Creamy Spinach and Cheese Green Chile Enchiladas-we love these creamy and cheesy vegetarian enchiladas. They are simple to make and freeze beautifully!
Before we had Maxwell, we made a few freezer meals so we would have something good to eat on the days when we were too tired to cook. I am so glad we did because the days of being too tired to cook is pretty much every day. Life has been a little hectic at our house!
Last week, I opened the fridge to try and find something to fix for dinner, but it was slim pickens. I could have gotten creative, but my brain was fried due to lack of sleep so I turned to the freezer instead. I pulled out the Creamy Spinach and Cheese Green Chile Enchiladas we made in our pre-baby #2 days. The days when we had energy, time, and motivation to cook dinner.
Thank goodness for freezer meals! These enchiladas saved the day!
Enchiladas are one of our favorite meals. We make our Stacked Roasted Vegetable Enchiladas all of the time. We also love these Creamy Spinach and Cheese Green Chile Enchiladas. They are easy, cheesy, and delicious!
The enchiladas are loaded with cheese! I add in spinach too make them somewhat healthy:) I mix the spinach mixture with sour cream or Greek yogurt to make the enchiladas extra creamy. The enchiladas also have Old El Paso Green Chiles and Green Chile Enchilada Sauce! I top the enchiladas with avocado and cilantro so these enchiladas are green all around and that makes me happy because we all know I LOVE green!
If you are looking for a tasty dinner idea, make our Creamy Spinach and Cheese Green Chile Enchiladas. And don’t forget that you can freeze these enchiladas. You will do a happy dance when you remember that you have enchiladas in the freezer. I did and so did Josh when he sat down at the dinner table. I think he was getting tired of cereal:)
We did make a few other freezer meals before we had the baby and we will be sharing those soon! Stay tuned! And thank you for all of your well wishes and concern for Josh. He went to the Dr. on Friday and no longer has to be on an IV or any antibiotics. His MRSA is all cleared up! YAY! We are lucky he caught it early.
Creamy Spinach and Cheese Green Chile Enchiladas
- Prep Time
- 20 minutes
- Cook Time
- 20 minutes
- Total Time
- 40 minutes
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 small yellow onion diced
- 1 clove garlic minced
- 10 cups fresh spinach leaves
- 1 tablespoon fresh lime juice
- 1/3 cup chopped cilantro
- 1 can 4.5 ounces Old El Paso chopped green chiles
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
- 1/4 teaspoon ground chili powder
- 1/2 cup sour cream or plain Greek yogurt
- Salt and black pepper to taste
- 2 cans 10 oz each Old El Paso Mild Green Chile Enchilada Sauce
- 8 Old El Paso Flour Tortillas Burrito size
- 2 cups shredded Monterey Jack cheese divided
- 2 cups shredded Cheddar cheese divided
- Toppings: Green onions chopped, Fresh cilantro, chopped, Diced avocado
Instructions
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Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. In a large skillet, heat olive oil over medium high heat. Add the onion and cook until softened, about 3-4 minutes. Add the garlic and cook for an additional 2 minutes. Add the spinach leaves and cook until they are wilted and shrinks down. Stir in the lime juice, cilantro, green chiles, cumin, and chile powder. Remove from heat and stir in the sour cream. Season with salt and pepper, to taste.
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To assemble, spread about 1/2 can of enchilada sauce in the bottom of a 9 x 13 baking dish. Fill each tortilla with about 1/3 cup of the spinach mixture. In a medium bowl, combine both kinds of shredded cheese. Sprinkle cheese over spinach mixture, about 3 tablespoons per enchilada. Roll up and place seam side down in the baking dish. When all enchiladas have been rolled and placed in the pan, top with the other 1/2 can of enchilada sauce and about 1/2 of the other can. We had some sauce leftover. Sprinkle remaining shredded cheese on top of enchiladas. Bake 20-30 minutes or until the cheese is melted, and the sauce is bubbling around the edges.
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Garnish enchiladas with green onion, cilantro, and avocado, if desired. Serve warm.
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Note-these enchiladas freeze well. Cool completely, without toppings, and place in a tupperware container. Reheat individual servings in the microwave when ready to eat! You can also freeze an entire pan and reheat in the oven!
Disclosure-this post is in partnership with Old El Paso, but our opinions are our own.
Maria these are so pretty! I love the avocado, the green chiles and of course, YES to freezer meals! Post-baby, yes, they are like salvation in frozen form 🙂
Hi there, just like to say i love your blog and your recipes.
As a fellow food blogger, i was wondering whether you would be at all interested in entering my blog’s recipe competition? On Chef Mel’s Kitchen (http://chef-mels-kitchen.blogspot.co.uk/). You just have to follow my blog and email a recipe to be in with a chance to win the prize! Thanks very much,
Melanie Booth
Thank you Maria for nice recipe.
These look incredible – sooo creamy! Enchiladas are my absolute favourite 🙂
Wow. I love all the green too. I definitely need to add these to the menu plan. Hoping the kids love them as much as I know I will.
Happy Monday!
ohmygosh! They sound and look amazing!! I can never get enough Mexican and the spinach is a fantastic addition.
Great looking enchiladas!!
I am going to make these this week! thanks for the recipe. Approx. how much does 10 cups of spinach weigh? Would I buy a one pound package of fresh spinach to make this?
We used two bunches of fresh spinach. I am not sure how many cups are in the bag. Look at the bag to be safe! Enjoy!
Love that I can this ahead and freeze it!
Love enchiladas!!
I have been craving enchiladas lately!! Can’t wait to try!
Love these! I could eat Mexican food all day every day, love and the addition of spinach is fab, one of my favourite veggies!
Love anything green chile! And love that these are vegetarian. More room for cheese!
Oooh, your pre-baby freezer meals are far more impressive than ours are (read: a few bags of black beans for quick tacos and a couple pureed soups). I may have to get industrious and make this now though 🙂
I can barely handle how good these look. That cheese!!
These enchiladas look wonderful…I love that they’re vegetarian and are made with spinach and green chilies. The yogurt is an additional plus…thanks for sharing!
YES!!! Now that’s what I’m talkin about!!
oh my gosh, I want these right now! These look like ooey, gooey cheesy goodness!
All of my favorite flavors! This dinner is a must-try!
These look very yummy! I will have to try when it gets cooler around here. Please give Josh our best. Tried calling him as we’ve been very concerned. So glad he’s better! That is scary stuff!!!!!hope you get some rest one of these dues soon?
Totally in love with this recipe!!
This sounds amazing! I can’t wait to try!
I love, love, all your veggie recipes – so simple and yet delicious. Made my very first Mexican dish using your recipe and it was a super hit with everyone at home. My kids think I’m a gourmet cook now 🙂 Thank you so much.
We could eat Mexican food for every meal. This looks so good!
Cheesy enchiladas are one of my favorite dishes! I can only imagine what joy it must be to have them in the freezer ready to be heated up in a few minutes!
These look amazing!!!
Thank you for posting, made these tonight! Just added some chicken for my meat eaters. LOVED the recipe! Everyone enjoyed.
I bet you are so thankful you planned ahead now with everything going on! These look amazing!
Great news about Josh! Thanks for sharing an update:) Loving these enchiladas and that they can be frozen for later. Thank you for the recipe!
Oh my, i just found tonight’s dinner.
These look fantastic and I can’t wait to try them. I have been looking for a great vegetarian enchilada recipe for a long time. Sending good thoughts about the tiredness; it is nonstop with two little ones, but it does get easier as time goes on. I hope you get some rest.
These sing to the part of my heart that loves Mexican! These enchiladas look incredible. Freezing them for later is a great idea! Perfect for a quick lunch or week dinner.
I made these last night and they were easy, fast, and most importantly delicious! Thanks for the great recipe!
Yay! Meatless enchiladas! Growing up, my mom always made us her special chicken enchiladas using a roasted whole chicken from the deli, and topped them with olives. I try to keep my meat intake to a minimum these days, so your recipe is definitely happening in my kitchen this week. Childhood comfort food!! Eating a bunch of delicious cheese on top is totally okay cause there is 10 cups of spinach. Balance, right?! 😉
This looks so yummy! Just to be clear about freezing – you bake them them completely and then cool and freeze?
I wondered the same thing
These look delicious! I never thought to freeze enchiladas, what a great idea! I can’t wait to try them.
Frozen dinners are SUCH a lifesaver!! Love this yummy casserole — perfect for Fall!!
I’m not a vegetarian, but I wouldn’t miss the meat in these yummy enchiladas!
Finally got around to making these last night. All I can say, is OMG! They were absolutely delicious!!!!! Quick, easy and very tasty. We didn’t have any left over to freeze, so maybe next time I’ll make a double batch and eat one, freeze the other.
Will absolutely make them again! Thanks for the recipe!
Yay! So glad you liked the enchiladas!
I think next time I will add a bit more of substantial ingredients, like possibly meat or beans. I got 7 filled tortillas following this recipe. They turned out good, but I just think they’d be better with a few more substantial ingredients. Thanks!
I was wondering:) do you have any posts on freezer meals. I am going to have baby #2 in March, so I have plenty of time, but I would like to prepare a bunch of meals for the deep freeze. Take some of the heat off of B-Day!! Thanks sooo much!
I made this last night for Meatless Monday and everybody enjoyed it. A few minor changes – I used whole wheat tortillas, and used 1/4 c Greek yogurt, 1/4 cream cheese, I also used 1/2 salsa, 1/2 green chile enchilada sauce on the bottom as I wasn’t sure how my son would like the green sauce. I used just enough to cover the dish and the enchiladas were very moist. Used just a tsp or two of the chiles in the spinach mixture and put the remaining as toppings on half of the enchiladas. I also only used about half the cheese -using a Mexican blend and it was plenty. We turned it into a kid’ s Cook Monday also with my son adding the cheese to the filling, me rolling up and him putting all the toppings on. Thank you for a great recipe- yum! This will become a staple for our meatless Mondays I can tell.
My daughter made these and they were delicious. A tad salty, but so good that I will have again. Will check the salt content of whatever I put in it when I make it so see if I can lower it a bit. My husband loved them.
I just made this for dinner tonight and it was great! I added 2 canned chipotle peppers in adobo sauce for spice, 2 packs of chopped frozen spinach instead of fresh, and black beans for protein. I also made it lasagna style (layered) and only used 6 whole wheat tortillas instead of 8. I would definitely make it again!
I made these and froze them prior to baking. I used plain Fat free Greek yogurt instead of sour cream and made my own green enchilada sauce with a few poblano and anaheim chiles ( so easy to make sauce and better than canned green sauce). These had some kick and were amazing. Tasted fantastic cooked and even better reheated. Home made enchilada sauce is the icing on the cake. Thanks !~
Glad you liked the enchiladas!
Great recipe! Five star favorite with these changes: add black beans and/or cooked shredded chicken with the spinach mixture. We will make these often. Thanks for another great recipe.
Glad you liked the enchiladas!
Hi Maria!
I am so happy I found your site. I made these enchiladas tonight. My hubby, the carnivore, LOVED them! I am always looking for meatless meals. This one does not disappoint. So Tasty! Thanks for sharing!
Mary
Yay! So happy you liked the enchiladas!
These were amazing and so filling too! My family and I loved them. thanks so much!
Wanted to share that I made these the other day for our newly implemented “meatless monday” and I think I’m in love. This is definitely going into regular rotation.
This was fantastic! I used 1lb of spinach for those of you curious about how much 10 cups is. Bought from the farmers market so reading the bag was not possible. I might consider adding mushrooms next time as well. Thank you for this recipe!
Hi Maria
can this dish be made and assembled in the pan and put directly into freezer uncooked?
How about your other freezer friendly dishes?
Thanks!!
Btw- I just love your website
Made these today. Added some black beans to make it a bit more filling, but otherwise followed directions exactly. These were delicious. Will definitely make again.
Made these tonight and they were excellent. Two things that I think might make them a little healthier.
1. There is no way I used 4 cups I cheese. I sort of just eyeballed it but think I used 1 cup at most and they were still very creamy thanks to the sour cream.
2. I wish I wouldn’t have salted the spinach mixture. There is plenty of salt in the enchilada sauce.
Still delicious and so full of flavor.
These are in the oven now! Can’t wait. My only confusion was the tortilla size. Feeling rather foolish bc I bought “burrito” size but they are GIANT. Like 13″ diameter. I had to fit them lengthwise and only got 4 in the baking dish. What diameter is best?
I use 8 inch tortillas.
Made this tonight and my husband and I both loved them!! So good I will definitely be making these again! Thanks for the recipe!! =)
Is the nutrition facts listed somewhere?
Sounds so yummy!! Can not wait to make these. I love freezer meals. I have a question. How do you measure the spinach? do you pack it in the cup? Can I use a pkg os fresh spinach instead of measuring 10 cups? What size(oz) spinach? Thanks for your help and sharing these recipes.
The filling seem skimmpy. I use a large bag of spinach. Was that incorrect?
why did I buy 2 cans of enchanting sause if the instructions call for 1?
I just tried this recipe tonight. It was awesome. I added a can of black beans to the spinach mixture and used half the cheese just because I don’t like a lot of cheese. It was delicious! Thanks!
Glad you liked the enchiladas!
There is a restaurant in Sacramento CA, called “ON the Border” and they serve these spinach type of enchilada… only they don’t add cilantro, or green chilies, but they do add mushrooms. I loved those enchaladas….but yours sound so-o-oo much better. Can’t wait to try them. Thank you for a great sounding recipe,
Made this tonight and it was delicious!!! Only change I made was to the cheese and used a combination of what I had available: Colby Jack, Mild Cheddar and Mozzarella. Will definitely be making this again!!
Your recipes look delicious. For me, a one person household, do you have simpler recipes. I don’t like so many ingredients. Thanks.
Wow. The spinach green chili enchilada recipe was awesome. I forgot to put the Greek yogurt in and will look forward to my next tine making this wonderful recipe. I added 3 chicken breasts that I cooked up in the cast iron skillet. Shredded the chicken real well and man what an awesome recipe you have shared with us. Thank you very much. Rhonda and Sean happy in Texas
These came out fantastic! !
Glad you liked them!
Your recipes look amazing, but I wish you would give us the calorie count on each of them . . .please!!
I’ve made these over and over adding different ingredients. I even shared with friends at work (egg free vegetarians as well as eat-anything types). Tofu crumbles can make this meal the most filling for even the most carnivorous!
I tried this for the first time last night and they were a hit! They came out so delicious. I will definitely be using this recipe again. The only things I changed were the tortillas (I used corn) and I added shredded chicken to the mixture. Great recipe; yum!!
So glad you liked the enchiladas! Thanks for letting us know!
Made these last night for a group of ladies and they were delicious! I’m a native Texan so it’s always hard to find a recipe that even comes close to the flavor of a restaurant, and these were pretty darn close! The only change I made was to use one can of Old El Paso mild and one jar of a medium green enchilada sauce I found at Central Market in the Hispanic foods aisle. I tasted the Old El Paso sauce when I poured it in the bottom and it was a little bland. I like more of a kick/zing flavor so I went to the store to find a substitution for the sauce on top. Overall, very good and easy! I baked it for 25 minutes and it was perfect. Also – I made these in the morning through the tortilla assembly step, and then finished the prep by pouring the sauce/cheese on top for dinner that night before baking. Turned out great.
Would not recommend this, def do not freeze it. I am actually a pretty good cook. I was looking for meals without meat. These turned out so soggy. The tortilla were all doughy. The flavor not good at all. And I followed direction exactly as written
Love these enchiladas. Thank you and I’m happy everyone is fine and healthy again.
I’m so excited to make these! Any specific instructions for reheating a frozen pan?
I’m 37 weeks and just made this with a friend in order to freeze for when the baby comes. Thank you!! I just didn’t put it in the oven and into the freezer so hopefully will turn out and not be soggy. Thank you for the vegetarian freezer meal idea! One dinner meal off the list!
Chanel
I made these last night and they were amazing! Next time I”ll try with corn tortillas because flour tortillas tend to stick to the pan and get soggy. I also added some frozen corn to spinach.
When you prepare this to be frozen do you make any changes to the cooking time or recipe in general?? When you’re ready to eat it how long do you put it in the oven??
Any way to make these gluten free?
Do you have the nutirtion facts for this dish? thanks! Everyone loved it!
I made this today and my boyfirend hi-fived me after his first bite. Lol. They were so good. Thanks for the recipe!
These were my dinner tonight and I really enjoyed them. Mine were not as pretty as yours, perhaps because I used whole wheat tortillas, and I got 6 instead of 8 enchiladas, but one was plenty for a serving. Thanks for a great recipe that encouraged me to try something different!
I have many friends
It’s really a cool and helpful bit of info. I’m happy that you shared this useful info around.
Please keep us informed such as this. Thanks a lot for sharing.
Just finding this gem of a recipe and I’m hoping to make it in advance for a girls weekend. Is it better to bake then freeze or freeze without baking? Love, love, love your recipes! Thanks!
I love enchiladas, and these look like heaven. But I have 1 question: Why flour tortillas and how do you stop them from getting soggy? I always use corn tortillas because they dont get soggy the way flour ones do. (I dont like soggy anything).
Drooling over this!! So cheesy and gooey – yum!
These were delicious! I fed them to my Mexican fiancé, and he really liked them too! I added tomato and queso fresco to the mixture, and the mixed cheese on top.
Glad you liked the enchiladas!
Very nice enchilada recipe! Love the addition of spinach. I was afraid that the burrito sized tortillas would be too big, but they were the perfect size to hold the contents of the enchilada. I ended up using the Frontera brand green chile enchilada sauce as that is what I had in my pantry and it turned out great. Thank you for the recipe!
Have made this recipe a couple times and my whole family has enjoyed it. I have added some extra veggies (mushrooms, red/yellow/orange peppers), which has been delicious. My daughter suggested I add black beans, too. I may try that tonight for Cinco de Mayo!
This is one of my all time favorite recipes! It is delicious and the family lives it!
Just made these and they were DELICIOUS! Will definitely freeze a second batch next time.
Loved it! I could eat this all day long, and it was easy to make. The only thing I would do different next time is use corn tortillas because flour tortillas always turn mushy for me.
Prepping some freezer meals for post -baby and these look delicious! Do you have specific storage and reheat options? is a glass container frozen OK to put in the oven to reheat? What temp? thank you!!!
These enchiladas were yummy! I used corn tortillas instead of the flour.
Just put it all together…taste delicious before baking….will let you know how it turns out
It was super easy and whole family liked them even 11 yr old boy said we should make them again
Love it!! I will definitely make this again.
sooooso
good, I added mushrooms to the mix and it was fabulous
Yay!!
Hello! This recipe looks delicious, but I have one concern. Is there any better description you can give regarding the amount of spinach? Like the container or bag size in ounces? I wouldn’t know how to begin to guess what 10 handfuls is. Thank you!
I buy the big tub from Costco and it is more than enough! I think two bags of spinach at the store should do it too, just look at the serving size on the bags. I hope that helps!
I meant cups, not handfulls! Doh.
Very easy and very delicious.
Glad you liked the enchiladas.
I just made this tonight. So easy and delicious!!! Thanks, will make it again, double the recipe and freeze half! Yummy thanks!
Do you defrost the enchiladas before reheating them? Or do you put them in the oven frozen? What is the temperature and recommended time for reheating? I do not have a microwave. Thank you!
If you defrost them, they will heat up quicker, but you can just put them in the oven at 350 degrees. Times will vary depending on how frozen they are and your oven.
I make these wonderful enchiladas for my family all the time. I also add sautéed muchrooms to the spinach mixture. Wow! So delicious!!
Great recipe! The hubs + I rarely eat meat*, so we LOVE recipes like this that are easy, meatless + OH SO TASTY! Thanks for sharing. I will for SURE be making and freezing this meal before baby comes!
*we are actually vegan, but in this pregnancy, I’ve been more “vegetarian” than “vegan”… gotta eat what the body craves! 😉
Glad you like the recipe! Best of luck with your pregnancy!
I made these for dinner tonight and they were delicious! I didn’t change a thing on the recipe. We are looking forward the leftovers tomorrow.
This was a crowd pleaser for my family of picky meat eaters. I’m not so sure about freezing these but they were very easy to make and delicious. Thank you for sharing this… it will be in out rotation!!
Incredibly tasty! I made my green chile sauce from green chile powder that I already had on hand but I can see using the jarred sauce in the future if I needed to. Next time I think I’d throw some frozen corn in. Fabulous!
Loved these. I left out the sour cream and added black beans and a bit of portbella. Cut the recipe in half and no problems what so ever. Def will do again
Love the mushroom addition! Yum!
Delish!! I could eat that today and tomorrow and the next day. lol.
I was nervous to try this as I have a tried and true enchilada recipe I’ve been making for years. However, I gave it a go and it was AWESOME!! So easy, delicious, and a whole-family pleaser! Thank you for another fantastic recipe to add to my repertoire!
I have made these enchiladas twice already, and my fiance specifically asked for them for dinner tonight…which is a big deal because he usually isn’t much of a vegetarian meal kind of person. We use greek yogurt for some extra protein, and I am thinking about adding some black beans to the filling tonight. They are easy and so yummy! My favorite part is how well the leftovers reheat. Just wanted to let you know that this recipe has made it in to my regular rotation!
Loved it!
Green Chile Enchilada Sauce is not available to me, how can I repalace it??
I thought it was very good. I steamed broccoli and cauliflower and mixed into a fine mixture and added that to the recipe. It also took more sour cream along with some extra spices that I added. Will make it again.
We’re featuring your Creamy Spinach and Cheese Enchiladas on this weeks Budget Friendly Meal Plan. My family loves this recipe, we’ve eaten it several times. Because of how delicious it is and how inexpensive it is to make it was perfect to include in the meal plan. We’d love to share some of your other budget friendly recipes in future meal plans. Just email us the link!
Robin | Fluster Buster
Really good recipe. I followed it to a t with the exception of adding a little bit more spice and a tad more of the greek yogurt. I will make this again but next time I will use corn tortillas because the flour got a little bit soggy. Oh and also, I only got 7 enchiladas instead of 8, which is okay because my pan wouldn’t have fit another one.
These freeze beautifully! I made about 2 weeks ago and stuck in freezer. Tasted amazing!
These were yummy! I made them ahead of time and put them in the fridge until it was time to bake. I baked them for 40 minutes, removed the foil, bumped up the temperature to 400 and baked for another 20 minutes.
The only thing I did differently was add some grated Cojita cheese (just because I had it on hand) to the top before baking. After removing the foil, it crisps up and gives it a great texture and more cheesy goodness. Thanks for the great recipe.
Glad you liked the enchiladas!
We entertained a new, vegetarian co-worker. Not being very meatless myself, I went in search of a vegetarian enchilada recipe and found this one. It was a HIT with everyone! The only thing I changed was I tossed in 4oz (half a block) of cream cheese. I also made a chicken enchilada recipe that called for 4 oz, so I figured why not. I mixed it up with the sour cream to make them EXTRA creamy. We’ll definitely be adding these enchiladas into the regular rotation. Delicious! Thanks for the recipe!
So glad you liked the enchiladas!
These are very tasty but I struggled with too much liquid after sauteing the spinach. I had to strain the mixture prior to adding the sour cream. Anyone else have this issue? Any suggestions? Thanks
These look awesome. I will be trying this over the weekend!
Love this dish! Made for the first time this last week. Planned on freezing some, but they were too yummy and we ate them all over the course of a few days. Served with a side of pinto beans and sour cream. Will be adding this to our favorites file. Thank you.