Quick! I’m sharing these enchiladas with you as a suggestion for a post-Thanksgiving meal this weekend (don’t forget, I have lots of vegetarian Thanksgiving options here). The enchiladas are stuffed with creamy, hearty sweet potato, plus black beans, feta cheese, and spices. The sauce is super easy—just grab some mild salsa verde at the store. Or, you can go the extra mile and make your own.
Most restaurant enchiladas are so cheesy that I leave with a belly ache, but not these. They are delicious, satisfying and leftovers taste even better the next day. If you want to make a vegetarian dinner and hear, “I don’t even miss the meat,” these enchiladas are for you. This recipe is actually one that I shared back in 2011, but it was missing some key instructions, like how to roast the sweet potato. So, I revisited it and tweaked it a bit, and they’re better than ever.
These enchiladas taught me some valuable lessons about cooking back then, so I’m leaving my notes for you below. From 2011: Do you ever cut corners when you’re following a recipe? I do—all the time—and I’m always learning from my mistakes. Take these black bean sweet potato enchiladas, for example. I blundered through Gluten Free Goddess’ recipe, made it my own, and came out a better cook in the end.
Lessons learned:
Substitutions can be ok: I subbed Target’s salsa verde for the Karina’s green chile sauce, which worked out fine. Skipping steps is usually not ok: I ignored her recommendation to warm up the corn tortillas first, so they broke to pieces when I tried to wrap the tortillas around the inside ingredients. As a result, my enchiladas weren’t as pretty as they could have been, but it didn’t affect the flavor. I need to trust that my fellow cooks will not recommend additional steps if they are not integral to the dish’s success! Additions are just fine: I love spicy food, so I knew adding a jalapeño was a good idea. And it was. Pay more for high quality ingredients: Packaged breads, including tortillas, tend to be full of preservatives and unnecessary ingredients. I paid more for these sprouted grain corn tortillas at my local health food store, and go figure, they taste better than the rest! Some flavors are so good together, you can’t go wrong: Black beans and sweet potatoes are a delicious combination. Even with all my mistakes, I ended up with a mighty delicious meal.
Please let me know how these enchiladas turn out for you in the comments! I hope they’re your new favorite. Craving more Mexican-ish, cheesy goodness? Don’t miss my roasted veggie enchilada casserole or baked jalapeño poppers.
Watch How to Make Enchiladas
Make it gluten free: Use certified gluten-free corn tortillas. Make it dairy free/vegan: Omit the cheese. Stir a scant 1 cup vegan sour cream into the filling, reserving a few tablespoons for drizzling on top. Once baked, thin the vegan sour cream with a little extra water to make it extra-drizzly and drizzle it on top as shown.
