Filled with tender chard, both the leafy greens and their stems, crumbly salty cheese, and meaty black olives, these chard enchiladas are more than amazing! Rolled into softened corn tortillas and bathed in a mild red chile sauce, with a final sprinkle of mild green onions–this is one delicious combo of flavors and textures. You will love them!
Click here to PIN Vegetarian Enchiladas with Chard and Black Olives!
Did you know? “Enchilada” literally translates to “seasoned with chile sauce.” Truly, chile-sauced tortillas can be rolled up with anything you damn well please! The list of what you can put inside the tortillas is just about endless. These vegetarian enchiladas filled with chard, onions and herby cilantro are ones you want to make for sure!
If you order vegetarian enchiladas in a Tex-Mex restaurant, you can plan on them being filled with beans and and lots of gooey melty cheese. If you eat meat, you might order them filled with chicken or beef.
Not these. Here we’re talking golden tortillas filled with vitamin-rich chard, sliced black olives, and mild green onions. Healthy enchiladas! The “enchilada” chili part is dark red chile sauce. You can use my earthy homemade red enchilada sauce, or a purchased enchilada sauce.
One time I made these chard enchiladas for friends, and Bob (who I know frequents a Mexican restaurant near his house), gushed, “They’re so light. And really good. What’s in these?” Delicious. Not your typical enchilada.
Mrs. Morales, who owned a Mexican grocery store in Southern California where I was born and raised, taught my Mom to make enchiladas filled with black olives, green onions and cheese.
From Mrs. Morales, Mom learned to soften her corn tortillas by frying them in hot oil before dipping them in enchilada sauce.
No oil frying for me. Not my enchilada. Or yours. The trick is to mist the tortillas with cooking spray, and soften them in the oven. I don’t dip the tortillas in the sauce before filling, because if they’re not oil-fried, the tortillas absorb more (too much) sauce.
I used rainbow chard for this particular batch, but you can use any chard you have. You definitely want to include the stems–they give this filling nice meaty texture. Strip the leaves from the stems but chop the stems and sauté them with the onion.
Tip: For efficiency, make a small assembly line. Spread fillings down the middle of all the warm tortillas on the baking sheet. When they all have a row of filling, roll them and transfer to the baking dish.
Make ahead: Roll and fill the enchiladas, but don’t sauce them. Refrigerate until later or overnight, and pour the sauce over just before baking.
The heat quotient in these chard enchiladas is low. Really, the picante heat hardly detectable. To make them more incendiary:
- Substitute spicy pepper jack cheese for the salty cotija.
- Because fresh jalapeño chiles with the seeds removed are fairly mild, mince the jalapeño without removing the seeds for more heat.
Chard Enchiladas recipe notes:
- Use cotija cheese, or feta, for salty flavor balance. If you prefer melt-y cheese, try cheddar, or Monterey jack.
- Vegan cooks can skip the cheese altogether.
- You could substitute spinach for the chard, but the chard stems add amazing texture to the filling.
- Be cautious not to overfill your enchiladas, you want to be able to easily roll the tortillas around whatever you put inside.
- Switch in flour tortillas for the corn ones and call them enchurritos. Flour tortillas make them more like burritos.
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*** This is an update of the Chard Enchiladas I posted back in 2015. Since I’m in Mexico this winter, it feels like a perfect time to bring healthy Mexican enchiladas to the front of the blog!
PS If you make this recipe and love it, please consider leaving a blog post comment. Your comments help other readers learn more about the recipe. If you’d also give the recipe a ✮✮✮✮✮ rating, I’d be even more delighted!
Vegetarian Chard Enchiladas
Ingredients
- 1 bunch chard , about 1 pound
- 2 tablespoons olive , avocado, or grapeseed oil
- 1 medium onion , cut in ¼-inch dice
- 1 or 2 cloves garlic , minced
- 1 jalapeño chile , seeds removed, minced (see note)
- ¼ cup chopped cilantro leaves
- ½ teaspoon dried or 2 tablespoons fresh minced oregano
- 1 tablespoon balsamic or red wine vinegar
- 1/4 teaspoon salt , as needed
- 12 to 14 corn tortillas
- Oil mist , from purchased cooking spray, or from a refillable pump oil sprayer
- 1 bunch green onions , cut in ¼-inch dice
- ½ cup sliced black olives
- 8 ounces Cotija or feta cheese , crumbled (see note)
- 2 cups enchilada sauce , purchased or homemade
Instructions
- Wash the chard well. Trim the leaves away from the ribs. Cut the ribs in ¼-inch pieces and set aside, and then chop the leaves in 1-inch strips.
- Heat the oil in a skillet over medium heat. Cook and stir the onion, chard ribs, garlic and chile for 5 to 10 minutes, until the onion is translucent and the chard ribs are soft. Add the chard leaves, the cilantro and the oregano and continue to cook and stir until the chard leaves have wilted and shrunk in volume. Sprinkle with the vinegar and season to taste with salt.
- Pre-heat oven to 350° F. Lightly coat a 9 x 13-inch baking dish with oil and spread about ¼ cup of the enchilada sauce around the oiled dish. Set aside.
- Place tortillas on a baking sheet, 4 to 6 to a pan, depending on the size of your pan. Lightly mist both sides of the tortillas with cooking spray. Heat in the oven 3 to 5 minutes, until the tortillas are soft and pliable, no more.
- With your fingers, spread a heaping tablespoon of the chard filling down the middle of each tortilla. Follow with a sprinkling of the green onions and olives, and finally with about a tablespoon of the cheese. Roll the tortillas around the filling and place them seam side down in the dish. Mist, heat and fill the rest of the tortillas. (see note)
- Ladle the enchilada sauce over the rolled tortillas, making a point to cover the ends first and spreading lightly over the middle. You want to be sparing vs. generous with the sauce, even if there are thumbnail patches of tortillas showing. Sprinkle with cheese, olives and green onions, for optional eye appeal.
- Bake until heated through, about 20 minutes.
Notes
- Fresh jalapeño chiles, especially with the seeds removed, are quite mild. If you want more “picante” heat, mince the jalapeño with seeds.
- Cotija cheese, which is akin to Greek feta, is the classic enchilada cheese. If you like your cheese melt-y, try cheddar or Monterey jack instead. Or since these enchiladas are fairly mild in their heat quotient, make them more incendiary with pepper jack cheese.
- Instead of filling and rolling the warm tortillas one at a time, make a small assembly line. Spread fillings down the middle of all the warm tortillas on the baking sheet. When they all have a row of filling, roll them and transfer to the baking dish.
- You can cover the pan of filled but not sauced enchiladas and refrigerate overnight.
Letty- you’re amazing! And just in time! Lunches for SFF will be the BEST ever! and thanks for providing the ‘prep early’ tips!! Worth a million and more!! · 21 January, 2015
That’s a wowser of an enchilada. Must make at my house! · 21 January, 2015
Can’t WAIT to try these! · 21 January, 2015
Your pictures are as amazing as your recipes! · 23 January, 2015
I’m really excited to try this recipe! I’ve been craving Mexican food for the last 2 weeks! · 8 March, 2015
Thanks for the note Naomi! I could eat Mexican food every day–and I have quite a few Mexican vegetarian recipes here on the blog. · 9 March, 2015