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.
This was our first Damn Delicious recipe and it is fantastic! So easy to make ahead. We serve as a side at Mexican parties or as an entree for our family. Forget the forks, chips are our utensils! Damn delicious, for sure!
Hi, first time here. The cook time is listed at the top as 30 min, but in the directions as 15 min until bubbly and serve immediately. Can you confirm?
The cooking time also includes the time to cook the quinoa.
This recipe is soooo delicious! I’m a bit of a picky eater, but I have been trying new things to help me eat healthier. Not only was this super simple to make, it tasted fantastic. I will be making this all the time now, it makes great leftovers too!
Notes:
Okay, so being a young non-cook, non-housewife person, I wanted to add in my own experience to the pot. I wasn’t sure what size casserole dish to use (8×8 seemed small for that much quinoa and I only have rectangular anyway) so I mixed everything up before deciding – definitely went with my larger, ‘typical’ sized casserole dish (9×13 ?). Made the quinoa and while it was simmering I mixed everything else together. I DO NOT LIKE the texture or taste of green chilis but I know they add to the enchilada flavor so I put them in my food processor first (which I received for my first apartment 8 years ago and took out of the box for the first time today and definitely had to read the instructions for). Also purchased cumin and chili powder for the first time!
Actual changes:
– 1/2 cup corn and 1/2 cup beans to THREE CUPS of quinoa just seemed boring, bland, and wrong visually, so I used the entire cans of both – much better
– I used more cheese. Period. Probably the 3/4 IN the casserole and another 1/4 on top for each
– That’s about it. My avocados are firm because I just bought them today and started the recipe before remembering that, and I have sliced up grape tomatoes since I use that kind for salads already – all tastes fine, and I definitely recommend the cool juicy/creamy of the tomatoes and avocado on top!
DELICIOUS. And I can be a finicky eater! Hearty, enchilada flavor is just right without overwhelming, and it would be fine with even more beans/corn, honestly. I currently get like 2-3 corn kernels and 2-3 beans in each bite and that’s because I used like 2.5x the recipe amount (whole can instead of 1/2 cup). Using the amount in the recipe would’ve made the corn and beans seem more like a garnish which is very odd.
I had this same issue with the cheesey broccoli quinoa casserole; I had to put more cheese and I doubled the broccoli otherwise there’s no way you’d get a serving of veggies. And quinoa seems fine, but I don’t want only that in my mouth…
Made this recipe today and it turned out great. Perfect instructions. I’d like to know if anyone has tried to assemble, freeze and then bake?
This is absolutely delicious! I added a pound of chopped up chicken and baked for 20 minutes and it was perfect. I could eat this any day!
So delicious and so simple! I loved this recipe–made a whole batch and ate it all week for lunch. I don’t tolerate much corn so I omitted the corn and added extra black beans, which worked well. I also added about a 1/4 tsp each minced garlic and onion powder to boost the savory impact. And I used co-jack cheese for simplicity’s sake. Perfect.
I also soaked and rinsed my quinoa before cooking it, to lower the bitterness. Between that and all the seasonings, I couldn’t taste any of the typical bitter quinoa taste.
This is a delicious recipe and I want to make on my family vacation next week.
If I double the recipe, would baking it in a 9×13 be sufficient?
Unfortunately, without having tried this myself, I cannot answer with certainty. As always, please use your best judgment.
AMAZING TASTE!!!!!!!!!!! Loved this dish so much!
I was looking for a meatless recipe as my husband requested. I found your site. I tried this recipe we all loved it.
Made this tonight, was runny though.
My two kids (one of whom suffers through quinoa usually) and my husband both loved this. Yay! Will be making often. Thanks.
Um… ok this was DELICIOUS, and it got my husband to eat quinoa! Win! It’s also super tasty with chips!
Just have to let you know I’ve been making this at least once every 2 weeks for quite some time now. My whole family loves it! I’ve also prepared it for friends when they’ve had a baby or illness. I always double it so that I can also freeze one for later. It freezes very well, I just thaw it overnight in the fridge.
Making it now! Used Trader Joes bottled enchilada sauce and added to small diced zucchini.
No cheese for me, but hubby might add some
This is sooooo good. Had to have surgery and wanted to eat healthy still while recovering. My husband’said extent of cooking is frozen pizza. I doubled this and other recipes on your site and cooked them ahead of time and then froze them. They are just as good out ofor the freezer s fresh. My husband is now asking for this once a week.
For what it’s worth, this has quickly become a favorite at my house and something the husband asks for weekly! Thank you for sharing such a fantastic recipe that I don’t think we will get sick of anytime soon!!
My fiancé and I just made this tonight and did not expect it to be as fantastic as it was! Great recipe and so easy! Definitely staying in the rotation!
I’m having a pinterest week where I make a weeks worth of recipes I find on pinterest. Tried this tonight. Ummm, seriously, you nailed the flavours. Incredibly delicious and ridiculously easy. This will be one that we continue to eat. Thanks for a yummy vegetarian meal!!!
My first time making (and trying I believe) quinoa ever and I am so happy it was with this recipe! It’s awesome! It’s so delicious with the cheese, enchilada sauce, and everything else in it. I followed the recipe exactly and love how it turned out. I would definitely make this again. I served this alongside some grilled chicken. I am not gluten free but trying to eat less wheat and this was definitely a tasty gluten free meal. Thank you so very much!