I love enchiladas! But, I never order enchiladas at Mexican restaurants, because most restaurants that serve authentic Mexican food use the cheapest of the cheap ingredients. Whenever I do order enchiladas at a restaurant, I try to forget I’m eating GMO corn tortillas and factory farm meat pumped full of hormones and antibiotics…let’s just say the more I know, the less I eat.
You can make this easy enchiladas recipe at home with organic ingredients—even organic, grass fed beef!—and feed your whole family twice for less than the cost of one enchilada platter at your favorite Mexican restaurant!
You can always afford to upgrade to organic when you cook at home instead of going out to eat!
[Tweet “Upgrade to #organic and feed your #family twice for the price of one restaurant enchilada plate!”]
How to Upgrade to Organic Enchiladas
Here’s a simple cost breakdown using normal sale prices:
“Normal sale prices” means these are prices I expect to find every month or so at my local grocery stores, not once-a-year, good-luck-scoring-this-price sale prices.
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- $7.50 organic grass fed ground beef (Sprouts and Winco $6/lb)
- $2.00 organic corn tortillas (Whole Foods)
- $0.50 organic onion (Sprouts)
- $0.12 organic olive oil (Costco)
- $2.25 organic cheddar cheese (Sprouts)
- $1.41 organic chili powder (Amazon)
- $0.09 organic tapioca powder (Amazon)
- $0.01 organic cayenne pepper (Amazon)
- $0.01 organic black pepper (Amazon)
- $0.06 ground Himalayan pink salt (Amazon)
- $0.04 organic white vinegar (Amazon)
Total: $13.99 for 24 totally organic enchiladas!
Divided by 12 servings of 2 enchiladas each that’s just $1.17 per serving!
Can you imagine getting two enchiladas in a restaurant for $1.17?
[Tweet “Can you imagine getting 2 enchiladas at a restaurant for $1.17? #organic #glutenfree”]
What makes this Easy Enchiladas Recipe EASY?
The technique that makes these easy enchiladas—well, easy—is the way I soften the tortillas.
One more note on using healthy, organic ingredients: If you use conventional ingredients for everything else, make sure your corn tortillas and meat are organic. Tortillas and meat are the largest (by volume) ingredients in the recipe, and the conventional versions of corn tortillas and ground beef are filled with GMOs, hormones, and antibiotics.
- I divide the enchiladas between 2 pans (12 enchiladas per pan), because we eat the leftovers from one pan the next day and I freeze the second pan. If you want to make just enough to serve 4 people per meal, divide between 3 pans (8 enchiladas per pan).
- Working with 12 tortillas at a time, brush both sides lightly with olive oil, wrap in a damp paper towel, and microwave for 90 seconds. <—This is the part that makes these enchiladas easy!
- Dip in enchilada sauce, fill, roll, and place in the pan. Repeat until all the filling is used. This recipe makes 24 enchiladas, using about 2 Tbsp filling in each.
- The oil/microwave technique for softening tortillas saves you the mess of frying the tortillas in a skillet—and the time spent frying them one at a time!
- The sauce is on the medium side of mild, but make sure you know how spicy your chili powder and cayenne pepper are before you make the enchilada sauce as written. If you accidentally make it too spicy, add tomato sauce and/or water to dilute it (or make a fresh batch of sauce and serve the spicy sauce on the side).
This Easy Enchiladas Recipe Makes a Great Freezer Meal!
The recipe as written makes 24 enchiladas, because I always freeze half the batch so I have a quick dinner ready to go on a busy night! I use disposable foil pans (I line them with parchment so my food isn’t touching the foil). I slip the disposable pan into a gallon size freezer bag along with bags of extra sauce, cheese, and the sliced olive garnish. It’s really nice to know everything is ready to go when I’m ready to bake it—I don’t have to make sure I have extra ingredients on hand, or even grate cheese or slice olives!
Get the printable Easy Enchiladas recipe below:
Bake the enchiladas uncovered, and don’t go crazy adding extra sauce—if you cover the enchiladas while baking and/or smother them with sauce, you’ll end up with mushy enchiladas that don’t hold their shape. Still delicious, just ugly! Serve the extra sauce at the table.
HOMEMADE ENCHILADA SAUCE:
3 c water
2 tsp tapioca powder
6 Tbsp chili powder (Get my recipe for homemade organic chili powder.)
2 tsp cayenne pepper
1/4 cup white vinegar
salt to taste (about 1 tsp)
ENCHILADAS:
24 corn tortillas, or one batch homemade tortillas made with organic masa.
1 Tbsp olive oil
20 oz (1 1/4 lb) ground beef
1 medium onion, diced
1 tsp salt
1 tsp pepper
GARNISH:
6 oz cheddar cheese, grated
12 black olives, sliced lengthwise
scallions, sliced with scissors
- HOMEMADE ENCHILADA SAUCE:
- 3 c water
- 2 tsp tapioca powder
- 6 Tbsp chili powder
- 2 tsp cayenne pepper
- 1/4 cup white vinegar
- salt to taste (about 1 tsp)
- ENCHILADAS:
- 24 corn tortillas
- 1 Tbsp olive oil
- 20 oz (1 1/4 lb) ground beef
- 1 medium onion, diced
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 tsp pepper
- GARNISH:
- 6 oz cheddar cheese, grated
- 12 black olives, sliced lengthwise
- scallions, sliced with scissors
- ENCHILADA SAUCE:
- Combine all ingredients and heat to a boil, stirring often.
- ENCHILADAS:
- Brown ground beef with salt and pepper.
- Add onion to the ground beef and cook just until softened, about 2 minutes.
- Working with 12 tortillas at a time, brush both sides lightly with olive oil, cover with a damp paper towel, and microwave for 90 seconds.
- Dip each tortilla in the enchilada sauce, fill with 2 Tbsp meat mixture, roll up, and place in a 9×11 pan lined with parchment paper.
- Top with 1/2 cup enchilada sauce, reserving 1 cup sauce for serving.
- BAKE UNCOVERED AT 350°:
- *Immediately: 20 minutes
- *Refrigerated: 30 minutes
- *Frozen: bake covered for the first 20 minutes, then remove cover and bake for additional 30 minutes.
- Top with cheese and olives and bake for additional 5 minutes. Add sliced scallions to each plated dish. Serve with extra enchilada sauce on the side.
What’s your favorite Mexican food?
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