Healthy, homemade enchiladas with a from-scratch enchilada sauce you can throw together in your Instant Pot!
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We’ve been spicing up dinner recently with homemade enchiladas. I don’t know why, but I have never regularly made enchiladas before. We typically kept to tacos, burritos, nachos, etc, but these homemade enchiladas are a great change of pace!
The last time I served them, everyone had seconds and my husband raved about how delicious they were. Even the little ones ate some (as long as they were generously topped with dollops of yogurt, which didn’t bother me at all!).
I haven’t tried freezing these, but my guess is that they would make an excellent freezer meal too. Make a double batch and have one for tonight and one for later.
Homemade Enchiladas with Instant Pot Enchilada Sauce
I made the enchilada sauce from scratch with ingredients that I always keep on hand in the kitchen. (My favorite meals are those I can make with kitchen staples).
After asking which method y’all would prefer on Instagram, I tested the sauce in the Instant Pot and on the stovetop. We made a few observations:
- both versions were tasty
- making the sauce in the Instant Pot was actually slightly faster because the stovetop version needed longer to simmer
- the Instant Pot version had a richer, smokier taste (thanks to being cooked under pressure), and the stovetop version had a brighter, tomato-y taste
Whichever way you decide to make it, using an immersion blender makes easy work of blending the sauce. I am constantly recommending immersion blenders because I waited so long to get one and wish I had gotten one sooner! This is the model I have (less than $25!).
An important note about corn tortillas:
Corn tortillas can be finicky to work with because they are much more prone to breaking and cracking than flour tortillas. I have two things to say about this. First, broken tortillas taste just as good, and with the sauce and cheese on top, you’ll never know the difference. So, if your tortillas give you trouble, don’t stress it too much. Your enchiladas will still be delicious.
If you heat your tortillas in a dry skillet until they are warm to the touch, they will be more pliable. Heat one and then immediately fill it. Heat the next while you fill the first. It adds a little bit more time, but not too much and your enchiladas will stay intact.
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Healthy, homemade enchiladas with a from-scratch enchilada sauce you can throw together in your Instant Pot!
Ingredients
Enchilada Sauce:
- 2 tbsp olive oil or ghee
- 1/2 cup minced yellow onion
- 2 tbsp minced fresh garlic
- 1 can diced tomatoes
- 2 cups chicken stock
- 2 tbsp chili powder
- 1 tsp ground cumin
- 1 tsp oregano
- 1/2 tsp kosher salt
Enchiladas:
- 1 pkg corn tortillas (12-16oz)
- 1 1/2 lb ground beef
- 1 tsp garlic powder
- 1 tsp ground cumin
- 1 tsp chili powder
- 1 tsp kosher salt
- 1 cup chopped greens
- 2 cups shredded cheddar cheese, divided
- plain Greek yogurt or sour cream for topping
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
- Make the enchilada sauce* (you can do this ahead of time): Turn the Instant Pot on to Sauté. When the screen reads “HOT”, add the oil/ghee, minced onion, and minced garlic. Saute for 3-5 minutes while you gather the remaining ingredients. Add the remaining ingredients. Stir. Place the lid on the Instant Pot and cook on high pressure for 2 minutes. When the cook time is complete, quick release the pressure.
- Blend the sauce using an immersion blender and transfer to a liquid measuring cup or jar.
- Cook the ground beef. You can use the Instant Pot to brown the beef, or brown it in a skillet on the stovetop. (How to cook ground beef from frozen in the Instant Pot). When the ground beef is browned, drain the grease, then add a cup of water. Stir in the spices (garlic powder, cumin, chili powder, and salt), and bring the meat to a simmer. Simmer for 3 minutes until the liquid is absorbed, then transfer the seasoned meat to a mixing bowl to cool slightly.
- Stir together the enchilada filling: Add 1 cup shredded cheddar cheese and the chopped greens to the slightly cooled meat in the mixing bowl. Stir to incorporate.
- Pour 1 cup of enchilada sauce in the bottom of a long casserole pan and spread out evenly.
- Roll the enchiladas: Add about half a cup of filling to a corn tortilla, then roll up and place in the casserole dish. Repeat this process until you run out of corn tortillas or filling mixture. (TIP: heat each corn tortilla in a dry skillet until warm to prevent it from cracking and breaking).
- Finish the enchiladas. When the casserole dish is full of filled enchiladas, pour another 1 1/2 cups of enchilada sauce across the top, then evenly sprinkle on the remaining cup of shredded cheddar cheese.
- Bake. Loosely cover the pan with a piece of foil and place in the preheated oven. Bake for 15 minutes covered, then remove the foil and bake for another 5 minutes.
- Serve with plain Greek yogurt or sour cream (optional).
Notes
*To make the enchilada sauce on the stovetop, sauté the onions and garlic in the skillet for 5 minutes until the onions begin to soften. Add the remaining sauce ingredients, then bring the sauce to a simmer. Simmer the mixture for 15 minutes, then carefully blend.
Freeze/save any extra enchilada sauce you have leftover to use for the Enchilada Quinoa in my cookbook!
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Hi! I’m looking forward to making my homemade sauce in the IP to get a deeper flavor. One essential tip for corn tortillas: they must be cooked before rolling or eating or filling. Heating over an open flame or on a dry skillet is great for simple tacos, but for quesadillas, flautas, enchiladas, or the BEST tacos, the corn tortillas must be heated either in a bit of olive or coconut oil.
For enchiladas, heating the corn tortillas for 10-20 seconds in a skillet of warmed enchilada sauce is the most traditional way.
I have a larger family, and so my cheat is to put a bunch of tortillas in a single layer on a rimmed baking sheet in a hot oven for 3-6 minutes. This saves me the constant flipping time.
You can also make hard shell tacos or tostadas by cooking the tortillas for longer in a skillet of hot oil, flipping or folding halfway through. Coconut oil tastes amazing. Try it, and the flavor will amaze you.
But whatever you do, please never eat or cook with corn tortillas without heating them first.
Hi…thank you for this. Will definitely try this.
Wanted to let you know that I heat my tortillas up in the pan on the stove top. They won’t break when you roll them up!
Yes, I mentioned that above. It works so well!
Since you’re adding chicken stock, I assume you’re draining the tomatoes?
No, undrained.
Such a delicious recipe! Easy to make and I like that I don’t have to buy canned sauce anymore.
I used this recipe tonight and it was amazing! I’ve been hunting for a enchilada sauce recipe for a while and this will definitely be my go-to from now on. I fed 6 adults and 2 kids with 0 complaints!
What are the greens that you use?
You can use spinach, or a mix of greens. I typically use “power greens” from Costco, which is a blend of kale, swiss chard, and spinach.
Tried this today and it was absolutely delicious! The made from scratch sauce is amazing! Thank you Lisa!
★★★★★
This sauce would be good to make chicken enchiladas too. I make them quite often by shredding my cooked chicken, then add about 2cups shredded cheddar and Monterey Jack cheese, 1/2 cup sour cream but you could sub your yogurt, 1 tablespoon of parsley, mix it all up. I dip my corn tortilla in sauce then put the chicken in and roll up put inside the 9×13 pan. Pour any remaining sauce over and put 1/2 c of cheddar over them. Bake at 350° for about 20-30 mins.
Sounds delicious!! Thanks for sharing!
It sounds delicious! I’m wondering what size can of diced tomatoes you are using? Thanks!
14.5oz