Smoky Chipotle Enchiladas

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Hey babes,

So, I love to cook lots of different components for lunches and dinners. Pots of grains, roasted vegetables, soups and dips and sauces. But lately, I have been challenged to prepare dishes that can be made in one dish and cooked at location. The casserole method, if you will. And as I’ve mentioned before, growing up our go-to dishes were a mix of Southern tradition, staple Americana, and Tex-Mex. Naturally, to me, this can only lead to one logical conclusion: enchiladas.

Of course, when I conveyed this to my family and described the idea, my dad had only one question: No cheese?

My friends had an equally elegant answer to the dilemma: why not just use vegan cheese?

The problem with this, is we’re losing the whole-food part of WFPB through the vegan trees. While vegan cheese isn’t an animal product, it is a processed food, and yellow-light at best. Day in and out, I want the bulk of my diet to be green-light, and believe me, you can put together some unconventional plant foods to make some delicious meals. I’ve made tamales stuffed with shredded mushrooms and jackfruit pulled “pork” sandwiches. But sometimes, I like to go back to the basics, especially when I’m cooking for friends that are eager to learn but may be intimidated by hard-to-find or unfamiliar ingredients. For them, it’s simple, traditional plant-based meals with ingredients you can find in any grocery store. No tricks. No “hacks.”

Naturally, I had to go back to one of my oldest and most well-received (at least among my spicy, omnivorous friends) recipes and build from there: mole-flavored lentils.

Mole lentils was where this recipe journey began for me. It was the moment I wanted to eat something specific and delicious, but no recipe existed for what I wanted. The combination of the creamy texture of lentils and the smoky heat of chipotle peppers was the perfect foundation on which to build this new creation.

With all of the fillings sorted out, the only thing left was the sauce. I have a few go-to recipes that I’ll use (sans oil) for enchilada sauce, particularly the one from the incredible Beth over at Budgetbytes. But for this recipe, I wanted to tie the smoky flavor from the lentils into the sauce flavor as well, so I went hunting. I found almost exactly what I needed at My Frugal Adventures. I cannot take any credit at all for the recipe, but if you want it to taste like what I made, I omitted the oil spray, and also added about half a tablespoon of mole paste when I put in the spices. Do what your heart and taste buds tell you.

Lastly, avocado. Phew, where to start?

So, when I started this blog and eating plant-based, I was admittedly an avocado skeptic. I used it for sauces and dips, but if someone offered me avocado for a bowl or sandwich, I would either pass or take the tiniest sliver possible. A) I wasn’t the biggest fan of the taste and B) I was super afraid of the fat content. And while it is calorie dense compared to a lot of the foods you encounter in the WFPB diet, it is so good for you, and let’s be frank, freaking delicious. I can just think about that creamy, salty avocado taste and my mouth will start watering. Pavlov could run experiments. It’s a serious reaction.

But back to the health, avocado is chocked full of antioxidants and nutrients, and including it in a meal can help boost the absorption of antioxidants and vitamins from other foods. Additionally, avocado consumption has been associated with better health overall, which does kind of take the sting out of all the avocado toast jokes lobbed at millennials, huh? For this recipe, I used about half of a truly massive Haas avocado diced and sprinkled over the top before it went into the oven, and brought extra for guest preference.

So with everything else covered, the only remaining question is the tortillas. If you’re more traditional than I am and want to use corn tortillas, please do. I do that often as well. Or if you like a simpler, cheaper flour tortilla, no judgment. I’ve made this a few times with a variety of tortillas, and the one I like best is the one I use for everything: Xtreme Wellness wraps by Ole. They make bigger ones, but the 8 inch variety is easy to find in my area, and for 50 calories you get 11 grams of fiber, 5 grams of protein, and a stretchy texture that keeps them from ripping when you try to stuff them with enchilada goodness. Use what you want, but I highly recommend you try those.

That just about covers every corner of the map for this one. This has more prep than usual, but with the help of leftover rice and an instant pot, I can whip this whole thing up in under an hour (like when I’m getting ready in the morning, making breakfast and packing lunches), then stick it in a pan with foil, and throw it into the oven after work. This is great with a big salad, some more beans and rice, or homemade chips and salsa if you’re feeling dangerous, but I love that it is a full meal all by itself. Let me know what you would pair with it and what you think!