Dangerously Cheesy Enchiladas | The Best Enchilada Recipe

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Dangerously Cheesy Enchiladas | The Best Enchilada Recipe

If you love cheese and you love enchiladas, this is the best cheese enchilada recipe you’ll find! These Dangerously Cheesy Enchiladas are crazy good and are super quick and easy to make.

As a little girl growing up with a Mexican grandma who was an ultra-fabulous cook, I learned a lot about traditional Mexican cuisine. This cheese enchilada recipe is dedicated to Grandma Mercie whose love of traditional Mexican cooking still inspires me to this day. The only thing I’ve changed is to add crisp lettuce and bright flavorful tomatoes on top. This salad garnishing puts a Tex-Mex spin on the beloved cheesy enchiladas produced in Grandma’s kitchen. In my minds eye I can still see her standing by the stove in a well-worn apron.

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How to Make Enchiladas | Cheese Enchilada Recipe | Ingredients

• 14 corn tortillas (white or yellow)
• Vegetable oil
• 1 can Las Palmas Enchilada Sauce (mild, medium or hot)
• 2 pounds+ Mexican-blend cheese, shredded (or Cheddar Cheese & Monterey Jack Cheese)
• 1 can black olives, sliced
• 1/3 head of iceburg lettuce, shredded (or romaine lettuce)
• 1 large tomato, cubed (or grape tomatoes sliced in half)

[bctt tweet=”Get ready for some Dangerously Cheesy Tex-Mex Enchiladas!” via=”no”]

How to Make Enchiladas | Cheese Enchilada Recipe | Optional Ingredients

• One small yellow onion, peeled & very finely diced
• One 4-ounce can fire-roasted green chiles, diced

Some young children do not like onions and green chiles, so when I’m cooking cheese enchiladas for kiddos I stick to just the basic ingredients. However, when I’m making this recipe for adults I like to add in a bit of onion and green chiles just like my Grandma used to do when making her cheese enchiladas. Or when doubling this recipe you can make one flat of enchiladas with just the basics and one flat of enchiladas with these two added ingredients which makes them so darn yummy!

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How to Make Enchiladas | Cheese Enchilada Recipe | Kitchen Tools

• Small frying pan
• Cooking tongs
• Cutting board
• Knife
• Spoon
• Cheese grater
• Kitchen prep bowls (for cheese & sliced olives)
• 9X13 rectangular baking dish

I love that this cheese enchilada recipe does not require any fancy, specialized cooking tools. In fact, when making cheese enchiladas you only need a very minimal number of basic kitchen tools which means way less clean-up afterwards. So I say a big YAY to that!

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How to Make Enchiladas | Cheese Enchilada Recipe | Directions

1. Cover a small platter with four paper towels. Have another three paper towels on hand for blotting off excess cooking oil from the cooked tortillas.

2. Pour oil into a small frying pan. The amount of oil needed is enough to cover one side of the tortillas as they are frying. Heat up the oil over medium heat. Once the oil starts to form small bubbles it’s hot enough to begin frying the corn tortillas. Place one tortilla in the frying pan and wait 14 seconds before flipping it. Wait another 14 seconds and then remove the tortilla from the hot oil. The tortilla should be a little bit crispy but should remain pliable enough to be rolled. Put the fried tortilla on top of the platter lined with paper towels. Lightly blot off any excess cooking oil. Continue this process until all of the tortillas have been fried.

Directions for this cheese enchilada recipe are continued below…

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees

3. On the kitchen counter in front of a comfy stool, gather together all of the needed ingredients for making the cheese enchiladas: shredded cheese, sliced olives, open can of enchilada sauce with a spoon inside, a rectangular baking dish, and a few paper towels for your hands. Then sit down and get comfortable!

4. Spoon some enchilada sauce into the baking dish and spread it around so there’s a nice thin layer of sauce. Pick up one fried tortilla and lay it down in the sauce and then flip it so there is a bit of sauce on both sides.

5. Place some shredded cheese inside the bottom half of the tortilla as seen in the photo above. And here’s where you can add in a bit more cheese than shown above if you’d like to amp up these already dangerously cheesy enchiladas!

6. Evenly space out four black olive slices on top of the cheese. If you are using the optional ingredients of finely-diced onion and diced green chiles, sprinkle a bit of those ingredients on top of the cheese too.

7. Roll up the enchilada. As the baking dish fills up with enchiladas you will need to start spooning a bit of sauce onto both sides of each fried tortilla before adding in the cheese and olives and rolling it up.

8. After all of the enchiladas are made, spoon enchilada sauce on top of the enchiladas and around their sides. But don’t over do it with the sauce, as you don’t want them drenched! Sprinkle plenty of cheese on top of the enchiladas, and then decorate them artfully with sliced olives.

9. Tent the baking dish with a piece of foil and bake the enchiladas in the oven for about 15 minutes.

10. Remove the foil and continue baking the enchiladas for another 10 minutes or until the cheese is melted inside the enchiladas AND the cheese on top is beginning to get slightly golden and the enchiladas are becoming just slightly crisp. Then pull them out of the oven.

11. Just before serving, garnish the top of the enchiladas with shredded lettuce and diced tomatoes.

How to Make Enchiladas | Cheese Enchilada Recipe | Servings/Yield

This cheese enchilada recipe makes 14 cheesy enchiladas and serves about 6 persons. If you have a large family, purchase a 5-pound bag of shredded cheese at Costco, Sam’s Club, etc. so you can double this cheese enchilada recipe. I just did this very thing this past weekend when extended family was coming over to visit. The girls ate two enchiladas each while the boys enjoyed three to four cheese enchiladas. The number of enchiladas you’ll need will depend on whether or not you’ll be offering side dishes like Spanish rice and refried beans.

Another Spin on Dangerously Cheesy Enchiladas | Green Enchiladas

Another delicious way to enjoy cheese enchiladas is to make a flat of beautiful, tasty Green Enchiladas! For the flat of enchiladas shown above I used the same easy cheese enchilada recipe, but instead of Las Palmas Red Enchilada Sauce, I used Las Palmas Green Enchilada Sauce.

These Green Enchiladas are ready to be baked in the oven. You’ll know they’re done when the cheese inside is bubbly and the cheese on top is becoming just slightly golden crisp. My family loves both types of enchiladas, so I’ll usually make one flat of each type. Get festive and surprise your family this week with flavorful, bubbly cheese enchiladas. Share the love by saving this enchilada recipe on Pinterest >>>PIN IT NOW!

 

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