Black Bean Enchilada Pie
This recipe was inspired when we visited our friends the Brennan over spring break last year in Estes Park, Colorado. It is meatless….
And delicious.
My 19-year-old son whined, “MOM, there’s no meat in this dish?”.
Then he tasted it and loved it.
Thank you Brennan. This one is a keeper. With a homemade, but effortless enchilada sauce, and a hearty black bean filling, you can put this on your Meatless Monday meal plan and enjoy it week after week!
You’ll need two skillets for this recipe.
In the first you’ll make the enchilada sauce and in the second you’ll make your black bean filling. The recipe calls for you to make it in a springform pan, which makes it truly special and pretty to look at. If you don’t have a springform pan, don’t worry! We actually made this in a 9 x 13 pan in Estes Park with fewer layers and it was just as delicious!
First off, preheat your oven to 400º. Then turn on a stove burner to medium heat and lay on pan number one.
So for pan number one…
Chop up two medium-sized onions. Keep them separate as you’ll need half for each pan. Also chop up three cloves of garlic, but keep two of them separated from the other one.
Into pan number one, add a tablespoon of olive oil over medium heat and then toss in one of the chopped onions and saute it around for a few minutes.Add in one of the garlic cloves and stir it for another minute. Then add in all of the chili powder and 1 1/2 teaspoon of the cumin and stir it for another minute.
Now add in one 28 oz. can of crushed tomatoes.
Stir it up and lightly simmer it, stirring it every minute or so for five more minutes. Simmer means to adjust your stove heat until it just barely bubbles. Now, remove this pan from the heat and set it aside.
On to pan number two!
Again, put pan number two over medium heat and add another tablespoon of olive oil.
Add in all of chopped onion number two, and stir it and cook this one for five minutes.
Add in the chopped jalapeno and the remaining two chopped garlic cloves. Also add in the remaining 1/2 teaspoon of cumin and the salt and pepper and stir this around for another minute.
B
Dump in the drained and rinsed can of whole black beans, the frozen corn and the green onions.
Stir this around to heat it through, another minute or two.
Look at the beautiful colors. One reason I love this dish is you first taste with your eyes and along with the red enchilada sauce, this pie has red, green, black, yellow and is just lovely to see finished!
Now we start the layering part. I find it best to take a stack of corn tortillas and fold them in half.
Spread about 1/2 cup of the enchilada sauce from pan number one in the bottom of your springform pan.(If you don’t have a springform pan, use a 9×9 square baking dish).
This step is easy to forget but TRUST ME! It keeps the bottom of your enchilada stack soft and yummy so make sure you do it.
Now layer the torn tortillas around the edge of the pan. Make sure they overlap but not too tightly, leaving no sight of the pan underneath. I used six halves.
Place one whole tortilla over the hole in the middle.
Now spoon another 1/2 cup of the enchilada sauce on top and smooth it out to the edges.
Top it with 1/2 cup of the black bean filling.
Then sprinkle it with 1/2 cup of the shredded cheese.
Now start a new layer doing exactly the same thing. Tortillas, enchilada sauce, black bean filling and cheese.
By the time you’ve finished, you’ll have repeated this process 4-5 times depending on how much you can fit into your pan. IF you’re using a 9 x 13 pan, you probably will only be able to do 3-4 layers. When you get to the final layer…
Pour the remaining sauce over the top of the tortillas and sprinkle it with cheese.
Place it on a baking sheet, JUST IN CASE it melts over the top of the springform pan and pop it into the oven. Cuz, nothing smells nastier and is more of a pan than cleaning off burnt cheese from the bottom of your oven!
Let this bake for 20-25 minutes, then let it cool for 10.
At which point you can run a knife around the inside of the springform pan and then pop it open. I like to just place it on a round platter and I leave the bottom of the pan underneath it. Sprinkle it with the chopped cilantro.
Isn’t that just a thing of beauty?
Cut it into wedges and serve it up!
Look at the layers of goodness!
This is actually just as good a reheat, if not BETTER the next day. Just try it.
Meatless Monday never tasted SO GOOD.
- 16 corn tortillas
- 2 T. olive oil (divided)
- 2 medium onions, diced (divided)
- 1 can (28 oz.) crushed tomatoes
- 1 jalapeño pepper, minced
- 3 cloves of garlic, minced (divided)
- 2 t. ground cumin (divided)
- 2 T. chili powder
- ½ t. salt
- ¼ t. pepper
- 2 cups frozen corn, defrosted
- 4 green onions, sliced
- 1 can (15 - ounces) black beans, drained and rinsed
- 8 ounces Colby Jack cheese, shredded
- ¼ c. cilantro, minced (optional)
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.
- Fold tortillas in half and tear on half way line
- For the sauce, heat 1 tablespoon olive oil and sauté half of the chopped onion for about 5 minutes, until it begins to turn translucent.
- Add ⅓ of the garlic, all of the chili powder, and 1 ½ teaspoon of the cumin and cook for an additional minute.
- Add the crushed tomatoes and simmer for 5 minutes. Set aside.
- For the filling, heat 1 tablespoons of oil in a large skillet over medium heat.
- Add the remaining onion and cook for about 5 minutes.
- Add the jalapeño, rest of the garlic, and ½ teaspoon cumin. Season with salt and pepper, and cook for an additional minute.
- Add the beans, corn, and green onions. Remove from heat and set aside.
- In a greased springform pan, place a generous ¼ cup of enchilada sauce. Spread it to the edges with the back of a spoon and place tortillas around edges and one in the center.
- Place another heaping ¼ cup of enchilada sauce on top of the tortilla,smoothing out to the sides.
- Sprinkle with a heaping ½ cup of the black bean mixture.
- Then sprinkle with about a ½ cup of cheese.
- Repeat the layers of tortilla, sauce, black beans, and cheese 4 more times.
- After the last tortilla is stacked, pour over the remaining sauce and remaining cheese.
- Place the spring form pan on top of a cookie sheet pan and bake for 20-25 minutes. Cool 10 minutes. Carefully run a knife along the sides of the pan before you remove the side.
- To serve, slice into wedges and sprinkle with fresh chopped cilantro.
See what other fabulous recipes bloggers made this week while participating in Food Network’s “let’s Pull Up a Chair: Comfort Food Casseroles”.
The Heritage Cook: Tex-Mex Arroz con Pollo (Gluten-Free)
Jeanette’s Healthy Living: Smoked Sausage Chicken Cassoulet
Big Girls, Small Kitchen:
Dishin & Dishes: Black Bean Enchilada Pie
Weelicious: Chicken Wild Rice Casserole
Dishing with Divya: Chicken Mushroom and Black Bean Tortilla Casserole
Taste With The Eyes: Paella Rice with Baby Octopus & Meyer Lemon
Blue Apron:
Napa Farmhouse 1885: Pork Chop Casserole with Crimini Mushrooms
Red or Green: Stacked Cheese Enchiladas with New Mexican Red Chile Sauce
Elephants and the Coconut Trees: Chicken and Rice Casserole
The Sensitive Epicure: Tater Tot Breakfast Casserole (Gluten-Free)
Domesticate Me: Mushroom, White Bean and Brown Rice Casserole with Bacon and Gruyere
Daily*Dishin: Chicken Tetrazzini Casserole
FN Dish: The New Age of Casseroles
3 Comments
Melody K
October 2, 2013 at 9:56 am
DishinandDishes
October 2, 2013 at 12:42 pm
Chicken and Rice Casserole – elephants and the coconut trees
January 29, 2018 at 11:25 am