Cheesy Vegetarian
Roasted Vegetable Enchilada Casserole
This enchilada casserole tastes like my favourite vegetarian enchiladas, but only takes 15 minutes of effort – no rolling or layering! The perfect veggie-packed comfort food.
Some of my favourite dinners are those that can be a bit of a faff to make – lasagne, shepherd’s pie, enchiladas… They’re always worth it in the end, but sometimes I just don’t want to stand there for half an hour preparing my dinner.
Luckily, I’m the queen of a shortcut – and this enchilada casserole is a much quicker way to make vegetarian enchiladas, without all the fiddly rolling!
What are enchiladas?
Just in case you’ve never had enchiladas before (what have you been doing all your life?), I’ll give you a brief description.
Regular enchiladas consist of vegetables and beans (or whatever other fillings you fancy), rolled up in large tortillas, and coated in enchilada sauce. They’re then baked in the oven until they’re hot and bubbly.
They’re one of my all-time favourite Tex-Mex meals – not only do you get all the incredible Tex-Mex flavours of a burrito or a quesadilla, but you also get the added bonus of a tasty sauce and a crispy cheese topping.
Enchiladas are all sorts of good bits, rolled up in one incredible dish.
Vegetarian enchilada casserole
This enchilada casserole is basically the low effort way to make vegetarian enchiladas. Instead of rolling the veggies and beans up into individual tortillas, I just mixed it all together (including bitesized pieces of tortilla), casserole-style.
Why does it matter whether the ‘filling’ is actually wrapped in a tortilla, or if it’s underneath it, or on top of it? It all tastes the same once you’re eating it, so why bother faffing around rolling each enchilada up separately?
This version takes less time, involves less hands-on prep work, and creates less washing up.
Win win win!
How to make roasted vegetable enchilada casserole
Step 1: Roast the vegetables
As you might guess from the name of this dish, it begins with roasted vegetables.
Roasting is by far my favourite way to cook the majority of vegetables. It’s hands-off, and it always gives the veg a really lovely flavour. They end up soft in the middle, with nice little crispy bits around the edges.
You can pretty much roast up whatever vegetables you like for this enchilada casserole. I stuck with my favourite Tex-Mex veggies – peppers (red and yellow), mushrooms, and courgette (zucchini).
Step 2: Prepare the enchilada sauce
There’s absolutely no reason why you couldn’t use a shop-bought enchilada sauce for this casserole, if you can find one you like. This is meant to be a low effort dinner, after all – and in fact, if you do just use a jar, this will end up being a one pot dinner, which is always good!
However, enchilada sauce is actually not that easy to find in the UK – and when I do spot it somewhere, it’s always super expensive. So, since homemade enchilada sauce literally takes just a few minutes to make, and the ingredients are things I always have in the kitchen anyway, I decided to make my own. Either way works just fine.
I’ve previously written a whole post about my homemade enchilada sauce, if you’d like to see step-by-step photos. It’s basically the same process as making a white sauce.
You’ll also need to cut up some flour tortillas, ready for adding to the casserole.
Step 3: Mix everything together
When the vegetables are nice and roasty, it’s time to mix everything together:
- the roasted vegetables
- your (shop-bought or homemade) enchilada sauce
- pieces of flour tortilla
- a tin of black beans
I mix it all straight in the baking dish, so it doesn’t create any additional washing up.
Step 4: Bake until crispy
Top the dish with a bit of grated cheese, and pop it back in the oven for about another 15 minutes, until it’s all nice and crispy.
The end result tastes just like my favourite vegetarian enchiladas. The pieces of tortilla soak up a little of the sauce, just like in ‘real’ enchiladas – and by the time you’ve scooped up a big forkful, it’s totally irrelevant that they weren’t neatly rolled.
How to serve enchilada casserole
This enchilada casserole doesn’t really require any side dishes – it’s already a full meal in itself.
However, it’s sometimes nice to prepare some side dishes, if only so you can have a bit of variety on the plate. I probably wouldn’t bother if I was just making this for my family, but if we had guests, I’d probably choose one or two of these to serve alongside:
- green salad
- guacamole
- sour cream
- corn on the cob
- garlic bread (if you don’t mind double carbs…)
What vegetables can you use in enchiladas?
To make my enchilada casserole, I used mushrooms, courgette (zucchini), and red and yellow peppers. These are my go-to veggies for Tex-Mex cooking.
You could also use:
- onion / red onion
- eggplant (aubergine)
- tinned sweetcorn (add along with the black beans)
- potatoes
- tomatoes
- sweet potato
Or, to be honest, pretty much anything else that roasts up nicely. For example, carrot may not be a vegetable I would often put in enchiladas, but it does roast up really nicely, so there’s no reason you couldn’t add that too.
Just be aware that some vegetables roast more quickly or more slowly than others, so bear that in mind – you may need to add some veg to the dish a little later than others.
Can you freeze vegetarian enchilada casserole?
Yep! Vegetarian enchiladas (including this casserole version) are just the sort of meal that can be frozen easily – so they’re perfect for batch cooking. Just transfer the cooked casserole to a freezer-safe tub, and pop it in the freezer.
I’d personally reheat it thoroughly in the microwave. You could reheat it in the oven instead if you prefer, but it may dry out a little.
Roasted Vegetable Enchilada Casserole
Ingredients
- 1 red pepper
- 1 yellow pepper
- 1 small (or 1/2 large) courgette (zucchini)
- 100 g (~ 3 1/2 oz) mushrooms (~ 6 medium mushrooms)
- 1 Tbsp oil
- 250 ml (~ 1 cup) enchilada sauce (shop-bought or homemade)
- 400 g tin black beans, drained (240g, or ~ 1 1/4 cups, when drained)
- 4 small flour tortillas, cut into bitesized pieces
- 75 g cheddar cheese, grated (~ 3/4 cup when grated)
- Fresh coriander (cilantro), to garnish
Instructions
-
Cut the vegetables into chunky dice, and toss them in a little oil. Place them in a baking dish (mine measured approximately 10 x 7 inches), and roast at 190°C (Gas Mark 5 / 375°F) for around 30-40 minutes, stirring halfway, until the vegetables are fairly soft.
-
If you’re using homemade enchilada sauce, prepare it while the vegetables are roasting. You can see my full enchilada sauce recipe here. Shop-bought sauce is also fine to use.
-
When the vegetables are fairly soft, add the enchilada sauce, tinned black beans, and the pieces of tortilla. Mix well until everything is coated in the sauce.
-
Sprinkle with some grated cheese, and return to the oven for a further 15 minutes, or until the cheese is crispy and the sauce is hot and bubbly. Garnish with fresh coriander (cilantro), if desired.
Notes
Nutrition
Calories from Fat 196
Note: Nutritional information is approximate, and will depend on exactly what ingredients you choose. Information above is for 1/3 of the recipe.
Here’s another really easy Tex-Mex inspired recipe – slow cooker black bean soup (with heaps of hidden veggies!)
The post Roasted Vegetable Enchilada Casserole appeared first on Easy Cheesy Vegetarian.
Cheesy Vegetarian
Creamy Three Bean Stew
This creamy three bean stew is the ideal healthy comfort food – with fresh veg and three types of beans, in a luxurious creamy tomato sauce!
This creamy three bean stew is basically my perfect dinner. It feels like a luxurious, comforting meal, but is packed with fresh vegetables and protein-rich beans (three kinds, in case you couldn’t have guessed) – all coated in a creamy, silky sauce with heaps of flavour (swoooon).
It ticks all the boxes!
Healthy comfort food
Veggie-packed comfort food has got to be my all-time favourite food category, and it doesn’t get much better than this creamy three bean stew. It’s absolutely full of goodness, but is about as far from rabbit food as you can get (I’ve never been much of a salad person).
After eating a meal like this, you feel totally satisfied, and your body thanks you too.
What’s in this creamy three bean stew?
There are 3 main elements to this hearty vegetarian stew:
- the vegetables – I chose carrots, courgette (zucchini) and mushrooms
- the beans – three different types! I used black beans, kidney beans and cannellini beans
- the sauce – made with tomatoes, creamy tomato soup, and an extra dollop of cream for good measure
As long as you make sure your bean stew contains these three elements, it will be a success – even if you decide to switch things up a bit (see below for some ideas for how to adapt the recipe!).
How to make creamy three bean stew
Step 1: Fry off the vegetables
Start by dicing your veggies, and adding them to a large saucepan. Cook them for a few minutes until they’re just starting to soften.
Step 2: Add most of the remaining ingredients
We’re already at the ‘add everything else’ stage – this recipe really couldn’t get much simpler.
Add the beans and sauce ingredients to the pan, and leave everything to simmer for a little while, until the sauce has thickened nicely and the vegetables and beans are totally soft.
Step 3: Make it extra creamy
As a little finishing touch, I like to add one more little dollop of something to make it extra creamy. To be honest, there are lots of ingredients you could use for this purpose, which would all have pretty much the same effect:
- cream
- sour cream
- Greek yogurt
- cream cheese
Just be careful if you’re using the low fat version of any of these ingredients, as low fat dairy products can sometimes split and curdle in this kind of situation.
It’s best to stick to the full fat version if you can, or if you really want to use low fat, temper the ingredient first. To do this, mix a spoonful of your hot stew into the yogurt (or whatever you’re using) first, then add it all back into the pot. This helps to minimise the temperature shock, and reduces the risk of curdling.
The difference that one good dollop of sour cream had on my three bean stew was really pretty amazing:
It makes the whole thing so much more luxurious, and transforms a simple bean stew into something seriously tempting.
How to serve three bean stew
This stew already contains all the most important food groups, so there’s no need to serve anything alongside it if you don’t want to. Just a nice big bowl and a spoon are all you need.
Personally though, I think a bit of garlic bread or some crusty bread and butter are absolutely perfect for mopping up the bowl and adding a nice bit of crunch…
How to adapt the recipe
One of the best things about this recipe is that it’s endlessly adaptable – it’s such a good fridge clearer. I would be willing to bet that almost all of you could make this three bean stew entirely from ingredients you already have in the house.
Who doesn’t already have a cupboard full of random tins of beans? And a fridge full of veggies that could do with being used up?
Just chuck ’em all in – the more the merrier.
You could choose different vegetables, different beans, or adjust the sauce ingredients, and you’ll almost certainly still end up with a really tasty meal. In fact, it’s pretty fun if it ends up slightly different each time you make it.
Creamy Three Bean Stew
Ingredients
- 1 tbsp oil
- 1 onion, sliced or diced
- 2 medium carrots, diced
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 medium courgette (zucchini), diced
- ~ 5 medium mushrooms, diced
- 400 g tin cannellini beans, drained (240g, or ~ 1 1/4 cups, when drained)
- 400 g tin black beans, drained (240g, or ~ 1 1/4 cups, when drained)
- 400 g tin kidney beans, drained (240g, or ~ 1 1/4 cups, when drained)
- 400 g (~ 1⅓ cups) tinned tomatoes
- 400 g (~ 1 1/3 cups) tin cream of tomato soup
- 1 tsp dried oregano
- 1 tsp black pepper
- 1 vegetable stock cube, crumbled
- 2 tbsp cream, cream cheese, sour cream or Greek yogurt (full fat versions)
- Small bunch fresh parsley, chopped (optional)
Instructions
-
Heat a dash of oil in a large saucepan, and add the diced onion and carrot. Cook over a medium heat for a few minutes, stirring regularly, until the onion has softened slightly. Add the garlic, courgette and mushrooms, and cook for a further 5 minutes, until the vegetables are beginning to soften.
-
Add the three drained tins of beans, tin of tomatoes, and tin of tomato soup. Also add the oregano and black pepper, along with a crumbled stock cube (or just some salt, if you prefer).
-
Bring to a simmer, and cook for around 20-30 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the liquid has reduced to produce a thick sauce.
-
Add the cream, mix to combine, and serve warm, garnished with fresh parsley if desired.
Notes
It’s best to use full fat dairy products for cooking, as low fat varieties tend to split and curdle when added to heat. If you really need to use a low fat dairy ingredient, temper it before adding it to the stew. To do this, mix one spoonful of the hot stew into the low fat yogurt (or whatever it is), and stir it together. Then add it back into the stew. This reduces the temperature shock to the yogurt, and minimises the risk of curdling.
Nutrition
Calories from Fat 67
Note: Nutritional information is approximate, and will depend on exactly what ingredients you choose. Information above is for 1/4 of the recipe.
Love healthy comfort food? My veggie-packed slow cooker black bean soup is perfect:
The post Creamy Three Bean Stew appeared first on Easy Cheesy Vegetarian.
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