Last week fellow Budget Byter Becky sent me a link to this awesome recipe for Enfrijoladas from MexicanPlease.com. I was immediately intrigued by this dish, which seemed to me to be just like enchiladas but with a quick black bean sauce in stead of an enchilada sauce. I knew I had to make them!
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101 Enfrijoladas
I did a little recipe research and found that, like many recipes, there are a 101 ways to interpret Enfrijoladas. Some enfrijoladas are as simple as a tortilla dipped in sauce, folded, and garnished, while others are filled, rolled, baked, and topped with a variety of ingredients.
I kept my Enfrijoladas pretty simple, with just a little cheese and a sweet onion and cilantro relish. If you want to amp it up, try other filling and topping ingredients like chorizo, avocado, radishes, diced tomatoes, or maybe even a little cooling lime crema to balance the smoky spicy black bean sauce.
About That Spicy Black Bean Sauce…
The black bean sauce I made uses chipotle peppers in adobo sauce as one of the main ingredients, so it is spicy. Unfortunately I don’t have an easy substitute for this ingredient since it is one of the base ingredients for the sauce. Making a non-spicy version would require reworking the sauce entirely. If you have a non-spicy version of Enfrijoladas that you like to make at home, feel free to share it in the comments for others! :)
Goes great with: Warm Corn and Avocado Salad, Cumin Lime Coleslaw, Easy Pineapple Salsa, Pico de Gallo
Enfrijoladas – Tortillas in Black Bean Sauce
Servings 4 3 tortillas eachIngredients
- 2 15oz. cans black beans, drained ($1.98)
- 2 chipotle peppers in adobo sauce (1 Tbsp sauce) ($0.95)
- 1 small sweet onion, divided ($0.50)
- 1/2 tsp ground cumin ($0.05)
- 1/4 tsp garlic powder ($0.02)
- 2 cups chicken or vegetable broth* ($0.26)
- 12 corn tortillas ($0.60)
- 1/4 bunch cilantro ($0.25)
- 4 oz. cheese** ($1.79)
Instructions
- To make the black bean sauce, combine the drained black beans, chipotle peppers plus about 1 Tbsp of the adobo sauce, 1/4 of the sweet onion (diced), cumin, and garlic in a blender or food processor. Starting with one cup, add the broth as you blend until a smooth, thick sauce forms. Taste and adjust the salt as needed (this will depend on the salt content of the broth you use).
- Preheat the oven to 350ºF. Heat the tortillas by either microwaving the stack for 30 seconds, toasting them in a skillet, or directly on a gas burner until lightly browned. Cover the stacked warmed tortillas with foil to retain the heat and steam.
- Finely dice the rest of the sweet onion. Roughly chop the cilantro leaves, add them to the diced onion along with a pinch of salt, and stir to combine. Set the onion and cilantro mixture aside to marinate.
- Pour a small amount of the black bean sauce into a casserole dish and spread it around to cover the bottom. Pour more sauce into a wide shallow bowl or dish for dipping the tortillas.
- One by one, dip the tortillas in the black bean sauce until both sides are coated in the thick sauce. Sprinkle a little cheese and a little of the onion cilantro mixture over half of the tortilla, fold it closed, then fold in half once more to make a triangle. Place the dipped, filled, and folded tortillas in the prepared casserole dish. Be careful to only place a very small amount of filling in the tortillas to make them easier to fold. More filling will be placed on top after baking.
- Once all the tortillas are dipped, filled, folded, and placed in the casserole dish, pour any remaining black bean sauce over top. Bake the tortillas in the preheated oven for about 15 minutes, or just until heated through. Top with the remaining cheese and onion cilantro mixture after baking, then serve.
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Notes
Nutrition
Have you tried this recipe?Mention @budgetbytes or tag #budgetbytes on Instagram!Freeze Your Leftover Chipotle Peppers
Chipotle peppers in adobo sauce are like tomato paste in that despite the fact that they come in a super small can, I never seem to use the whole can. Luckily, just like tomato paste, you can freeze the leftovers for your next recipe!
If you have an extra ice cube tray you can spoon one pepper and a little of the sauce into each well and freeze until solid, then transfer to a freezer bag. If not, you can freeze them in quart-sized freezer bag. Squeeze out as much air as possible, then use your hands to move each pepper apart from one another within the bag, and freeze flat.
How to Make Enfrijoladas – Step by Step Photos
If you’re unfamiliar with chipotle peppers in adobo, they are usually sold in these small cans that can fit in your hand and you’ll most likely find them in the International aisle of your grocery store (or, check for a Hispanic market in your area). These are spicy smoked peppers that are VERY flavorful, so I only used two peppers and about 1 Tbsp of the sauce. The rest can be frozen for your next recipe.
To make the sauce for the Enfrijoladas, add 2 drained cans of black beans to a blender or food processor along with the two chipotle peppers and 1 Tbsp of adobo sauce, 1/4 of a sweet onion (like vidalia), 1/2 tsp cumin, and 1/4 tsp garlic powder.
Add 1 cup chicken or vegetable broth and blend, adding more broth as needed, until a thick smooth sauce forms. Taste the sauce and add salt if needed (this will depend highly on the salt content of the broth you use).
Begin preheating the oven to 350ºF. Finely dice the rest of the sweet onion, and roughly chop about 1/4 bunch cilantro. Combine the onion and cilantro, along with a pinch of salt, and set the mixture aside.
Warm the tortillas by microwaving the stack for 30 seconds, toasting in a skillet, or directly on a gas flame. Cover the stack of warm tortillas with foil to hold in the heat and steam, and keep them pliable.
Pour some of the black bean sauce into a casserole dish and spread it around to coat the bottom. Pour more of the sauce in a shallow bowl or dish to dip the tortillas. Dip each tortilla in the sauce until each side is coated, then sprinkle a little cheese and onion cilantro mixture over half. Fold the tortilla closed, then in half one more time, and place it in the prepared casserole dish. After the first tortilla pictured above, I found it better to use MUCH less onion mixture inside than what you see in the photo, otherwise it’s just too onion-y. More cheese never hurts, though. ;)
Once all the dipped, filled, and folded tortillas are in the prepared casserole dish, pour any remaining black bean sauce over top. Bake the enfrijoladas in the preheated oven for 15 minutes, or just until heated through.
After baking, top with a little more fresh onion cilantro mixture and more cheese, then serve!
Seriously so good!
I made this with some leftover Cuban black beans I made and oh.my.glob. this was so delicious and easy to make. It got a little messy with the sauce but it cleaned up fast and was very worth it. Loved every bite.
I haven’t made your recipe. I grew up eating enfrijoladas and it’s nice seeing them represented on your blog! My mom always made them with frijoles pintos.
This is very tasty and, once I got a routine down for filling the tortillas, very quick to put together. Rather than reduce the amount of filling to make them easier to fold, I put two globs of filling on one side of the tortilla, separated by some empty space to allow for easier folding. I think this would also work well with the tortillas rolled around the filling like a more traditional enchilada. In any case, it’s a keeper and I served it with a simple shredded cabbage and cilantro salad. Yum!
I made this today and it was amazing! I did only add 1 Chipotle pepper and it was perfect! I did find it tricky to fold the tortillas once they were drenched in the bean sauce but overall the food was delicious!
I have made this before and LOVED IT. I forgot how central the cilantro is to the recipe (my grocery store was out). Any tips? Otherwise I’ll table until I can find cilantro.
Update – my weird substitution worked. For the onion mixture I used lime juice and coriander seeds. A different flavor, but still delicious! I topped with a fried egg the next morning for breakfast. So delicious!
I also topped with a mini batch of lime crema and would definitely recommend it. It’s a perfect compliment.
As someone with a limited spice tolerance, your lime crema was essential on this one. Once I added that though, it really knocked my socks off! I also pickled some red onion to top, which was a great flavor complement.
That pickled red onion is now a staple in our house. The layers of flavor…BOOM!
Very delicious and easy (and a little messy, but I like it that way)
I would say it’s lacking a little flavour and would need more fat content next time I make it. I’m vegetarian so I think if I used chicken broth I wouldn’t have an issue, so maybe I’ll add in a little bit of oil into the sauce next time or put a little bit of butter on my tortillas when I prepare them. Otherwise, super awesome!
I’m having this for lunch and just shared it out with my colleagues. They all raved and I even got a ‘well done you’. I have printed out a few copies of this recipe so I assume there will be a run on black beans in the shops tonight.
Haha! That’s awesome! I love making my coworkers “oooh” and “ahhh” over my food. ;)
One can sub smoked paprika and ketchup for the chipotle/adobo in most recipes.
Not really and why did you rate this only 3 stars? :(
Recipe came out great, I sweat the onions before mixing them with the cilantro to take away some of the bite. And also topped the dish with jalapeños after it came out of the oven for some extra heat
For a non-spicy chiles in adobo sauce, I use a food dehydrator to dry bell peppers, then toast the dried chili for 30 seconds in the microwave, or toast them directly over a stove burner, held with tongs.
For the adobo sauce, I use Rick Bayless’ recipe: Search for his New Red Chile Adobo sauce- it uses ancho chile powder, instead of assorted dried chiles. In order to keep it mild, I use a regular, mild chile powder.
One bell pepper is about 2 of the spicy peppers in weight- just soak it in the adobo sauce overnight.
There you go- all the flavor complexity, but no spicy burn.
OOPS! I don’t use a “regular, mild chile powder.”
I use a mild paprika- smoked, if I can find it!
Sorry about that!
I highly recommend making a double batch of sauce, because the Enfrijoladas turned out dry the first time I made them. I made them again tonight, doubled the sauce, and they were amazing! I cooked dry beans for this recipe- 1 heaping cup of dry beans for a single batch of sauce. I also changed the filling by adding sweet potato and shredded chicken.
When I get the canned chipotle adobo sauce , the first thing I do is blend it up in a blender. Then I measure it for the recipe. The rest it put in the freezer to break off a chunk for cooking the next time.
I cook for me only- so freezing is essential .
Your recipe was great!!
I love that idea!
Really good. Next time, I think I would at least partially cook the onion first. With only 15 minutes cook tome, it was a bit overwhelming with slightly-raw onion flavor. Otherwise, perfect for Taco Tuesday in our house. We take our Taco Tuesdays very seriously around here. I’d personally add more chipotle next time – this wasn’t quite spicy enough for me, but still flavorful. I served it with yellow cauliflower “rice” with peppers and tomatoes.
Really enjoyed this! One of those that was better the next day I feel!
I made a riff on this recipe. I used the whole can of chipotle + adobo because I like my food very spicy. I also upped the cumin to 1sp. My filling was ground chicken with your taco seasoning recipe and I rolled up the corn tortillas like regular enchiladas. The Enfrijoladas sauce was truly sublime. I will be using this recipe again!
I don’t have an enfrijolada sauce recipe but gosh — this recipe looks so much like your enchilada sauce recipe. It seems like the chipotle + adobo sauce should be interchangeable with the flour, dehydrated red pepper, some of the water, and maybe an ounce of the tomato sauce from that one.
Hi Beth!
Hayley here from Toronto, Canada!
I made these last night and although they taste great, the bottoms of tortilla triangles were soft and almost mushy. Did I add too much black bean sauce to the dish first… or perhaps not toast the tortillas long enough? Any thoughts/pointers would be great.
You can toast them a little more, but they are intended to soak up the sauce and soften. :)
Wondering if I can use a shallot instead of the sweet onion? I can only buy sweet onions in a 3 lb bag from the grocery around the corner! :) I also have a regular white onion….
These look amazing! And will be a great way to make sure our corn tortillas don’t go moldy… I HATE it when that happens!
Yes, I would imagine that a shallot would be pretty nice as well. :)
These were amazing! We used refried black beans as a short cut (no real need to break out the blender, then). I’ll add lime to the cilantro and onions next time but this will definitely be repeated–thanks!!
This is great, I make your weeknight enchiladas all the time. Having one vegetarian in the house makes this a perfect meal. I added a chipotle to your enchilada sauce to change it up and have the rest of the can to use up. I love your recipes and am so thankful to have found your site.
This looks delicious! Do you think the black bean sauce would be a good taco filler in general, or does it need to be baked?
It doesn’t need to be baked, that’s really just to heat things through. You could definitely add less broth to make the sauce thicker if you want it more of a “filler” though. It’s a bit too thin as written to use that way.
This looks delicious! Thanks for sharing your recipe
Hot damn, that recipe looks amazballs! Great job!
I asked my 15 year old today, if he would like to cook tonight. And he picked this recipe. I don’t think I would ever picked this one, but I’m so glad he did. Because he did the shopping by himself, we had parsley instead of cilantro, and we had Gouda cheese. It was still amazing! Thanks Beth from the Netherlands!
This is going on the menu for next week. It looks delicious, easy, and filling, just what I like!
Just made these, and my suspicions were correct, so delicious! I adore black beans, onions, and cilantro so these are right up my alley! They are no lookers and were messy to put together, but worth it!
Family loved them. I had some leftover pulled chicken that I added and used pepper jack cheese. Filling without being too heavy. Will definitely make these again and will use the bean sauce in other dishes. Thanks!
I made these for dinner last night with cheddar cheese and made a half batch since there was just two of us. They were delicious. Next time I will double the peppers and adobo as it wasn’t spicy enough for my taste so we added hot sauce on top.
Sweet smoked paprika + tomato paste + a little vinegar to loosen it up makes a great non-spicy chipotle adobo substitute, just FYI. You could probably even use Liquid Smoke and mild chili powder instead of smoked paprika.
Thanks for that tip!!
Wow! This sounds good! Vegan if I skip the cheese for my son. I have heard the leftover chipotles will keep for up to a month in the fridge but I usually just do the freezer trick but I like your idea of smoothing them seaparately in a bag rather than my usual dumping all together in a small container!
Oh, my gosh. I’m going to have to make this recipe very soon!!! :-)
Oh I love when I find a new and unique recipe for beans! This looks fantastic. Can’t wait to try it. Yum!
As soon as I can find a friend to help me eat these, I’m gonna make ’em. I can’t do beans at home for meals because beans + husband do not mix.
Oh, those look great. Coming right up. I can’t seem to get too much onion so I’m enthusiastic for the photod first tortilla. How are the leftovers? They look a little dry.
I sure hope somebody posts a vegetarian version!
What’s not vegetarian about this recipe? If you want it vegan you can skip the cheese but I think it looks vegetarian to me :)
I’ve never heard of this dish before but the photos have me absolutely DROOOOOOLING! I love smashed black beans lately, so this looks right up my alley!