Quinoa Enchilada Casserole
by Chungah
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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!
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.
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Disclosure: This post is sponsored by Old El Paso. All opinions expressed are my own.
This was delicious and I don’t like kale. Will make again. I did mix a small amount of balsamic glaze into the balsamic vinegar and oil
I’ve made this a couple of times now and love it! It’s so good. My question is has anyone tried to freeze this? If so, how did it turn out? I’m looking for freezer meals to prep and am hoping this meal will work!
Freezes wonderfully
Love this recipe! We use Trader Joe’s Enchilada Sauce, cook quinoa in broth and add ground turkey. I’m wondering if it would be good with cauliflower rice…
Making it right now and I’m so excited to try it! Does anyone know if the calories listed include the avocado and tomato?
Great! The family loved it!
Would it be possible to add ground turkey to this? Would you just cook the turkey and add it in with everything and bake it the same?
We do it all the time – cook the ground turkey, add some taco seasoning and water and let it simmer for 5 minutes, then stir it in with everything else. One of our go to easy dinners.
Sorry in advanced! I can’t follow recipes. I used a whole can of corn and black beans… I probably would do 2 cans of beans if this a main dish.
I’m one of those soap people… so cilantro and cumin are out. (Did you know cumin is cilantro seed grounded?!? No wonder I don’t like it!!!) I just use Target brand taco season. It doesn’t have either, but still has that “taco” flavor. I used chicken Broth to cook the quinoa. I probably doubled the cheese. And I added sliced jalapeño and hot sauce for me and sour cream for the kids… it was awesome!!!!
Actually, cilantro is the leaf of the coriander seed. Ground cumin comes from cumin seeds, it has a warmer flavor than coriander. Easy to confuse since they show up together frequently in recipes.
When you plant coriander seeds . . . . it grows cilantro !!
My husband is one of the ‘soap people’ and I always sub fresh basil. It has a different flavor profile but always works well…
We’ve made this regularly for about five years now. It is a super tasty, (mostly) healthy, fast meal that also, thankfully, doesn’t require chopping!
This is amazing!! Making it for the second time tonight. I am a vegetarian so I add an extra can of beans.Everyone in the family loves it including our 10 month old & 8 year old!
I found this recipe a couple years ago. I have probably made it for my family over 50 times. Why I haven’t left a glowing review. This is so fast and so easy. We use it to dip chips or tortillas in. Make it! You will not be disappointed. I always double or triple it for leftovers. Half the time I still don’t have any left. 🙂
Can this be made ahead and frozen.
Yum!! Very flavorful and filling dish with no meat! Very impressed and will make again!
This is so delicious as is and very easy to add any toppings like green onions, black olives, jalapeños…whatever your taste…I started making this for meatless Monday’s ..it’s perfect !
Delicious, I used tortilla chips instead of a fork!
This is going into the rotation! Doubled the corn & beans, made the quinoa (in the instant pot!) with chicken broth, and left the cilantro as an add-on, since my daughter’s one of those “it tastes like soap” people. Also made a batch of citrus-marinated chicken to have alongside, and wheat burrito tortillas for wrapping. A huge hit.
Absolutely delicious! I haven’t been a quinoa fan, but that has changed after this recipe! I fixed it exactly as the recipe said, except omitting the cilantro. I can’t wait for leftovers tomorrow night.
This was delicious. My husband and 6 and 7 year old ate it up. I cooked the quinoa in chicken stock (we aren’t vegetarian, just trying to eat more healthy), and added 2 T of Nutritional Yeast (I just used in a mexican quinoa dish a few days ago, and so I thought I would try). Very, very yummy!! Next time (when I have an extra hour), I will try to put the quinoa on a baking dish in the oven and crisp it up a little.
This was not bad. At the end of the day though, it’s still quinoa. And either you like it or you don’t. I do think this recipe does the best job possible of making quinoa tasty for those who aren’t fans. I added ground beef so my picky kids tolerated it. Hubby liked it , so that’s a win;)
Just tasted like enchilada sauce. Ratio of beans and corn to quinoa also seemed a little low.
My doctor had me go on a mostly plant based food diet. I can only have animal products at 2 meals a week. So I substituted the milk-based cheese for a vegan variety from my grocery chain store and used the Pepper Jack style instead of the Mozzarella. It was amazing. My mid-Western, meat-loving hubby even liked it. I can’t wait to try the Lo Mein!