Slow Cooker Enchilada Sauce has rich and deep flavors that will make any enchilada combination perfect. Crockpot easy. Try this Vegetable Enchilada casserole too!
Enchiladas can be served with a red sauce or a white sauce. This time around I did a red sauce in the slow cooker.
The sauce has traditional chili powder but I also put a lot of tomatoes in the recipe too.
A few unusual ingredients really helped make these enchiladas special. The first recipe is for the slow cooker and is the sauce.
It all Starts with Slow Cooker Enchilada Sauce!
This post contains affiliate links. Read my disclosure policy here.
Vegetable Enchiladas with Slow Cooker Enchilada Sauce
Ingredients
Enchilada Sauce Ingredients:
- 15 ounces tomato sauce 1 can
- 15 ounces fire roasted tomatoes 1 can
- 4 ounces mild green chilis 1 can, chopped
- 1/2 cup onion yellow onion, chopped
- 2 tablespoons chili powder
- 1 teaspoon cumin
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 tablespoon maple syrup
- 1 1/2 cup water
Other Casserole ingredients:
- 1 corn ear, cut from the cob or a small can of corn, drained and rinsed
- 15 ounces navy beans 1 can, drained and rinsed
- 5 ounces dairy free cheddar cheese grated or shredded
- 10 tortillas 10 to 12 tortillas, I used Ezekial sprouted grain tortillas but any tortilla would work great
Instructions
- Enchilada Sauce:
- Place all of the enchilada sauce ingredients in the slow cooker.
- Cook on low 6 to 8 hours.
- Casserole assembly:
- Use a large 9" x 13" casserole dish or two smaller casseroles. Two 9" x 9" casseroles work great. Just divide the tortillas and ingredients evenly when assembling.
- Put a little sauce in the bottom of the casserole dish. You will see the bottom of the glass dish through the sauce. It is just a thin coating.
- Lay out your tortilla and put a little of the corn, beans and vegan cheese down the middle. You do not have much filling in enchiladas so eyeball the amounts or make little piles to make sure you have enough filling for all your tortillas.
- Roll up tight and place side by side in the casserole dish.
- Pour the remaining sauce over the whole casserole. Cover completely and let it go down on the inside of the dish too.
- Sprinkle a little bit of the cheese on top.
- Bake at 350° for 35 to 40 minutes.
- You have three options for freezing. See below the recipe card for instructions.
Nutrition
You can cut down the salt by buying low sodium canned goods.
THREE OPTIONS FOR FREEZING VEGETABLE ENCHILADAS:
First, you can freeze the enchilada sauce before making the enchiladas and save it for a future casserole.
Second, you can freeze the casserole before baking.
Third, you can freeze the leftovers.
If you’re looking for specific freezing methods then they freezing methods are explained on my page Preparing food for the Freezer.
TO PREPARE AFTER FREEZING:
Remove from the freezer and put in the refrigerator overnight because it is a pretty solid mass and will take longer to defrost.
If it is just the sauce you are working with then assemble the casserole and bake as explained above.
If you are cooking the casserole after freezing then take it out of the fridge about a half hour to an hour before baking to let it become closer to room temperature. Cover with foil and bake 30 minutes.
Remove the foil and bake another 15 minutes.
Deanna says
This is making me so hungry!!! It looks great!!!! Love the healthy spin on this!
Tina | The Worktop says
I don’t use my slow cooker enough, but this recipe really makes me want to get it out now.
Brandi Crawford says
Enchiladas are my favorite! I love a healthy spin, too!
Bintu - Recipes From A Pantry says
I bet this tastes amazing as you can put anything in the slow cooker and it comes out delicious.
Haley D. Williams says
Mmm I’m soo happy slow cooker season is here! I’ll have to add this to my list of recipes to try 🙂
Ginny McMeans says
That is great Cynthia! It makes me feel great to know the toddlers are lovin’ it too 🙂
Cynthia says
Looove it! Classic now here toddler loves it too. Thanks!
Ginny McMeans says
I haven’t tried them in a slow cooker Michelle. I’ve wanted to and will have to tackle it very soon. The tortillas might get too soggy. Maybe they would be better with corn tortillas in a slow cooker. Please let me know if you go for it.
Michelle says
These look great! Have you ever tried making the enchiladas in the slow cooker as well? I thought to save time it would be nice to cook everything all together. Not sure how it would work out
Ginny McMeans says
Thank you too Lora! Thanks for letting me know and I am so glad you got to make the sauce and the enchiladas. 🙂
Lora Galloway says
Thanks so much Ginny !! Mexican is a favorite in my house ,so I Made these last night for dinner and they are really yummy , Love the sauce and really loved that I could feel good about making it myself vs. using a can ,You Rock 🙂
Ginny McMeans says
So glad you found this too Lucie! Thanks so much and I can’t wait for you to make it.
Lucie says
Enchiladas are my favorite comfort food! I’m so glad I found your recipe for red sauce that’s actually healthy (the store bought stuff makes things easy but it’s so filled with crap!) I seriously need to get a slow cooker now, it would make my life so much easier.
Ginny McMeans says
I crave them too Rebecca! Thanks!
Ginny McMeans says
Ah, thanks so much Michelle and yu are very welcome.
Rebecca @ Strength and Sunshine says
I haven’t made enchiladas since the summer! Totally craving them now! And a perfect warm dish for winter!
Laura M. says
Oh geez, this looks amazing! I need to get all what I need, thanks for sharing your recipe Ginny!
Ginny McMeans says
Raining there, huh? Yep, this would be comforting and thanks Michelle!
Michelle says
These look warm and comforting especially on a rainy day here in LA!
Ginny McMeans says
Thanks so much! Yes, please come back. I will always be posting more and work on 3 original recipes a week.
Margery says
Pretty nice post. I just stumbled upon your weblog and wanted to
mention that I’ve truly enjoyed surfing around your blog posts. After all I will be subscribing to your feed and I hope you write once more very soon!