Authentic Mexican Enchiladas

  4.2 – 64 reviews  • Vegetarian

Graham cracker crust with layers of chocolate pudding, creamy peanut butter, and whipped topping. Excellent, but also quite wealthy!

Prep Time: 35 mins
Cook Time: 10 mins
Total Time: 45 mins
Servings: 6

Ingredients

  1. 6 dried chile de arbol peppers
  2. ¾ cup water, or as needed
  3. 1 clove garlic
  4. 1 teaspoon salt
  5. 1 cup vegetable oil for frying
  6. 18 (6 inch) corn tortillas
  7. 3 cups crumbled queso fresco, divided
  8. 1 cup sour cream, divided
  9. 1 cup shredded lettuce, divided
  10. 2 medium tomatoes, thinly sliced
  11. ½ cup chopped green onions, divided

Instructions

  1. Snap tops off of dried chiles and place in a saucepan with enough water to cover. Bring to a boil and simmer for 15 minutes. Drain water and place chiles into a food processor or blender with garlic and salt. Purée until smooth. Press sauce through a strainer and set aside.
  2. Heat oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Soak each tortilla in the sauce, then place in the hot oil. Turn over almost immediately and fry for about 5 seconds on the other side. Remove to a plate that is lined with paper towels, stacking them on top of each other to keep them pliable for filling.
  3. Take one fried tortilla at a time and fill with about 2 tablespoons queso fresco. Roll up and place seam side down on a plate. Place three of these on each plate.
  4. Top tortillas in the following order: Start with a layer of sour cream, then a small handful of lettuce, three tomato slices, 2 more tablespoons queso fresco, and 1 tablespoon green onions.

Nutrition Facts

Calories 477 kcal
Carbohydrate 46 g
Cholesterol 57 mg
Dietary Fiber 6 g
Protein 21 g
Saturated Fat 12 g
Sodium 609 mg
Sugars 2 g
Fat 24 g
Unsaturated Fat 0 g

Reviews

Lindsey Graham
Turned out well. Not a huge fan on the sauce but that’s OK. The method for prep on the enchladas was a nice change. Made clean enchladas! Living in Southern Texas we get such a mix of Mexican style….Like everyone else, I’ll adapt it to our preferences. Thank you so much for the added education!!!!
David Lopez
Finally. One of the few reasonably authentic recipes out there. It’s frustrating that few people know of authentic Mexican food. For those wondering how to make it _more_ authentic, it depends heavily on the peppers used for the sauce and their spiciness.
Kristen Murphy DVM
I followed every step but added 6 other peppers to the mix. 4 pasilla peppers and 2 guajillo peppers. Same process as the chiles de arbol. It was a hit!!
Justin Davis
These are flautas and not traditional enchiladas like our Mexican family has made for generations (traced back to the late 1800’s). These may be from a different region. I have never seen them made this way. even in all my time in Mexico. We don’t fry our tortillas, we steam them and then dip in the sauce, add cheese, and sometimes an olive in the center and roll, top with sauce and bake. We use chopped onion sauted, add flour, chili powder, cumin and oregano, then add chicken broth for our enchilada sauce. I add other secret ingredients. This is where the flavor blooms. Easy to make and delicious.
Matthew Wilson
This was one of the best meals I’ve ever made! I slow cooked and shredded chicken in some canned enchilada verde sauce, dry enchilada sauce and canned green chiles. I also only poured a LITTLE bit of the water from the chiles out and pureed it using a cuisinart, then strained it. I dipped corn tortillas in oil and THEN the sauce, fried them in a hot pan (for way more than 5 seconds a side, mine were nice and CRISPY!) and then rolled up the chicken and queso fresco, baking them at 375 for about 10 minutes. HOLY YUM! The tortillas absorb so much flavor; you do not need to add enchilada sauce on these bad boys – sour cream adds moisture and lettuce (I used a cabbage slaw mix), tomato and green onion add crunch :)))
Kirk Murray
I thought these were very delicious! Everyone who tried them loved them. I made them just as the recipe called for.
Andrea Walls
My husband is of Mexican heritage and my mother-in-law makes this and it is SO yummy. I asked her to help me and compared the differences– first, she said to use 4 Guajillo chilis and NOT chile de arbol BECAUSE arbol chilies are VERY hot. I can’t do extremely hot food so I am glad I got her opinion before making this. She roasts them along with two tomatillos before boiling also. Otherwise, it was the same. The chili will be MUCH darker red than this recipe. I couldn’t even tell these enchiladas had any chili they were dipped in.
Theresa Duffy
These are good however these are not enchiladas. These are flautas. I make flautas on a regular basis for my family 🙂
Paul Perkins
Tastes great but as a novice to Mexican cuisine I am upset about a few things in the recipe that made it much harder and more frustrating than it had to be! Maybe I got the wrong chiles de arbol but the ones at my Mexican store were tiny so instead of 6, like the recipe said, I used probably 30 to make the sauce. I also drained them like the recipe said, and put them in my blender to find only a paste. DONT DRAIN THEM!! So my sauce was finally made and I dipped the tortillas in the sauce then fried them. As I was taking them out, they totally fell apart! I posted on a Facebook group and the ladies there recommended to fry, THEN DIP. This worked SO MUCH BETTER!! other than that, they are very good and I think my husband will be very impressed!
Rachael Fisher
The enchilada sauce was great, despite the fact I had to use dried New Mexico chiles. I also, had a bunch of flour tortilla’s so I used those instead of corn. Great recipe and I understand the reviews that call for a gooey cheese because that would have been something else!
Leah Gilbert
I added onion and tomato to sauce. I also added one triangle of Abuelita chocolate to add thickness and sweetness.
Gregory Lee
This was really good. My bf loved it and couldn’t stop raving about it. He said it was one of the best enchiladas he’s ever had. The changes I made was I did not strain the sauce and I fried the Tortilla then dipped it in the sauce. Will be making again and again.
Angelica Brown
Yum! A co-worker of mine is of Mexican descent and he shared a secret with me. As many others have done, try subbing Queso Chihuahua cheese for the “guts” of your enchiladas. This cheese melts extremely well, but you need to pop your rolled enchiladas in the oven for a few minutes to get the melty, ooey-gooey effect. Now, about the recipe. It’s a little vague. I too was confused about the sauce. I ended up adding the full 3/4 c. of water called for to my pot of chiles (de arbol) and simmering as directed. I covered my pan to help minimize evaporation and then added all of the liquid, chiles, salt and garlic to my blender (FYI, this sauce is perfect as is – there’s no need to add anything else to it). NOTE: I did not find it messy or difficult to fry my sauce dipped tortillas and am glad I didn’t wait until they were fried to dip them. I did have to fry for a tad longer than called for, but it all worked out in the end. My only regret is that I didn’t have any sauce left to drizzle over my enchiladas (it was THAT good!). 🙁 Topping these babies with Queso Fresco Mexican crema, lettuce, (chopped) tomato and green onion really hit the spot. Mexican rice and refried beans rounded out our authentic meal. All I can say is this was one FANTASTIC meal. Thanks for sharing your MIL’s recipe, Becky! 🙂
Tammy Walker
Nice change from Tex-Mex style.
Todd Wilson
Okay, i LOVED the taste!! But, here are some things that i can say as i´m in mexico and i eat enchiladas once a week in a traditional cocina economica: the chiles doen´t really need to be drained, they are ok with the water, also, you can try them filled with chicken, they taste even better! and they also could not be fried, taste is better and they´re lighter. try it, fill them with chicken, you won´t regret!! But the real enchiladas are just topped with queso fresco and onion. i´ve never seen here in mexico an enchilada topped with lettuce and tomato. THESE ENCHILADAS ARE STILL TASTY!
Carlos Davis
Thank you for posting a recipe for AUTHENTIC Mexican enchiladas! I did cheat and use a store bought sauce….I saw that Frontera released a line of enchilada sauces and couldn’t resist, as their stuff is pretty good and I kind of love Rick Bayless. 🙂 Anyway, I dipped the tortillas in oil, then sauce (which was warming in a pan) and immediately rolled them up with a little bit of cheese. After they were all done, I heated a skillet sprayed with Pam and re heated 4 of the enchiladas at a time on both sides and then melted some cheese on top by putting the lip on the skillet. This is how one of the local Mexican restaurants serves them and I love how crispy the bottom gets and how melty the cheese gets. Delicious. Can’t wait to try the homemade sauce!
Scott Walsh
THIS is exactly what I was looking for, how to make the sauce. That’s the kind of sauce I used to do back in Mexico, personally I love filling them with chicken/potato/carrot mix but this is AWESOME!
Hunter Rodriguez
I like this recipe but for the health conscious I would say you can bypass the frying the tortilla part…It doesn’t really help the sauce stay on the tortilla too much and it just adds fat. You can just heat the tortillas up on a skillet or microwave to get them tender and then soak in the sauce. Frying it does add crispiness but if you want this dish to be healthier, skip the frying.
Rodney Chandler
Delicious! I wasnt sure if they are supposed to be crispy or not when you fry them. Mine came out a bit soggy, but none the less very good. Next time i will just heat them in the pan without oil.
Rebekah Daniels
The tortillas are very tasty! Dip in the oil first and then the sauce to avoid splattering oil. For a little extra taste, we added a small amount of chorrizo. We also put it in the oven for about 10 minutes after rolling them to help melt the cheese.
Stephanie Davis
I like these enchiladas. Everything was good except I used more chilis, 8 or 9 chili de arbol for every 12 tortillas. I also left a bit of the water from the pan. other that that these are authentic and great.

 

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