Cheese enchiladas are such a simple comfort food. They’re warm, creamy, cheesy, and just all-around amazing. Plus, the combination of tortillas and cheese is just something I never get tired of. 😏 To ramp up the flavor in this easy cheese enchiladas recipe, I added some mild green chiles, a few spices, and a little sour cream for extra creaminess, and then I drenched them in my homemade enchilada sauce. The result was seriously delicious for something so incredibly simple.
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Ingredients for Cheese Enchiladas
The best thing about this cheese enchilada recipe is that it’s super simple. Here’s all you’ll need to make these super scrumptious enchiladas:
- Tortillas: Enchiladas are traditionally made with corn tortillas, but if you prefer flour you can certainly use those as well. I find that corn tortillas hold up better in the sauce and give a delicious corn flavor to the dish.
- Cheese: Cheese is the bulk of the filling for the enchiladas and you can use just about any type of melting cheese, so raid your refrigerator for leftovers and make sure no cheese goes to waste! We used a combination of cheddar and pepper jack, but you can take a look at our list of good cheese options below for more ideas.
- Diced Green Chiles: A can of diced green chiles adds a ton of flavor, texture, and color the cheese filling. You can use either spicy or mild diced green chiles.
- Sour Cream: Sour cream combines with the cheese to create an extra rich, creamy, and delicious filling for the enchiladas.
- Spices: We used a simple mix of garlic powder, cumin, and salt to season the enchilada filling.
- Enchilada Sauce: Enchilada sauce drenches the enchiladas in flavor and saucy goodness. Red enchilada sauce is the best, but you can certainly try green enchilada sauce as well. We used our simple homemade red enchilada sauce for this recipe because it’s way more flavorful than canned sauce, but canned is an option as well.
What Kind of Cheese to Use
This recipe is super flexible, so it’s a great way to use up any odds and ends of cheese that you may have in your fridge. You’ll need about 12oz. (one and half 8oz. blocks) of cheese for this recipe and you can mix and match cheese types. So today, I used a whole block of cheddar and a leftover half-block of pepper jack that I had in my fridge. Here are some other types of cheese you could use:
- Queso Blanco
- Monterey Jack
- Queso Asadero
- Queso Fresca (use in smaller amounts in combination with a creamy-melty cheese)
- Chihuahua Cheese
- Colby Jack
Are Cheese Enchiladas Spicy?
These cheese enchiladas can be spicy, depending on the ingredients used. If you need to make sure your enchiladas are mild, pay attention to the canned green chiles and enchilada sauce. Canned green chiles can be either spicy or mild (usually indicated on the label) and the same is true for enchilada sauce. Check the label on the can or the ingredients used in the recipe, if you’re making homemade (cayenne pepper is spicy and chili powder can be either spicy or mild).
Add More to Your Cheese Enchiladas
Cheese enchiladas are a simple vegetarian meal, but they can also be a blank template for other ingredients to be added (vegetarian or not). Here are some other ingredients that you can toss into the cheese enchilada filling, if you want to try something new:
- Beans
- Chopped spinach
- Chopped cooked chicken
- Chorizo
- Ground beef
- Sautéed zucchini
- Bell pepper
- Sweet corn
- Avocado
- Scrambled eggs
What to Serve with Cheese Enchiladas
I topped my enchiladas with a little more sour cream, guacamole, and green onion for extra color on the plate, but those toppings are totally optional. Since an all-cheese enchilada can be a little on the heavy side, I would definitely pair them with some fiber-filled side dishes, like Quick Seasoned Black Beans, Cucumber and Black Bean Salad, or Cowboy Caviar. A little zesty Cilantro Lime Rice on the side would also lighten up the flavors a bit!
Cheese Enchiladas
Servings 4 3 enchiladas eachIngredients
- 12 small corn tortillas ($0.80)
- 12 oz. cheese, shredded ($3.44)
- 1 4oz. can diced green chiles (drained) ($0.89)
- 1/4 cup sour cream ($0.19)
- 1/4 tsp garlic powder ($0.02)
- 1/4 tsp ground cumin ($0.02)
- 1/8 tsp salt ($0.01)
- 1.5 cups enchilada sauce ($0.60)
Instructions
- Toast the tortillas in a hot skillet, one at a time for a few seconds on each side, or just until lightly browned.
- Add ¾ of the shredded cheese to a bowl (saving the remainder to top the enchiladas). Also add the drained green chiles, sour cream, garlic powder, cumin, and salt. Stir the ingredients to combine.
- Preheat the oven to 350ºF. Add about ½ cup of enchilada sauce to the bottom of a large casserole dish and spread it around until it covers the surface.
- Fill each tortilla with about 3 Tbsp of the cheese filling, then roll to close, and place them in the casserole dish. Continue until all of the tortillas have been filled, rolled, and placed in the dish.
- Pour the remaining 1 cup of enchilada sauce over the enchiladas, then top with the remaining shredded cheese.
- Bake the enchiladas for 20 minutes in the preheated oven, or just until they are heated through and melty. Do not overbake the enchiladas, as this can cause the filling to separate and curdle. Serve hot with your favorite toppings* and sides!
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Notes
Nutrition
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How to Make Cheese Enchiladas – Step by Step Photos
I highly suggest toasting your corn tortillas before you begin. This takes the flavor of the corn tortilla from bland and raw to deliciously toasty with a more pronounced corn flavor. I just do this in a hot, dry skillet. Once the skillet is nice and hot, it only takes about 15-30 seconds per side to get just a little color on the tortilla.
Shred 12oz. cheese and then set aside about ¼ of it to use as a topping for the enchiladas. Combine the rest of the cheese in a bowl with ¼ cup sour cream, one 4oz. can of diced green chiles (drained), ¼ tsp garlic powder, ¼ tsp cumin, and ⅛ tsp salt.
Stir the filling ingredients together until well combined.
Preheat the oven to 350ºF. Add ½ cup enchilada sauce to the bottom of a casserole dish and spread it around to cover the surface.
Add about 3 Tbsp of the cheese filling to the center of each tortilla, then roll it closed and place it in the casserole dish. Continue until all of the tortillas are filled, rolled, and in the casserole dish.
Pour another one cup of enchilada sauce over the enchiladas. I like to leave some of the tortillas exposed to get extra toasty, but you can cover them completely, if you prefer.
Add the remaining shredded cheese on top of the enchiladas.
Bake the enchiladas for 20 minutes, or just until heated through. Make sure not to overbake the enchiladas, as this can cause the filling to curdle.
Serve hot with your favorite toppings and side dishes (I topped them with green onion, sour cream, and guacamole)!
Can you make these ahead of time?
My concern is that the tortillas would soak up too much moisture and get a bit soggy before bake time. You could prep the filling and sauce ahead of time and just assemble right before baking!
This was quick, perfect, and delicious. Thank you for the recipe.
Don’t skip the step – heating up tortilla ! It changes the flavor completely for the better. Having 30 tortilla I experimented and found it best that my pan was on high heat and about 5 seconds on each side. I kept tasting the tortilla until the flavor completely changed and I knew I had it! Don’t skip this step!!
Also, I used Kroger Mexican cheese blend because it was 1.49. I would like to find a more flavorful cheese.
My can sauce was thin and made the enchiladas soggy. So, I need to find a way to thicken sauce.
Also, another mandatory step is adding sour cream on top- or something to balance it out like Mexicana cream that I found discounted to 50 cents. I wouldn’t eat without this.
Haven’t made them yet but trust this cook. I wanted to give you a link to a great homemade enchilada sauce. I use this one myself. It’s great and easy. https://www.recipegirl.com/enchilada-sauce/
Delicious🍻
Great recipe with lots of flavour. It wasn’t difficult to make and the notes were quite helpfull. I did add a bit more sour cream in the cheese mix though!
All in all, great recipe! Also, I thought I was making quesadillas the entire time and I was confused because the recipe didn’t seem like it was for quesadillas 😅😂
I ALWAYS heat about an inch or two of vegetable oil in a skillet. I put My corn tortillas, one at a time and fry on each side for 8 seconds. Take out on a paper towel and fix as for a enchilada, taco or whatever else you want. The enchiladas and tacos are SO GOOD!
Maybe I missed it, but would this work if I prepped it ahead of time and then popped in the oven at dinner time? I’m craving some cheese enchiladas and these look amazing.
I haven’t tried that, so I can’t say for sure, but I think it depends on how long it sits assembled before baking. My only worry would be that the tortillas would soak up too much moisture and get a bit soggy.
I am going to make this tomorrow – and I think I’m going to assemble the filling ahead of time and then put it together when I get home. That should save me some time but avoid the sogginess as I think you’re probably right about that. I’ll report back how it goes. :)
How long does it usually take you to add new recipes to the app? I don’t see this one on there quite yet. I am loving the app, BTW! Thank you :)
Hi Devon! This recipe is available on the app. The app comes pre-loaded with 500 recipes, which you access from the homescreen. Everything I’ve created since the app’s launch can be loaded into your app through the app’s marketplace (you can still get them for free). Just tap the little shopping bag icon on the bottom of the home screen, then once in the marketplace tap over to “recipes” at the top instead of “bundles”. Then type “enchiladas” in the search bar at the top and it will come up. :)
I made this for Meatless Monday dinner tonight and it was a hit. It is definitely going into my rotation of vegetarian dishes. Here in Canada finding prepared enchilada sauce can be difficult as most stores don’t carry it, but I lucked out today and found one that does so I bought a few extra cans for the pantry to make these in the future.
I enjoy cheese enchiladas but never knew how to make them. I tried this recipe last night and it was awesome! I paired it with refried beans, cilantro lime chicken, and cumin lime slaw. I made it as written but used a mix of cheddar/pepper jack/monterrey cheeses and sour cream/greek yogurt.
I made this for dinner today and it was delicious! (Though I didn’t bother toasting the tortillas because I was short on time and I’m bad at multitasking.) But I put three tablespoons of filling in each enchilada like you said and there was only enough for eight of them.
Loved this recipe, we made it with the homemade enchilada sauce as well. Only suggestion is to go a little shy on the 3 tablespoons of cheese filling – we found that we ended up with just one lonely tortilla left over!
These were perfect as I hadn’t gone grocery shopping and had all of this stuff on hand. Cheap, easy and delicious – I used your recipe for enchilada sauce too. I doubled it, as I have a family of 5, and added cannellini beans as per someone else’s suggestion in the comments and it added fiber. My kids liked it so well, some had the leftovers for breakfast. Thank you, Beth!
I did not need to double the enchilada sauce recipe – was able to make that stretch over a doubled cheese enchilada recipe.
Years ago, I was introduced to a recipe for cheese enchiladas that had a filling made of a small can of green chiles, a small container of sour cream, a medium container (I don’t have the recipe written anywhere, so I don’t remember the actual measure, maybe 12 oz?) of cottage cheese, and some shredded cheese. Rolled up in tortillas, covered in enchilada sauce, covered in more cheese and baked. They were delicious, and I don’t even like sour cream OR cottage cheese. I usually add most of a can of black beans to the filling when I make it now, and a friend would add some pulled chicken. I think you would like it.
Can these be frozen?
I haven’t tried that, unfortunately! Sometimes mixtures with sour cream don’t freeze well, though, so I think it might be risky.
Great recipe and really a nice one. Will surely try this
Your enchilada sauce is so amazingly good I call it “crack sauce.” When I first discovered it years ago, I went through your website and made every single recipe that included it…and all were delicious. I’ve shared your recipe and your website many, many times and brought many new fans because of it. I can’t wait to make this new version. Cheese enchiladas are my favorite because it was my mom’s favorite. And as usual, this version is economical and easy…and I know it will be delicious too. Thanks Beth!
Thank you! ❤️