Vintage Vegetarian Enchilada Casserole – Easy Tex-Mex Dinner For Two

 

Discover a delicious and easy Enchilada Casserole recipe—perfect for two! Packed with Tex-Mex flavor, gooey cheese, and vintage charm, this vegetarian dish is a cozy comfort food favorite.

Quick and easy it goes together in a flash and is very budget friendly.  I am betting you probably have just about everything in the cupboard right now to make this, without having to go to the shops.

This is a simple and cozy bake composed of tortillas soaked in an easy to make enchilada sauce and rolled around a tasty two cheese, onion and sour cream filling. Slathered with more sauce, scattered with some more cheese, it is then baked to ooey gooey perfection. Ready to serve with your favorite toppings and sides. You can keep them as simple or as fancy as you wish!

 

The original recipe was adapted from this cookbook magazine I have that I collected back in the 1990's. They used to keep these by the cash registers in all of the grocery stores back then, and you could also subscribe to them if you wanted to. I used to pick one up every now and then and had accumulated quite a collection through the years.  

I even took them over to the U.K. with me.  I had to leave most of them over there when I came back to Canada in November of 2020. I picked only a few of my very favorite ones to bring back with me. This was one of them.

It includes the top 50 recipes from the original Betty Crocker Picture Cookbook. True Vintage Recipes.  If you have one of those you own a real treasure. I have an updated version myself.

It also contains 50 favorite recipes from the Creative Recipe Series. I love this magazine. I have probably cooked just about everything within it's pages at one time or another through the years. You can still find copies of it used on eBay if you look.

In any case, today I am sharing this Enchilada Casserole recipe, small batched to feed two people.  Simple to make.  Delicious. Vegetarian and very economical.

 

INGREDIENTS NEEDED

TO MAKE ENCHILADA CASSEROLE 

For the Sauce:

• 1 cup (240ml) tomato sauce (In the U.K. use tomato passata)
• 1/3 cup (80ml) boiling water
• 2 TBS chopped green bell pepper (I used green chilies)
• 1/2 TBS chili powder
• 1/4 tsp dried oregano leaves
• 1/8 tsp ground cumin
• 1/2 tsp chopped garlic
• salt and black pepper to taste

For the filling:

• 1 cup (115g) grated Monterey Jack Cheese
• 1/2 cup (57g) grated white cheddar cheese
• 1/2 medium onion, peeled and finely chopped
• 1 TBS chopped fresh parsley
• salt and black pepper to taste
• 1/4 cup (60g) full fat dairy sour cream

You will also need:

• 4 corn tortillas (about 6 inches in diameter)
• additional grated cheese to sprinkle on top
• Your desired garnishes

 

Do not be tempted to use tomato sauce ketchup for this sauce if you live in the U.K. It is not the same thing. Use Tomato Passata. I actually did not have any tomato sauce or Passata today and so I used about 1/3  cup of tomato paste in the tube. I squeezed it into a glass measuring cup and added water to make up the 1 cup measure, whisking it together thoroughly. This worked beautifully.

Again, I did not have any green pepper. I used some chopped green chili (jalapeno) peppers that I had frozen. I only used about half the amount as they are spicy.

If you only have ground oregano, use half the amount.  I used chopped organic garlic from the jar.

Grate your own cheeses.  They add cellulose to pre-grated cheeses so that they flow nicer and don't stick together. I don't want to eat that.  I used a white strong cheddar along with the Jack cheese.

Chop your onion really fine.  I used a brown skinned onion.

True confessions, I did not have corn tortillas and so I used white flour tortillas. It was still delicious. Corn tortillas are more authentic.

 

HOW TO MAKE

ENCHILADA CASSEROLE

This really is a quick and easy meal to throw together. There are several elements that go together quickly and easily and then it is a simple matter of putting those together, popping into a casserole dish and baking to perfection.

1. First make the sauce. Combine all of the ingredients together in a six-inch saucepan. Bring to the boil, whisking occasionally. Reduce heat to low. (I just turned it off and kept it on the heat of the burner. I have a ceramic top stove.)
2. Stir both cheeses for the filling together with the sour cream, onion, parsley, salt and pepper. Combine well. (Make sure you grate your own cheese for this.)
3. Preheat the oven to 350*F/180*C/ gas mark 4. Have ready a 7 by 11-inch casserole dish, or one large enough to hold the rolled enchiladas in one layer. (Using a 7 by 11-inch glass baking dish I was able to fit three across widthwise and one along the bottom of those comfortably. No need to butter the dish.)
4. Working with one tortilla at a time, dip it into the enchilada sauce to coat on both sides. Fill with 1/4 of the cheese mixture and roll up. Place in the baking dish, seam side down. (No need to tuck in the ends.)
5. Repeat with all of the tortillas. Pour any remaining sauce over top evenly. Sprinkle with additional cheese to taste.
6. Bake in the preheated oven for 20 minutes, until hot and bubbly. (It will look quite puffed up when you first take it out, but then it will sink.)
7. Serve hot with your desired garnishes.

 

WHAT TO SERVE

WITH

ENCHILADA CASSEROLE

You could serve some Spanish Rice on the side of this if you wish, or even plain rice. 

A salad would go very nicely.  I made a cabbage salad.

You can garnish these for serving with any number of things. Sour Cream, Chopped spring onions. Chopped ripe olives.  Chopped red onions.  Chopped peppers.  Tomato Salsa. Shredded lettuce.

 

FREQUENTLY

ASKED QUESTIONS

CAN THIS BE MADE AHEAD OF TIME?

You can certainly make the sauce ahead of time as well as the filling, storing each separately, covered i the refrigerator. When you are ready to cook the dish, reheat the sauce in a saucepan and proceed as per the recipe.

CAN THIS BE DOUBLED?

Absolutely. The original recipe was for twice the amount, feeding four to six people. Simply double all of the ingredient amounts. The bake time will stay the same.

CAN I ADD MEAT TO THIS?

For sure. Stir 1/2 pound of browned ground beef or turkey into the cheese filling. I would cut the cheese back by half in this case.

CAN THIS BE FROZEN?

I do not recommend freezing this because of the sour cream in the filling. It has a tendency to split.

HOW CAN I STORE ANY LEFTOVERS?

Pop into an airtight refrigerator container and cover. Store in the refrigerator for up to 3 days. Reheat gently in the microwave.

 

A FEW OTHER RECIPES 

FROM THIS VINTAGE COOKBOOKLET

TO ENJOY

Here are a few other recipes which I have cooked from this book and posted to the blog over the years that I think you might also enjoy!

WASHBOARD COOKIES - This is a good old fashioned refrigerator cookie. You make the dough ahead, shape it into a roll and then chill for several hours, wrapped tightly. When you are ready to bake them, you simply cut them into slices, lay them on your baking pan, press a fork into them (to give them that great washboard look) and then bake. In no time at all you are rewarded with a scrummy cookie, crisp and full of buttery brown sugar flavor, not to mention coconut!

OVEN HASH (TEXAS HASH) - Not a hash with potatoes, but a delicious mixture of spiced minced beef, baked with tomatoes, onions and noodles. Comfort food. Family food. Simple, maybe . . . but never plain. This is an old family favorite and has been pleasing families all over North America in one version or another for many, many years.

 

 

 

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Yield: 2 Generous Servings

Author: Marie Rayner

Enchilada Casserole

Prep time: 10 MinCook time: 20 MinTotal time: 30 Min

A delicious casserole made from simple ingredients. Easy and quick to put together. You can garnish the finished casserole as you wish. It also doubles very easily.

Ingredients

For the Sauce:

• 1 cup (240ml) tomato sauce (In the U.K. use tomato passata)
• 1/3 cup (80ml) boiling water
• 2 TBS chopped green bell pepper (I used green chilies)
• 1/2 TBS chili powder
• 1/4 tsp dried oregano leaves
• 1/8 tsp ground cumin
• 1/2 tsp chopped garlic
• salt and black pepper to taste

For the filling:

• 1 cup (115g) grated Monterey Jack Cheese
• 1/2 cup (57g) grated white cheddar cheese
• 1/2 medium onion, peeled and finely chopped
• 1 TBS chopped fresh parsley
• salt and black pepper to taste
• 1/4 cup (60g) full fat dairy sour cream

You will also need:

• 4 corn tortillas (about 6 inches in diameter)
• additional grated cheese to sprinkle on top
• Your desired garnishes

Instructions

1. First make the sauce. Combine all of the ingredients together in a six-inch saucepan. Bring to the boil, whisking occasionally. Reduce heat to low.
2. Stir both cheeses for the filling together with the sour cream, onion, parsley, salt and pepper. Combine well.
3. Preheat the oven to 350*F/180*C/ gas mark 4. Have ready a 7 by 11 inch casserole dish, or one large enough to hold the rolled enchiladas in one layer.
4. Working with one tortilla at a time, dip it into the enchilada sauce to coat on both sides. Fill with 1/4 of the cheese mixture and roll up. Place in the baking dish, seam side down.
5. Repeat with all of the tortillas. Pour any remaining sauce over top evenly. Sprinkle with additional cheese to taste.
6. Bake in the preheated oven for 20 minutes, until hot and bubbly.
7. Serve hot with your desired garnishes.

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