Spinach and cheese enchiladas are a healthier twist on a Mexican favorite. Spinach and cheese filling wrapped in a corn tortilla and doused with an authentic red enchilada sauce.
When I got into my teen years, after attempting and failing to make Mexican rice many times, I chartered into making my favorite Mexican dish – cheese enchiladas. Thankfully, making enchiladas wasn’t nearly as frustrating as making Mexican rice, but it was a task nonetheless.
It came down to the sauce and the tortillas. My homemade red enchilada sauce will blow any store-bought sauce out of the water and is neck and neck with only the most authentic kitchens.
Using corn tortillas is a MUST. Flour tortillas will produce gummy and doughy enchiladas. Corn tortillas absorb the sauce and practically melt in your mouth!
For the filling, you can use whatever you’d like. In the past, I’ve filled them with only cheese, cheese and shredded chicken, but today, I’m sharing Spinach and Cheese Enchiladas.
It is important to always, always, always cook corn tortillas before using them. This goes for all recipes calling for corn tortillas, not just enchiladas. Even if they’re only being served on the side.
Cook the tortillas in a dry skillet over medium heat. Heat one side, then flip over and heat the other side. When the tortilla has opaque white spots and some brown spots, it’s ready.
In the still hot skillet, but with the heat on low, add the sauce just to warm it up. Coat each tortilla in the sauce and spoon the spinach and cheese mixture down the center. Roll it up and transfer to a baking dish.
Once you’ve filled the baking dish, cover the enchiladas with more sauce and top with cheese.
Cover with foil and bake until the cheese has melted to gooey perfection.
Enjoy with a side of pico de gallo, Mexican rice, or go crazy with nacho bites!
Spinach & Cheese Enchiladas
Ingredients
- 8 corn tortillas
- 1 cup enchilada sauce, divided (recipe below)
- ¼ cup water
- 3 cups fresh spinach leaves*, chopped
- 2 ¼ cups Mexican cheese blend, divided
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F and have ready a casserole or baking dish.
- Warm a nonstick skillet over medium heat. Cook the tortilla one at a time on both sides. When the tortilla has opaque white spots and some brown spots, transfer to a clean dish and set aside. Repeat with the remaining tortillas.
- In the same skillet over low heat add ½ cup of the sauce and mix in the water to thin out. Warm the sauce for about 2 minutes and then off the heat.
- In a medium bowl, combine the spinach and 2 cups of cheese.
- To assemble, coat both sides of a tortilla in the sauce. Let the excess drip off. Transfer the coated tortilla to a clean plate and add a few tablespoons of the spinach and cheese filling down the center. Tightly roll the tortilla. Transfer to the baking dish.
- Repeat with the remaining tortillas.
- Pour over the remaining enchilada sauce.
- Sprinkle with the remaining ¼ cup of cheese.
- Cover with foil and bake for 20 minutes until the cheese has melted.
Really loving all the color in your recipes :9
Thanks! Perks of procrastinating and shooting later in the day ;)
Mmm…I wish I had some of these in front of me right now! I’m definitely with you on team corn tortillas (for enchiladas, anyway), but I’m curious about the step in which you coat them in sauce – is this to help prevent the tortillas from cracking as you roll them up, or is this just for even flavor distribution? I’ve had trouble with cracking in the past, so I’m impressed with how beautifully yours turned out!
Hmmm…cooking the tortillas should soften them up enough so that you don’t have a cracking issue. I imagine that coating them gives them more flavor as you said. To be honest, during my research, I never really asked…it was just how my friends and their mothers were taught to make it :)
WowZers I cooked this for the kiddos and they obsofrickinglutley loved it!!! Would recommend! Make Sure to grab a glass of water cause oh boy this was a spicy one!! James and Avery couldnt stop eating these!!!
Awwww…I’m so happy they enjoyed them :D