Slow Cooker Enchilada Orzo
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The easiest, creamiest enchilada pasta ever. Even the pasta gets cooked right in the crockpot!
Now that we are finally in December and gearing up for the rest of the holidays, I figured we all needed a break from that Turkey Day comfort food and go a completely different direction to of course, Mexican food.
Well, I guess it’s more Mexican-Italian with the pasta and all but still – there’s no stuffing, no cranberry sauce and absolutely no turkey here. Just good old Mexican comfort food in pasta form.
Best of all, it all comes together conveniently in a slow cooker. There’s no sauteeing, no prepping, no nothing. Just throw it all in the crockpot and you’re set. Done and done.
And when you get home from work, you’ll have that creamy, cheesy enchilada goodness just waiting to be gobbled up. Just be sure to save a serving for later because the leftovers taste even better!
Slow Cooker Enchilada Orzo
Ingredients
- 1 (14.5-ounce) can fire roasted diced tomatoes
- 1 (10-ounce) can Old El Paso™ mild enchilada sauce
- 1 (4.5-ounce) can Old El Paso™ chopped green chiles, drained
- ½ cup vegetable broth, or more, as needed
- 1 cup corn kernels, frozen, canned or roasted
- 1 cup canned black beans, drained and rinsed
- Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
- 4 ounces cream cheese, cubed
- 2 cups uncooked orzo pasta
- 2 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro leaves
Instructions
- Place diced tomatoes, enchilada sauce, green chiles, vegetable broth, corn and black beans into a 6-qt slow cooker.; season with salt and pepper, to taste. Stir until well combined. Top with cream cheese.
- Cover and cook on low heat for 7-8 hours or high heat for 3-4 hours.
- Uncover and stir until cream cheese is well combined. Stir in orzo. Cover and cook on high heat for an additional 15-30 minutes. Add more vegetable broth as needed until the desired consistency is reached.
- Serve immediately, garnished with cilantro, 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.
My family loved this but I did make a few changes. I browned a 1.5 – 2 pounds of ground beef and put in bottom of crockpot. Used Ortega Medium Taco Sauce instead of Enchilada Sauce. Used Roasted Green Chiles. Used same amount of veggy broth, corn, black beans. Besides the Cream Cheese I also added 3-4 slices of American Cheese on top. Only used 1/2 Cup of Orzo instead of 2 Cups. I can’t wait to make again and use more ground beef or chicken.
Eating a bowl of this as I type. It’s delicious! It’s a simple, tasty twist on the Mexican food I love most.
Eating this right now and it is great! Thank you for the recipe!
Delicious. I have made this recipe so many times and it is so delicious every single time I had to let someone know!! So easy and tasty.
Going to make this with vegan cream cheese!
Did you end up trying this? I’m not vegan but am dairy free and haven’t really explored the world of vegan cheese. I’ve heard mykonos cream cheese is really good- but I have no idea if it melts well and it’s too expensive to risk it!
I’ve made this with vegan cream cheese multiple times and it’s great! I use Tofutti Better Than Cream Cheese.
Would make this recipee on stovetop. Just tried it with my slow cooker and orzo is WAY over cooked after 5h at low.
You are supposed to add the orzo at the end not keep it in for 5 hours that might help
The orzo is only cooked for 15-30 minutes. Did you add it in at the very beginning?
A real comfort food. I didn’t have orzo, so I used tiny shells, it was perfect. Creamy and just the right amount of spicy.
I apologize if you’ve already answered this, but I was wondering if you’d had any experience with re-hearing this dish? I’m thinking of making it for a lunch potluck tomorrow at work and was wondering if I could make it tonight and then just reheat it in the crockpot on low a couple hours before lunch. I do not cook a lot, so any suggestions or insight would be incredibly helpful! Thank you!
What a great idea! But unfortunately, without having tried this myself, I cannot answer with certainty. As always, please use your best judgment when making substitutions and modifications.
I want to try this tomorrow. Could I sub quinoa for the orzo?
What a great idea! But unfortunately, without having tried this myself, I cannot answer with certainty. As always, please use your best judgment when making substitutions and modifications.
Just made this for dinner tonight and it was a good! Tasted like Tex Mex comfort food. I ended up making it in the Instant Pot. I cooked the tomatoes , enchilada sauce, etc on low pressure for 30 min then put it on saute mode to cook the pasta. Dinner in under an hour, thank you!
Awesome!
Easy to put together. Very tasty and re-heats well. I did add 1 chopped red pepper, half a chopped onion, and 1 c of shredded zucchini to increase the the nutritional value. I also omitted the green chilies due to preference. Will make it again!!
Great! Thanks Kari.
This is one of my favorite meals! We make it at least once a month and leftovers are so good! This website has been great for finding recipes I can actually follow.
Made this tonight (or rather, this morning!) for dinner. Everyone loved it! Hard to believe it’s so low in fat, took a couple of minutes to dump on crock pot. Delicious. Thanks, Chung-Ah. Another winner.
I accidentally added the orzo to the other ingredients before cooking it and now everything is sitting in the fridge. Any thoughts on how to proceed? Do you think I can still cook it on low with the uncooked orzo?
Unfortunately, without further recipe testing, I cannot answer with certainty. As always, please use your best judgment regarding substitutions and modifications.
Can ground beef, chicken or turkey be added to this?
Yes, of course!
I veganized this recipe and made it today. I followed it exactly substituting dairy cream cheese for Tofutti cream cheese. I used the fast cook method (3-4 hours). I did add another round of vegan cream cheese (for extra creaminess) after I put in the orzo and once melted gave everything a stir. It turned out delicious. I’d highly recommend it. I’m thinking it will freeze well. There are only two of us so I like to freeze leftovers for a day when I’m not up for cooking or when one of my vegan kids drops by and goes “grocery shopping” in mom’s freezer. Thank you for posting.
Wow this looks awfully similar to a recipe posted 5 months earlier by another blogger: http://slowcookergourmet.net/slow-cooker-enchilada-pasta/
Seems like there may have been a bit of plagiarizing on this one, Chungah?
Plagiarizing? Adaptation credit is rightfully given to the owner of the original recipe as well as a link to that recipe. Is that not allowed in a realm of inspiration of home cooking? I don’t think anyone is inventing the wheel here…
So rude. Why don’t you read the website for credit given before you leave such rude comments. What she did is a common practice among bloggers.
Super legit! My wife is a vegetarian and it’s so hard finding things to make for her. Made it tonight, added a touch of cumin, finished with scallion and pico and it was unreal. Such a great recipe!! Thank you.
I made this recipe today and it was amazing!!!! I was so worried the cream cheese would curdle like a couple of others mentioned. However, I dropped the cream cheese on top and cooked on low for 6.5 hours and it was perfect.
I am super picky so this says a lot. I absolutely love Damn Delicious.
I ended up having to add about two extra cups of vegetable stock to keep the rice fluffy and creamy. I also added a cup of mushrooms, 1 ea red and yellow peppers and a jalepeno. It worked out to be 6 delicious portions of approx 1 and 2/3 cups. Will make again! Thx for recipe.