It looks like a chili beef-type sauce.
if you don't do something to cause the tortillas to bind, ie.. fry them, the tortillas will be more fragile and likely crack and break up while trying to roll them. Makes more of a mess while assembling but can be done as I forgot to fry them before I made some about a month ago.
@RockyCat
why toss the recipe after one try. Now that you have tried it and found what you dislike, adjust it to your liking and post the changes and results.
would be better than the it works or it don't approach...
Correction: Pyramid is based in Seattle, not California.
I like that tortillas are so cheap these days. A couple bucks for a large stack.
I made this last night. Fabo. I used the left over veggie oil to fry up some serranos and served them on the side. Great recipe for kids, too. We added chicken to the filling which worked just fine.
I'm not saying this as fact, but my experience. If you're making flat enchiladas you can easily get away with no frying the tortillas. You're right, they do get a little more soggy, but I have never heard any complaints, or complained myself. Trying to roll uncooked corn tortillas, though, is an exercise in futility- they break up unless theywere made in the last four hours or so. If you don't want to fry them outright, I have a couple of alternatives.
'1. Heat up some of the enchilada sauce (I refuse to cal it gravy, sorry but I live in Tucson, where I grew up) and quickly dunk the tortillas in some of the hot red chile for a couple of seconds. They'll roll without breaking or falling apart if you time it right- buy an extra package the first time, just in case.
2. Heat up a griddle or skillet and wipe it with an oiled paper towel. Slap in a tortilla and cover for maybe half a minute, flip over and repeat. Again, this will take a little practice but not much. Wipe the griddle with a thin film of oil between tortillas. This will "prime" the tortilla adn make it more flexible without adding much oil at all.
The tastiest way by far is to deep fry them for a second or two in lard, but that's maybe a once-a-year trip to a south side restaurant. A real guilty pleasure, real guilty and REAL pleasurable.
what if you don't fry the tortillas? my easy answer would be 'who knows? you just DO IT!' but trying to think of a more useful answer, it seems to me that the unfried tortillas would get much too cozy with the sauce, leaving you with an insipid mess.
anybody else want to help out here...???
I just made these as a side for a party and they were great-everyone (14 people) gobbled them up-no leftovers! I have a question...what would happen if you didn't fry the corn tortillas? My friend makes enchiladas and she skips this step. Just thought it would make it a much faster process. Also, the chile is fabulous ...any more recipes it can be incorporated into? Thanks CHOW!
rockycat: i'm sorry to hear that the recipe didn't work out for you. we tested it multiple times without any of the above, so i'm not sure what went wrong with you -- possibly your oven temperature is off. let us know if we can help in any way.
Dissenting voice here. We didn't care for it at all and we like both Tex-Mex and Mexican food. I found the gravy to be noticably bitter, the amounts of cheese and onion totally off (not enough of one and too much of the other) and the dish was mostly dried out after baking 25 min. (should have covered with foil). We tossed out the leftovers.
I was going to make these for a party that got cancelled at the last minute. I'm glad I tried them first. We'll be making eggplant parm for the rescheduled party.
I googled your Banga Naga peppers and came up with zilch! Explain please......
This was fantastic. I made them for my fience and myself the other night and we agreed to keep this recipe handy from now on. In fact I'm making more tonight. When I did cook this I shredded up a cooked steak and layered the inside of the enchiladas with it before I rolled them up and put them into the oven.
These recipes are intriguing, the Brits do have Tex Mex and have had for a while but. I run a Spice stall on Londons Borough Market (Foodys this is the best of the best market in GB) and I keep getting asked for chillis by American visiters Californian Chilli. New Mexican Chilli, etc where can I buy these wholesale, at this moment I have just taken delivery of some of the hottest chillis in the world Banga Naga 850.000 ScH and I would like to stock the opposite heat rating
@ ghc630, I believe these are called, Cheesy Enchiladas... LOLOLOL
This is supposed to be difficult to do? Gimme a break!! By the way, where's the beef?
You make it sound like we only do cheese enchiladas in Texas, which I assure you is hardly the case.
anybody ever try adding some pickled jalapenos to the filling?
By the way, this recipe is outstanding. I've made it twice in the last week.
Oops! Unfortunately the link points to a recipe for the old-style roux based sauce. Cancel my comment above - this IS an old school recipe.
It appears that you need to click on the link for the chile gravy recipe, DiveFan. It calls for three ancho chiles.
Not traditional but tasty.
I think your 'gravy' left out a critical ingredient - CHILE.
I'd also avoid the use of the term 'gravy' because some Texicans will insist on using non-food ingredients (Velveeta) and/or brown sauce.
Yum. Me.