I know – you thought I was done with my chile series. Well – I have one more – for now. I just couldn’t end this series without posting my New Mexico Red Chile Enchiladas. We had these at a New Mexican restaurant right after moving to NM and I think it was that plate of enchiladas that got me hooked on NM food. I’ve been making these enchiladas for more than 30 years and I have to admit – it’s one of my most favorite meals!
This is a traditional New Mexico enchilada which is as easy to make as a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. It takes 15 minutes from start to finish when you’re making it for one and an extra 2.5 minutes for each additional serving. Top it with a fried egg and you have yourself a meal. Enjoy!
Onion and Cheese Red Chile Enchiladas Recipe
Ingredients for 2
Prep and Cook time: less than 30 minutes
You will need one microwaveable plate for each person.
Ingredients (for 2)
6 corn tortillas
1 cup onion, finely chopped
1 can ripe black olives, sliced (You may not need the whole can)
1.5 cup Monterey Jack cheese, cheddar cheese, or both
1 cup red chile sauce (make your own or store bought)
2 eggs, fried sunny-side up or overeasy and ready to place on top of the enchiladas when they come out of the microwave
Fresh tomatoes and lettuce, chopped (optional)
Instructions
- Pour red chile sauce into a wide bowl. Dip each tortilla in the red chile sauce as you plate it. This incorporates chile sauce into each layer and prevents the tortilla from drying out.
- For each serving, create layers of one chile dipped tortilla, then onion, olive, and cheese, another tortilla, onion, olive, and cheese, topped with the third tortilla and a little cheese, a few onion and olive slices. Heat in the microwave on high for 1.5 minutes*, rotate, microwave for another minute.
- Top with a sunny-side up or overeasy fried egg. You want the yolk runny so that is blends in and adds to the sauce. Surround with fresh tomatoes and chopped lettuce (optional).
*Time depends on the wattage of your microwave. After 2.5 minutes the cheese should be melted and the sauce bubbly.
Kitchen Notes
Red chile sauce – the heat. The last batch of chile sauce that I made was extremely mild. It was all flavor and very little to no heat. I know – everything is relative! 
Yes, I do like my food spicier than some, but let me say that I would have felt comfortable feeding these enchiladas to my 85 year old mother who doesn’t handle spice at all. Apparently, the ristra I had purchased was strung with mild chile; therefore, the resulting sauce was quite mild. So if you purchase your sauce and can’t handle the heat, look for “mild”; otherwise, go for whatever level of heat you enjoy.
If you don’t make your red chile sauce from scratch, you can purchase it. Some grocery stores carry red chile sauce in the ethnic section or in the frozen foods section. Just be sure that the first ingredient in the list of ingredients is “red chile pepper” and not tomato. You can also purchase red chile sauce online at New Mexico companies such as Bueno Foods, Albuquerque Tortilla Company, and New Mexico Chile Products. (Note: I do not endorse any of these companies nor do I prefer one company’s product over another because I’ve never taste-tested their products nor have been affiliated with any company.)
The cheese is your choice. I’ve used several different types of cheese and many different combinations. My standard is a mix of cheddar and Monterey Jack, but if I don’t have both, I’ll use what I have. Feta cheese also works quite well. It yields enchiladas closer to what I would call “Mexican” rather than “New Mexican”, and it’s quite tasty!
Stacked vs. rolled – As I mentioned in a previous post, I prefer my enchiladas stacked rather than rolled. However, if you like rolled enchiladas, you can always roll up some onion, olives and cheese in the tortillas and then smother them in the red chile sauce.
Multiple servings – You can easily make these enchiladas for more than two people by making a stacked enchilada casserole (kind of like a lasagne). In a rectangular casserole dish assembly 2 to 3 layers of chile dipped tortillas (3 to 6 tortillas per layer), onion, black olives, and cheese. Bake in the oven at 350° F (177 °C) for 25 minutes. To see a more detailed procedure for making stacked enchiladas, see the “Assembly” instructions for my Calabacitas Enchiladas.
New Mexico Chile Series
Part I – Red or Green? and Christmas – Red and Green
Part II – NM Red Chile: Recipes
Part III – NM Green Chile: Recipes and Green Chile Stew and a Video
Part IV – NM Green Chile Enchiladas
Part V – NM Red Chile Enchiladas
These New Mexico Red Chile enchiladas have been shared with the Hearth and Soul Blog Hop, Slightly Indulgent Tuesday, Full Plate Thursday, Meatless Monday, What’s Cooking Wednesday, Gluten-Free Wednesday, Tuesday’s Tasty Tidbits, Mangia Monday, Mouthwatering Monday, Katherine Martinelli’s Cinco de Mayo, Keep it Real Thursday, Melt In Your Mouth Monday, Just Another Meatless Monday, Made From Scratch Monday, Gluten-Free Friday, Clever Chicks
This recipe was featured on the following pages.
Yummly’s Nibbles and Bits – “Add Sizzle to Your Day with Southwestern Tex-Mex Cuisine“.
These enchiladas were the readers’ favorite @ Made From Scratch Monday.
There can never be too many chile recipes/posts! LOL. Could you imagine a world without chiles? They just provide so much flavor and spice that I can’t imagine not having…and there’s no substitute, really. Your enchiladas look great!!!
AMEN!
Oh drool!! That looks amazing!
*licks screen*
I never had an enchilada in my entire life, but this looks so good! Maybe it’s time for me to start eating enchiladas!
Beautiful plate of enchiladas, Mj! They make me want to dive right in. Have a great Sunday~
This looks fantastic. I have been researching enchiladas (never made them). I don’t want to use store bought sauce so I love that you made your own chili sauce! I love heat… so bring it on. : )
Oh my goodness….. I was just making my list for the grocery. Guess we will be eating enchiladas this week! – Great post – Hope you are well!
Megan
Hope you enjoy them Megan! Be sure to let me know how they turn out.
Looks wonderful – I’m thinking I might need to turn down the heat a bit though if your other posts are anything to go by (that previous one with the video… oh my!!) Beautiful enchilada – so colourful and fresh looking!
A fried egg on top? Yes please! This looks fabulous. My hubby would absolutely love it with the black olives. I would have to pick them off for myself but that just means more for him!
For some reason I’ve never thought to put egg on enchiladas…it’s genius! Love the quick and easy recipe – I could see how perfect a medium egg would be
I’m not sure where the egg on enchiladas originated (need to look it up), but it’s very common in NM. In New Mexican restaurants you can order an egg when you order just about any NM dish. I miss the egg when I forget to order it.
Thanks everyone for your feedback!
30 years? Let me continue this enchilada recipe for another 30 years! I don’t own a good enchilada recipe (or I should say I’ve never made enchilada at home), so this is perfect opportunity for me to make it.
You go for it!
It’s one of those recipes that has already been passed down from generation to generation. So keep it going!
We all love enchiladas MJ! I will definitely add this to my enchilada recipes! This sounds so awesome with the egg topping!
You know have the chiles to make the sauce from scratch!
Enjoy!
Big applause if this is your curtain call on the series because this enchiladas looks great. Perfectly plated and your choice of colors from the table cloth to the plate is perfect. That’s what I always believe, MJ — food photography is all about story telling and yours is working for me. Good job!
Thanks Ray!!!! I’m sure I’ll be back with several encores! I can never get enough chile.
Ohhh now my mouth is watering!!! Yummy spicy enchiladas!!! I love enchiladas, yet I have never made them at home. I have actually never cooked anything even close to Mexican food to my recollection, which is so weird as I am a big fan of Mexican food! I will have to fix that!!! Thanks for the inspiration MJ! <3
These look so incredibly good! I love the addition of the egg, this is the type of thing I enjoy for dinner!
these look so easy and delicious! and your series on chiles was great–i love them but always feel like i’m winging it when i buy them–you definitely cleared up some confusion on the types/heat for me. thanks!
MJ, the Red Chilie Enchiladas were more than good….they were Great, right up our alley. Robbie didn’t want egg until she tried a bit of mine and now that’s what she wants for breakfast. So easy we can make this anywhere there is a microwave. Is there any truth to the rumor that the microwave was invented in New Mexico for the purpose of cooking enchiladas????? I posted a picture of the finale product on Face book.
These enchiladas are definitely the reason why I will ALWAYS have a microwave! So glad you liked them! And yea – you gotta have the egg.
I know Robbie and Vance and he posted this great food i want to make it too
I love the way this dish looks bet it tastes that great too. Cant wait to try it
Gwen – I hope you do try it. It’s a staple in this house.
Thanks for stopping by!
I love your red chille enchiladas, thanks.
Hi MJ,
You sure brought those wonderful NM Enchiladas to the right Cottage. This is one of our favorite ways to eat Enchiladas, and your recipe looks delicious! Hope you are having a great week end and thank you so much for sharing with Full Plate Thursday.
Come Back Soon!
Miz Helen
My family would absolutley love this recipe! It looks so delicious! Thank you for sharing it with the Hearth and Soul Hop.
Enchiladas are a favorite in my house. So easy and filling and yummy all in one Yours look marvelous! Miriam@Meatless Meals For Meat Eaters
Don’t you worry about more chili posts. They are fabulous. This is going to be featured on My Meatless Mondays. I am so glad you share with us.
WOW! Thanks for featuring this Chaya!
Those look so easy — not to mention delicious. I’m going to have to give that a try.
Wow, this looks so good and I love that it is a microwave recipe!! Gonna have to try this one! Eggs, you say?….huh. Stopping by from Permanent Posies!
I hope you do give them a try! You won’t regret it. And yes – be sure to put a fried egg (with a runny yolk) on top! Thanks so much for stopping by!
Yummmmm! they look so good
Found you via Beyond the Peel’s Keep it Real Thursday. I linked in bacon and scrambled egg rolls. Have a super week.
Yum! Fantastic enchiladas! I love your suggestion to serve with a fried egg… Very unique!
Yum, yum! This would go so well on a cool evening
Thanks for sharing this week in our linky. Hope you have a great week!
These look great! Thanks for linking up at our Gluten Free Fridays party! I have tweeted and pinned your entry to our Gluten Free Fridays board on Pinterest!
See you next Friday! Next Friday one lucky blogger will be randomly selected to win a case of Planet Rice! Its yummy! Its gluten free, sprouted and grown in the US. You can link up to 3 entries! The more you link up the better you chances to win! (entries from US only) Cindy from vegetarianmamma.com
Thanks Cindy for all the air time!
What a great giveaway for next week! I’ll be sure to link up!
I’m pinning this. It looks fantastic! I would love it if you visited my new Gluten-Free Monday party at OneCreativeMommy.com and linked up this and any other idea you would like to share. I hope to see you there.
So glad you popped over to join in the Fiesta Fun. Ole!