Christmas Enchiladas
This enchilada recipe features both red and green sauce! These vegetarian enchiladas are stuffed with fresh veggies, black beans and cheese.
Updated by Kathryne Taylor on August 29, 2024
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These red and green enchiladas are inspired by my trips to Santa Fe, New Mexico! I love visiting Santa Fe for my fill of saucy burritos, enchiladas and breakfast dishes. Whenever the server asks if I want red sauce, green sauce or both, the answer is always both. They call it Christmas-style or divorciadas (divorced).
Coming to you just in time for Christmas or Christmas Eve dinner, these enchiladas are a festive and delicious main dish. They’re stuffed with vibrant vegetables, spinach, black beans, and enough cheese to qualify as a holiday meal.
I’ve been keeping this recipe on reserve for the holidays, and I just now realized that I poured the enchilada sauce in the wrong fashion. In Santa Fe, they split the sauce down the middle of the enchiladas, so each enchilada features both red and green sauce. Although, my way may be a little easier to distribute (and you can always just eat two enchiladas to get one of each)!
Do as you wish—the ingredients and quantities will remain the same. You’ll find side dish suggestions to round out your meal below. Wishing you a healthy and happy holiday season!
Watch How to Make Christmas Enchiladas
Christmas Enchilada Sauce Notes
For this recipe, you’ll need to make both red sauce and green sauce. Both recipes are quite simple.
You can make double the enchiladas to use up both sauces (perfect if you’re serving a crowd) or simply freeze half of each for a future batch of Christmas enchiladas. Another option? Keep both in the fridge and drizzle them over improvised dishes like quesadillas and eggy breakfasts.
Enchilada Serving Suggestions
Round out your meal with any of the following side dishes:
- The Best Guacamole or Fresh Herbed Avocado Salad
- Cilantro Lime Brown Rice
- Easy Refried Beans
- Esquites (Mexican Street Corn Salad): Make this with frozen corn.
- Mexican Green Salad with Jalapeño-Cilantro Dressing
- Roasted Cauliflower (Four Ways!): Look for the Mexican flavor variation.
More Enchiladas to Try
You’ll love these vegetarian enchilada recipes on Cookie and Kate:
- Black Bean Sweet Potato Enchiladas
- Roasted Veggie Enchilada Casserole
- Spinach Artichoke Enchiladas
- Veggie Black Bean Enchiladas
Please let me know how your enchiladas turn out in the comments! I love hearing from you.
Christmas Enchiladas
This enchilada recipe features both red and green sauce! These vegetarian enchiladas are stuffed with fresh veggies, black beans and cheese. Recipe yields 10 enchiladas.
Ingredients
- ½ batch (1 cup) red enchilada sauce
- ½ batch (1 cup) green enchilada sauce
- 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
- 1 large yellow onion, cut into 2” long thin strips
- 2 medium red bell peppers, cut into 2” long thin strips
- ¾ teaspoon fine salt, divided
- 8 ounces Baby Bella mushrooms, cleaned and thinly sliced
- 5 ounces baby spinach
- 4 cloves garlic, pressed or minced
- 1 teaspoon ground cumin
- 1 can (15 ounces) black beans, drained and rinsed, or 1 ½ cups cooked black beans
- Freshly ground black pepper, to taste
- 4 ounces (1 packed cup) Monterey Jack cheese or pepper jack cheese (for extra kick)
- 10 corn tortillas
- Garnishes: Chopped red onion or radish or green onion, cilantro leaves and crumbled Cotija or feta cheese
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit. Lightly grease a 9 by 13-inch pan with olive oil or cooking spray.
- In a medium Dutch oven, warm the olive oil over medium heat. Add the onion, bell pepper and ½ teaspoon salt. Cook until the onion and pepper are tender, stirring occasionally, about 5 to 6 minutes.
- Add the mushrooms and remaining ¼ teaspoon salt. Continue cooking for 6 to 9 minutes, stirring often, until the mushrooms start to caramelize and stick to the base of the pan.
- Add the spinach in big handfuls, stirring after each. Cook until the spinach is wilted, about 2 to 4 minutes.
- Add the garlic and cumin and cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds to 1 minute. Remove the pot from the heat and stir in the black beans, followed by the cheese. Season to taste with salt and pepper as desired. Set the mixture aside to rest for a few minutes.
- Meanwhile, spread the tortillas across a large, rimmed baking sheet and bake just until they are warm and pliable, about two minutes. Stack the tortillas and wrap them in a clean tea towel to keep them warm.
- To assemble the enchiladas, pour ⅓ cup of each sauce into the base of the prepared baking dish (half on one side, half on the other). Gently spread each sauce over each half of the baking dish.
- Working with one tortilla at a time, spread about ⅓ cup filling down the center of a tortilla. Roll the tortilla around the filling, then place them snugly side-by-side in the baking dish with the seams down. Spread the remaining ⅔ cup red sauce over one-half of the tortillas (to match the red sauce in the base of the dish), and the remaining green sauce over the other half.
- Bake, uncovered, on the middle rack for 20 to 22 minutes, until the sauce is bubbling around the edges and the top of the enchiladas are turning a bit more matte than glossy. Garnish as desired, and serve.
Notes
Make it gluten free: Use certified gluten-free ingredients and follow the gluten-free variation for the red enchilada sauce.
Sauce quantity: You will use just ½ batch of each sauce. You could make double the enchiladas to use up all the sauce, or freeze the leftover sauces separately for a future batch of Christmas enchiladas.
Nutrition
The information shown is an estimate provided by an online nutrition calculator. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice. See our full nutrition disclosure here.
Great recipe
Thanks Kate for the inspiration. In the end, I just found a jar of salsa verde in the supermarket and spiced it up as per your recipe.
We served it with a chick pea and roasted veges salad.
Most excellent.