Hello, my wonderful chickpeas! I am very excited to share today's Tex Mex inspired recipe with you: my Black Bean Veggie Enchiladas! These vegan enchiladas are stuffed full of delicious and nutritious vegetables, and are covered in a mild Creamy Jalapeño Ranchero Sauce that you're going to love.
This enchilada recipe is relatively straight forward, and reheats great as leftovers! Let's dive into it.
Inspiration for Black Bean Veggie Enchiladas
We all know that I love a good Tex Mex recipe. I've had the idea for Black Bean Veggie Enchiladas in the back of my mind for a while now, and I was so excited to bring it to life!
I have a hard time ordering enchiladas when eating out because they often are stuffed with cheese and will regularly use beans or sauces that are not fully vegan. Plus, they often are spicier than I prefer. My version is pretty mild (though you can definitely increase the spice if you want), and of course is fully vegan! And I even included an easy but delicious homemade sauce.
As a reminder, this recipe is not the most authentic enchilada recipe out there. This is my Joyful Balance take on enchiladas! It follows the same basic concept of traditional enchiladas and shares many of the same flavors, but my cooking methods are simplified a bit and are adjusted to the way that I personally cook.
Ingredients
There are two main components to these Black Bean Veggie Enchiladas: the sauce and the filling. Here are some of the main stars we are going to be working with today.
- Fire roasted tomatoes, onion, jalapeño, garlic, and cilantro: these make up the bulk of our Creamy Jalapeño Ranchero Sauce.
- White vinegar, maple syrup, and plain coconut yogurt: these balance each other out nicely to give our sauce a fun flavor. The coconut yogurt also makes our sauce beautifully creamy.
- Corn, bell pepper, onion, zucchini, black beans, and spinach: the main stars of our filling! These pack in lots of great flavor and of course some wholesome nutrients as well.
- Smoked paprika, chili powder, cumin, cayenne, and nutritional yeast: all the seasonings that make our filling really pop!
- Tortillas: obviously necessary to wrap everything up and assemble!
How to Make Black Bean Veggie Enchiladas
As always, the full recipe can be found down below! But let's break it down and go over the basics of what you'll be doing today.
- Preheat your oven to 350F.
- Make the Creamy Jalapeño Ranchero Sauce by blending together tomatoes, onion, and jalapeño. Sauté garlic on the stovetop, and add your blended mixture to the pot. Simmer, then mix in the rest of the sauce ingredients.
- Make the filling by sautéing the veggies for 5 minutes. Add all your seasonings, then black beans and nutritional yeast. Add spinach and sauté another 1-2 minutes. Stir in a bit of the Creamy Jalapeño Ranchero Sauce.
- Assemble your enchiladas by dipping each tortilla in the sauce, adding the filling down the center, rolling the tortilla, and placing it in a casserole dish. Once all tortillas have been placed, top the whole thing with the remaining sauce.
- Cover the enchiladas with foil and bake for 10-15 minutes. Remove from oven, sprinkle on optional vegan cheese, and bake another 5-10 minutes.
- Remove from oven, let cool, and serve as desired!
Tips & Tricks
I love creating recipes for you guys, but I also love hearing how you adapt them to make them your own! Here are some ideas for you if you are feeling a little experimental.
- Feel free to switch out the veggies! I think mushrooms or yellow squash could also be great here. Just remember that you may have to alter the sauté time if you use different veggies!
- These enchiladas are intended to be pretty mild - but if you want them spicier, then I suggest adding a bit of chili powder to the Creamy Jalapeño Ranchero Sauce, or topping your enchiladas with a spicy salsa.
- I haven't tried this combo myself yet, but I think that drizzling on some Roasted Poblano Sauce just before serving would be delicious!
- Looking for more Tex Mex inspired recipes? You'll also love my Roasted Sweet Potato Tacos, and my Jackfruit Quesadillas!
Enjoy!
Black Bean Veggie Enchiladas (Vegan!)
Ingredients
Creamy Jalapeño Ranchero Sauce
- 2 cans fire roasted tomatoes - drained but NOT rinsed
- 1 medium onion - roughly chopped
- 2 jalapeños - seeds removed & roughly chopped
- 4 cloves garlic - minced
- ⅓ cup cilantro - roughly chopped
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 2 teaspoon white vinegar
- 2 teaspoon pure maple syrup
- ¼ cup plain coconut yogurt
Black Bean Veggie Filling
- ½ cup frozen corn - thawed
- ½ medium red bell pepper - diced
- ½ medium yellow onion - diced
- ½ medium zucchini - sliced and quartered
- 2 cloves garlic - minced
- 1 teaspoon smoked paprika
- ½ teaspoon chili powder
- 1 teaspoon cumin
- pinch cayenne
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 1 can black beans - drained and rinsed
- 1 tablespoon nutritional yeast
- 2 cups spinach
Enchilada Assembly
- 10 8-inch flour tortillas
- Optional: ¾ cup vegan shredded cheese
- Optional garnishes: avocado, cilantro, vegan sour cream, salsa, guacamole...
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350F.
- Make the Creamy Jalapeño Ranchero Sauce:Combine fire roasted tomatoes, onion, and jalapeño in a high powered blender. Blend until smooth.Bring a medium nonstick pot to medium-high heat on the stovetop. Add just a bit of water to prevent sticking, and add your garlic. Allow to sauté for 1 minute.Add the blended sauce mixture to the pot and heat until simmering. Allow to simmer for 5-10 minutes, stirring regularly. Remove the sauce from the heat. Mix in cilantro, salt, vinegar, and maple syrup.Add in coconut yogurt and mix to combine.
- Make the filling: Bring a medium/large nonstick pan to medium-high heat on the stovetop. Add just a bit of water to prevent sticking. Add your corn, bell pepper, onion, zucchini, and garlic. Allow to sauté for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally and adding small amounts of water as needed to prevent sticking. Add your smoked paprika, chili powder, cumin, cayenne, and salt. Sauté for 1 minute. Add in black beans and nutritional yeast. Mix to combine. Add spinach and allow to sauté another 1-2 minutes, until the spinach starts to become bright green.Stir in ½ cup of the Creamy Jalapeño Ranchero Sauce.
- Assemble your enchiladas: If tortillas are a bit stiff, microwave them for about 15 seconds just to slightly warm them and loosen them up. Pour 1 cup of the Creamy Jalapeño Ranchero Sauce into a shallow bowl or dish. Dip one tortilla at a time in the shallow bowl of sauce, shake off excess, then place on a clean work surface and add about ⅓ cup of filling down the center. Roll your tortilla around the filling and place it, seam side down, in a 9x13 casserole dish.Once all ten tortillas have been placed in the casserole dish, top the whole thing with any remaining sauce (there should be about 1.5 cups of sauce to use here).
- Bake your enchiladas:Cover the casserole dish with foil, and bake for 10-15 minutes. (I find that 12 minutes is perfect in my oven)Remove from oven, remove the foil, sprinkle on vegan cheese if desired, and return to oven for another 5-10 minutes.Remove from oven, let cool a few minutes, and serve! Top with additional garnishes such as guacamole, salsa, etc, if desired.
Happy cooking! If you made this recipe don’t forget to tag me (@joyfulbalanceofficial) on facebook or instagram so I can cheer you on for your enchilada-making ways.
Stay joyfully balanced!
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