Enfrijoladas

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Enfrijoladas are a Mexican staple made by dipping corn tortillas in creamy black bean sauce, stuffing them with your favorite fillings, and adding fresh garnishes. Enjoy them for a quick, easy, and healthy breakfast or main dish!

🤎 Why you’ll love this recipe

• Quick: You can prepare enfrijoladas in less than 30 minutes, making it a hearty option for busy mornings and weeknights. 
• Easy: No matter what your cooking experience is, this recipe is simple to make. Just blend, dip, and fill!
• Healthy: Enfrijoladas are packed with protein, fiber, vitamins, and minerals. It’s an extremely healthy meal for all ages!
• Customizable: With so many ways to customize this recipe, it’s great for all types of eaters! Switch up the beans, change the fillings, or even swap out the toppings. 

If you love enfrijoladas, you should really check out our enchiladas verdes, vegan birria tacos, or enchiladas potosinas. 

🫘 What are enfrijoladas?

Enfrjoladas are a traditional Mexican recipe made from stuffed corn tortillas and savory bean sauce. This dish is often served for breakfast, but you can enjoy it any time of the day!

Enfrijoladas literally translates to “in beans,” which is similar to another meal you’ve probably heard of — enchiladas (meaning “in chiles”). As the name suggests, it’s not the filling but the sauce that makes enfrijoladas unique from dishes like enmoladas or enchiladas rojas.

This recipe features earthy and creamy black beans, which are perfectly balanced by sweet potatoes and collard greens in the filling. Lightly fried corn tortillas hold up well to the sauce, resulting in tender, creamy, and smooth textures in each bite.

For more colors and textures, add garnishes like diced onions, cilantro, and vegan crema. Make enfrijoladas for yourself, or bring them to a potluck for friends and family to enjoy! This dish is also ideal for meal prep since the individual components can be made ahead of time and assembled at the time of serving.

📜 History

There have been many influences on Mexican cuisine over the years, but the main flavors stem from Mayan, Aztec, and Spanish cultures.

As hunter-gathers, the Mayans relied on a few staples — corn, beans, and fruit. Since finding a sufficient amount of wild game was a challenge, it’s thought that they often ate beans as a side with corn tortillas.

Even though the exact origins of enfrijoladas is unknown (due to a lack of written records dating that far back), it’s safe to say Mayans were eating some version of this dish a long time ago.

The more formal concept of wrapping corn tortillas around foods (like enchiladas or enfrijoladas) can be traced to the Aztecs.

🌱 Are enfrijoladas vegan?

There are many variations of enfrijoladas, depending on the region of Mexico you visit. At their basic level, only beans and corn tortillas are required. Here are a few things we watch out for to ensure they’re vegan-friendly:

• Tortillas: Look for tortillas that don’t contain lard, or make your own.
• Beans: Double-check the label to see if lard is listed as an ingredient.
• Cheese: With so many vegan cheese options, it’s easy to substitute Mexican cheese with a plant-based queso fresco or cotija.

🛒 Ingredients & substitutions

• Beans: You’ll achieve the best sauce consistency by cooking your beans from scratch. This recipe calls for black beans, but you can also use other bean varieties like Bayo or pinto.
• Corn tortillas: Freshly made corn tortillas offer the best flavor and texture, but store-bought corn tortillas will work in a pinch.
• Chipotles in adobo: We add chipotles for a slightly spicy, smoky flavor. You can also use guajillo, pasilla, or árbol chiles to switch things up.
• Sweet potato: For the filling. We use orange sweet potatoes, but you can replace them with regular potatoes, white sweet potatoes, or purple sweet potatoes.
• Collard greens: Also for the filling. Collard greens are one of our favorite vegetables to cook with for their high vitamin K content, texture, and flavor.
• Onion, garlic: Added to the sauce for zesty, umami, and savory flavors. Feel free to add more or less depending on your taste preferences.
• Oil: For frying the corn tortillas and seasoning the bean sauce. Use a neutral oil like canola, avocado, or sunflower.
• Salt: To enhance the other flavors. You can be fairly generous as beans need quite a bit of seasoning.

📝 How to make enfrijoladas

Step 1: Prepare the ingredients

Make your own corn tortillas, or use store-bought tortillas if you’re short on time. Wash and cube the sweet potato into small cubes (this will help reduce cook time). Quickly steam, then sauté them in a little olive oil.

Once the potatoes are cooked through, mix in your roughly chopped collard greens and let them wilt down. Lightly season the mixture with a pinch of salt to taste.

Step 2: Blend the sauce 

Add the cooked black beans, a bit of bean water, garlic, onion, chipotle peppers, and salt to a blender. Mix everything until you have a smooth consistency. You might have to add a little more liquid to thin the sauce out.

Step 3: Simmer the sauce

Heat a little olive oil in a saucepan over medium-low. Pour in the bean mixture and simmer it for a few minutes to meld the flavors together and thicken things up.

Step 4: Fry the tortillas

Lightly fry each tortilla for a few seconds per side, then drain the excess oil on a paper towel-lined plate. Note: The tortillas shouldn’t be too crispy since you still want to be able to fold them.

Step 5: Assemble the enfrijoladas

Dip the fried tortillas in bean sauce and stuff each one with a scoop of filling before folding them in half. Serve your enfrijoladas with more sauce on top, fresh white onion, cotija cheese, avocado, Mexican crema, and cilantro. Happy eating!

If you have questions about this vegan enfrijoladas recipe, check out our FAQs or leave a comment down below!

🧀 Toppings & fillings

Some of our favorite fillings for enfrijoladas include these options:

• Vegan chorizo
• Jackfruit carnitas
• Papas con chorizo
• Guacamole

Don’t forget the garnishes! Here are a few ideas:

• Cotija cheese or queso fresco
• Mexican crema
• White onions
• Cilantro
• Avocado
• Sauces like salsa roja, salsa taquera, or salsa verde

♻️ Variations

• Extra spicy: If you can take the heat, add more chiles to the sauce like habanero, árbol, or jalapeño.
• Non-spicy: Don’t add any chipotle peppers in adobo for a more mild flavor. 
• No fillings: If you want to make this meal quicker, skip the fillings or use whatever you have on hand.
• Other beans: Try preparing the sauce with pinto beans or Bayo beans for a lighter flavor and even creamier texture.
• Oil-free: For a healthier version, skip frying the tortillas completely. They may turn out a little soggier but delicious nonetheless.
• Protein: Add tofu or even vegan chicken for a protein-packed version.

🍽️ How to eat enfrijoladas

Enfrijoladas are meant to be eaten right away since the bean sauce will dry out the longer it sits. It’s easiest to use a fork and knife to eat them, but don’t worry about getting messy! Just fill and fold (or roll) the tortillas, add more bean sauce and garnishes, and dig in!

🌡️ Storage & reheating

Enrijoladas work well for meal prep because they can be made quickly, packed for lunch, or frozen for a later date. Follow these tips to make sure they last:

• Fridge: You can keep everything in your fridge in an airtight container for up to 3-5 days. Make sure to store your bean sauce separately from both the fillings and the tortillas.
• Freezer: We recommend storing each component of this recipe separately in your freezer. Let the bean sauce cool, then keep it in an airtight container or freezer-safe bag for up to 12 months. The sweet potato mixture will keep in your freezer for up to 6 months. Refer to our corn tortilla post for specific freezer instructions.
• Reheat: To reheat enfrijoladas, place them in a casserole dish covered with aluminum foil. Bake for 10-15 minutes at 350 degrees F, or until warmed through.

🧑‍🍳 Top tips

• Fry the tortillas: Lightly frying the corn tortillas helps enhance the flavor and texture of this meal.
• Adjust the consistency: You’re looking for the consistency of a thick soup. Keep adding more liquid until you achieve it. You can save some of the cooking water from the beans or use vegetable broth to thin the sauce.
• Don’t forget to season it: Cooking down the blended sauce helps to deepen the flavors. Don’t skip it!
• Use garnishes: Mexican foods are almost always served with a healthy portion of garnishes. Try to use at least one or two from the ingredient list.
• High-speed blender: Use a high-powered blender or food processor to ensure the sauce turns out as smooth as possible. 
• Don’t overstuff the tortillas: Don’t fill the tortillas too much or they will break apart when you fold or roll them.

💬 FAQ

🍴 Similar recipes

If you enjoyed vegan enfrijoladas recipe, take a peek at some more hearty recipes like these:

• Sweet Potato Quesadillas: Sweet potato and black bean quesadillas served in corn tortillas.
• Empanadas: A corn-based antojito stuffed with plant-based carnitas and cheese.
• Chilaquiles Verdes: Crispy corn tortilla chips bathed in spicy green salsa and topped with fresh garnishes.
• Vegan Breakfast Casserole: A hearty make-ahead dish perfect for weekend brunches, holidays, and everything in between.

Note: We’ve updated this post to include new information and helpful tips about the recipe.