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.
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Disclosure: This post is sponsored by Old El Paso. All opinions expressed are my own.
This looks delicious! I need to make at least a double batch, does it have to cook longer in the crockpot if I double it? Will a double batch fit in a standard crockpot?
Yes, cooking time will need to be adjusted if the recipe is doubled.
Hi there! I’m in Canada and can’t find enchilada sauce anywhere (Old El Paso or otherwise). I’ve been to 5 different grocery stores in Toronto and I’m out of luck. Most have Old El Paso taco sauce….is it possible to use that as a substitute, or should I just make my own enchilada sauce. Very excited to try this, but enchilada sauce is the missing piece!
Yes, you can actually make your own enchilada sauce right at home. It’s so easy! You can grab my recipe here. Hope that helps!
I too am in Toronto and get really peeved that we don’t have any enchilada sauce here!!!
I am as well and I swear they used to sell it but no longer. But super easy to make your own (and better)!
Sad to say this didn’t work for me…just re-read the instructions to make sure I understood correctly that the cream cheese was supposed to sit on top during throughout cooking. I did that, but when I stirred the cream cheese to mix it in, it had completely curdled. Doesn’t seem like anyone else in the reviews had this problem so not sure what happened. I followed the directions of the recipe as written. A shame because it smelled great! I may try again and add the cream cheese at the end rather than cooking it the whole time. Just wondered if anyone else had this problem & came up with a solution. As is, it isn’t edible 🙁
Oh no, what a bummer! It should not be curdling at all! The cream cheese that sits on top throughout the entire cooking process is a commonly used method, like this slow cooker creamed corn. I hope you get a chance to try this again with a more successful outcome!
I had the exact same problem. I’m about to add the orzo so I’m hoping it will mix well enough to not notice the cheese broke.
I made this for dinner tonight and it was awesome. The flavor was very good. Not too spicy My husband liked it too. Will beaming this again! Thanks for the great recipe!
Think I could use a mix of regular cheese and cream cheese?
What about chopped bell pepper…?
That all sounds amazing!
I have everything to make this recipe except I’m short one cup of orzo. I’m trying to clean out my pantry, and I don’t want to buy any more. Any suggetions? I was also thinking of adding some open refried beans from my fridge.
Refried beans sounds amazing! As for the pasta, I highly recommend using orzo to ensure that it is completely cooked through during the allotted time in the slow cooker.
I can’t wait to make this today! I am wondering if after I make it can I leave the crockpot on warm for a few hours? Or will the pasta get mushy? Thank you !
It should be fine for a few hours. I would just give it a good stir from time to time.
Just tried this today. Delicious. Super easy and tasty. I found the fire roasted tomatoes combined with the mild green chillies to be too spicy for me. Next time I plan to use plain diced stewed tomatoes and half the amount of chillies. I also added some water to mellow it down for my personal taste. The cream cheese does add creaminess …I topped my with shredded mozzarella as well. Great dish!
Hi!
I often substitute soaked and simmered dry beans for canned…not a big fan of canned beans. I haven’t tried this in a slow cooker recipe, but I’m thinking to soak overnight and then toss them in to simmer over the 7-8 hours on low. What do you think?
That sounds like a great idea but without having tried this myself, I cannot really say with certainty – please use your best judgment.
I don’t normally post reviews on recipes I’ve tried, but this one was really good. My boyfriend, who’s a big meat eater, loved it even without any chicken or anything. My chihuahua even managed to sneak some when we weren’t looking and ate half a bowl, the little rascal. I liked it because it was super easy to make and required very little prep work, but made a ton of food. I ate some for breakfast this morning and still have plenty left over for probably two more meals for myself (it still tastes good as leftovers if anyone was wondering). I’d never had orzo before, so it was also an interesting way to try something a little different. Thanks for the recipe!
Can this recipe be frozen and reheated?
Unfortunately, I cannot answer this with certainty as I have never tried freezing this myself – there were no leftovers left to freeze! Please use your best judgment for freezing and reheating.
Hi there! I was just wondering if coconut milk, coconut cream, or something similar could be used in place of the cream cheese to make this recipe dairy-free? Would that effect the cooking time or texture of the pasta at all?
Unfortunately, without further recipe testing, I cannot advise an appropriate substitute that will not alter the overall taste/texture of the dish. Please use your best judgment.
I am vegan and make a cashew cream instead of cream cheese. It adds the richness of the cheese without the carcinogen
Sorry what has been “proven” to be a carcinogen in this meal? I’m not talking a potential carnicogen such as pea protein but are you sure you know what your talking about? To be a carcinogen it has to be showen to cause cancer 100% of the time, not even cigarettes has not shown that! Did you mean “potential” if so he you could make that claim with plenty of vegan choices as well never mind cooking with essential oils….sorry for the rant, don’t like vegans throw that word around not knowing basic chemistry and plant actives….yes I get the argument about meat eaters and saturated fat but that’s a “stress” releatednargument hence execrise no problem
I used avocado instead of cream cheese and it was delicious.
Hello! I just made a double batch for a work retreat this weekend. I’ll have to freeze it then reheat when serving. Any suggestions on best way to reheat such a large amount? I was thinking of adding more broth then warming it in a huge pan.
How does that sound? Thanks for everything. I couldn’t stop “testing it” aka. eating spoonful after spoonful. 🙂
Yes, absolutely. That sounds like a great idea!
I see that cream cheese is added twice in the recipe, what is the amount do I add each time. Recipe looks delicious!
Shannon, the cream cheese is added only once. The second time it is mentioned in the recipe, you are simply stirring the mixture to make sure everything is well combined.
May I ask what size crockpot??? I may have missed it… It always helpful when the size crockpot is listed in recipe, there so so many different sizes for sale these days… Thank You…
I used a 3-qt slow cooker.
Can I request that you change the recipe to say 3-qt instead of 6-qt, then? I have a 5 1/2-qt crock pot, and I was going to set this to cook while I run errands all day. I got nervous when the liquid didn’t come close to half way and came back to double check. Now I’m going to have to run out and got an extra can of all of the canned ingredients before I can safely let it cook for the day!
You can halve the recipe to utilize a 3-qt slow cooker.
looks so amazing! i am heading out to buy all ingredients to make today….i was looking for something new to try..will let you know how it goes..thanks !!!
Hi Chungah….
I am a new follower and fan…..! I have tried several of your recipes and have thoroughly enjoyed them. I tried this recipe tonight, and it was great. I added some leftover taco chicken that I made the other night, made my own enchilada sauce and topped everything with lots of fresh cilantro (YUM), a dollop of sour cream and some Mexican shredded cheese…YUMMY! I’m looking forward to trying more of your recipes…thank you for sharing!
Claudine
What is the serving size? 🙂 it looks positively delicious. Also wonder if farro would work?
Thank you!
The serving size is roughly about 1-2 cups per serving. As for the farro, unfortunately, without further recipe testing, I cannot answer with certainty if it will work. Please use your best judgment.
so this dish is 331.8 calories per 1-2cups??
Yes, that’s exactly right.
Hello! This recipe looks great but when I plugged it into a calorie counting website it shows the serving size is 542 calories and not 304 which is huge if you’re counting calories.
Jennifer, I’m not entirely sure where you are getting your numbers but the numbers here are correct.
I’m also getting a much different calorie count-about 475 per serving. This is using the El Paso brands you described, and generic cans for everything else (calorie counts were approximately the same across different brands.
There can be quite a difference in the orzo pasta. The numbers listed here include 2 cups measured and weighed for accuracy. Measurements in volumes will vary more dramatically.
I’ll be the dissenting voice. We did not like this dish. It wasn’t inedible, but we definitely won’t be making again. It was like spaghetti with mexican food aftertaste. Maybe it needs some cumin or something to make it less tomatoey. Not our cup of tea. Oh well, life goes on.
I’m sorry that this recipe did not turn out the way you had imagined. I only post recipes that have been successfully tested in my own kitchen, and as you can see from the comments here, many of these readers have had great outcomes in the final dish as well. But I understand that failures and mishaps can happen, and with a little bit more information, we can troubleshoot what went wrong to have a successful turnaround next time.
So I must ask – did you follow the recipe exactly as written without any substitutions? I’m also not entirely sure where you are getting the spaghetti taste as the recipe reflects more of an enchilada-type pasta. Did you use tomato sauce?
I really think it’s a personal taste issue. The only sub I made was brands. I like my enchilada sauce better than old El Paso (I think it has more flavor). I’m eating leftovers for lunch today (like I said, it’s not awful, just not very good). I think goulash is a better way to describe the taste, and I hate goulash (that might be the problem).
Maybe I was thinking it would taste more like the quinoa enchilada casserole (which we love). Perhaps the noodles versus quinoa and cheese versus cream cheese make a bigget difference in flavor than i thought they would.
Brittney, this recipe is similar to a casserole that i’ve made before, but it users more seasonings than just salt and pepper. I added:
1 tsp chili powder
1 tsp ground cumin
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp dried oregano.
It added much more flavor. Hopefully you’ll give it a second try, it came out great.