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Enchiladas w/ Pinto Beans, Spanish Rice, & Roasted Potatoes

Enchiladas w/ Pinto Beans, Mexican Rice, & Roasted Potatoes

These Enchiladas consist of habanero pinto beans, flaming jade & mariachi pepper Mexican rice, sautéed potatoes, homemade crema, and tomato salsa. This recipe is also vegetarian and gluten free. You can add or subtract meat or seafood. As well as omit or substitute the cheese and crema for a vegan alternative. They're a great recipe to set out all of the ingredients and then let people assemble their own.
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Prep Time 15 minutes
Cook Time 20 minutes
Total Time 35 minutes
Course Main Course
Cuisine American, Latin American, Mexican
Servings 8 servings

Equipment

  • Oven
  • Baking Dish

Ingredients
  

Pinto Beans

  • 5 habaneros minced
  • 1/4 yellow onion minced
  • 3 cloves garlic minced
  • dash cumin
  • dash coriander
  • dash smoked paprika
  • dash salt
  • dash pepper
  • 2 tbsp. olive oil
  • 4 bay leaves
  • 1 lbs. pinto beans (~2 c.)
  • 5 c. water

Mexican Rice

  • 2 flaming jade peppers diced
  • 2 mariachi peppers diced
  • 1 medium tomato diced
  • 1/4 yellow onion diced
  • 3 cloves garlic minced
  • 2 bay leaves
  • dash cumin
  • dash coriander
  • dash smoked paprika
  • dash salt
  • dash pepper
  • 2 tsp. olive oil
  • 1 c. long grain white rice
  • 2 c. water or vegetable broth

Sautéed Potatoes

  • 1 lbs. Yukon gold potatoes diced
  • splash olive oil (~1 tbsp.)
  • dash salt
  • dash pepper
  • dash cumin
  • dash coriander
  • dash smoked paprika

Crema

  • 1 c. sour cream
  • 1 c. heavy whipping cream
  • 1 lime juiced

Salsa

  • 4 tomatoes quartered
  • 1/2 red onion quartered
  • 2 cloves garlic
  • 1 lime juiced
  • dash cumin
  • dash coriander
  • dash salt
  • dash pepper

Corn Tortillas

  • 3 c. masa harina
  • 1 c. HOT water divided ½ c. + ½ c.
  • 1 tbsp. olive oil (optional)
  • 1/8 tsp. salt (optional)

Enchiladas

  • 1 c. pinto beans
  • 1 c. Mexican rice
  • 1 ½ c. salsa
  • 1 batch corn tortillas
  • 6 oz. queso fresco crumbled
  • 6 oz. Oaxaca cheese shredded
  • 1/2 c. crema

Instructions
 

Prepare Ingredients

  • In order to make this entire recipe from scratch, you'll need to assemble a couple of things! If you're planning on making all of this, I would recommend starting with the beans (because they need to soak overnight) and ending with the corn tortillas right before you're planning on dinner (because they're more pliable warm). The entire process done at once would take about 3 hours, but all of these recipes can be made ahead of time over the course of a couple of days and you will have leftover beans and rice for future meals!
  • Cook Slow Cooker Pinto Beans w/ Habaneros & Garlic. I like this recipe better than opening a can of refried beans or actually having to go through the process of frying them! This does require some forethought, though, and takes 8 hours in a crock pot.
  • Mexican Rice w/ Flaming Jade & Mariachi Peppers takes about an hour and requires a rice cooker or stove. You can also easily create a different flavor profile or utilize the produce that you have on hand. I almost always keep a batch of rice or quinoa in the fridge for exactly this purpose.
  • Sautéed Potatoes w/ Cumin & Coriander take about a half hour to toss together. I'd highly recommend a cast iron skillet with a lid. You can mix and match the flavor profile, though, and add peppers, if you like.
  • For the hot sauce on this, I also used Salsa w/ Tomatoes, Red Onion, & Garlic. This recipe takes about half an hour and requires a food processor (optional) and a skillet on the stove.
  • Corn Tortillas w/ Masa Harina. This takes about an hour and only really requires masa harina and water. It's helpful to have a tortilla press, but you can use a rolling pin or even squish the tortillas between two baking dishes to flatten.
  • I also used Crema w/ Sour Cream, Heavy Whipping Cream, & Lime. This takes about 5 minutes of active preparation and then a couple of hours of sitting on the countertop. It's easy to substitute sour cream or Greek yogurt. Although it is also the simplest part of this dish and is absolutely worth it for just being sour cream, heavy whipping cream, and lime juice!

Assemble the Enchiladas

  • Preheat oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit.
  • Lightly oil a medium or large-sized baking dish.
  • Fill the tortillas about halfway with rice and beans.
    Make sure not to overfill, or they won't roll! It's also easier to do this while the tortillas are still warm. If they aren't pliable enough, wet them slightly and heat for about 30 seconds in the microwave or in a skillet on the stove over medium heat.
  • Roll into cylinders and place seem-side down in the baking dish.
  • Cover with enchilada sauce.
  • Optionally top with cheese and crema.
  • Bake for 20-25 minutes, or until the enchiladas are heated throughout. Serve immediately.
    Everything is already cooked, so you're more warming the enchiladas than actually cooking them!

Tips, Tricks, & Notes

  • Beware if you're substituting store-bought beans and rice, they aren't necessarily vegan. One of the key ingredients to a lot of restaurant and canned Mexican food is lard. I like to substitute vegetable broth to achieve a similar taste without adding animal products.