The BEST homemade Cheese Enchiladas! Our favorite authentic cheese enchiladas are easy, fast and insanely delicious!
I am a teeny-tiny ok HUGE snob when it comes to Mexican food. My husband and I spent a few months living in Mexico and everything I thought I knew about Mexican food was changed. I came away with tons of favorite recipes, like Authentic Mexican Rice, delicious homemade corn tortillas, homemade tamales and my favorite homemade horchata!
My idea of good “tacos” is super snobby now too. There’s nothing quite like an authentic Mexican street taco!
There’s a restaurant in my home town of Park City that makes some pretty legit Mexican food (It’s called El Chubasco, if you’re ever visiting!). I love their Camarones a la Diabla and street tacos, but my all-time favorite thing on the menu is their cheese enchiladas. They make them just how I loved them when we lived in Mexico!
Super cheesy, served with red sauce and shredded cabbage, diced tomatoes, cotija cheese and sour cream on top. They are HEAVENLY. My husband and I could eat these at least once a week.
And the best part–they’re super, super EASY! If you use a great brand of canned enchilada sauce, they’re even easier. Or you can always make the sauce from scratch! Olé!
Consider serving this with:
- Authentic Mexican Rice
- Pico de Gallo
- Homemade Refried Beans
- Restaurant Style Salsa
- Horchata
- Tres Leches Cake
What kind of tortillas should you use for authentic cheese enchiladas?
This recipe calls for white corn tortillas, but ifIf you enjoy flour tortillas, those will work great! It’s important to warm the corn tortillas to make them easier to roll for enchiladas, and to prevent them from cracking. To warm the corn tortillas, place them on a hot skillet or griddle and cook them for 15-30 seconds on each side.
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The BEST homemade Cheese Enchiladas! Our favorite authentic cheese enchiladas are easy, fast and insanely delicious!
- 12-14 white corn tortillas
- 5-6 cups shredded cheddar cheese
- 20 ounces red enchilada sauce
- 1 cup cabbage , thinly shredded
- 1 roma tomato , diced
- 1/4 cup crumbled cotija cheese , for topping (optional)
- sour cream , for topping
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
Warm corn tortillas on a hot skillet for a few seconds in each side.
Pour 1/4 cup of the enchilada sauce into the bottom of a 9x13'' pan. Fill each corn tortilla with a handful of cheese (reserving about 1/2 cup for sprinkling over the top, at the end).
Roll tightly, and place seam side down in the pan. Pour remaining enchilada sauce over the top. Top with remaining 1/2 cup of cheese.
Bake for 20-25 minutes or until hot and bubbly. Remove from oven and top with shredded cabbage, cotija cheese, tomatoes, and sour cream.
Serve with a side of Mexican Rice
Recipe Video
Serve with one of my favorite Mexican side dishes.
Have you tried this recipe?!
RATE and COMMENT below! I would love to hear your experience.
Jean | DelightfulRepast.com says
Lauren, I’m pretty picky about my cheese enchiladas, too, and these look really good! I do leave off the cotija garnish, though; I’ve just never liked that stuff. But I love the shredded cabbage garnish!
Altesse says
I am preparing dinner for my 6 grandchildren, my teenage daughter and my Hispanic Texan husband at a nona sleepover this evening. Your recipe looks so yummy I’ve decided to try it out on my dearest loved ones. I will let you know how the enchiladas were received. I will do my absolute best to follow your recipe to the letter.
Peggy says
Lauren, can you recommend a good tasting Red Enchilada brand sauce.
Lauren Allen says
Honestly the only store-bought kind I’ve found that I really like is Aldi’s Casa Mamita brand of red enchilada sauce. I’m not a huge fan of “Old el Paso” or “Las Palmas” that most grocery stores sell (the flavor is pretty watered down). I like this homemade recipe a lot: https://tastesbetterfromscratch.com/enchilada-sauce-from-scratch/
Becky says
Hatch is really good.
Bailie C says
Are you allowed to tell me what Mexican restaurant you are talking about in Park City? I live near Park City and want to try what Mexican restaurant you’re talking about!
Lauren Allen says
Of course! It’s right downtown and it’s called El Chubasco http://www.elchubascomexicangrill.com/ . 🙂
Marlene A says
Super easy and delicious recipes, thank you for sharing.
Jill says
The instruction section is blank! I’d love to see the instructions, including oven temp, etc.
Lauren Allen says
Thank you for letting me know! I’m not sure how that happened–fixed now!
Ann Haible says
I’d like to know what kind of cheese you use for the filling.
Ann Haible says
Never mind! The recipe must not have loaded fully the first time I looked at it because now I can see you say cheddar cheese.
Melody Manchester says
I live in Salt Lake City, and am from California. I tried this recipe, and it ROCKS! I put my own little spin, and added achopped avocado to the toppings. I also made some Spanish rice to accompany it on the side. AMAZING!!
Tesha says
Excited to be making this recipe tonight!!
My bf is a stickler about trying new stuff but I’m making him!! Lol
I’ll let you know how it goes
Lauren Allen says
Thanks!! Hope you love them!
JoAnn Blue says
I did not like the Citija cheese and thought fees for better with salt and Cholula sauce
Kelly Barber says
Just made these tonight. Very good!! I just put avocado on mine. Easy to make.
Janet says
Made these Friday night for dinner with cilantro lime rice and an avocado and tomato salad.
Great recipe best enchiladas I have made and so easy
Tom says
I never used flour and oil to thicken enchilada sauce, but I’ll try that tonight, thanks!
As it happens – my wife and I are traveling to Park City Monday, so we’ll be sure to check out El Chubasco while we’re there. Thanks for the tip!
Lauren Allen says
Hi Tom,
I hope you had the chance to try El Chubasco. Their cheese enchiladas are the best! Thanks for your comment.
Sonia says
Hi Lauren,
Do you bake covered or uncovered?
Making these in a little bit! 😊
Lauren Allen says
Uncovered! Hope you love them!
Kate says
There is a local restaurant here that serves cheese enchiladas in red sauce with the best pork roast with roasted peppers, onion and tomatoes. I’ve wanted to recreate their dish for quite a while. The problem that I am having is finding the right cheese. It’s a queso of some sort but not the liquid kind. Would you happen to know which cheese I am talking about?
Lauren Allen says
Sounds amazing. Is it a white cheese? Is it used for inside the enchiladas or sprinkled on top? Sprinkled on top would be cotija cheese and melted inside could be oaxaca cheese.
Kate says
It is so amazing! Tastes even better the next day too. I’m trying out a carnita recipe for the pork portion since i cannot find a single recipe that resembles it (fingers crossed!)
Yes, it is a white cheese and it is for inside. I have never heard of Oaxaca before. Now I will be on the hunt for it. Thank you so much! I actually have some cheese enchiladas in the oven right now but used generic shredded queso since it was the only thing I could find (*sigh).
If all else fails, I’ll be asking for the exact recipe from the restaurant 🙂
Debbie says
We made this for SeisDeMayo 🙂 and loved it. The sauce was super easy to make and tasted so much better than store bought. We also made the rice and that was a hit too! My BF has been wanting to learn how to make Mexican Rice and is super stoked to have found these recipes. Tomato Bouillon, who knew?!
Lauren Allen says
Thanks for sharing Debbie! So happy to hear you made the enchilada sauce, enchiladas and Mexican rice! Sounds like a fantastic meal to me! Thanks for your comment.
Anita Bajpay says
Lauren,
With so many recipes out there, I chose to follow yours for a number of dishes since I like your style of cooking, explaining and organizing! I did make the enchilada sauce from scratch using your recipe and the enchiladas were perfection! I got many compliments from appreciative guests and had made an extra batch which we enjoyed the following days.
Thank you much,
Anita
Lauren Allen says
Thanks so much for sharing Anita! I’m so flattered you chose to use so many of my recipes for your guests!
Brenda says
I’m excited to try these. I would like to add ground beef or chicken. How would you season the meat
Lauren Allen says
Yum! I would season both with salt and pepper, and maybe a little bit of garlic powder on the chicken. Enjoy!
Alex says
Homemade Spanish rice and beans and you have a great meal with your enchiladas. Taco shop style ( I live in San Diego and we have authentic Mexican food here. I grew up with my grandmother making tortillas and beans everyday as a staple food. ) I’m making a cookbook for my six year old daughter and this is going in it as a quick good main dish. We already make chicken enchiladas using leftover meat from a whole chicken but somehow forgot about plain old cheese enchiladas. If you don’t mind I am going to add this to the book. On a side note, to quicken things up you can microwave the tortillas to save time ( I avoid using the microwave most of the time but it works). Thank you 🙂
Nancy White says
Try la Margarita in Fountain Square. Best food. Especially the el toro with cheese
Lauren says
Hi Lauren, was wondering if these enchiladas could be made ahead and frozen, and if so, before or after baking? Thanks! Excited to try these!
Lauren 😊
Lauren Allen says
Yes that would work. Freeze for up to 2-3 months. Bake from frozen for about 1 hour, covered, at 350 degrees F. Uncover and bake an additional hour or so, until hot and bubbly.
Mibo says
Looks really good. Never knew it was this easy. I will need to add chicken to this to really enjoy it. I don’t doubt the flavors are there but the carnivore in me will not be satisfied. LOL