Vegetable-Filled Black Bean meatless Enchiladas

Packed with vegetables and black beans, spiced just right, and baked in a mild enchilada sauce. These easy to make, healthy, veggie-filled, black bean meatless enchiladas will be a hit with your crowd.

For me, enchiladas have always been ooey-gooey comfort food at its finest. But that was back before my plant-eating days. You know…back in the days when I smothered everything with an extra handful of cheese, gooped on the sour-cream, and gorged myself into a saturated fat food coma. Perhaps you can relate.

When I first started eating vegan, I thought I’d never be able to enjoy a saucy flavorful enchilada again! Boy was I wrong.

You can make any family-favorite dish vegan with a switch of ingredients and planning. Black beans for meat, shredded vegan cheese or plant-based cashew cheese sauce for that cheesy goodness, and a dollop of vegan Greek yogurt or sunflower seed sour cream for that tangy creamy topping we all know and love. 

To make these flavor-filled black bean meatless enchiladas, you will need:

• enchilada sauce – I developed this super tasty easy-to-make homemade enchilada sauce just for this recipe. When I buy canned enchilada sauce I buy a 29-ounce can but don’t use the whole thing. (You will only need 2 1/2 cups of enchilada sauce.)
• 10-inch tortillas of choice (I like flour tortillas but use your tortilla of preference.)
• neutral flavored oil like avocado oil (or veggie broth if eating oil-free)
• canned black beans – unseasoned and drained
• canned sweet corn – unseasoned and drained
• nutritional yeast, chili powder, salt
• zucchini
• red bell pepper
• shallots – You can sub in a different onion of your choice.
• garlic – I usually use jarred minced.
• optional – shredded vegan cheese, cilantro, jalapenos, avocado

Tips for making the tastiest easy vegan black bean enchiladas:

The exact ingredients with measurements can be found in the recipe card below along with more concise abbreviated instructions. Read on for more details, tips, and tricks so that you will feel confident making this recipe.

SLICE, DICE, AND PREP FOR SUCCESS

Start by dicing your vegetables quite small. You will want them to be a little smaller than bite-sized.

saute the veggies – but only till just softened

Heat a little oil in a large saute pan. I use a light-flavored oil for this. You don’t want the flavor from the oil to compete with the flavors of the dish. See below for the “Health it Up” section if you are eating oil-free.

Saute the vegetables until just softened. You will be cooking the dish in the over later and don’t want mushy veggies. Add in the drained black beans, corn, seasonings, and a little bit of the enchilada sauce. (Please see the recipe card below for complete instructions and measurements.)

Assembling the enchilada casserole

This part can get a little messy. I personally have not perfected the enchilada roll. And honestly, my black bean enchiladas are not always beautiful. But they are always delicious!

Start by lining the bottom of your (prepared/sprayed) pan with enchilada sauce.

Important: You are going to need a pan larger than 9×13. I always make this mistake and use a 9×13 cake pan. I end up running out of room by the time I get seven enchiladas rolled and placed in the pan. And try as I might, I can’t squeeze them all in. Save yourself the headache and either plan on using two smaller pans or one larger-sized lasagna pan.

Set up your “enchilada rolling station”

Working one at a time, spoon about 1/4 cup filling onto each tortilla. Roll it up and place it in your prepared pan. Stack them side-by-side in a row. They should fit if you use the larger lasagna pan.

Now for the topping and the cooking

After you’ve put all of your filled, rolled enchiladas in the pan, you might have some of the vegetable mixture left over. You can toss it or save it for later. But what I like to do is to spoon the extra on top and tuck it around the rolled enchiladas.

Evenly cover with more enchilada sauce. The recipe calls for 2 1/2 cups of enchilada sauce total (divided). If you use a large 29-ounce can you probably won’t use all of it. You can freeze the leftover in a small container and pop it into soup or another sauce in the future – or toss it.

You can optionally sprinkle with some vegan cheese if you want. When I’m just cooking for my husband and me, I don’t add the vegan cheese. If I’m cooking for others, I usually do. A little vegan cheese goes a long way. It doesn’t melt like dairy cheese does and honestly is mostly there for aesthetics.

You can also drizzle some plant based homemade cashew cheese sauce on top.

Bake uncovered for about 30 minutes in a 350° oven. You’ll know it’s done when the enchiladas are bubbly and slightly browned on top.

garnishing the Meatless enchiladas

Now the fun part starts! You have some options:

• Sliced avocado
• jalapenos
• cilantro
• guacamole
• Jalapeno Ranch Dressing
• Avocado Cream Sauce

Health it Up! You have a few optional fixes to make this healthy enchilada dish even more healthy. If you are eating oil-free then saute the vegetables in about 1/2 vegetable broth instead of the oil. Just watch your pan so that it doesn’t burn. Use whole wheat, corn, or low carb tortillas depending on your eating plan. Leave out the vegan cheese!

Now for the recipe: