Homemade Enchiladas: From Tortillas to Toppings

Enchiladas are one of our favorite dishes to order when we go out for Mexican food, but they’re surprisingly easy to make at home too. The name of the dish comes from the Spanish verb “enchilar,” which means to season with chile. Enchiladas are all about the chiles, whether you use chile powder or roast fresh peppers yourself. (You can use canned sauce too, but we’ll get to that.) In this post, we’ll share what we’ve learned about how to make enchiladas, from tortillas and sauce to fillings and toppings.

Homemade Enchiladas: Tortilla Prep

It’s unanimous: Put away the flour tortillas, and grab a bag of corn tortillas. You want the freshest ones you can find. Bon Appetit suggests looking for condensation on the inside of the bag. Fresh tortillas are also soft and flexible. Don’t buy a bag of stiff, dry tortillas.

Before you get out the sauce and the fillings, fry each tortilla in oil on the stovetop. This process will go fast, so have all the tortillas ready, along with some paper towels to hold them afterward. Ten seconds per side will do the trick; don’t fry them any longer than that. This step helps ensure your enchiladas don’t absorb too much sauce. They will hold their shape even after filling and baking. Frying also adds more flavor to your enchiladas. In Mexico, tortillas are fried in rendered fat, so a little vegetable oil shouldn’t concern you.

Homemade Enchiladas: Red or Green Sauce

Because enchiladas are all about chile, the sauce you use is key. Choose from red or green sauce, depending on your personal preference. Red sauce is made from red chiles, and green sauce is made from green chiles and tomatillos. Simple, right?

You can use canned or jarred sauce (we won’t tell!), or you can make your own sauce. If you decide to make your own sauce, you can choose the easy route or the more involved one. Easy homemade red sauce calls for chile powder, garlic powder, cumin, oregano, and salt, along with oil, flour, and stock. Easy homemade green sauce calls for canned green chiles, fresh jalapeño, garlic, onion, cumin, salt, and stock. The green sauce will require a whirl in the blender, but the red sauce can be made right in the skillet.

If you’re up for a bigger project, try these recipes for red sauce and green sauce that require a bit more work. You may also need to make a special trip for some ingredients, depending on how well-stocked your local grocery is. The red sauce includes New Mexican chiles, arbol chiles, tomatoes, onion, and garlic, plus herbs and spices. The green sauce includes tomatillos, serrano chiles, garlic, onion, and cilantro. But don’t be intimidated: Neither one of these recipes is too advanced for home cooks, and you might find the results are worth the effort.

Finally, once you have fried your tortillas and your sauce is ready, dip the tortillas in the sauce. Ideally, you’ll coat both sides, but if you prefer to spoon sauce onto one side only, that’s fine. Either way, we like this approach because, as Bon Appetit notes, you get a taste of sauce with every bite, but it’s never overwhelming.

Homemade Enchiladas: Fillings and Toppings

You can fill and top your enchiladas with practically anything you like, but keep a couple factors in mind. Bon Appetit suggests all fillings should be “fork-tender” so you can easily eat your enchiladas with just a fork. That means using ground or finely shredded meats and sautéed vegetables. Also, both Chowhound and Bon Appetit emphasize balance where it comes to fillings and toppings. For example, pair heavy fillings with a lighter topping, like pico de gallo. If your sauce is full of kick, add a cool topping like sour cream or Mexican crema. Fillings and toppings should complement one another, not compete.

Add enough filling to each tortilla that you can fold it with enough overlap to contain the filling. It doesn’t matter if you place the enchiladas seam side up or seam side down in the baking dish, as long as they are packed tightly enough to keep them folded. Drizzle leftover sauce on top of the enchiladas and add more cheese before baking. Keep an eye on your enchiladas as they bake; they’re ready when the cheese has melted and the sauce is bubbling. Once they’re out of the oven, give them about ten minutes to cool before topping and serving.

We hope these tips will encourage you to try making homemade enchiladas. Let us know how they turn out!