A simple alternative to fajitas and enchiladas, enfrijoladas make a fun weeknight pantry supper that also works for Meatless Monday. You can serve these enfrijoladas topped with sour cream, cilantro, and salsa. I’ve highlighted the simplest version, but there are other great recipes that include meat, vegetables, and even eggs! For fans of spicy food, add a little heat to the bean mixture or serve hot sauce with the other toppings.
Big tip: microwaving the corn tortillas before dipping them into the refried beans keeps them pliable enough to fold without breaking. Another bit of good news: there was enough sauce and room in the pan for eight tortillas, making it a perfect dinner for four.
Start with these ingredients.
Heat the refried beans, broth, and water in a large pot. Note: I measured and mixed the broth and water in the Pyrex measuring cup and poured it all in at one time.
Then add the tomato paste.
Whisk until thoroughly mixed. The texture should be pretty soupy! While the sauce is mixing and heating, microwave the corn tortillas until hot.
Now get set up with your baking dish, grated cheese, tortillas, and the bean mixture. Using a pair of tongs, dip the tortilla into the bean mixture and allow it to soak for just a moment.
Place the bean mixture-coated tortilla in the baking dish, add a portion of cheese to one half, and then fold over. Repeat with the remaining seven tortillas, then top the dish with the remaining bean mixture and cheese.
Bake at 350ºF for 10-15 minutes or until the cheese has melted and it looks like this! It took everything inside me not to dig into that dish with a spoon.
Serve with a dollop of sour cream, salsa, and chopped fresh cilantro!
Thank you, Caroline, for introducing me to this classic Mexican recipe. I will certainly be stocking refried beans in my pantry from now on so that I can make these again! Visit her blog, Pink Basil, for more recipes, thoughtful writing, and great photography.
Printable Recipe
Print Options
Description
Enfrijoladas: delicious Mexican comfort food!
Ingredients
- 4 cups Refried Beans
- 1 cup Vegetable Stock
- 1 cup Water
- 1 Tablespoon Tomato Paste
- 6 whole Small Or Medium Size Tortillas
- 3 cups Shredded Monterey Jack Cheese
Preparation Instructions
Heat up the refried beans in a large pan. Add in the vegetable stock, water and tomato paste and blend until smooth. You want the sauce to be very thin, so add more liquid if necessary. If the sauce is too thick it will weigh down the tortillas and tear them. Using tongs, take a tortilla and dip in the sauce. This is a bit of an art—you want them to soak through enough that they are pliable and won’t tear, but soak them for too long and they’ll come apart when you lift them out.
Lay the tortilla dipped in bean sauce flat in a small baking dish. Sprinkle some cheese on one side of the tortilla, and then fold it in half like a quesadilla. Repeat this with each tortilla until the baking dish is full. Pour the remainder of the bean sauce into the pan and sprinkle with remaining cheese.
Bake at 350ºF for about 10 to 15 minutes, or until the cheese has melted.
_______________________________________
Three Many Cooks is the always-entertaining food blog of Pam Anderson and her two daughters, Maggy and Sharon. Pam is a well-known and much-respected food writer and author, Maggy is a “hippy adventurer meets 1950s housewife,” and Sharon refers to herself as a recovering food snob learning to survive on a graduate student’s budget. Theirs is a strong relationship both inside and outside the kitchen, and it shows in the food they create and the stories they tell.
35 Comments
Comments are closed for this recipe.
luci on 6.21.2012
ok, wanted to keep meatless, but add protein, so added a little quinoa ( I cook mine in chicken stock) to each one. Yummmmy and filling…yes, did add a little corn also.You can never have too many veggies. thanks for the recipe
secondfriday2kelsey on 6.1.2012
Well this is the most fantastic thing ever! Definitely need to make this.
Amanda on 5.31.2012
I made these with the addition of some store-bought rotisserrie chicken… it was really good! I think next time I make I’d add enchilada sauce to the beans, like the poster above mentioned, and possibly saute’ some diced onions and garlic to up the flavor a bit… but by all means this was yummy, fast and had PLENTY to go around!
B on 5.17.2012
I made these and they were very good – and easy to prepare – but I have some suggestions.
1. Add half a large can of enchilada sauce to the bean mixture, and pour the rest on top of the enchiladas before baking. I found the beans too bland without adding enchilada sauce. Also, the beans tend to become dry and less sauce like after you bake them, and more so when reheating leftovers.
2. Buy more tortillas if you use the small ones – there was enough sauce for around 15 enchiladas. Or, if you make them very saucy, serve with chips.
3. Add more cheese! I used monterey jack for the filling and sharp cheddar on top. I put diced raw onion in the filling also.
4. This dish is all about the fresh toppings added afterward – sour cream (of course), shredded lettuce, chopped tomato, cilantro, sliced black olives, green onions. The crunch of the fresh toppings is fantastic combined with the ‘gloppiness’ of the enchiladas.
wendy on 5.16.2012
These look so yummy a must try for sure!!
j3nn on 5.16.2012
Oh my GOODNESS! This looks wonderful. Love how the tortillas are dipped in the sauce. Neat!
Kimmy W on 5.14.2012
I made this for dinner and its SO good. Meat eater just put some in.
JulieS on 5.11.2012
This one looks great too! Wish I had more time to sit and go through recipes. I get so many good ones from here!
Michelle (aka mybelle101) on 5.10.2012
We had these for dinner tonight. They were so yummy, and super fast to put together…they were assembled/cooked in the same amount of time as the rice! My 7 year old (who is usually averse to anything “mixed” or “touching”) loved them as well. A definite hit in our house, and one that I’ll be making again! This is a fantastic quick, weeknight, pantry meal that is meatless to boot! Thanks for sharing!!
tchrjenn on 5.10.2012
I made these on Monday night. They were a huge hit with my 8 year old. He liked them so much he had them the next night and didn’t complain about having to eat left overs. He also liked them so much that he asked me to print the recipe to give to his teacher. (It is teacher appreciation week and all of the kids in his school were asked to bring their favorite recipe to their teacher.)
Margie on 5.9.2012
This looks super yum! I noticed a lot of your ingedients are organic, and that is not something I ever noticed before. I have gone organic on a lot of things wondering are you going organic or are you choosing products because, quite frankly, they taste better?
Tracy A. on 5.9.2012
Sounds absolutely wonderful!
torybie on 5.8.2012
just finished off the leftovers tonight… excellent! this is the kind of recipe you can add anything you like; onions, olives, tomatoes, peppers, etc. as my husband said, “this is a keeper” and i had all the ingredients on hand!
Larissa Reinhart on 5.8.2012
I nominated your blog for the Versatile Blogger Award. I use it for Japanese recipes and sometimes refer to your blog in my posts (I blog about expat life).
Thanks!
Larissa
Jeanette D, AZ on 5.8.2012
Love the looks of these, they well get a taste in this house whole. I did share them with friends and did give credit to the lovely cooks. Jeanette
Tara on 5.8.2012
Easy! I am going to try this, but add green chiles inside the enchiladas (maybe even roast some) and probably some chili powder and garlic powder to add some mexican taste to it….Fresh jalepenos on top with sour cream…yum. Can’t wait!
Patricia on 5.8.2012
This looks great. I’m thinking I’ll make some pulled pork for it and use some of the cooking liquid in the sauce.
Lindasue on 5.8.2012
This was very good. My variation made it into a layered dish. 9×9 pan. Dip tortillas and layer 4 flat in pan. Top with cheese, and repeat. We did 4 layers.Additional sauce over top and cheese. Baked 30 min. Topped with shredded lettuce, fresh salsa and sour cream. Instead of Tomato paste I used a can of rotel tomato sauce.
westmonster on 5.8.2012
We had these for dinner yesterday, and they were perfect! I added some veggies to lighten up the dish, and these will most certainly go into our rotation with varying fillings, and maybe a mix of beans and tomato next time. Entomata-frijoladas… or something.
Preparation was a cinch, too. The only problem I had was getting the sticky little suckers out of the pan after baking. They wouldn’t let go of one another. I’ll have to pour some sauce in between next time.
Thank you TMC for finding this great recipe!
Zee on 5.8.2012
Yummy! This looks delicious!
Katrina on 5.7.2012
These sound awesome! Yum!
Dianne on 5.7.2012
I made these tonight for dinner…and added some leftover fajita chicken…FABULOUS!!!!!
Carla Michel on 5.7.2012
And also do Haaaa entomatadas
Carla Michel on 5.7.2012
The enfrijoldas also be made from pieces of chicken or beef and up put a little lettuce, salsa and cheese (so eat them in the West of Mexico)
somebunny on 5.7.2012
6 or 8 tortillas?
Trina T on 5.7.2012
Very interesting!
Heather (Heather's Dish) on 5.7.2012
SOLD…these sound PERFECT!
wifemothereventplanner on 5.7.2012
this looks amazing. Bonus – i have all the ingredients! Thank ya
Allyn on 5.7.2012
These look so good! Too bad we’re a no dairy house. The things I give up for my sweet husband…
rockymtngal on 5.7.2012
Oh my! This looks really amazing!
Sandi ~ LoveFromCapeCod~etsy on 5.7.2012
mmmmmmmmmmmmmmm….. mmmmmmm…..mmmmm.
These look wonderful. (And I love your placemat (or table cloths) underneath in the photo!! with Love From Cape Cod…. ~Sandi
BigCooker on 5.7.2012
Thank you ThreeManyCooks….While I am always looking for a meatless meal for me, I can add so much to these for my always must have meat husband. I love being able to have a variety at one meal.
Travis Cotton on 5.7.2012
This does look good but Id probably add some shredded chicken or pork.
carolyn. on 5.7.2012
These look wonderful…may try them.
Ellen on 5.7.2012
Is this really a difficulty level of “hard?”