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Everyone will love these unconventional vegan skillet enchiladas made in one skillet with soy curls, black beans, sauteed veggies, queso, and crunchy tortilla chips. Garnish with your favorite Mexican toppings like cilantro, vegan shredded cheese, and avocado.
Homemade Enchiladas are one of my favorite quick weeknight meals but sometimes I don’t have the time or energy to roll up tortillas and bake them. Sometimes I need quick and easy! Let me introduce you to easy vegan skillet enchiladas! They are life-changing!
I love this vegan enchiladas recipe because you don’t have to roll or spend hours making the sauce and fillings, and you don’t have to worry about a perfect presentation. This is as easy as Tex-Mex gets. We make a simple red sauce in the blender, then fry up some soy curls which act as chikin sub, with bell peppers and onions. DONE! Now, we simply layer our enchiladas sauce with tortilla chips instead of soft tortillas and add some black beans and vegan cheese shreds while we’re at it!
You are basically making an enchilada nachos casserole! Awesome for game day or Superbowl! All done in so little time and with so little effort. This a no-fuss Mexican skillet dinner recipe. And let me tell you kids LOVE it, even with all of the added veggies!
I use soycurls as a chikin sub in this recipe. You can use seitan or other as well or use mushrooms or more veggies to make soyfree/Glutenfree.
If you would rather make classic enchiladas, make my Vegan Enchiladas!
More Mexican inspired recipes from the blog
- Spicy Chipotle garlic Jackfruit Tacos
- Vegan Tinga bowl with Hearts of Palm, Chickpeas, Spanish…
- Pulled Butternut Squash Tacos. Vegan Glutenfree Recipe
- Jackfruit Meatballs Tacos
- Lentil Sweet Potato Tacos
- Easy DIY Burrito Bowl
You can use some of the above recipes as the enchilada filling as well. Let’s make these!
Skillet Enchiladas with Soy Curls
Ingredients
For the Red Sauce
- 1/4 cup tomato paste
- 1 medium tomato
- 1 1/2 cups water, or vegetable broth
- 1 chipotle chili in adobo sauce , or 1/4 tsp of chipotle chili powder
- 1/2 tsp ground cumin
- 1/4 tsp salt
For the Soy Curl Meat Layer
- 2 tsp oil
- 1/2 cup thinly sliced onions
- 1/2 cup thinly sliced green bell pepper
- 2 oz soy curls , soaked in 1 1/2 cups of warm vegetable broth for at least 15 minutes
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 tsp chili powder blend
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1/4 black pepper
For the rest of the ingredients:
- 1 1/2 cups or more tortilla chips, or use sliced tortillas
- 15 oz can of black beans, drained
- Vegan Cheddar Cheese Shreds of choice, or use my queso (linked in notes)
Instructions
- Blend all the ingredients in the red sauce and set aside.
- Heat a cast iron skillet over medium high heat. Add the oil, and when the oil is hot, add in the onion and bell pepper, mix well. Cook until translucent.
- Drain your soy curls, and squeeze lightly to remove excess moisture, then chop up some of the larger pieces, then add the soy curls to the skillet as well.
- Cook this mixture until the onion is golden brown, and the soy curls are starting to turn brown on some of the edges. Add in the garlic and mix well, add in the chili powder, salt, and pepper and mix well, then add in your chipotle pepper, 2 tsps of the adobo sauce, mix well, then add in 3-4 tbsp of the red sauce and mix.
- Take off heat, then layer this mixture with the tortilla chips, black beans, and the remaining red sauce all over the beans and the tortilla chips.
- Then distribute the vegan cheddar shreds or vegan queso. Drizzle it all over.
- Move the skillet to an oven, and broil for 4-6 minutes, or until the cheese is melted, and the mixutre is bubbly, and the top is starting to get golden brown. Remove the skillet, garnish with cilantro, and green onions, and serve it with chili. You can serve this with avocado, vegan sour cream, and any other toppings of choice. No oven: Alternatively , cover the skillet and cook over medium heat until the cheese on top is bubbly
Notes
- Use any beans of choice.
- You can also use some Seitan instead of soycurls to make these Soyfree.or add mushrooms or more veggies
- use Cheddar Cheese Shreds or use my vegan queso
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Ingredients for making Vegan Skillet Enchiladas:
- For the simple homemade Enchiladas Sauce, we blend tomato paste, fresh tomato, some vegetable broth, chipotle in adobo sauce, and season with cumin for that Mexican touch.
- For the ” Meat Layer”, we sautee soaked soy curls with onion, garlic, bell pepper, pepper, and chili powder.
- Then we layer meat and sauce with tortilla chips and canned or cooked black beans, drained
- I love topping these with some Vegan Cheddar Cheese Shreds but you can also use my vegan queso
Tips & Substitutions:
- I like to use onion, and bell pepper, but you could add zucchini, poblano pepper, and some drained, canned corn. Feel free to use whatever veggies you have on hand.
- As a short-cut, you could use store-bought enchilada sauce.
- If you don’t want to use black beans, you can use pinto beans instead
- Cannot find chipotle in adobo? Add some smoked paprika instead along with the chili powder. 1 tsp should be perfect.
How to make Vegan Skillet Enchiladas:
Blend all the ingredients in the red sauce and set aside. Heat a cast-iron skillet over medium-high heat. Add the oil, and when the oil is hot, add in the onion and bell pepper, mix well. Cook until translucent.
Drain your soy curls, and squeeze lightly to remove excess moisture, then chop up some of the larger pieces, then add the soy curls to the skillet as well.
Cook this mixture until the onion is golden brown, and the soy curls are starting to turn brown on some of the edges. Add in the garlic and mix well, add in the chili powder, salt, and pepper and mix well, then add in your chipotle pepper, two tsp of the adobo sauce, mix well.
Add in 3-4 tbsp of the red sauce and mix.
Take off heat, then layer this mixture with the tortilla chips, black beans, and the remaining red sauce all over the beans and the tortilla chips.
Then your vegan cheddar shreds or cashew queso. Drizzle it all over.
Move the skillet to an oven, and broil for 4-6 minutes, or until the cheese is melted, and the mixture is bubbly, and the top is starting to get golden brown.
Remove the skillet, garnish with cilantro, and green onions, and serve it with chili. You can serve this with avocado, vegan sour cream, and any other toppings of choice. Alternatively, cover the skillet and cook over medium heat until the cheese on top is bubbly
Topping ideas:
- green onion,
- vegan queso nacho cheese sauce
- vegan cashew cream
- cilantro
- pickled carrots
- pickled jalapenos
- fresh or pickled radish slices
I used a chopped up head of cauliflower in place of peppers, and in the magical way of cauliflower, it just vanished into the mix. It was really good, both as a recipe and a jumping off point for so many variations. I actually topped it with jalapeno cream sauce from the jalapeno popper skillet!
magical jalapenos
I love these lazy enchiladas! I used canned enchilada sauce to be even lazier.😉
This recipe is delicious! Everything I have tried of your recipes always turns out delicious
This was amazing! A huge hit in my house. Thanks! 🙂
than k. YOU
Very good! Loved the use of soy curls. Thanks Richa.
Substitute for soy curls please?
Do you think Indian “nutri” will work? or other substitutions. TIA
Seitan or mushrooms. Nutri might work as well. I don’t know how long thymes usually take to cook so just cook long enough. Add a bit more broth if needed
Just made this for my family!! It was easy and delicious.! Even my omni teens loved it!!
Quick question. In the ingredients for the “meat layer” a chipotle pepper was not listed in the ingredients although it was referred to in the directions. I didn’t have it ready to add and left it out. (Still great though!) Would you recommend chopping one whole chipotle to add to the soy curls? I did use it for the sauce! (Which was sooo easy and good!). Love the skillet meals!!!!
Oh yes the adobo sauce. It’s optional but great to add some adobo sauce to the. Meat layer. You can also add in a whole pepper as well but it could get too spicy. So maybe half of the pepper
Loving these skillet meals! The French onion lasagna was so good and this one jos so easy!
How did you know I had leftover chips? ;). I’ll definitely make this later in the week. Thanks Richa.
I always end up with some chips in the bag, and these are a great use for them! With various different fillings
Thanks for a great soy curls recipe! Will be making this very soon – Soy curls are a great ‘cross’ between buying ready made vegan chick’n along with preservatives and making it all from scratch yourself. Soy Curls (and Vegan Richa of course) for the win!!
❤️❤️❤️