If you’re craving some really good Mexican food but you don’t want to spend hours in the kitchen, try these quick broccoli lentil enchiladas. The lentils cook fast and you can use frozen broccoli and pre-shredded cheese. So if you have some good enchilada sauce on hand, you can be eating in about 30 minutes!
Personally I love this simple, hearty plant-based version of enchiladas. I make them often for myself. But if you want to add meat and you have some taco meat or salsa chicken on hand, go for it.
For equipment, if you’re cooking for one (or a few more): you’ll want one (or two or four) small oven-safe dish(es) that are about 6 inches long and 3 – 5 inches wide, with a bit of depth to them. I have three of these dishes that I found at a thrift store and we use them ALL the time.
While I prefer my higher-fiber, veggie-packed plant-based enchiladas, my house-mates like chicken enchiladas or chicken and bean enchiladas. The great thing about having individual dishes is everyone can have the kind of enchiladas they prefer and it’s really not any more effort (as long as you have the filling ingredients on hand). Which we pretty much always do.
We make big batches of salsa chicken in my Instant Pot so we have ready-made chicken at the ready for enchiladas, taco salads, enchiladas and more. I also like to prep lentil taco filling on the weekends and keep it in the freezer in small containers so I can grab some anytime. I do the same with my Instant Pot Beans, then turn them into refried beans whenever the urge strikes.
What’s the key to good broccoli lentil enchiladas?
The key to this recipe is a really good enchilada sauce. If you have an enchilada sauce that you just love, use that. If you’re looking for a good recipe and you prefer a red sauce, my fire-roasted red enchilada sauce is amazing. For a green sauce, I’d recommend my green tomato enchilada sauce. If you like the bite of sour lime flavor, you’re totally going to love the green sauce! Both of my sauces can be customized to your own comfort level in terms of heat/spice. Also, you can either freeze or can them. Because it’s just so awesome to have homemade enchilada sauce on hand.
For an even simpler version of red sauce, I’ve started to lean towards this one from Gimme Some Oven. When I make it, though, it’s more of a mix between my red sauce recipe above and Gimme Some Oven’s sauce. Because we garden, we always have fresh or frozen peppers on hand, so why rely on dried/powdered ones?
I hope you try these delectable plant-based enchiladas. It might sound odd putting broccoli in enchiladas, but trust me, it totally works! I got the idea from a really good local enchilada shop that makes broccoli cheese enchiladas on Fridays. (Their regular menu is super simple. All they make is enchiladas, so when you order it’s simply beef or chicken, one or two.)
Print
Broccoli Lentil Enchiladas for One
- Prep Time: 5 min
- Cook Time: 20 min
- Total Time: 25 min
- Yield: 1 serving 1x
- Category: Dinner
- Method: Baked
- Cuisine: Mexican
- Diet: Gluten Free
Ingredients
For 2 enchiladas:
- 2 corn tortillas
- 2 – 4 Tablespoons lentil taco filling (recipe here)
- 2 – 4 Tablespoons frozen broccoli florets , thawed & chopped
- Optional: 1 – 2 Tablespoons sweet corn
- 1/4 cup (or more) of shredded Mexican cheese
- About 1/2 cup enchilada sauce (Homemade is best! Choose red or green)
- Garnish: chopped cherry tomatoes, avocado, cilantro
Instructions
- Preheat the oven or toaster oven to 350 F. Spritz both sides of the tortillas with avocado oil spray or lightly brush with oil. Set on a plate and microwave for 30 seconds on high to soften them.
- Pour a bit of enchilada sauce on the bottom of the baking dish and use a spatula to coat the bottom.
- Spoon some lentil taco filling, broccoli and corn down the middle of one tortilla. Sprinkle with cheese and spoon a bit of sauce down the center if you like. Roll it up and set it seam side down in the prepared dish. Repeat with the other tortilla.
- Spoon sauce over top to completely cover the tortillas, then sprinkle the top with more cheese. Bake for 20 minutes or until the cheese is good and melty. Garnish with avocado, tomato and/or cilantro if desired. Enjoy!
Notes
It’s best to start with warmed filling and sauce ingredients, but I have also made these with cold sauce and it worked okay. You might need to increase the baking time in that case.
RECIPE SOURCE: Sumptuous Spoonfuls – https://www.sumptuousspoonfuls.com/ … © Copyright 2022, Sumptuous Spoonfuls. All images & content are copyright protected. Please do not use my images without prior permission. If you want to publish any of my images, please ask first. If you want to republish this recipe as your own, please re-write the recipe in your own words or link back to this post for the recipe.
Keywords: Broccoli, Lentil, Mexican, Enchilada, Cheese, Vegetarian, Gluten Free, Heart Healthy, Diabetic
