The air conditioner has arrived!!!!!!!!!!!!! It. is. AMAZING!!!!!!!!!!! I can finally live life again aka I can finally cook again. First meal: easy peezy Vegetarian Black Bean Enchilada Casserole. Fast, simple, and delicious! Omit the cheese and you’ve got a vegan situation, but man do I love my cheese.
I make this dish at work but it’s just not quite the same. Why you ask? El Pato. That’s right. El Pato. This dish needs HEAT! And preschoolers may be iffy on that statement so I skip the El Pato addition. However, I’m a firm believer in spicy mexican food because come on. Mild? Please. Now I know not everyone agrees, which is why I separate the sauce and the spice.
Adding the heat in instead of buying a “medium” sauce allows you to control the heat in the dish. SO. If you’re not into spicy enchiladas, forgo any Jalapeño sauces, aka El Pato. But if you ARE, then feel free to add even more than I did. As is, the recipe has a fair amount of heat to it, but not enough to go WHEW need a glass of water (ps drink milk or eat bread by the way, water makes it worse – just sayin). So if fire level heat is your thing, go for it. Personally, I like it in between.
Ergo, this dish is a breeze to customize. Change the heat to whatever you can handle. Have some other vegetables you’d like to try instead of bell pepper? Go for it. Love cheese? Add more cheese! This Vegetarian Black Bean Enchilada Casserole so easily thrown together you’ll be amazed.
Vegetarian Black Bean Enchilada Casserole
- Prep Time: 10 mins
- Cook Time: 50 mins
- Total Time: 1 hour
Ingredients
- 24–28 corn tortillas
- 3 1/2 cups red enchilada sauce
- 1 tablespoon El Pato or your favorite Jalapeño sauce
- 1 red bell pepper, diced
- 1 green bell pepper diced
- 1 1/2 cups sweet yellow corn kernels, cooked
- 2 15 oz can black beans, rinsed and drained
- 2 cups shredded cheddar cheese and monterey jack cheese blend
- Fresh cilantro, diced for garnish
- Green onion, thinly sliced for garnish
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375˚F. Grease a 9X13 casserole dish and set aside.
- Combine enchilada sauce and El Pato in a bowl until fully mixed.
- Spread about 1/2 a cup on the bottom of the pan.
- Lay 6-8 tortillas on the bottom of the pan (overlapping is fine).
- Spread about 1 cup of the mixed sauce onto the tortillas, fully coating them.
- Sprinkle half the beans, half the corn, and half the of the bell pepper on top of the sauced tortillas and top with a third of the cheese blend.
- Repeat the layering process starting again with the tortillas, then add sauce, then the rest of the beans, bell pepper, corn, and another third of the cheese.
- Top this second layer with another 8 tortillas. Coat with the remaining sauce and sprinkle the rest of the cheese on top.
- Place in the middle rack of the oven for 45 – 55 minutes, until the sauce is bubbling, cheese is melted and the middle is cooked through.
- Let cool for about 5 minutes. Sprinkle with fresh cilantro and serve immediately.
This looks delicious! And I’m so glad your air conditioner has arrived 😀
The best it’s a keeper 🌟🌟🌟🌟
This looks so hearty and flavourful! I love onepan easy casseroles like this for dinner and I definitely will be making this enchilada version.
I am definitely not vegan, nor vegetarian, but I have to ay, this was a delicious dish. It’s a hearty meal with a great kick from the Pato Jalepeno Salsa.
There is only one vegetarian in the family, but everyone love it!
★★★★★
I love enchiladas, and this recipe looks great!
I tried this tonight, I must admin I had a bit of hesitation because I hate capsicum. Absolutely loved it. Thank you for sharing xx
★★★★
You’re welcome! I’m glad you gave this recipe a go, despite the bell peppers 🙂
I only did 2 layers- hope it’s still good! It’s in the oven now 🙂
Made this over the weekend and I loved it. Thanks Abby!
★★★★★
You’re welcome!! Glad you enjoyed it 🙂
I love love love this recipe. It’s filling so it goes a long way. It’s versatile, so I can adjust it to suit whom ever I am feeding. I have a fairly large family gathering this weekend. I can easily make one with shredded chicken for those who insist on a meat product. I can make one with heat and one without. Everyone is happy. The best part is that I can make it ahead of time and pop it in the oven when I’m ready. It’s a definitely a keeper.
★★★★★
hi rene,
did you make in the day before, keep in fridge, and reheat when ready? i am hoping so cause i want to do that! thanks 🙂
Can you make in the morning, keep it refrigerated and then bake it in the evening when you get home?
How many people does this serve?? I have a family of 3. One being a toddler. 24 tortillas seems like a lot. Can I cut this in half and still have enough??
Hi Dana! This recipe serves about 4 to 6 people so I’d say if you halve it you’re good to go for a family of 3 🙂 . There are three layers of tortillas, each layer being about 8 tortillas each to fill out a 9×13 casserole dish. If you have a half size casserole dish that would work perfectly!
This recipe is delicious! I made it for my family and everyone loved it. I used the tbsp of jalepeno sauce and my youngest just needed to use a bit of sour cream to tone it down, but otherwise the heat was just right. I will make this again and again. Thanks!
★★★★★
Super tasty and a weekly dinner go-to! Leftovers hold up well for a second day. I like to add salsa and olives as well.
★★★★★
How does this recipe hold up as leftovers?
Do you use small tortillas?
Yes, 6-inch corn tortillas 🙂
Has anyone figured out the nutritional info?
Hello,
The enchiladas look really yummy and I plan to prepare this for a party next week. Can you please let me know which El Pato sauce did you exactly use? I tried searching on Amazon and it lists a wide variety of sauces. Help would be deeply appreciated.
★★★★
Hi! I use El Pato Marca Jalapeño Sauce, it comes in a green can with a duck on it ???? there’s a picture of it up above in the post if you still can’t find it! Just make sure it’s a jalapeño sauce and not another enchilada sauce.
I have never heard of jalapeño sauce before and I don’t shop on amazon so are there other brands?
You can actually find it at most grocery stores! I pretty much only use it to add heat so you can definitely experiment with your favorite hot sauce or salsa and see what works best. Hope that helps!
Aberdeen, can I make this a day ahead and refrigerate.
Absolutely!
I just made this for a friend who recently had a baby. I can’t attest to the taste since I didn’t try it, but I have to say — it was super simple and smelled delicious! Will definitely try it for myself in the near future 🙂 thanks for sharing!
Hard or soft corn tortillas? I’m on my way to the grocery store and want to pick up these ingredients to make for dinner tonight. Thanks!
Hard or soft corn tortillas? I’m on my way to the grocery store and want to pick up these ingredients to make for dinner tonight. Thanks!
Soft corn tortillas :-). Enjoy!
Thanks so much! Can’t wait to make it and try it!
Can you make this a day or two ahead or would it get too soggy?
Hi Courtney! If you wanted to make this a couple days ahead of time, I would suggest making and cooking it all the way through, covering with saran wrap and freezing it for few days until you want to serve it. Then reheat the full casserole in the oven. If you prepped it all up and then didn’t cook it for a day or two it would definitely get soggy. The cook and freeze method might end up making it a little bit wetter due to the freezing and then reheating but it’d be the best option for pre-making it.
Hello
Do you cover with foil while baking or Not?
Thanks
Hi Lori, I did not cover with foil. Just throw the baking dish in the oven and you’re set to go!
Made this a few days ago and been enjoying lots of it the last few days – I omitted the corn and green pepper, used only 1 can of black beans and added a block of crumbled tofu. Also reduced the cheese to lower fat and will definitely be making this again. Thanks for an awesome, easily customizable recipe.
★★★★★
Love this recipe!! I’m 5 weeks away from my due date so I want to freeze some of my families favorite meals. Has anyone tried this after freezing?
★★★★★
I’ve made this recipe several times. It’s always too much for me to finish, so I freeze it in small portions so I can just reheat a meal at a time. Works wonderful and tastes great!
★★★★★
Thank you so much Linda!
I’m making this for a work pot luck – I’d like the heat to be medium and then offer additional heat through jalapenos on the side. How much of the El Pato would you recommend? Would you make any changes to make it pot luck friendlier? I’ll make it the night before. I’ll post a photo of the finished product. Thank you!
★★★★
Hi Linda! Sorry for the late reponse ????. If you’re worried about the heat just add a half a teaspoon at a time, stir it into the enchilada sauce, and taste it, adjusting accordingly. If you’ve already made it, I hope it turned out well!
I made this tonight and it turned out delicious. I just changed a few things, such as tearing the tortillas and only using a top and bottom layer. Also added a cup of broth infused rice. Definitely a pantry staple meal!
This was extremely delicious! My whole family loved it!
★★★★★
Really good recipe but my soft tortilla’s cooked up hard on the bottom. How do I adjust that problem? Thank you!
My bottom tortillas cooked up hard too.
Next time I will put some of the sauce in the pan first and hope that works. But, man are they delicious. We added some sliced black olives and white onion.
Do you have the nutritional information for this recipe?
This was delicious!
★★★★★
How many people does this feed?
I cannot have cheese or anything with oil (so no fake cheese)Any idea for substitute??
We love this recipe and it is the fifth time we have made it. I can’t do spicy so we use mild sauce and the only change we make is to add a can of mild diced chilis. We love to serve it with sour cream and diced avocado.
★★★★★
For a split second, I thought the recipe called for a “215 oz” can of black beans and thought, “that’s a BIG can of beans!!!”. LOL! We’re going to try out the recipe this week, but with just 30 oz of beans… :^)
Made this tonight and changed it up a bit. I used only 12 tortillas cut up, used only 1 10 oz can of Enchilada sauce and added a can of southwest corn (drained). I mixed all the ingredients in a large bowl and transferred to a greased Casserole dish. It was super easy to make an was able to cut the time down to 30 minutes.
★★★★
I made this yesterday as a pre cinco de mayo meal, sort of, and it was a big hit! very delicious and pretty easy to make, it turned out great! Thanks for the recipe. It is destined to become a favorite around here.
★★★★★
You’re welcome! So glad you enjoyed it 😁.
Great recipe! I love how versatile (and delicious) it is!
★★★★★
Thank you so much! This is one of my all time fave recipes 🙂
I love this recipe! I’ve made it three times so far. Everyone who has tasted it loves it. Last night I made it for church potluck and it was devoured. I love how simple the recipe is. I would like to try it next time with some chopped up broccoli added to it. Also, I use vegan cheese to make the recipe vegan and also added some chopped green onions to the bean, corn and bell pepper mixture. And it’s wonderful that it’s all gluten-free. Thank you so much for sharing!
★★★★★
You’re welcome! I love your vegan version 👍🏻.
Hi do you bake this covered or uncovered ?
I bake it uncovered. If it starts to get too brown but it still needs a little more time(depends on your oven), you can cover it with foil and keep right on cooking!
It was tasty, however, the tortillas were very soggy and using the 1/3 of the cheese got real crispy along the top. It’s okay though.
I’m so sorry this happened! I’ll look into the recipe and see if I can figure out what’s going on 😊.
I made this tonight and it was delicious! I also used vegan cheese and added a can of refried beans. I smeared the refried beans on the first two layers of tortillas. It’s definitely a keeper in our house. It smelled wonderful baking too. I loved how simple the steps were. Give it a try you won’t be disappointed.
★★★★★
Very easy to make. I added onions to the peppers and seasoned them with Goya. I also mixed southwest corn with sweet corn for extra favor. I think I will use a larger pan next time because you can get more sauce in. Luckily I put some sauce to the side. Top it all off with sour cream. This dish was delicious. I will be making it again.
★★★★
Thank you so much, glad you enjoyed it!
I’m guessing the green onions should be chopped up and spread with with the cilantro. Nice recipe. Next time I will try to make real enchiladas, maybe with pinto or refried beans for authenticity.
Could you add cooked Spanish rice to this recipe?
I havn’t added any myself but I think that would be just fine, and super delicious 😁.
Used to eat Amy’s Kitchen enchilada pie religiously and am so happy I found this recipe. A few subs:
~for the sauce I used a combo of: el pato green tomatillo sauce, el pato red salsa, a bunch of fresh jalapenos and onions for a creamy combo.
~Used mini sweet bell peppers instead
~Used jalapeno cheese instead
It’s cooking now, CAN’T WAIT! For those who love spicy.
p.s. I think every kitchen needs a bunch of El Pato’s sauces in their pantry, they’re super simple and easy to use. They’re also sold at the Dollar Store, fyi.
★★★★★
That sounds absolutely delicious, I hope it turned out well!
Hi! Has anyone tried making this and then freezing immediately after assembly and baking at a later time? I read through some of the comments and I’m wondering if that might make it too soggy.
Hi ,
I recently made this but I had modified it a little bit . I had sautéed the bell peppers with olive oil with black pepper , onion powder, parsley and added 4 oz can of Ortega diced green chilies. My co-worker who is vegetarian asked if she can leftovers!! It was a hit !!
Yay! That modification sounds delicious!
I made this for the first time today and it was a hit with the family. It will definitely be a staple in my family to eat. Thank you for sharing this recipe with us,
Yay! You’re very welcome 😊.
I made this last night. It was tasty, everyone loved it. I used flour tortillas wasn’t to soggy. I swapped the tomatoe paste for roasted sweet red peppers to make the enchilada sauce. It was a hit and will become a go yo recipe
★★★★★
So good!
★★★★★
This was DELICIOUS !
I used flour tortillas instead of corn and 1/2 Mexican blend cheese 1/2 vegan cheese because that’s what I had in the fridge. Turned out great!! Thanks!
★★★★★
Just made this. I am from the south and a fan of spice. For me, the El Pato sauce was not hot at all. I divided the recipe in half as it is just two of us but I used three tablespoons of El Pato – still barely any heat. Flavor was just OK. If I try this again, I will add quite a bit of cayenne to the sauce.
I want to add that I did use a quarter cup more sauce than called for. I put it (mixed with Jalapeño Sauce) in the bottom to avoid hard tortillas..
This looks so good! It would be a yummy leftovers for lunch the rest of the week!
Thanks for sharing! Does it keep long?
Hey there, You have done a fantastic job. I’ll definitely digg it
and personally recommend to my friends. I’m sure they will be benefited from this website.
★★★★★
I made this recipe for my family it was a hit. I just added a whole 7 3/4 oz. Can of el pato jalapeno sauce because I love a little extra kick of spiciness. I wish I would’ve taken a pic before we devoured it. Will definitely make again. Thank you for this recipe.
★★★★★
Question: I know this is an old post, but … should the tortillas be warmed/toasted slightly on my gas burner before lining the pan with them? Would that make them less soggy? … Also, I’ve never heard of jalapeno sauce. I can look at the “Hispanic” section of my grocery store more carefully.
They can be! It’s an extra step but I would try more for toasted than warmed as that wouldn’t help much. The jalapeno sauce is in the hispanic section at my store, if you can’t find one this is the kind I use: https://www.amazon.com/El-Pato-Jalapeno-Salsa-7-75/dp/B000VDYQWO.
I’m new to the plant-based diet. I’m not 100% yet but both my husband and I loved this! But for the cheese, we used a sheep cheese Manchego because my husband is allergic to proteins in milk-based cheeses. I also only used 1 red bell pepper because it was pretty big. I made a homemade enchilada sauce recipe that I had. I just wanted to clarify that in case it affects anything. But we went back for seconds and my husband was very surprised he liked it so much. Looking forward to leftovers today. I have no doubt if you did it exactly as written you’d love it!
★★★★★
Can I use refried black beans for this recipe?
So easy and delicious! I had read all the comments and made my casserole with half being flour tortillas and half corn. I definitely liked the corn side better. This is one of those recipes that tastes even better the next day!
★★★★★
I’ve been making this recipe for 3 years now I’ve printed it into my personal recipe book and it’s a huge go-to when family is in! Even better the second day. We love using Greek yogurt with it. Never left a comment before but wanted to let you know how much we appreciate it!
★★★★★
Thank you so much!! What a GREAT idea, I’m going to use Greek yogurt with it the next time I make it 👍🏻👍🏻.
Made this for the first time. Added chopped onions to each layer and black olives on top with the cheese. Otherwise, followed the recipe. I normally don’t feel full with a vegetarian dish but this is the exception! Very tasty and leftovers are great during our work from home.
★★★★★
I’m so glad you enjoyed it!
Hello! i made this recipe last week and it was a hit with my teenage children. My daughter is a vegetation and my son is normally very accommodating but I know he would have preferred this type of recipe with chicken 🙂 but they both thought it was delicious. I am making it again tonight and am adding some onion and zucchini to the bean and corn mixture. Thanks for a tasty and easy recipe.
★★★★★
You’re welcome! I’m so happy your kiddos enjoyed it 😊.
Made this tonight, pure joy! Delicious. Will definitely cook this over and over. So easy, And a bonus that there is enough left over for tomorrow nights dinner. I will try adding cooked rice in next time as an addition and I like that it can be very versatile.
Thank you for sharing. Much appreciated
★★★★★
You’re so welcome! Glad you enjoyed it.