This Is One of Mexico’s Best Quick and Easy Dinner Recipes

Enfrijoladas, made with corn tortillas and bean sauce, is one of Mexico’s best answers to the quick and healthy dinner conundrum. It’s a hearty, nourishing dish made of inexpensive ingredients and it’s easy to assemble.

If you’re a bean lover, gluten-free, or a vegetarian, a plate of enfrijoladas is likely to get its hooks into you. You’ll make it once, appreciate its easy comfort, and want to make it on repeat.

What Are Enfrijoladas?

Think of enfrijoladas as the distant cousin to enchiladas. The difference? The sauce is made from beans instead of tomatoes or tomatillos. And unlike enchiladas, which are routinely rolled up snug with the fillings inside, enfrijoladas are often folded in half with the fixings either inside, on top, or both.

The dish has roots in Oaxaca, though it’s popular throughout Mexico, often served at breakfast. Although beans are universal in enfrijoladas, the other ingredients depend on the cook. Cheese, onion, cilantro, and chicken are common. You might also find a cooked egg or crumbled chorizo in the mix, too.

This recipe is a fairly traditional spin on enfrijoladas, since it’s built on black beans and corn tortillas. Corn tortillas work better than flour here, since they’re sturdy enough to hold up in the sauce. For flavor, the recipe calls for chipotle chilies in adobo sauce, which adds an easy pop of smoky flavor without making the dish excessively spicy.

Recipe Swaps and Substitutions

• Enfrijoladas is a dish that lends itself to interpretation depending on your mood and what you have in the pantry. Here are a few ideas:
• Swap pinto beans for black beans. You may have to adjust the amount of water, since one variety of bean may be starchier than another.
• Leave out the cheese and sour cream (or find non-dairy substitutes) for a vegan version of the dish.
• Add more (or less) chipotle depending on your tolerance for spice.
• Fill with shredded cheese instead of topping with cotija. Simply add a few tablespoons of shredded Monterey Jack inside each enfrijolada before folding.
• Sauté a pile of fresh spinach to tuck into the enfrijoladas along with that Jack cheese.

Serving Suggestions

Enfrijoladas are suitable for any meal of the day. For breakfast, serve as is or top each plate with a poached or fried egg. For dinner, pair them with a bright fresh salad, such as this Jicama Salad or this Nopalitos one. For those not following a vegetarian diet, you can top each enfrijolada with shredded chicken before you add the avocado and onion. If you happen to have fresh cilantro on your fridge, it makes a pretty garnish.

More Black Bean Recipes

• Easy Avocado and Black Bean Quesadillas
• Mexican Quinoa Salad with Black Beans, Corn, and Tomatoes
• Black Bean Burrito Bowl
• Texas Stacked Enchiladas With Corn and Black Beans
• Butternut Squash and Black Bean Skillet Dinner

Sauté the onion and garlic:

Heat the olive oil in a large skillet over medium. Add 3/4 of the sliced onion and sauté until nearly tender, about 5 minutes. Add the garlic and sauté to soften, 2 minutes.

Blend the sauce:

Transfer the cooked onion and garlic to a blender along with the beans, including the bean liquid, chipotle, lime juice, cumin, salt, and 1/2 cup water. Blend until smooth and creamy. Taste and add more salt if needed, then blend again. 

Heat the sauce:

Transfer the beans back to the large skillet set over low heat. Cook for 4 to 6 minutes at simmer. The sauce should be the texture of a thick soup. Add more water, if needed, to thin to the appropriate consistency.

Assemble the dish:

Use a pair of tongs to heat a tortilla over a gas flame or in a dry skillet set over high heat until it begins to blister. Submerge the tortilla in the bean sauce, smothering it completely. Use a spatula to fold it in half and transfer to a dinner plate. Top with a tablespoon of cotija, a slice or 2 of avocado, and a tangle of raw sliced onions. Continue with remaining tortillas and bean sauce, figuring 2 enfrijoladas per plate.

Serve:

Serve immediately with the salsa, cilantro, sour cream and any remaining bean sauce for guests to add as they please.