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 so good. Do you think you can use a reduced fat cream cheese or is the fat really needed for this to come out right?
Reduced-fat cream cheese should work just fine.
I have a crockpot white chicken chili recipe that calls for cream cheese and I used the blocks of greek yogurt instead and it has turned out great!
Ohhhh sign me up for this! I have a hankering for some tasty southwestern food and this is going to satisfy that craving!
I have never seen a more perfect meal. Mexican?! Pasta?! Crockpot?! I think I may faint.
Cheese, pasta, Mexican flavors, the slow cooker… this is weeknight meal perfection. Pinning!
Are fire toasted tomatoes hot and spicy? If so can canned diced tomatoes be substituted and then adding some spices or hot sauce? I’m not a big fan of anything that is hot and spicy as my stomach won’t tolerate. Recipes sounds great. Thank you…
Trish, you can certainly substitute diced tomatoes or even petite diced tomatoes to cut down on heat.
I don’t handle spicy things well either, but I use fire roasted tomatoes ALL the time. So much flavor without much heat at all. Just my two cents! 🙂
Is there some version of this where you would add chicken or ground beef?
You can certainly add protein in this dish, but I recommend crumbling the beef (or chicken) before adding to the slow cooker.
Sorry for sounding stupid but what you say “crumbling”, do you mean partially or fully cooking chopped beef (or any protein) and dumping into the crop pot first? 🙂
Elpida, I am a little confused with your question as there is no indication of “crumbling” in this recipe. This is also a meatless recipe.
My reply was in reference to the comment about adding protein above…
“Crumbling” strictly refers to ground beef/chicken/turkey – you want to make sure it’s cooked through before throwing it into the slow cooker. Hope that helps!
Since I am trying to eat vegetarian and I love Mexican food, this is a must try. Sounds yummy.
Definitely something I have to try to make soon! Looks delicious!
I rarely make orzo but I love it and I know this would be perfect with the tomatoes, sauce, and the black beans….and it’s healthy! love it!