This 3-Ingredient Dinner Is My Weeknight Hero

My daughter loves enchiladas quite a bit that I’d make them every single night time time. I’ve made her all of the issues from fundamental pink chile enchiladas to salsa verde rooster enchiladas and even stacked enchiladas. If it didn’t take me half-hour merely to dip and fill the tortillas, I’d make them every night time time to please my whole family.

So after I seen “lazy enchiladas” make the rounds on TikTok and Instagram as soon as extra—they’ve been pretty trendy in 2022 and 2023—my curiosity was piqued. Would possibly a area of frozen taquitos, canned enchilada sauce, and cheese in a casserole dish really cross as enchiladas?

I was skeptical at first, nonetheless this simple casserole was an unlimited hit for my whole family! Merely don’t identify it enchiladas.

How To Make This Taquito Enchilada Casserole

There are a selection of variations on this shortcut casserole—most notably from this woman who attracts out taquitos as if the phrase has a “w” in it. You’ll even uncover a handful of revealed recipes with a quick on-line search. Just a few of those recipes embody refried beans whereas others have canned black beans and corn, nonetheless for my part, you don’t need larger than three elements.

Start alongside together with your favorite frozen taquitos—an 18-count area will feed 4 with some leftovers. I similar to the Delimex Beef & Cheese Taquitos with flour tortillas nonetheless any style and tortilla sort works. You’ll moreover desire a 10-ounce can of enchilada sauce (pink or inexperienced, it’s your various) and two cups of shredded cheese. Monterey Jack is my favorite for this nonetheless a Mexican-style or cheddar cheese combine works successfully too.

Heat your oven to 400°F and coat a 9×13-inch dish with nonstick cooking spray or oil. Pour a few quarter of your enchilada sauce into the underside of the dish and manage the taquitos in a single layer on prime of that. Pour on the remaining enchiladas sauce and supplies the pan a little bit of shake to coat the taquitos. Subsequent, sprinkle in your cheese.

Bake the casserole uncovered for 40 minutes or until the taquitos are cooked through, the casserole is bubbly, and the cheese is browned. Add your favorite enchilada toppings like bitter cream, sliced avocado, or salsa, and serve.

Some Helpful Options If You Try Taquitos Casserole

After serving up this casserole quite a lot of events and testing quite a lot of variations, I’ve found quite a lot of points.

• Counting on the type of your pan you would possibly wish to put among the many taquitos horizontally all through the dimensions of the pan. I found this works greater than attempting to double stack them and it fills the pan further appealingly.
• Skip par-baking the taquitos with none sauce or cheese—this actually left me with further limp and soggy taquitos than one other variation.
• Don’t stress if every taquito isn’t completely coated with sauce or cheese. These uncovered bits will get crispy inside the oven, creating some welcome texture inside the accomplished casserole.
• You’ll riff on this casserole endlessly. As an illustration, try combining rooster taquitos and inexperienced chile enchilada sauce. Use pepper Jack instead of Monterey Jack cheese. Add your favorite pickled jalapeños to the dish or line the underside of the dish with beans and further cheese to make it way more filling.

Nonetheless you technique this quick weeknight dish, rest assured that your whole family will adore it whereas leaving room in your repertoire for conventional enchiladas when time permits.