Change up your brunch routine with these filling and perfectly spiced Black Bean Breakfast Enchiladas. They're vegetarian, full of plant-based protein, and also make for a delicious dinner!
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Life has been crazy lately. Take care of yourself and your family by baking up a healthy and delicious breakfast dish you can also serve later for dinner. These Black Bean Breakfast Enchiladas use a lot of pantry staples, come together surprisingly easily, and taste like the ultimate savory comfort food. Grab your beans, pantry spices, eggs, and mozzarella cheese and you'll have a healthy and delicious breakfast on the table in no time!
With all that's been going on with the coronavirus, it's been a struggle to stay positive. How do I know what to trust? How worried should I be? What level of social isolation should I go to? Are dinners out okay? Or should I stay inside even for that?
So many of the answers are so complicated and so personal. And so I step back, stay in, and just focus on what I can do -- what I can control -- to feel better about the situation.
In this process, I've come up with a list of what to do at home to make the most of this situation and keep my mind in a positive place.
One of the items on that list is cooking. It's physically nourishing and emotionally therapeutic -- and it reminds me of what I have to be grateful for in the present
And so, yesterday, worn out from the week, I decided to clear some time in the afternoon to get cooking. And cooking, I did.
Soon I had these black bean breakfast enchiladas, peanut butter brookies (coming soon!), and a big and hearty salad on the table. After, I felt like I did part of the little bit I can do -- keeping myself in a healthy headspace and feeding my family for now and with the leftovers to come. I hope you can do the same, and that your family and psyche thanks you for it, too.
These Vegetarian Black Bean Breakfast Enchiladas Are...
- Hearty
- Savory
- Cheesy
- Just-the-right-amount-of-spicy
- Rich in plant-based protein
- Easy to make
- Big enough to feed a crowd
- Full of fiber
They're the perfect combination of indulgent and healthy, gourmet and quick, savory and spicy. What else do you really want to eat when you're homebound for the immediate future?
Can I use flour tortillas for enchiladas?
Yes, you most definitely can use flour tortillas for enchiladas. Because it can be hard to find good quality corn tortillas I often go for a whole wheat and corn blended tortilla. This way, the tortillas are flexible enough to roll up but the tortillas still have a bit of that corn flavor that I love. You can always go with 100% flour tortillas if you prefer, though, too.
What do you put inside enchiladas?
It all depends on what kind of enchiladas you want to make, but you can put may different fillings in enchiladas. Shredded chicken and shredded beef are two popular fillings but in this enchilada recipe, I'm going a vegetarian brunch route and filling them with black beans, veggies, eggs, and cheese. Yum!
How do you make enchilada sauce from scratch?
It's a lot easier than it seems to make enchilada sauce from scratch. Here's how you do it:
- First - combine your chili powder, cumin, onion powder, garlic powder, salt, and flour in a small bowl while you heat up olive oil in a saucepan over medium heat.
- Second - add the spice mixture to the oil and whisk it in over the heat for about a minute, or until the mixture is fragrant. Don't stop mixing the mixture or it will burn.
- Third - whisk in your tomato paste and continue vigorously mixing for about another minute, or until the tomato paste is worked in.
- Fourth - add your vegetable or chicken broth to the tomato and spice mixture and bring the heat of the pan to medium-high. Bring the mixture to a boil while continuing to mix every 10-15 seconds or so.
- Fifth - once the mixture is to a boil, reduce the heat back to medium and continue cooking the sauce for 6-7 minutes, or until it is thickened up and a darker red color, making sure to whisk every 20-30 minutes.
Other healthy breakfast and brunch recipes you might enjoy:
- Mountain Breakfast Skillet
- Banana Double Chocolate Chip Pancakes
- Whole Wheat Belgian Waffles
- Diced Hash Browns
- Best Brioche French Toast
- Classic French Toast Recipe
- Gluten-Free Apple Blender Cake
- Crunchy Turmeric Granola
- Classic Coffee Cake (Two Ways!)
- Protein Breakfast Cookies
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Black Bean Breakfast Enchiladas (Vegetarian!)
The one of the best comfort foods made healthier, these Black Bean Breakfast Enchiladas are lower in fat and sodium than the traditional or pre-made options and are brimming with just as much flavor, zest, and melty cheese. Make these for your next brunch! See my notes below the reciipe for how to make them the night before.
Ingredients
- 1 ½ tablespoon olive oil
- 3 ½ tablespoon flour (any type -- all purpose, whole wheat, GF, etc. is fine)
- 4 teaspoon chili powder (or more/less, to your preference)
- 1 teaspoon dried cumin
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ¾ teaspoon onion powder
- ¾ teaspoon dried/granulated garlic
- 3 tablespoons tomato paste
- 2 cups veggie or chicken broth
- 1 ½ tablespoon olive oil
- ½ large white onion, cut into an ⅛" dice
- 1 large red pepper, seeded & cut into ¼" dice
- 1 large green pepper, seeded & cut into ¼" dice
- 3 garlic cloves, minced
- 1 14 oz. can black beans, drained and rinsed
- 1 cup sweet corn (frozen or canned; drained if canned)
- 4 jumbo eggs, gently whisked
- ⅛ teaspoon freshly cracked pepper
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ½ cup diced green onions (into about ⅛" coins)
- 8, 8" corn or flour tortillas (I like whole wheat and corn blended tortillas)
- 2 ¼ cup shredded part skim mozzarella cheese, divided
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
- Make the enchilada sauce: In a small bowl, whisk together the flour, chili powder, cumin, first ½ teaspoon salt, onion powder, and garlic powder.
- In a 2 or 2 ½ quart saucepan, heat 1 ½ tablespoons olive oil over medium heat until the oil sizzles when flicked with water.
- Whisk the flour mixture into the oil over the heat for about 1 minute, or until the flour mixture gets fragrant.
- Whisk in the tomato paste, and continue cooking over medium heat for one minute, whisking frequently.
- Add in the broth, increase the temperature to medium-high and whisk the sauce until the clumps of flour are dissolved and the sauce is boiling.
- Reduce the heat to medium and continue simmering the sauce for 6-7 minutes, whisking the sauce every 30 seconds- 1 minute, until the sauce is thick and a darker red color. Remove the sauce from the heat.
- Make the enchilada filling: heat the second tablespoons and half of the olive oil in a large non-stick saute pan over mediium-high heat until it sputters when flicked with water.
- Add the onions and peppers to the oil and cook for 5-6 minutes, stirring about every minute or so, until the onions are getting translucent.
- Stir in the minced garlic and cook, stirring consistently, for 1 minute or until nice and fragrant.
- Add the black beans, corn, and second ½ teaspoon salt to the saute pan and cook for 1-2 minutes, stirring frequently, or until the corn and beans are heated through.
- Add the gently whisked eggs to the pan and cook for 3-4 minutes, gently stirring the mixture every 30 seconds or so, or until the eggs are cooked through.
- Remove the pan from the heat and stir in the cracked pepper and green onions.
- Assemble the enchiladas: spoon ½ cup enchilada sauce into the bottom of an 8 X 13 cake pan (I prefer to use glass). Spread the sauce evenly over the bottom and about 1.5-2 inches up the side.
- One at a time, add about ¾ cup of the bean filling to each tortilla. Sprinkle the filling with about 1-2 tablespoon cheese.
- Wrap the tortilla up over the filling and then place, seam side down, in the enchilada sauce in the baking pan.
- Repeat steps 15 & 16 until all 8 tortillas are filled and in the pan.
- Spoon the remaining enchilada sauce over the filled tortillas, spreading it around until the tortillas are covered with the sauce.
- Sprinkle the remaining cheese evenly over the enchiladas and tightly cover the baking dish with aluminum foil.
- Bake the enchiladas covered for 20 minutes. Remove the foil from the pan and bake another 10-12 minutes, or until the cheese is totally melted, the sauce is starting to bubble around the sides, and the edges of the tortillas are starting to crisp up and turn golden.
- Remove the enchilada bake from the oven and serve up hot. Enjoy!
Notes
Use the amount of chili powder that best suits your taste and the spiciness of your powder. I like my sauce with a bit of a kick and have a more mild powder so I stick with 4 teaspoons of the powder.
The sauce and the veggies cook up pretty quickly. To keep the sauce from burning, I recommend making it first and then sauteing the veggie and black bean mixture. If you're confident with your multi-tasking abilities, you can start the veggies while the sauce simmers, but I recommend making sure you have everything measured out and cut up ahead of time for the best chances of success.
Leftovers store covered in the fridge for 4-5 days. I don't recommend freezing the cooked enchiladas.
To make these enchiladas ahead of time: assemble the sauce and enchiladas. Add the sauce to the baking pan and layer the filled tortillas in as directed in the recipe. Cover the pan with foil or plastic wrap and refrigerate up to 24 hours, or until baking. Refrigerate the sauce, too. When getting ready to bake, remove the foil or plastic, warm the enchilada sauce at 50-60% heat in the microwave, and then spoon it over the enchiladas. Then sprinkle with cheese and bake according to the recipe, possibly adding a minute or two to the baking time.
Nutrition Information
Yield
8Serving Size
1Amount Per Serving Calories 367Total Fat 10gSaturated Fat 2gTrans Fat 0gUnsaturated Fat 8gCholesterol 99mgSodium 941mgCarbohydrates 51gFiber 9gSugar 9gProtein 23g
This nutrition breakdown is just an estimate of the nutritional value of this recipe and cannot be taken as facts. The owners of Mae's Menu are not nutritionists or dieticians and therefore cannot be held accountable for this nutrition estimate. Please contact your nutritionist or medical professional for a nutritional breakdown of this food. Furthermore, this food is not intended to prevent, diagnose, cure, or treat any disease.
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