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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Recipe
Cheese Enchiladas
Ingredients
- 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
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
- Warm corn tortillas on a hot skillet for a few seconds on each side.
- Pour ¼ cup of the enchilada sauce into the bottom of a 9x13'' pan. Fill each corn tortilla with a handful of cheese (reserving about ½ 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 ½ 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.
Notes
- Bean and Cheese Enchiladas: Add a scoop of my Homemade Refried Beans in the tortilla with the cheese.
- Chicken and Cheese Enchiladas: Check out my Loaded Chicken Enchiladas!
- Cheese Enchiladas with Green Sauce: Swap out the red enchilada sauce for green enchilada sauce.
Nutrition
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Have you tried this recipe?!
RATE and COMMENT below! I would love to hear your experience.
If you make them in advance do you still put the sauce in the pan first? Wouldn’t they get soggy?
You can just spray the bottom of the pan lightly with cooking spray, add the enchiladas, and reserve the sauce to add separately, later.
Lauren, I haven’t tried your recipe yet, but after baking this, would it be possible to freeze the leftovers for extra meals? There are only two of us in my household.
Yes, you can freeze these after baking OR freeze the portion you plan to save before baking and bake them later!
Cotija cheese is not available here – can Monterey Cheese be used instead
The Cotija is optional. If you can’t find any the closest substitute is feta but you can also leave it off. Enjoy!
Could these be rolled ahead of time and placed in refrigerator until ready to cook?
Absolutely! We hope you love them as much as we do!
Delicious enchilada sauce. Loved the way they turned out. I did have a problem with the enchiladas tearing as I wrapped them.
The sure-fire way is to soften each corn tortilla in a small skillet with a quarter-inch of warm canola or other mild oil in it. Put a tortilla in the oil for a few seconds, then drain the tortilla on a paper towel. Repeat.
You also can try steaming them in the microwave, wrapped in moistened paper toweling, but the results are not guaranteed as they are with the oil-in-skillet method.
Ready to rock this recipe. I feel confident after carefully reading your instructions. Will make an additional batch with left over turkey shredded of course. Thanks
love your recipes and thank you for sharing
Your recipes are awesome Lauren ! Thank you ! I have tried several and have been winners with family !
In the recipe it says corn tortillas, but in the video, flour tortillas are used. Are they interchangeable in this recipe? I know that corn tortillas are more authentic.
Thanks.
Yes, you could use either–I suggest corn.
Wow! What a winning meal…made these enchiladas tonight with your homemade enchilada sauce and your Mexican rice recipe. Got rave reviews by both vegetarian daughter and meat-loving husband. Thank you!
Jane, the enchilada sauce is made of beef broth. What did you substitute for you vegetarian daughter. I also do not meat and would love to make this
Use vegetable broth instead!
soupsonline.com has beef broth that is vegan and actually has no beef. My son is vegan and he loves it 🙂
Simple, delicious and it looked pretty; who could ask for more?
I absolutely will make again.