Quinoa Enchilada Casserole
by Chungah
This post may contain affiliate links. Please see our privacy policy for details.
A lightened-up, healthy enchilada bake that you can enjoy guilt-free, chockfull of quinoa, black beans and cheesy goodness. And the leftovers taste even better!
Featured Comment
I think it’s safe to say that I have somewhat of a love affair with Mexican food. Whether it’s fish tacos, cheesy enchiladas or a giant burrito the size of my forearm, I could honestly live off of all of these for the rest of my life.
So when Old El Paso asked me to be their brand ambassador for the next year, well, how could I say no? It just gives me an excuse to make even more of my favorite Mexican-inspired dishes to share with you all! And to start things off, I just had to share my favorite Mexican comfort food lightened-up.
Now this is a super easy enchilada bake with quinoa instead of tortilla. By using quinoa, we’re adding in some fun healthy goodies, like protein and fiber, and there’s absolutely no rolling or wrapping of any kind. You can simply throw everything into a bowl, mix it up, and bake it from there. Yes, it doesn’t get easier than that!
After you let this bake through, you’ll have the most amazing cheesy enchilada bake! It’s so good, you’ll never want to have traditional enchiladas ever again!
Quinoa Enchilada Casserole: Frequently Asked Questions
You can use about 2 cups cooked quinoa.
Absolutely! This is our favorite recipe for homemade enchilada sauce.
Mushrooms, spinach, zucchini, and/or carrots would be great additions.
Ground taco meat and/or leftover rotisserie chicken can get mixed in with your quinoa-enchilada-sauce mixture.
Yes! You can freeze the leftovers in individual freezer bags, thaw overnight, and reheat in the oven until completely warmed through.
You can substitute vegan cheeses for the cheddar and mozzarella cheeses to make this a vegan quinoa enchilada casserole.
Quinoa Enchilada Casserole
Video
Ingredients
- 1 cup quinoa
- 1 (10-ounce) can red enchilada sauce
- 1 (4-ounce) can diced green chiles, drained
- ½ cup corn kernels, frozen, canned or roasted
- ½ cup canned black beans, drained and rinsed
- 2 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro leaves
- ½ teaspoon cumin
- ½ teaspoon chili powder
- Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
- ¾ cup shredded cheddar cheese, divided
- ¾ cup shredded mozzarella cheese, divided
- 1 avocado, halved, seeded, peeled and diced
- 1 Roma tomato, diced
Instructions
- In a large saucepan of 2 cups water, cook quinoa according to package instructions; set aside.
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Lightly coat a 9 x 13 baking dish with nonstick spray.
- In a large bowl, combine quinoa, enchilada sauce, green chiles, corn, black beans, cilantro, cumin and chili powder; season with salt and pepper, to taste. Stir in 1/2 cup cheddar cheese and 1/2 cup mozzarella cheese.
- Spread quinoa mixture into the prepared baking dish. Top with remaining cheeses. Place into oven and bake until bubbly and cheeses have melted, about 15 minutes.
- Serve immediately, garnished with avocado and tomato, if desired.
Did you make this recipe?
Tag @damn_delicious on Instagram and hashtag it #damndelicious!
Disclosure: This post is sponsored by Old El Paso. All opinions expressed are my own.
Quick, easy and yummy. Perfect combo 🙂
This was very tasty and pretty simple. Mine was a bit soupy–any suggestions? We added sliced black olives, sour cream and extra cilantro for toppings.
You can add more quinoa as needed to even out the liquid. Hope that helps!
Thanks! I kinda thought the liquid might cook off/soak up during baking but it didn’t so if you have any tips as to what the consistency should be before baking, that would help a lot! Family loved it, by the way!
It should definitely be more of a “wet” texture but if you prefer less liquid, please feel free to adjust the ingredients until the desired consistency is reached.
Tried this last week, was AWESOME. No enchilada sauce so I used salsa instead. I doubled the recipe in a 9×13 stoneware baking dish and will definitely be doing it again for a staff Christmas party.
I tried a similar version of this but used lentils instead of quinoa!
Tried this recipe and everyone LOVED it… Love the fact that it is a delicious vegetarian meal, but next time, I might add some seasoned pulled chicken, or ground turkey 🙂 Two thumbs up!
this was so good! I used whole foods brand quinoa and it Was perfect. Flavors were great. My husband said he almost wanted a bit of crunch but that could easily be accomplished with a few broken tortilla chips on top. My 12 year old son ate three helpings!!!
I’m not the same Nicole as above… but I have made this 2 times in the last month at the request of my husband and 13 y.o…..I’m from Texas and need frequent mexican flavors that we cannot find in CO. My daughter is experimenting with vegetarian preferences, so this hits the spot!
I love this dish! Even my hubby, who doesnt like any meal without meat, frequently asks me to make this! It’s been added to my family’s dinner rotation!
This was really good, and simple to make, too. We’re new to quinoa and trying to eat vegetarian, so this recipe was great. It’s the best use of quinoa I’ve found so far! Thank you so much!
This hit the spot! Really good. I didn’t use Old El Paso products (sorry), increased the corn & beans to about 3/4 cup each, and used reduced fat shredded colby jack. It was so good I probably ate another half a serving (minus the avacado) standing over the sink, haha! Oh, a little light sour cream makes a nice topping too.
I found this recipe on Pinterest. I am a college student living on my own, and I am always looking for new things to cook for dinner. I made this recipe a few weeks ago and added some ground beef to it because I am not a vegetarian and wanted to incorporate some kind of meat. It turned out delicious and it is great with tortilla chips or just by itself. Thanks for the recipe!
Made this yesterday, with a few modifications, and it came out really well! I will be making this often!
Made this last night and t was a big hit! I added ground beef and some onion, zucchini, chipotle sauce,etc. — the recipe is great because you can add a little of this and a little of that and it’s very forgiving. Also, love that it’s made with quinoa, which adds some protein and nutrition. Plus, it’s one pot — I love this kind of comfort food! Your recipes and photography are fantastic – thank you!
I made this for dinner on Wednesday. It was delicious. We give it two thumbs up. I will be making it again.
Damn delicious!
This was absolutely fantastic!!! First time I was able to get my husband to try quinoa and he actually liked it!!
I made this last night and it was very yummy!!! It is a great recipe that you can tweak to suit your preferences.
Made this for dinner last night and it all came together very quickly and tasted great. This one’s a keeper.
Has anyone tried this in a crock pot? I’m wondering if the cooked quinoa and other items could be put in the crock pot to warm the mixture and melt cheeses. Then garnished with tomato and avocado….. Thinking of taking this for a work pot luck and was wondering if the crock pot had been tried.
I made this today. Added a cooked chicken breast to the mix. I love it. This is the first time I’ve cooked quinoa and actually liked it. We will have to see if my husband likes it, he is not a quinoa fan. But I think this will be acceptable!