These vegetarian enchiladas are filled with two kinds of beans for protein, veggies, spices, and cheese. The filling is first simmered in beer and lime juice before rolled into tortillas. And they're topped with salsa and cheese just before going into the oven.
This enchilada recipe uses salsa instead of enchilada sauce for a fresh tomato flavor.
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I think I could eat Mexican food every day and never tire of it. I've even turned stuffed peppers into this Mexican Stuffed Pepper Casserole.
And it's the one common ground in the food arena I've found with my grandchildren. I still threaten to add kale to everything, but they know they can always count on fajitas the first night they're here to visit and sweet corn tomalito, a kind of cornbread.
These veggie enchiladas and my vegetarian skillet enchiladas are also big winners with them. Yay team!
🧅 Main Ingredients + Notes
The secret to faster and easier meals often lies in the ingredients. For example, store-bought items and ingredients you make ahead and store in the refrigerator (or freezer) can turn a 60-minute recipe into a 30-minute meal or less.
For all of the ingredients, measurements, and directions for these bean enchiladas, go to the Recipe Card at the bottom of this post.
- Red onion - yellow or white onion is fine, too, if that's what you have on hand.
- Peppers - both orange and red bell peppers bring a festive color to these enchiladas.
- Black beans - canned or cook from dried.
- Chickpeas - canned or cook from dried.
- Tomatoes - Roma tomatoes are great because they hold their shape when diced.
- Beer - any pale ale is perfect.
- Tortillas - you can use flour or whole wheat tortillas. Or go with these low-carb tortillas I purchase online.
- Melty cheese - Monterey Jack cheese, Pepper Jack cheese, and Cheddar all work great in this recipe.
- Mild salsa - or spice it up a bit with hot salsa, if that's your preference, or use a tomatillo salsa verde.
Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links to products and foods I use in my kitchen. This means that at no additional cost to you, I will earn a commission if you click through and make a purchase. To view my entire storefront of recommended kitchen tools and equipment, check out my shop on Amazon.
🔪 Recommended Equipment
Having the right equipment for recipes makes prepping much easier. If you want more fuss-free prepping and cooking, check out my updated list of favorite kitchen tools and equipment.
- Chef's knife
- Large skillet
- Cheese grater
- 9" X 13" casserole dish
📝 Instructions Overview
Detailed instructions for making this vegetarian enchiladas recipe are in the Recipe Card below, but here's a quick overview!
Step 1
Cook. Sauté the onions, garlic, and peppers together in a skillet until softened. Add the black beans, chickpeas, tomatoes, beer, and lime juice and simmer.
Step 2
Form the enchiladas. Spoon the bean filling down the middle of tortillas, gently wrap, and arrange in a baking dish. Cover with salsa and cheese.
Step 3
Bake and serve. Bake in the oven until the cheese is lightly browned and the filling is bubbling. Serve hot with scallions, sour cream, guacamole, jalapeños, and other fixings you like on the side.
💡Ideas for Other Vegetarian Enchilada Fillings
- Add some roasted cauliflower florets, which can be cooked ahead. Either roast in the oven or in the air fryer.
- Fold fresh or frozen corn kernels into the skillet with the filling.
- Keep it simple with just beans and cheese.
- Add some greens like spinach.
- Dice up a sweet potato, roast it in the oven or air fryer, and add to the beans.
- In autumn, roast up cubed butternut squash dusted with Mexican spices.
- Pour enchilada red sauce over the top with the cheese instead of salsa. You can purchase it or make your own.
👩🍳 Make Ahead Tips
Prep the veggie enchiladas and tuck them into a casserole dish. Cover and refrigerate for up to two days before baking off. Remove them from the refrigerator to bring them back to room temperature while the oven preheats. Add the salsa and cheese topping and bake.
If the enchiladas go directly into the oven from the refrigerator, add an additional 10 minutes to the baking time.
🌾 Make it Gluten Free
Use corn tortillas in place of flour tortillas.
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Vegetarian Enchiladas
Equipment
- Chef's knife
- box grater
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
- 1 medium red onion, diced
- 2 large garlic cloves, minced
- 1 large red bell pepper, diced
- 1 large orange bell pepper diced
- 1 teaspoon ground cumin
- 1 teaspoon chili powder
- 1 teaspoon paprika
- 15 ounce can black beans, or 1 ½ cups cooked from dried
- 15 ounce can chickpeas, or 1 ½ cups cooked from dried
- 3 Roma tomatoes diced
- 6 ounces IPA beer,
- 2 tablespoons fresh lime juice
- Salt and pepper, to taste
- 8 flour tortillas
- ¾ cup shredded cheese, divided (I used a mixture of cheddar and pepper Jack)
- ½ cup mild salsa, or to taste
Optional Garnish Ideas
- 1 scallion,
- ½ cup low fat sour cream,
- ½ cup guacamole
- 1 jalapeño thinly sliced
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F. Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat and sauté the onion, garlic and peppers until soft (about 10 minutes). Add the cumin, chili powder, and paprika and cook for another 2 minutes.
- Stir in the black beans, chickpeas, tomatoes, beer, and lime juice. Simmer for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add salt and pepper to taste.
- Place spoonfuls of the filling down the middle of each tortilla, and top with 1 - 2 tablespoon cheese. Close the sides of the tortillas over the filling to form a roll, and place them fold-side-down in a baking dish. Spoon any remaining filling around the edges of the filled tortillas.
- Top with salsa, sprinkle with the remaining grated cheese, and bake for around 20 minutes or until the cheese is golden and bubbling. Sprinkle the scallions over the top, if using, and serve hot with any of the suggested garnishes you prefer.
SallyBR
Hello there! Guess who had your blog????
Me, Sally from Bewitching Kitchen!
Loved the recipe I picked, and have a ton more to cook from your site....
Have a wonderful Reveal Day!
The Wimpy Vegetarian
OMG!!! That's amazing. I'm so excited you enjoyed my blog and this recipe!!! So, so funny 🙂 I can't wait until I get yours 🙂
SallyBR
🙂
Karen @ Karen's Kitchen Stories
Gorgeous photo Susan! These sound delicious, even if I'm not a vegetarian =)
Susan
Yay I'm so glad you enjoyed these!! They're one of my faves. My husband thinks using beer instead of water was inspired. Gorgeous photo too 🙂
Eha
What a fun recipe I'll certainly copy and I am not a vegetarian either. Of course beer was part of the recipe: the mixture of the other ingredients already tells of the dish's multicultural origins and I would have picked it as Aussie pretty certainly!! . . . [sending you a big smile!]
Karen Burns-Booth
Bookmarked to make as I adore enchiladas, and if they are filled with veggies, even better! Great SRC pick, Karen
Lauren Everson
Great selection! Mexican is a staple in our house and these sound perfect during Lent.
Rebekah @ Making Miracles
Oh my goodness Susan - those look absolutely amazing! I am craving enchiladas at 8:00am in the morning... wonderful pick this month!
Norma Chang
Love beans so just know I will love this recipe. Vegetarian all the way for me.
Emily @ Life on Food
In the winter I have to try extra hard to get veggies into my diet as salads are not appealing whatsoever. This dinner looks fabulous. Warm, comforting and healthy!!
Debbi Smith
These sound amazing!! I'm going to make these without the cheese to make them vegan. There are so many flavors going on, that I doubt I'll even miss the cheese.
Traci
These look absolutely amazing. Haven't had veggie enchiladas in a long time. Going to have to try these. Great pick this month!
Melissa
I am absolutely with you on that. I could eat Mexican food everyday, too! These enchiladas look great. We are doing a meatless March challenge, and these would be the perfect addition to our menu! Great pick this month 🙂
cheri
Hi Susan, these look delicious, the that you used peppers.
stephanie
I always love seeing your vegetarian takes on these great recipes. Just stopping in from Group C to tell you how amazing these enchilada look. I could eat these every day.
Nicole
These look great! You used corn tortillas, right?
The Wimpy Vegetarian
I did, Nicole! But either corn or flour tortillas will work just fine.
Jess @ Flying on Jess Fuel
LOL, Vegiladas! I love the name! These sound delish, and I definitely think they'd be just fine without meat. Yum!!
Tara
This looks absolutely delicious! Great photo! I always have issues taking photos of things like enchiladas. I will definitely have to try these.
Amy @ Fearless Homemaker
I love enchiladas and I could eat Mexican food every day, too! These look SO good + I love that they're meat-free. YUM!
Oui, Chef
Always looking for tasty meatless meals, thanks so much for this one.
Sarah | Curious Cuisiniere
These look delicious! I love that there are make ahead options.
Christine
These do look amazing! And hearty enough that you could not notice the lack of meat. Great SRC pick!
Glad to know I'm not the only " I could eat Mexican food forever" person. 🙂
mjskitchen
I've never seen an enchiladas I didn't like and once again, that holds true. Fabulous!!!!
Suzanne
Love enchilada's have never made them. These look so good. Really love Mexican food and it's been a while since I've had it. This really make me want some now!!!
Dorothy at Shockingly Delicious
Best looking enchiladas...EVER! Heartily approve of the veg-centric style. Great SRC pick this month! (Sorry it took me so long to get here to comment.)
Mary @ Fit and Fed
Looks good, I like the idea of the bit of beer in it! My own veggie enchiladas involve potatoes, salsa verde, and sour cream. Having tried and failed to do it myself, I'm just gonna say that you did an amazing job of getting a good-looking photo of a baking dish full of enchiladas!
Sandy
Ok to use corn tortillas instead of flour? I'm gluten free.
The Wimpy Vegetarian
I’ve made them both ways, and this dish should work fine with them. Corn tortillas may have a tendency to fall apart when you move them from the baking dish to your plate, but that’s the only difference I’v had. I hope you give them a try and like them!!
The Wimpy Vegetarian
I had forgotten I’d used corn tortillas in my testing until I want back to my notes from a few years ago. So I edited my first response to you. Hope this helps.