This epic Vegan Enchiladas with Black Beans and Kale recipe is a creamy, satisfying and wholesome plant-based meal. Kid approved and gluten-free!
Whenever I make enchiladas I feel like I should do the Macarena.
Like, it just pops in my head. So while I’m soaking the ‘chews and blending up all the black bean goodness, I’m dancing my tush off like it’s nobody’s business. Who else gets down and dirty when they’re cooking up a storm? Phew—glad I’m not a loner, here
Ok not let’s talk VEGAN ENCHILADAS. This is one of those meals where you’re like, wait—where’s the cheese? But I swear to you, these enchiladas are insanely creamy sans dairy thanks to the raw cashews.
I even topped them with a non-dairy sour cream to really kick up the creaminess factor a notch because…texture. Jeff and I look so forward to enchilada night!
We’ve got avocado, cilantro, jalapeños, cashew sour cream…the gang’s all here. It’s fiesta time!
How to Make Vegan Enchiladas
How to Make Vegan EnchiladasThese enchiladas taste incredible whether you follow a vegan diet or not. My meat and potato lovin’ boyfriend ADORES them! Now a word about the ingredients. You can totally make your own homemade enchilada sauce, but I typically use store-bought for convenience. I used red enchilada sauce, but green is totally fine, too.
Organic corn tortillas are my go-to, but if you prefer flour, by all means GO FOR IT.
The cashews in the filling and sour cream are definitely essential—I wouldn’t recommend subbing anything else. I use raw cashews versus roasted ones because they have the best flavor for our purposes.
If you’re not feeling black beans, chickpeas, lentils (who remembers my lentil enchiladas?!), or kidney beans would work perfectly as well.
More good news? These Vegan Enchiladas are freezer-friendly. Check out the recipe notes for all the deets. The filling is mighty tasty on its own topped with avocado and hot sauce, if I do say so myself!
Recommended Tools to Make Vegan Enchiladas
I like to blend the cashews and salsa in my food processor and then add the rest of the ingredients right in there afterwards. Less dishes!
For the cashew sour cream, I get the smoothest results using my Nutribullet. You could also use a high-speed blender.
Get yourself a nice large rectangular baking dish like this one. I have this one and I love it because it’s HUGE–perfect for lasagna, too.
CRAVING MORE MEXICAN GOODNESS? DON’T MISS MY OTHER GO-TO RECIPES:
- Vegan Taco Stuffed Sweet Potatoes
- Vegan Sweet Potato Black Bean Enchiladas
- Zesty Sheet Pan Tofu Tacos with Kale Slaw
- Grilled Fish Tacos with Strawberry Avocado Salsa and Lime Crema
- Vegan Tempeh and Kale Enchilada Casserole
If you make this vegan enchilada recipe and your love it, pretty please let me know by leaving a 5-star rating and/or comment! I hope it becomes a weeknight favorite for you, too.
Fiesta time!! (Insert red dancing girl emoji here…)
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Vegan Enchiladas with Cashew Sour Cream
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 30 minutes
- Total Time: 40 minutes
- Yield: 4 servings 1x
- Category: Main Meals
- Method: oven
Description
This epic Vegan Enchiladas with Black Beans and Kale recipe is a creamy, satisfying and wholesome plant-based meal. Kid approved and gluten-free!
Ingredients
For the enchiladas:
- 1/2 cup cashews (raw or roasted), soaked
- 1–15oz can black beans, drained and rinsed
- Heaping ½ cup salsa (plus more for serving)
- 1 bell pepper, chopped
- 1 tsp fine sea salt
- ½ tsp garlic powder
- ½ tsp cumin
- ½ tsp smoked paprika
- 1/4 tsp cayenne
- 3 leaves of kale, de-stemmed and torn into pieces (optional)
- 12 corn tortillas
- 1–8oz package enchilada sauce
For the cashew sour cream:
- ¾ cup raw cashews, soaked
- 1/3 cup water
- 1 ½ tbsp lemon juice
- ¼ tsp fine sea salt
Instructions
- Place 1 ¼ cups cashews (for enchiladas and sour cream) in a medium bowl. Cover with 3 cups of boiling water and allow to sit for 20 minutes or (or overnight in warm water).
- Preheat oven to 350F. Drain and rinse cashews. Place ½ cup of the cashews and the salsa in a food processor and blend for about a minute, or until smooth and creamy. Add beans, pepper, salt, and spices. Process until mixture is combined but has some texture. Add in the torn kale and process just until the kale is broken down.
- Warm tortillas in the microwave for about 15 seconds if needed. Using a 13×9 pan, pour just enough sauce to cover bottom.
- Spoon filling into tortillas, fold them up, and place seam-side down on the pan. If the tortillas break, that’s ok. Once all enchiladas are all next to each other in the pan, cover them liberally with the rest of the enchilada sauce. Bake for 30 minutes.
- Meanwhile make sour cream by draining and rinse remaining ¾ cup cashews. Blend in high speed blender or Nutribullet with water, lemon juice, and salt, adding more water if needed. Drizzle on enchiladas and serve with avocado and salsa.
Notes
- Filing can be frozen for up to 3 months. Thaw before using.
- Store leftovers in the refrigerator in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 3 days or freeze up to 3 months.
Recipe by Alexis Joseph of Hummusapien™. Photos by Eat Love Eats. Recipes and images are a copyright of hummusapien.com.
PIN THESE VEGAN ENCHILADAS!
One of my favorite recipes on your site (and I’ve tried A LOT of them)! Tastes like they’re from a restaurant. Even my picky boyfriend LOVED them!
★★★★★
Heck yes! I so agree!
These are SO GOOD! Ridiculous good. They are so flavorful! I love recipes that have nutritious, flavorful ingredients! This proves you do not have to have a bunch of ‘crap’ to make an enchilada dish so tasty! You feel like you’re indulging but the ingredients are clean. Thank you for coming up with what will be a new weekly staple in our home!
★★★★★
Wonderful news! Thanks for taking the time to share, Briana 🙂
Super easy to make and tasty!!
★★★★★
Thanks so much, Megan!
Ever since stumbling upon this recipe I have made these enchiladas weekly! I used the Angelic bakery GF sweet potato tortillas and I like to add the chickpea\walnut taco mix that you have on your blog inside with the black beans. I only use about half the “taco filling” that you would use for a full order of tacos ( so half a can of chickpeas pulverized with walnuts) as to not overwhelm the enchiladas but dang!! So tasty 😋
★★★★★
OMG SO smart! I need to get my hands on more of those tortillas ASAP. Thanks for reviewing, Molly!
Obsessed with these. Our picky kids love them, too!
★★★★★
Soo good! My husband liked it as well as my 4 kids! (And this isn’t like a normal meal in our house.)
★★★★★
Fabulous! Glad these were a win for you and the fam. Thanks for taking the time to rate the recipe, Shawna! I really appreciate it.
Great flavor and great leftovers! Ended up making my own enchilada sauce and salsa so the result was super fresh! Used pinto beans instead of black because I already had some soaked and cooked. Really filling!
Mmmm that sounds perfect! Thanks for the comment, Katie!
Finally got around to making these, and only sorry I waited so long. My boyfriend doesn’t like kale, and even he loved them XD I used lentils instead of black beans and would highly recommend. Loved the cashew cream addition. Cannot wait to make these again!
Amazing! Isn’t the sour cream such a good addition?
I made these last night and they were incredible! So incredible that I thought my boyfriend might actually propose, he loved them that much!!
Best compliment ever! Thanks so much for letting me know.
Excellent taste and easy to make. My husband went back for seconds!
Now that’s what I like to hear! Thanks, Erin 🙂
Made this last night and it is FABULOUS!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Will make again soon! THANK YOU
★★★★★
My carnivorous husband said this was one of the top five dishes I’ve ever made. I served it with some cilantro lime rice and it made an amazing meal with plenty of leftovers. This’ll be on repeat in our house!
★★★★★
Fantastic recipe!
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Thanks so much, Rhonda!
OMG these were AH-MAZE-ING! I used the homemade enchilada sauce you recommended, which was fabulous! I also subbed some corn for the bell pepper cause it’s what I had. I made my meat and potatoes lovin husband try it and he said it was delicious! This recipe is going to be on repeat for the next several months!
★★★★★
I love the changes you made! Corn is always a good idea. Thanks so much for the feedback!
★★★★★
These enchiladas were absolutely top class! So healthy and full of flavor. Another unbelievably good recipe from Hummusapien. 100% recommend trying this recipe?
★★★★★
Thank you tons for the positive feedback, Shane!