Enfrijoladas (Tortillas in Bean Purée)

Enfrijoladas, or tortillas in bean purée, is a dish that is a sibling to it's more popular version: enchiladas. The difference: instead of using dried chiles for the sauce, we use pureed black beans to create a luscious and flavorful sauce. These puréed heirloom black beans coat freshly made blue corn tortillas before they’re gently filled with queso fresco and topped with your favorite salsa, more crumbled queso fresco and torn cilantro leaves. It's incredibly flavorful and delicious!

It's a winner of weeknight dinner idea and I'm confident you'll love it too.

What Makes Enfrijoladas So Delicious:

1. Flavor packed: if cooking beans from dried, you can pump up the volume with flavorings to include jalapeños, garlic, and onion. This will help the sauce enhance its flavor as it's the foundation to making this dish sing.
2. Simple ingredients: Two ingredients are primary to this dish: tortillas and beans. That's about it. Even with added seasonings, you're looking at a modest amount of ingredients to amp up the flavors that make this a comforting and delicious meal.
3. Economical and budget friendly: Beans are an incredibly economical pantry staple. Couple that with corn tortillas and you've got a budget friendly, vegetarian meal idea that definitely gives MDE (Main Dish Energy).

(See my previous reel for the slow simmered black beans featured here.) 

Final note, to make this vegan friendly: swap the cheese for finely diced sautéed veggies like zucchini, potatoes, and diced poblanos. 

How to Make Enfrijoladas

Making Enfrijoladas requires few ingredients and can be ready in 40 minutes or less. Here's how we make them:

• First, we warm cooked black beans in a bit of oil in a large skillet. Once warmed, we'll mash the beans to break them up and begin creating our sauce. We'll use some stock to thin it out a bit before coating our tortillas.

More Vegetarian and Vegan Mexican Dinner Ideas

Looking for more dinner ideas? Check out some of our favorites here:

• Vegan Mexican Sopes
• Shishito Rellenos

Let me know if you make this recipe by tagging me on Instagram. I can’t wait to see what you make!

In the meantime, cheers to the next nourishing meal. ❤️

Enfrijoladas (Tortillas in Bean Purée)

Frances Kellar

This dish is akin to enchiladas except in this version pureed black beans serve as the primary ingredient that beautifully bathes freshly made blue corn tortillas in a flavorful sauce before they’re gently filled with queso fresco and topped with your favorite salsa, more crumbled queso fresco and torn cilantro leaves. 

5 from 1 vote

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Prep Time 20 minutes mins

Cook Time 20 minutes mins

Course Main Course

Cuisine American, Mexican

Servings 4 servings

Equipment

• 1 comal or griddle
• 1 high-performance blender

Ingredients

  

1x2x3x

• 2 tablespoons lard or cooking oil rendered bacon fat, or neutral cooking oil of choice
• 2 cups cooked black beans in broth you may also use one 15-ounce can of black beans
• 1 to 2 cups vegetable broth or water
• 9 corn tortillas + oil for frying
• 1 cup crumbled queso fresco plus more for garnish
• Kosher salt and ground black pepper to taste
• Garnish options: pickled red onion torn cilantro leaves, salsa, queso fresco or cotija

Instructions

 

• In a large skillet, heat 2 tablespoons of cooking fat over medium heat and add beans, broth, and 1 cup of vegetable broth or water. Once beans are warmed through, begin to mash. One initially mashed up, scoop bean mixture into a blender pitcher and blend on medium-low speed until smooth and creamy. Return the purée to the skillet to keep warm on very low simmer. Add more broth or water as needed, a couples tablespoons at a time, to keep purée smooth and not too thickened.
• In a small skillet over medium-high heat, heat oil until it begins to shimmer and a tiny piece of tortilla begins to bubble up when dipped in the hot oil. Using tongs, dip a tortilla to fry for about 2 seconds on each side, then transfer to the bean purée in the large skillet.
• Coat each tortilla well on both sides with bean purée. Place on an individual plate, sprinkle with a little crumbled queso fresco or sautéed veggies, then gently fold in half. Repeat with the remaining tortillas, allowing 2 to 3 tortillas per serving. Top with a bit more crumbled queso fresco, salsa, and torn cilantro leaves, if you like. Enjoy immediately.

Notes

To make this vegan, swap the cheese for a mix of finely diced sautéed vegetables such as zucchini, potatoes, or diced peppers. 

Keyword vegetarian recipes, tortillas, enfrijoladas, refried beans

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