Quinoa Enchilada Casserole
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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!
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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
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.
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Disclosure: This post is sponsored by Old El Paso. All opinions expressed are my own.
Love this recipe! So easy and even my picky eater likes it. All your recipes are a hit in my house
Years later this is still one of my favorite recipes. Tonight I made it with homemade enchilada sauce, and holy cow was it delicious. Easy, so good, healthy-ish, and totally satisfying.
I’ve made this according to the recipe and I love it! Today I made taco meat with ground turkey and a seasoning packet. Mixed that with the other ingredients plus a can of Rotel. So good. Thanks!
Can this be made day before? And if so, cook/reheat or cook right before serving? Thank you!
One of the best, healthy quick meals I have! Thank you!
Nice! Super quick which was awesome because I am not a girl who likes to turn on the oven. I served it with a few Tostitos chips which was great-added a little saltiness and a nice crunch. Definitely going in my recipe box!
Used some leftovers to make stuffed peppers by mixing in some cheese. This is also good as a dip with tortillas.
Thank you for this recipe! It was a hit with the whole family, they even asked for seconds!
Do you use 1 cup cooked quinoa or all the quinoa yielded from cooking the 1 cup dry/2 cups liquid?
It is one cup dry quinoa cooked per packaging. You could halve the recipe as needed though.
Absolutely love this recipe! It’s a staple as I try to get my boys into a more plant based diet.
Hi, has anyone done the work to calculate nutrition stats per serving? Wanted to check before reinventing the wheel!
Can I use a Dutch oven for this?
As a native to New Mexico the enchiladas I grew up with didn’t use corn nor cilantro in the enchiladas and maybe it tastes good, but for me I would swap the corn for onion and add those on top with more sauce. As a garnish I would put shredded iceberg lettuce and tomatoes. I’m definitely going to try it using the quinoa. Great idea!
Is there a way to use uncooked quinoa and throw it all in the oven in one go? Wondering about liquids and cooking time.
I have made a similar casserole with uncooked quinoa (Chocolate Covered Katie) and about 1 c extra liquid for each cup dry quinoa. Cooking time this way is more variable and may take up to 20 m longer. Mine never really got the fluffy texture I have had with precooked quinoa and with the comments, several people struggled with quinoa that was too firm at the end. All in all, mixed results. I precook my quinoa now and it does freeze well bagged up plain to use later. Hope this helps.
This is a very good casserole and healthy! We make this fairly often. Sometimes when we want something healthy and a meatless meal we make this casserole and use it as a filling inside of our flour tortillas instead of taco meat. Then we add shredded cheese, tomatoes and green onions. It is so good and my mother and husband love it!
Great recipe! I’ve made this many times.
I have made this many times and love it! I find it’s a very forgiving recipe… You can add and subtract within reason, and still have a fabulous casserole! I just brought a 9 x 9 out of the oven because I added that much stuff to it! A couple of chopped Roma tomatoes for chopped green onions, a.k.a. spring onions, a little, extra cilantro probably an extra quarter cup of both cheeses… And I used a quarter cup of black beans that I had in the freezer and a full can of pinto beans in Lou of the recipes direction for beans. I also did not put any corn in it, didn’t have any! I upped the seasonings to 1 teaspoon of each. Like I said, you can play with us and still have a wonderful outcome! Thank you so much for sharing it with us!
I have been wanting to make this, but did not have all the ingredients. Today I did and I made. It is so damn good. I followed everything to the T and boy is it easy peasy and tasty. Thank you as always to posting these fabulous recipes, you and your team are so very creative.
Amazing! I improvised a lot. Used chicken broth instead of water for quinoa. Didn’t have corn, so I used mixed veg. I used the whole can of black beans, a can of mild rotel, and a combo of Mexican blend cheese and shredded cheddar. I left out the chilis because I was feeding little ones. Also, I forgot the cilantro, so we added it as a garnish. All that to say, there is a lot of flexibility in this delicious dish! Thank you so much for sharing!
Has anyone ever accidentally thrown in the quinoa forgetting to cook it first? I did that and now unsure if I need to throw it out or what to do?