Amazing Spinach and Black Bean Enchiladas

Hold on to your sombrero! You are going to go crazy over these spinach and black bean enchiladas! Spinach, onion, jalapeño chile, black beans and lots of melty cheese, rolled up in soft corn tortillas, and covered in colorful rich sauce, this is winning Mexican food. ¡Olé!

Have you ever noticed that many Mexican dishes feature red, green, and white colors, mimicing the stripes in Mexico’s flag? For instance, these mouthwatering enchiladas waving red sauce on one side and green sauce on the other, with creamy white drizzles down the middle. ¡Viva Mexico!

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Here, north of the border, we’re about to celebrate Cinco de Mayo, quite a gringo holiday, bigger than celebrated in Mexico. Not everyone knows why we mark this day so heartily, but the chips, salsa, and beer are front and center and we’re all looking forward to some good Mexican food.

The delicious combination of healthy ingredients and two authentic sauces–everything comes together in one beautiful casserole, this festive vegetarian recipe. Everyone who tastes these enchiladas gives them a big thumbs up.

To see how to assemble these enchiladas, click on the circle labeled “Enchiladas!” in my Instagram profile.

The whole enchilada—here’s all the recipe details for your spinach and black bean enchiladas:

• You can use either canned black beans, or beans you’ve cooked from scratch. Here’s how to cook black beans in the pressure cooker.
• To make it easier, bathe your enchiladas in just one sauce, 2 cups of either red or green.
• Choose either purchased or homemade enchilada sauce. Here’s my recipe for homemade green enchilada sauce. And my homemade red enchilada sauce.

• You will like my lower calorie spray-and-bake method for softening corn tortillas. Easy and quick—six tortillas to a pan and 5 minutes in the oven. (Mexican cooks fry their corn tortillas in hot oil to make them pliable, and so they don’t easily absorb the sauce.)
• Whenever you cook leafy greens like spinach, brighten them with something acidic. The apple cider vinegar in today’s enchilada filling does just that!
• If your store sells them, try Mi Rancho organic corn tortillas. Their old-world rich corn flavor and hearty texture makes stellar tacos and enchiladas.

I love healthy homemade Mexican food. Can you tell? Here are some more vegetarian recipes to tickle your taste buds:

• Chard enchiladas with black olives, green onions, and feta cheese.
• Chile relleno enchurritos, made with flour tortillas.
• Stacked mole-sauced enchiladas—tortillas, spinach, potatoes, and carrots— layered like lasagna.
• Chard and pepper jack quesadillas with avocado crema.
• You’ll love these vivid red hibiscus margaritas, too.
• You’ll love these with a salad with jicama, grapefruit, and cumin-lime dressing.

Happy Cinco de Mayo! Put on your apron and whip up something delicious and celebratory!

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4.76 from 25 votes

Outstanding Spinach and Black Bean Enchiladas

Go all out with cooked-from-scratch beans, garden spinach, and homemade sauce, or make it super easy with canned black beans, baby spinach, and purchased enchilada sauce. Bathe your enchiladas in either red or green sauce, or both, like in the photos. Serve with a crisp green salad with cumin lime dressing. Makes one large casserole, serves 6.

Prep Time45 minutes mins

Cook Time25 minutes mins

Total Time1 hour hr 10 minutes mins

Course: Main Course

Cuisine: Mexican, Vegetarian

Keyword: vegetarian, enchiladas, black beans, spinach

Servings: 12 enchiladas.

Author: Letty | @lettyskitchen

Ingredients

• 5 ounces baby spinach, or 1 bunch fresh spinach, washed well and coarsely chopped
• 1 tablespoon olive, avocado, or grapeseed oil
• 1 medium onion, diced in 1/4-inch pieces
• 1 or 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 jalapeño chile, seeds removed, minced
• ¼ cup chopped cilantro leaves, some stems ok
• 1 teaspoon dried oregano
• 1 ½ cups black beans, one (15-ounce can, drained) (see note)
• 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
• ½ teaspoon fine sea salt
• 12 corn tortillas
• Cooking spray, as needed
• 3 cups grated Monterey Jack cheese, about 8 ounces
• 1 cup red enchilada sauce (see notes)
• 1 cup green enchilada sauce (see notes)
• Plain whole milk Greek yogurt or sour cream, as needed

Instructions

• Heat the oil in the largest skillet you have over medium heat. Stir and cook the onion, garlic and chile until the onion is translucent, about 8 minutes. Add the spinach, stirring occasionally until the spinach has wilted. (In a smaller diameter skillet, you may need to add a portion at a time until all of the spinach has wilted.)
• Add the cilantro, oregano, and salt; cook and stir a few more minutes. Stir in the black beans. Season with the vinegar. Taste, adding more salt if you think it’s needed.
• Pre-heat oven to 350° F. Spray or rub a small amount of oil in a 9 x 13-inch baking dish. Spread about ¼ cup enchilada sauce on the oiled dish.
• Place tortillas on baking sheets, 6 tortillas to a pan. Lightly spray both sides of the tortillas with cooking spray. Bake about 5 minutes, until pliable.
  
• Sprinkle 3 to 4 tablespoons of the spinach and bean mixture down the middle a softened tortilla. Sprinkle about the same amount of cheese on top. Roll the tortilla around the filling and place it seam side down in the baking dish. Repeat with the rest of the tortillas. You can cover the pan at this point and refrigerate overnight.
• Pour the enchilada sauce over the rolled tortillas, making sure to cover the ends. You can use all red or all green, or give your enchiladas the Mexican flag color with both, one sauce on each side. Sprinkle with more cheese. Cover and bake until heated through, 20 to 25 minutes.
• Spread the Greek yogurt down the center of the pan and sprinkle with chopped cilantro leaves. (I used a pastry bag to squiggle on the yogurt.

Notes

• Canned black beans or home-cooked—it doesn’t matter. That said, I’m a huge proponent of cooking beans from scratch—especially using a pressure cooker.
• You can bathe your enchiladas in either red or green sauce, or both, like in the photo.
• Enchilada sauces can be homemade or store-bought. For many years, I used canned red enchilada sauce, but since I’ve become more of a label reader, I can hardly bring myself to use buy it. Not that I don’t on occasion. 😉 Looking around, I did find a cleaner ingredient red enchilada sauce online.
• The same for green enchilada sauce, use homemade or storebought.
• Tip: For the photo, I cooked 2 small cans of green salsa in a saucepan until the liquid reduced to a sauce about as thick as the red enchilada sauce.
• If you like this recipe or find it useful, I’d so appreciate a 4 or 5 star rating. Rating is done by clicking on the stars above.

Nutrition

Calories: 214kcal | Carbohydrates: 19g | Protein: 10g | Fat: 10g | Saturated Fat: 5g | Cholesterol: 25mg | Sodium: 699mg | Potassium: 216mg | Fiber: 4g | Sugar: 3g | Vitamin A: 1590IU | Vitamin C: 5.4mg | Calcium: 253mg | Iron: 1.5mg

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