One of my favorite dishes to make with red chile sauce is this plate of New Mexico Red Chile Enchiladas. This is the dish that got me hooked on New Mexico cuisine when we moved here back in the 70’s. I learned how to make them right away and have been making them regularly ever since. A plate of these New Mexico Red Chile Enchiladas is one of my most favorite meals!
These enchiladas are as easy to make as a peanut butter and jelly sandwich as long as you already have the red chile. If you have the red chile made, it takes 15 minutes to prep and assemble, and an extra 2 minutes for each serving. Top it with a fried egg and you have yourself a hearty meal. It’s also a great use for some leftover chicken or turkey during the holidays.
Enjoy!
New Mexico Red Chile Enchiladas
A vegetarian red chile enchilada made restaurant style – one plate at a time. An easy prep and a quick microwave yield a spicy enchilada smothered in New Mexico red chile.
This recipe assumes that you have already made or purchased the red chile sauce.*
“*” See Kitchen Notes for more information or links to special ingredients.
- 6 corn tortillas
- 1 cup onion, finely chopped
- 1 can ripe black olives*, sliced (You may not need the whole can)
- 1/2 – 1 cup cooked turkey or chicken (optional)
- 1.5 cup Monterey Jack cheese, cheddar cheese, or both*, grated
- 2 cups 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 (toppings and optional)
- 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, (and chicken if using), another tortilla, onion, olive, and cheese, topped with the third tortilla and a little cheese, a few onion and olive slices. Smother with a little red chile.
Heat in the microwave on high on a rotating tray for 2 minutes. (Time depends on the wattage of your microwave. After 2 minutes the cheese should be melted and the sauce bubbly.)
- 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).
Red chile sauce – Make your own or purchase. Red chile comes mild, medium and hot. In order to taste the chile but still get a little burn, I normally choose medium spiciness.
If you don’t make your red chile sauce from scratch, 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” and not tomato. You can also purchase red chile sauce online from a variety of New Mexico chile product suppliers. If you can’t find red chile sauce, then a red chile enchilada sauce works. It’s not as good, but it still works.
The cheese is your choice. My standard is a mix of cheddar and Monterey Jack. Feta cheese, queso fresco, or cotija cheese also work quite well. They yield enchiladas closer to what I would call “Mexican” rather than “New Mexican”, but still 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 chile dipped tortillas and then smother them in the red chile.
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.
For another restaurant style, stack enchilada, check out these Green Chile Chicken Enchiladas.
More on New Mexico Chiles
Red or Green? and Christmas – Red and Green
Green Chile Burn Video and recipe for a Quick and Easy Green Chile Stew
I found your site yesterday while making red chile sauce. Now I know the difference between chili and chile; however, I got super confused this morning making these enchiladas and combined it with your huevos rancheros recipe. Since I was already confused, I slipped a slice of fried bologna under the egg and served it with a side of grits and lots of red chile sauce.
I did cook the onions some (got to use my annatto infused oil), which added a little sweetness to the enchilada.
Red jalapeño, green onion & cilantro garnish provided the finishing touches.
I’ll be doing this happy confusion again.
Oh my goodness!!! You’re confusion sounds great! Love the fried bologna idea and will have to try that one myself. And I’m sure the addition of the grits made a perfect side. Grits and chile is a fabulous combination! We had grits and green chile for breakfast this morning. 🙂 Thanks so much for your comment!!! If you have time, could you point out where you got confused? I’d like to clear it up in the recipe if possible. Thanks!
Ok, I really wasn’t confused over instructions. There were just too many tempting ideas. Half an order of enchiladas with one egg is a more realistic serving size, but I wanted the whole enchilada:)
Tonight I made an enchilada bar for my 3 college age boys and friends. I used homemade chile sauce, seasoned beef, refried beans, assorted grated cheeses, grilled onions, black olives, tomatoes and red & green jalapeños and corn tortillas. It was perfect for busy kids in and out of the house on a Friday night. Any stay-overs get left-overs with a fried egg in the morning.
An enchilada “bar”? Is that like a burrito or tostada? No matter what it is, the ingredients are wonderful! First, there is nothing like homemade chile sauce. And the grilled onion is a great addition. Did the boys stopped to say “Thanks Dad, these were awesome!”? 🙂
I spent my day yesterday roasting my a batch of chile. Made a green chile sauce and corn tortillas, then put together a batch of calabacitas enchiladas with some of my homegrown yellow squash and local corn. They were awesome! Not sure if you’ve tried them, but you should check them out since you seem to be an enchilada fan like me. 🙂 Have a great Sunday!
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This looks wonderful! It has my name written all over it…looks delicious! This could take eggs to a whole new level for me. What a great idea, MJ! Thanks for sharing!
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So glad you popped over to join in the Fiesta Fun. Ole!
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.
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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!
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!
Yum! Fantastic enchiladas! I love your suggestion to serve with a fried egg… Very unique!
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.
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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!
Those look so easy — not to mention delicious. I’m going to have to give that a try.
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!
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
My family would absolutley love this recipe! It looks so delicious! Thank you for sharing it with the Hearth and Soul Hop.
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
I love your red chille enchiladas, thanks.
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 know Robbie and Vance and he posted this great food i want to make it too
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. 🙂
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!
These look so incredibly good! I love the addition of the egg, this is the type of thing I enjoy for dinner!
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
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. 🙂
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!
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!
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!
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
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!
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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!
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.
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. : )
Beautiful plate of enchiladas, Mj! They make me want to dive right in. Have a great Sunday~
I never had an enchilada in my entire life, but this looks so good! Maybe it’s time for me to start eating enchiladas! 🙂
Oh drool!! That looks amazing!
*licks screen*
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! 🙂