As someone whose family has lived in Arizona for almost 150 years, I’ve spent my entire life making, eating and deeply enjoying Mexican Food. Cheese Enchiladas are one of my all time favorite foods, and you’ll be shocked how easy these ones are to make.
Gooey melted cheese and flavorful red enchilada sauce are baked into a hot and bubbly Mexican dish that you’ll be thrilled to serve to family and friends. With just a few ingredients and about half an hour time, this is a meal you will make on repeat!
You’ll Love Cheese Enchiladas
This is one of those recipes that looks and tastes like you spent hours on it, when in reality it couldn’t be quicker and easier to make. Tested, tried and true, readers love these cheese enchiladas – the five star ratings and comments speak for themselves!
What I Love:
- Just Three Ingredients – Does it get any easier? Corn tortillas, shredded cheese and enchilada sauce are all you need!
- On The Table in 35 Minutes – You can throw this together in minutes, then into the oven it goes to bake until cheesy, saucy and bubbly.
- Picky Eater Approved – Even my picky eaters LOVE this dish. You can adjust the heat level with the enchilada sauce you use.
- Flexible – While I love to make homemade enchilada sauce for this recipe, you can absolutely pick some up from the grocery store.
- No Frying – While some recipes have you fry the tortillas prior to use, I have a different method that lets you avoid the frying pan.
I never fill out recipe reviews, but this one had to be done! I’ve made this so many times and everyone loves it! It’s almost become “my thing” I hate to take credit for it haha! You HAVE to make the enchilada sauce though, that’s the best part and so easy! Thank you!!!!
Ingredients You’ll Need
This is a discussion about the ingredients. For the actual recipe with amounts, please see the recipe below.
- Red Enchilada Sauce – I use my trust homemade Red Enchilada Sauce recipe for this, but you can absolutely buy store bought. My favorite store bought option is the Macayo’s Red Enchilada Sauce. If that’s not available I recommend Hatch Red Enchilada Sauce. Both of these sauces are a bit thicker than some other options.
- Cheese – My personal favorite is a blend of Colby Jack and Monterey Jack. You can also use Cheddar. The important thing is you really need to grate this yourself. The cheeses that come pre-grated are coated in an anti-caking agent. This keeps the cheese from sticking together in the bag, but it also makes it harder to melt the cheese and get it to blend together into the smooth, creamy texture you want here.
- Corn Tortillas – While I LOVE a flour tortilla, they just get gummy in enchiladas. Trust me, I’ve tried it – multiple times. Corn tortillas are the way to go. You can use yellow or white corn tortillas, but I use the traditional yellow ones. I typically use 6″ tortillas, but you can use a smaller or larger size as well.
How To Make Cheese Enchiladas
This is a discussion about how this recipe is made. For the actual recipe with full details, please see the recipe below.
Step 1: Warm tortillas.
Step 2: Fill with cheese, roll and place into pan.
Step 3: Top with enchilada sauce.
Step 4: Finish with more cheese and bake.
Christi’s Tips For Success!
My Method: While frying each tortilla in oil or dipping every tortilla into sauce before assembling are common methods, I don’t love frying or messy fingers. I’ve found a shortcut that I think works well enough that I barely notice the difference.
How I Prep Tortillas and Assemble Enchiladas: Place eight tortillas on a microwave safe plate, cover with a very damp paper towel, and microwave for 20 seconds. After removing from the microwave, keep covered with damp paper towel. You can even add a traditional kitchen towel over the damp towel to help hold the heat in. Warming the tortillas helps keep them from breaking when you roll them! After that they get a generous covering of enchilada sauce.
Cheese Matters: I can’t stress this enough, grate your cheese yourself. I know, the bagged pre-shredded cheese is so much easier, but I promise the better melting of freshly grated is worth it.
Enchilada Serving Suggestions
Cheese Enchiladas are delicious topped with sour cream and guacamole and served with a side of Mexican Rice and Refried Beans.
For a full fiesta just like at a Mexican restaurant, start with some nachos or chips and salsa. Don’t forget a pitcher of Margaritas and finish up with some Fried Ice Cream or Churros to complete the meal.
More Mexican Food Recipes
If you love these Cheese Enchiladas, you’ll want to check out some of my other favorite Mexican Food Recipes!
Cheese Enchiladas
Ingredients
- 16 oz Red Enchilada Sauce (enchilada sauce recipe is the amount needed for this recipe)
- 8 corn tortillas (Approximately 6" size)
- 3-4 cups Freshly grated shredded cheese (Monterey Jack, Colby Jack or Cheddar)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Set aside one cup of the shredded cheese to use as a topping.
- Place eight tortillas on a microwave safe plate, cover with a damp paper towel, and microwave for 20 seconds. After removing from the microwave, keep covered with damp paper towel.
- Pour approximately 1/4 cup of enchilada sauce into the bottom of a greased 7×11 inch pan.
- Sprinkle a handful of cheese onto a warmed corn tortilla, then roll tortilla up tightly. Place into the sauce in the pan, seam side down. Repeat with remaining tortillas and cheese.
- Pour remaining enchilada sauce evenly over the top. Sprinkle with remaining one cup of cheese.
- Bake for 20-25 minutes or until cheese is melted and sauce is bubbling. If desired, top with sour cream. Serve immediately.
Video
Notes
Nutrition
The nutrition facts provided are calculated using a third-party tool and are estimates only. Actual nutritional content may vary based on the ingredients and brands you use, as well as portion sizes. For accurate results, please consult a registered dietitian or nutritionist.
Meet Christi, Love From The Oven
I’m Christi I love sharing easy & delicious recipes that your family & friends will love. I’m a mom, baker, cookbook author and lover of sprinkles.
Just by reading this article, it made me want to make these enchiladas tonight. So I’m making them!!
These were the best enchiladas I’ve ever made. I made your homemade sauce recipe. My sauce was delicious! I had no idea how easy enchilada sauce is! I served with cilantro lime rice.
Wow, thank you so much for the kind review!
I made these last night & my whole family enjoyed them very much. The only change I made to save a little time was I used a can of enchilada sauce & to the sauce I added a can of tomato sauce. It turned out very well.
I make mine with cream cheese & shredded cheese for the filling
Please send me your Red Enchilada Sauce Recipe!
My email address is Carolyn_1957@yahoo.com.
Thank you🥰💖💕
You can find the link to my enchilada sauce recipe in this post twice (look for the blue text), and here it is again: https://www.lovefromtheoven.com/easy-red-enchilada-sauce/ Also, the search function can help you find any recipes on the site as well. Enjoy!
Made these last night. We all thought they were delicious. My husband and I ate them for lunch again today and I think they were even better!
These cheese enchiladas with the red enchilada sauce recipe was excellent! Everyone of my 3 boys LOVED them. Both of these (cheese enchiladas and the red enchilada sauce) are definitely keepers.
Thank You!
Amazing I made it all. Better than restaurants
I made this tonight and it was absolutely delicious!! I’ve tried a few cheese enchiladas recipes and this one was hands down, the best I’ve had. I also made your red enchilada sauce which I also highly recommend making along with these enchiladas. Thank you so much for a great recipe!
Andrea, I’m so glad you enjoyed it!
Thanks for inexpensive recipes with every-day ingredients most have on hand. And being pretty easy does not hurt either.