Quinoa Enchilada Casserole
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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!
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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
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.
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Disclosure: This post is sponsored by Old El Paso. All opinions expressed are my own.
This looks really good. Brown rice is about as fancy as we get around here but this recipe makes me want to try quinoa.
Congratulations! I am going to try this recipe this week. The last recipe I made my husband said, “That’s damn delicious!” No kidding. He had never heard of your website and I had just stumbled upon it that day. Good job and congratulations on your success.
I am just really starting to dig Mexican flavours, and I am totally obsessed with quinoa…and cheese…and avocado..and e’rythang about this! Love that it’s lightened up too 🙂 Pinned!
Mmmm, this looks so great!
It’s really cool that you will be one of Old El Paso’s embarradors next year, congratulations! 😀 I cannot wait to see what tasty treats you cook up then 🙂 Mexican and Asian are my two favourite cuisines, they always seem to hit the spot no matter what sort of day you’re having 😀 x
This looks awesome and I love that you kept it vegetarian – thank you 🙂 Corn, beans, chiles, the avocado and tomatoes…mmm, looks delish! 🙂
Wonder if you can Freeze ahead of time , Great side dish for Xmas Eve!
Unfortunately, I cannot answer this with certainty as I have never tried freezing this myself – there were no leftovers left to freeze! I recommend using your best judgment for freezing and reheating.
Just made this dish. Really wonderful for a Lenten meal. I, however made changes. I added sauteed onion and garlic and substituted roasted edamame for roasted corn. I also added the whole can of black beans since we love them so much. Will definitely make again.
Yes, in my experience this freezes very well (leave off the avocado and tomato, obviously)!
I am new to quinoa. I would to freeze this for later. Did you freeze in small portions or all together?
I prepared this dish (without avocados, tomatoes, etc) and froze it in an 8×8 pan. Once it was thawed, I baked it as normal and it turned out great!
Lindsey, Did you freeze it before cooking it? Or did you cook it then freeze?
This was AMAZING! I added some left over seasoned taco meat from the night before because we have to have meat with everything. Even my 2 year old ate it! Sharing with family…