Late Summer Vegetable Enchilada Pie – A saucy, lasagna-like Mexican-American casserole layered with vegetables, tortillas, sauce and cheese. Perfect if you’re feeding a crowd or to make ahead for the month, once cool you can refrigerate or freeze it in portions.
Late Summer Vegetable Enchilada Pie
Late Summer Vegetable Enchilada PieMore Mexican inspired enchilada recipes I love are Chicken Enchilada Roll Ups, Enchiladas Verdes, (Green Enchiladas), and Turkey Enchilada Stuffed Poblano Peppers.
Because of my love for enchiladas, this recipe caught my attention while paging through the Modern Potluck; Beautiful Food To Share cookbook. A beautiful cookbook with so many recipes I can’t wait to try. With the end of summer here, this is the perfect meatless dish to use up all that zucchini and corn.
I slightly modified this dish to make it lighter, by using less cheese and only two layers of tortillas and it worked out perfect. The enchilada sauce made about 5 cups total, if you want to skip the step of making your enchilada sauce from scratch. This is a great base for other flavor variations. Next time I make this, I will try a version with different veggies and maybe chicken using my homemade enchilada sauce instead (found in my cookbook). Hope you enjoy this wonderful dish!
More Enchilada Recipes:
- Cheesy Rotisserie Chicken Enchilada Skillet
- Spaghetti Squash Enchilada Bowls
- Vegetarian Breakfast Enchilada
- Chicken Enchilada Soup (Slow Cooker or Instant Pot)
- Chicken Enchilada Stuffed Zucchini Boats
Late Summer Vegetable Enchilada Pie
Ingredients
For the Enchilada Sauce (makes 5 cups):
- 1 1/2 2 to 3 dried Ancho Chilies
- 1 cup boiling water
- 1 28 oz can whole tomatoes
- 3/4 tsp kosher salt
- black pepper, to taste
For the Filling and Pie:
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 1 medium onion, finely chopped
- 2 garlic cloves, minced
- 2 jalapenos, seeded and finely chopped
- 2 tsp cumin
- 1 lb zucchini, diced 1/4-inch (4 cups)
- 2 medium ears of corn, kernels cut from cobb (1 1/2 cups)
- 1 cup canned black or pinto beans, drained and slightly smashed with fork
- 1 tbsp fresh lime juice
- 1/2 cup chopped cilantro, plus more for garnish
- 8 6-inch corn tortillas
- 3 cups reduced fat Mexican blend cheese
Instructions
- Ancho Sauce: In a large deep skillet toast the anchos over medium-high heat turning often, about 2 minutes. When cool remove stems and seeds. Transfer to a blender with hot water and let it get soft. When cool add tomatoes and blend until smooth. Season with salt and pepper.
- Filling: In the skillet heat oil over medium heat, add the onion and cook until soft, 5 minutes. Add the garlic and jalapeno and cook until fragrant, 1 minute. Add the zucchini and cook until tender yet firm, 4 to 5 minutes. Add the corn, beans, lime juice and cumin and cook 2 minutes. Add 1/2 cup cilantro and stir.
- Preheat oven to 375°F. Grease a 9 x 13-inch baking dish.
- Spread 1/2 cup sauce on bottom of casserole, arrange 4 tortillas on a single layer (cutting them in half to fit). Spoon half the veggie filling over the tortillas, and top with half of the remaining sauce and 1 1/2 cups cheese. Repeat with the remaining tortillas, veggies, sauce and cheese. Cover with foil and bake 30 minutes, until the filling is bubbling. Let cool 10 minutes before cutting, then serve.
Last Step:
Please leave a rating and comment letting us know how you liked this recipe! This helps our business to thrive and continue providing free, high-quality recipes for you.Nutrition
Categories:
This is one of the only things I can make and happily eat all week. I omit the cumin and replace the jalapeños with chipotle peppers in adobo sauce. This time I added ground turkey for some extra protein and then served it with nonfat Greek yogurt (I use that in place of sour cream all the time). One of my favorite recipes!!
This was delicious! It was a good amount of prep work and then time before ready. Mine was also saucy but I think that made the leftovers even better.
The flavor of this enchilada sauce was the best I’ve ever had! I ended up subbing in a dried chipotle pepper (influenced by Gina’s enchilada sauce) because I didn’t have enough ancho chiles. Not sure if that slight chipotle taste added in made it a little different but it had so much flavor and I will definitely be doing this in the future. My enchiladas came out pretty saucy but i did forget to add a layer of tortillas in the middle so ended up adding them on top with some extra cheese to help with my mistake. I wouldn’t change anything, just maybe gauge a little better next time I make it on how much sauce I should use. I love that there’s no meat and they definitely didn’t need it! So delicious!
I have not made this in ages ( 2017!) and thought I would try it again as I had some dried Ancho Chili’s in the cupboard, and wanted to experiment more with casseroles that could be taken to potlucks. I was a bit confused about how much dried Ancho Chili pepper to use–it was a pack of one ounce dried Chili’s (3 of them) so I toasted them all and used all of them. The sauce was pretty thick, but seemed ok–I decided to forgo the tortillas and just added one cup of the Ancho Enchilada sauce to the mixture only and saved the rest of the sauce. Layered with a bit of cheese on 1/2 of the mixture and then on top. Used less then 1/2 cup of shredded cheese. I added entire can of pinto beans, however but all else the same. I baked acorn squash to have along with it. This mixture would be good stuffed into an acorn squash or over spaghetti squash. I have nearly 4 cups of left over sauce I will freeze for other uses, If anyone has any ideas let me know. Also was thinking of Skinny Taste regular Enchilada sauce recipe which has some broth and other seasonings–thought maybe to add to this thicker sauce and maybe it would be more like the Quick Enchilada sauce which I love. This Ancho pepper has a nice smokey flavor.
This was really good reminded me of a vegetarian dish from my local Mexican restaurant. Next time I’ll use mushrooms in place of the beans and maybe include some yellow squash. Thanks for this recipe!
My go to and favorite end of summer recipe 😊
Thanks so much for all of your expertise.
I’m so appreciative.😊
Thanks Tracie!
I wanted to like this, but for the labor intensiveness of this meal it just wasn’t there.
This is a wonderful recipe. We made it and split into two 8×10 pans and gave one to my parents to bake and have for dinner. Since COVID started we drop off a meal every week and wave from the street. My father actually called to ask if the points were right as he did not believe it and wanted the recipe. They LOVED it. My husband and I also enjoyed it. Really good and easy to make ahead.
This was awesome. I love that you put meat-free entrees on Mondays in your meal plans. No one in my house seems to notice. I loved the sauce. I didn’t have whole tomatoes so I used stewed tomatoes instead. It came out thicker than a normal enchilada sauce but we all agreed we liked it that way. The sauce is delicious!
Really good! After it was cooked, my daughter put the mixture on top of tortilla chips with extra jalapenos.
Wonderful recipe. Makes a lot and the fresh veggies are so good. I use store bought enchilada sauce as is easier and faster. The sauce recipe is good but much less time with store bought. And great leftovers
this is a good recipe when met with some improvisation. i use store-bought enchilada sauce & vegetarian refried pinto beans, and omit the corn, lime juice, cumin, garlic cloves, and jalapenos yet it tastes amazing!!! i don’t follow the measurements to a T either 🙂
i just realized i’ve commented on this recipe before, over a year ago lol
Wow, this was so good!!! So very flavourful. Made it with your Enchilada sauce recipe, which was delish. Served with some sour cream because it had a lot of heat. I think next time I’ll make it with one less jalapeno, the boyfriend thought it was a bit too spicy. Loved that it was almost entirely veggies, great recipe without the guilt of regular enchiladas.
We ended up going to chick fila 😬
this recipe is so good, but instead of making the sauce i use frontera enchilada sauce
not as good but works in a pinch!
I’ve made this many times, I usually add soyrizo to the veggie mix in the frypan and an extra can of black beans. I freeze it in meal-sized portions to bank future meals for busy nights. I’ve had guests watch me put it together and still think there’s meat in it. This is a great recipe.
Any suggestions as to what to use instead of Zucchini and/or Squash? I love most all vegetables but those are 2 that I don’t even like!!
I add whatever I have, including (French) green beans. Also, cauli-rice.
This recipe is a regular of mine now. Thanks for sharing it!
Hi! What are the -reheating directions if you just want it for dinner the next night from the fridge?
Thank you
You can reheat in the oven.
Made for dinner tonight, it was delicious! Added some chopped cherry tomatoes I needed to use before they go bad and they were a good addition. Might have eyeballed the amount of chopped jalapeños and it came out spicy! Great recipe.
Another amazing recipe! Thanks to your website I’m sneaking veggies into dinners like never before! I’m pretty sure my husband had no idea this was a vegetarian dish.
Awesome! Lol!
This was really yummy! However, it was spicier than I expected given that I didn’t see any comments about spice. I think some sour cream on the side would be great.
I just made this tonight and am IN HEAVEN!!! I used the enchilada sauce from your cookbook since I had the ingredients for it on hand. This is definitely going to be one of my regular go-to recipes!!!
Made this last night. Very yummy. Husband ate his with a few chips. Tortillas basically turned to mush though. Is there a way to avoid that?
We are trying to eat more and more vegetarian. This recipe for the simple ingredients packs a lot of flavor and interest. The corn right now is so good and I had a yellow squash and used that . My husband kept going back for more. I had to make one for myself with less heat, but my husband loved the recipe as is. I froze a 1/2 pan size for later and it will be nice to be able to pull it out for my vegetarian sister when she visits.
I made this last night and we loved it! The fresh veggies really give it some great flavor and freshness. I used canned enchilada sauce to save time and it was still great! We didn’t even miss the meat!
My daughter and I made this for dinner the other night. We used the skinnytaste enchilada sauce and added some shredded chicken and it was delicious! My husband, who loves to add garlic salt to almost everything, did not add it to this and raved about the dish. We finished it off the next day for lunch. 🙂
Great!
Hopped onto your site yesterday looking for a dish to take to a party and this was the first thing I saw, so I figured it was the one. It turned out great and got rave reviews, no leftovers for me!
I used your skinnytaste enchilada sauce, added a can of green chilis and some ancho chili powder and a little salt to the veggies. The fresh corn though an extra step kind of made the dish.
So delicious!
Thanks Gina!
You’re welcome Karen! 🙂
I’ve made this and it’s delicious! Planning to make again but have a question. If I am freezing this, should I bake first and then freeze or freeze unbaked? Thanks so much!
I would bake and freeze.
*topped
I made this tonight using Gina’s enchilada sauce recipe. It was fantastic. Plus, without meat, you get more cheese! We roped with lite sour cream, cilantro, and green onions. This will definitely be in our regular rotation and is good enough to serve for company.
Hello,
Can I use ancho chili powder instead of dried chilis? If so, how much?
Thanks!
I make this once a week!! Can’t get enough.
saturated fat not listed-so is it zero? can’t wait to try this-made it last night-will have it for supper tonight! Love all the skinnytaste recipes i have tried so far and have the slow cooker cookbook-i do my weekly meal prep from these recipes-thanks for so many options!
Hi Gina, just made this for the first time and it was really yummy! Although the tortillas sort of just turned to mush. Is that norm? Still love the taste. ????
Made this tonight with your enchilada sauce, great success and will rotate for meatless meals!
Are all 5 cups of sauce used in the recipe? Would like to take a shortcut and buy canned enchilada sauce but not sure how much I will need. Thanks!
I made this last night and it was delicious! I added a lb of ground chicken to the filling because my husband will only eat it if it has meat. haha Only added one more sp per serving!
First off, thank you for sharing this recipe out of your book. I love that you don’t make everyone buy the book to get your recipes. I will be purchasing your book in the near future because your recipes are truly epic and I would like to support you.
Secondly, how much enchilada sauce is required for the recipe? I want to buy my own. Is it the 5 cups mentioned in the beginning?
AWESOME – even my meat loving husband loved it. We have so much zucchini and the Olathe corn is plentiful this season. Super super super
I made this with your homemade enchilada sauce & I have one word to describe it…AMAZING! I have loved every one of your recipes, but this one might be #1 on my list of favorites! Thanks for providing recipes I can feel good about feeding my family while I try to lose a few pounds! Can’t wait to make it again!
Great!
Has anyone prepped this ahead of time and baked next day? How did it turn out? I just made it and wondering if I should bake now and reheat tomorrow or cook tomorrow? Thx!
Delicious! I used Yellow squash as I had a plethora of it. Since I’m supposed to avoid tomato sauce, I made a green chile sauce and added arias red red pepper. This was so good.! Thanks Gina!
This was a delicious dish and just as described “end of summer”. I used canned enchilada sauce only due to time. I will definitely try the sauce with ancho peppers next time and may add the extra step of grilling the corn. Thank you for a wonderful recipe worth repeating!
Wonderful!
Just made this and it came out great! I browned ground turkey meat and used enchilada sauce from a can because I was pinched on time. I highly recommend adding browned meat to this dish!
Hi Gina, I would like to substitute ancho chili powder for the ancho chilis. Is that possible? Would I just purée the powder, tomatoes and water? Thanks!
Well – that was a soggy dish!! Great flavor but everything was swimming in watery sauce. Tortillas were very soggy and reminded me or dough balls or something. If I make this again – I would skip the tortillas – figure out how to make it less watery – and just put the filling into a tortilla. Like I said before – great flavor but that was about it.
I can’t even begin to tell you how tasty this dish is. I added chicken because typically my meatless dinners turn away my husband and nine year old. However…..this dish is AMAZING!!! I will be leaving out the chicken next time! This recipe is SPOT ON!
I’ve read this recipe back and forth trying to figure out where that 1 tbsp lime juice goes! I just ended up stirring it into the veggies/beans mix. No clue other wise.
Ah, I see it was updated since I originally downloaded it.
With the beans and veggies.
I made this last night and took the lazy way out – just so others know – used canned corn, canned enchilada sauce, canned chopped jalapeños and couldn’t for the life of me find low fat mexican blend cheeses so used the regular – just less. Everything else I followed exactly and from start to finish this took me maybe 10 minutes to chop and prepare. The results – amazing! My husband raved on and on and went for seconds. I froze the rest and I must say – next time when I have more time, I will make everything from scratch but in the meantime just know that even with my shortcuts – it came out amazing! A definite keeper!
Made this for a group of friends who are usually not big on vegetarian dinners, and they positively raved about it! One very ardent meat-lover even said it is the best meatless meal he has had in his life. So tasty and full of flavor, I will definitely be making it again!
Awesome!
Loved this and so did my husband, who usually loves his meat. I blended 3 canned chipotle peppers to the sauce instead of the dried which added a lovely smoked flavor. Thank you, Gina! This is a keeper
Made it last night and had to use store-bought enchilada sauce because I couldn’t find the ancho chiles. Also I just added the cumin and lime to the filling and it turned out great. Thanks for such healthy and flavorful recipes. Really has been a game-changer in my house.
This was delish but it was very watery. I’m assuming it’s from the zucchini. Is there a remedy for this? I thought about salting it and letting it drain in a colander first.
Made this last night! SO good!
Made this tonight and it was amazing. Added shredded chicken and store-bought enchilada sauce- turned out great!
I’ve got this baking in the oven right now! I assumed you add the Cumin and lime juice to the filling as it is not stated in the instructions. Looking forward to eating it! Thanks for another great recipe.
Do you think that the casserole could be premade and baked later? It looks delicious!
Did you try this? Curious also since I just made it and debating!
Looks absolutely delish… When do you add the cumin and lime? Thanks!
Same time as the corn, it is fixed now! 🙂
This was SO good! One of my recent favorites, thanks for sharing!
What can I substitute for the chilies?. We love Mexican food and this looks yummy but we can’t do the ‘hot’ chilies. We are mild Mex eaters.
You can leave them out if you prefer.
Guajillo chiles are pretty mild for the sauce if you want to use those. Just leave out the jalapeños and maybe try a hatch or poblano instead
Gina, do you have a particular brand/version of corn tortillas that you like because of the points?
This looks very good!
No, they are all the same.
If you use extra thin tortillas they are less points. 3 extra thin tortillas are 3 points vs 3 regular corn tortilla are 5 points.
Just put this together, looking back on the recipe, it didn’the say when/where to put in the lime juice or cumin..so mine does not have either at this point…hope it turns out okay!
Was I supposed to use the liquid from the can of whole tomatoes in the enchilada sauce? I did, and my casserole turned out really soupy.
Also, lime and cumin? When
I am expecting my 2nd child in November and this looks like a great recipe to make and freeze before the baby is born! I was also just diagnosed with gestational diabetes and I love that most of your recipes are low carb so great for me to eat! Thank you so much Gina for your great recipes and I can’t wait for your next cookbook in October!
Congrats and thank you!!
Made this tonight and used the enchilada sauce from the book and it was amazing! I wasn’t sure when to put in the lime juice and cumin per the recipe but it worked fine.
I love love love your recipes! Some of my favs include your spinach lasagna rolls and Slow Cooker Honey Sesame Chicken… Yum! I just made this vegetable casserole and it was delicious 🙂 I did notice in the directions it did not say when to add the lime juice and cumin so I just added it when I added the corn and beans. Did I overlook this in the directions? Thank you Gina for all you do!
When do you add the cumin and lime juice? Thanks! Planning to make it this week.
With the corn, it’s updated now.
Can’t wait to make this! Question – where do you typically find lowfat Mexican blend cheese? I cannot seem to find it at Kroger or Walmart, do you ever get it at whole foods or fresh market? Those are my only options left!
I find it at Kroger. I buy their brand. They recently changed the packaging for the low fat Mexican blend cheese, but it’s in a yellow bag. It look me a few minutes to find it when they changed it up! Looking at my bag now, it’s called “Mexican style blend finely shredded cheese reduced fat.” Good luck…hope this helps! 🙂
My Kroger here in Houston sells the shredded Kroger brand reduced fat Mexican blend. If you can’t find it, maybe just use reduced fat cheddar?
I found it at Aldi’s.
Walmart’s Great Value brand has one blend labeled as “2% reduced fat, fiesta blend cheese”. Kraft also makes a blend called “2% milk, mexican style four cheese”. There’s also the Kroger version that someone else mentioned. Personally, I like the taste of the Sargento’s four cheese blend the best. Sargento also makes a reduced fat (2% milk) cheddar-jack shredded blend that would be a great substitute. Or you could make your own by mixing reduced fat cheddar with monterey jack .
Shoprite just came out with their own reduced fat Mexican blend cheese (also shredded sharp cheddar). It sells for 1.99 usually.
Look delish! Could you clarify how many ancho chilies to use? Is it 1.5, or 2-3? Thanks!
It is probably 1.5 ounces of ancho chiles, which would equate to about 2-3 chiles.
Looks like it should be 1.5 oz or 2-3 chiles
I have the modern pot luck cookbook as well. I noticed that you used cumin instead of curry powder, would you recommend the change in it? Does cumin/curry powder make much of a difference?
I had all the ingredients at home to make it except the ancho chiles, just got them yesterday so it’ll be on my dinner plate very soon.
With just the two of us I’m all about making a full recipe, dividing it into two square bakers, baking one now and freezing one for later (before it’s baked). Is this recipe suited to that? Thanks!
hey, did you end up freezing before baking. Did it work out?