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.
Did you make this recipe?
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Disclosure: This post is sponsored by Old El Paso. All opinions expressed are my own.
Oh my goodness this is so delicious!
Made this tonight and it was amazing! Added in a lb of cooked ground turkey and chopped and diced two tomatoes and threw them in to gave it a little extra liquid so it wouldn’t be too dry with the turkey addition. Cooked for the same amount of time. Perfect.
It was AMAZING! Thank you!! 🙂
The whole family loved it! Including my 2 1/2 year old. We will be making this again. Thanks!
I have made this quite a few times and we love it.
Question, is it not good though that there is more saturated fat in the dish? It is from the cheese I am sure. How does this dish stack up against other meals with saturated fats? Good or bad?
Thanks,Susan
The Dietary Guidelines for Americans recommend limiting saturated fat intake to less than 10% of calories.
I’m neither vegetarian nor really that health-conscious, and I fully endorse this for its AMAZING FLAVOR! All my girlfriend and I did different was add diced, smoked chipotles to kick up the heat, but we absolutely love this recipe. Thank you so much for sharing!!
This is literally the only way I can get my kids to eat quinoa.. thank you!!! (They also love the teriyaki meatballs and orange chicken.)
I’ve made this 3 times now and still can’t get enough! Made it for the Super Bowl last weekend and added LightLife Smart Ground meatless Mexican crumbles (had to keep it vegetarian) and it tasted even better. I always have enough for a couple days of leftovers…have even used it as a breakfast side! Amazing recipe. Can’t wait to try more of your dishes.
Why/how is this so high in saturated fat?
The cheese! 🙂
I made this for Xmas dinner for the family, subbing red rice for quinoa. I added 1/2 cup more rice, black beans and corn each as I didn’t want the sauce to be too overpowering. I also reduced cheddar cheese by 50g. Regardless, this was an amazing dish. Family snapped this up on a heartbeat and 3 days later, I’m making it again! Thanks for sharing!
Super delicious. My husband was skeptical but he went back for seconds and declared it restaurant worthy. Yum.
Recipe serves 6…. does anyone know what the individual servings size is?
I am a beginner in cooking and this was one of the first dishes I tried when I started. I still do it almost every week because my husband and I cannot get enough of it! I have never tasted anything more delicious and I just can’t stop eating. there is usually none left over! its so healthy too, so i don’t even feel bad, ha!
Just made this exactly according to the directions. This was delicious. This will be a regular go-to for me. It was super easy to prepare. It felt like comfort food! Next time I might top with crumbled tortilla chips. Thanks- can’t wait to try more recipes from this site!
I have already made this recipe once for a family I nanny for and they LOVED it! I was curious if I was to add meat into the recipe would I need to adjust any of the other ingredients? The father doesn’t enjoy vegetarian too much and I was hoping to make everyone happy with this meal :). Thanks for the delicious recipe!!
Kate, you may need additional enchilada sauce and seasonings to compensate for this addition. Hope that helps!
This looks delicious! Just wondering…could I make it without the cheese or it that vital for the recipe? Also, could I add some vegetables in?
Yes, sans cheese and the addition of vegetables sounds amazing!
Made this a couple of times already and it’s delicious and love having a healthy lunch for the next day! I’m making it tonight and going to add some leftover taco meat.
Delicious!! I am not really a big fan of quinoa’s flavor normally but in this dish with the enchilada sauce I loved every bite guilt free! So did my husband who is picky. I added sauteed mushrooms, and next time I’ll try orange pepper and maybe zucchini too. Mine came out a bit spicy because of the enchilada sauce I used so I put a dollop of sour cream on top. Thanks for the great recipe! 🙂
Can you recommend a substitute for the cilantro? Unfortunately, I am a supertaster and cannot stand the soapy taste of cilantro.
Parsley would be a great substitute.
is this recepie gluten free ?
This recipe is not tailored to be gluten-free.
Made this for dinner tonight! It was so good. I added a couple of cans of different kind of beans, used green enchilada sauce, and added some additional sauce. Looks beautiful, makes tons and very filling. Thanks so much!