Mexican food on the whole is a pretty good balance of taste and cost.  We’ve already covered a few recipes–like our Taco Soup and our Chili and Cornbread recipes.  However, today we’re going to cover a tried and true staple of Mexican restaurants the world over: The enchilada.

Now the first thing I’ll do is give you a recipe for beef (or in my case, turkey) enchiladas.  Then I’ll teach you to make practically any enchilada you want. Period.

Ingredients:

• 1 can whole kernel corn (drained)
  
• 1 can black beans (drained and rinsed thoroughly)
  
• 1 can refried beans
  
• 1 pound ground beef or turkey
• 1/2 large onion, chopped
• 8 large flour tortillas
  
• Enchilada sauce
• Salsa
• Sour cream
• Cumin, Crushed Red Pepper, and other seasonings (i.e. what ever you want)
  

The Process:

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
2. In a large sauce pan, lightly saute your onions.
3. Add your raw hamburger meat (or ground turkey) to the onions, and continue browning.
   
4. Add spices to the meat as it browns.  When it is done browning, remove it from the heat and set it aside.
5. Lay out your tortillas on a clean, flat surface.
6. Begin by smearing a healthy amount of refried beans on each tortilla.  This will serve as the foundation of your enchiladas.
7. Next, add spoonfuls of meat, corn, and black beans to each tortilla.  Top off with some enchilada sauce.
   
8. Coat the bottom of a large casserole dish with enchilada sauce.
   
9. Roll each tortilla, and place it in the large casserole dish.  You now have enchiladas, and we’re almost ready to cook them.
10. Cover each enchilada in more enchilada sauce, and place the casserole dish in the oven for about 20 minutes.  All you really need to do is warm them up, so time is not a huge issue here.
    
11. When they’re done, remove them from the oven, and serve them with salsa, sour cream, or grated cheese.
    

Now, How to Make Any Enchilada You Want

Basically, we can follow the steps above, substituting any ingredients we want.  Here goes.

Vegetarian Enchiladas
Simply exchange the meat in the recipe above for some thawed and seasoned frozen vegetables.  Vegetarian enchiladas are very tasty (I actually made some at the same time I made the turkey enchiladas above).

Cheese Enchiladas
Hands down, cheese enchiladas are probably the easiest enchilada to make.  You don’t have to saute or defrost anything.  Just put some grated cheese in the middle of each tortilla, roll them up, put them in the casserole dish, cover with enchilada sauce (and more cheese, if you want), and let ‘em cook.  Cheese enchiladas are incredibly simple, and if you want any other ingredients in them besides cheese, just add them when you put the cheese in the tortilla.  Simple.

Chicken Enchiladas
I hope you see the running theme here by now, but if you don’t, let me explain: For chicken enchiladas, simply follow the recipe above, substituting shredded, cooked chicken for the ground beef or turkey.  That’s it! Simplest chicken enchilada recipe you’ll ever find.

Conclusion
Enchiladas are some of the cheapest, simplest dishes you can prepare.  1 pound of ground turkey costs about $2.  The tortillas, beans, and sauces will run you another $4.50-$6.50 (I consider the cost of spices, sour cream, and salsa negligible because so little is used), meaning you’re looking at approximately $6.50-$8.50 for enough food to feed 6-8 people.  In other words, you’re getting this meal for roughly $1 per person it serves.  That’s hard to beat!

What’s your favorite Mexican recipe?  Tell us what it is, and we’ll feature it on Cook on a Shoestring!

Filed under: Recipes

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