★ Why You'll Love this Recipe ★
Healthy and Flavor-Packed
You won’t believe how delicious a healthy, vegetarian quinoa enchilada casserole can be until you’ve tried it! This dish is bursting with flavor and topped with a blend of Mexican cheeses. It’s proof that healthy casseroles do exist—and this one will quickly become a favorite.
Bold Mexican Taste
Layers of refried beans, peppers, corn, and spices give this casserole mega flavor, with sauces tying everything together. Every bite delivers that zesty, satisfying taste you love in Mexican food—without the need for meat.
Tortilla-Free Twist
Quinoa takes the place of traditional corn tortillas for a healthier spin. It still delivers the hearty, satisfying texture you expect while making the casserole even easier to prep. Plus, the cheesy topping is like the icing on the cake—you won’t miss the tortillas one bit.
Vegetarian and Satisfying
Refried beans and quinoa combine to mimic the texture and heartiness of meat, creating a filling and flavorful base. Paired with veggies, cheese, and enchilada sauce, this combo makes meat completely optional—though you can always add chicken or beef if you’d like. Either way, it’s a win-win for flavor and health.
★ Ingredients You'll Need ★
Full of Fresh Ingredients
This Mexican Quinoa Enchilada is bursting with flavor and nutrition. From vitamins to protein, this casserole has it all.
What you'll be working with is:
- Bell peppers. Multi-colored.
- Jalapeños
- Red onion
- Corn
- Quinoa
- Lime juice.
- Cumin fresh cilantro to season things
- Refried black beans
- Red enchilada sauce
- Mexican cheese blend
★ How to Make this Recipe ★
This healthy, vegetarian enchilada casserole is quick and easy to make.
Check out this quick video that shows how:
★ Tips & FAQs ★
I originally planned to add chicken to this recipe, but my husband turned our rotisserie chicken into soup—no complaints! I got creative and made it vegetarian, and it turned out to be a happy accident. You can still add chicken, ground beef, or shrimp without changing the recipe. Just layer cooked quinoa, refried beans, sautéed veggies, and cheese in a pan, then bake. Watch the video for step-by-step instructions.
This is a great base recipe you can tweak by adding more protein.
Vegetarians can try chickpeas, extra beans, tofu, or seafood.
Meat lovers can swap or add shredded chicken, ground beef, or pork in place of—or along with—the refried beans and quinoa. Everything else stays the same.
Yep! You can make this ahead of time and freeze the whole casserole or you could precook the quinoa and keep that ready to go in the freezer so all you have to do is microwave it to defrost, then prep the casserole.
A few shortcuts include: buying peppers and onions already diced and buying precooked quinoa. This cuts out a bit of prep time and makes things easy enough to prepare on a weeknight. But really, even if you're starting from scratch, this can be pulled off on a weeknight. To allow for cook time, start cooking the quinoa early in the evening.
★ More Vegetarian Dinner Recipes ★
Browse all my easy vegetarian recipes for more ideas.
This healthy and vegetarian Mexican Quinoa Enchilada Casserole was featured on South Your Mouth!
Vegetarian Enchilada Casserole
Equipment
Ingredients
- 1 red bell pepper diced
- 1 yellow bell pepper diced
- 1 orange bell pepper diced
- 2 jalapeño peppers diced
- ½ red onion diced
- 2 tablespoon butter
- 10 oz frozen corn
- 1 cups cooked quinoa
- 1 lime juiced
- ½ teaspoon cumin
- 16 oz refried black beans
- 10 oz enchilada sauce
- 1 cup Mexican blend shredded cheese
- fresh cilantro to taste
Mighty Mrs. is a #WalmartPartner.
Instructions
- Melt butter in a skillet over medium heat and cook peppers, onions, jalapeño and corn until lightly caramelized.
- Mix cooked quinoa and lime juice together then layer it into your casserole dish. (You can use one big 9x12 dish or two smaller ones and freeze one)
- Spoon refried beans over the quinoa and spread out as best you can. (They will spread out more when cooking.)
- Layer on pepper and corn mixture. Spreading evenly.
- Sprinkle an even layer of cumin next.
- Pour enchilada sauce over entire casserole.
- Top with a final layer of cheese.
- Bake at 350˚F for 25-30 minutes on a low rack. Serve topped with fresh cilantro.
Video
Notes
- I prefer red but feel free to use red or green enchilada sauce.
Janani Chalaka says
Is there a particular brand of enchilada sauce you prefer. Sometimes I find that the sauce has a bitter taste.
Angela G. says
Hi Janani, I typically use Old El Paso red enchilada sauce. I don't notice a bitter taste, but feel free to choose a brand that you you like best.
Janani Chalaka says
Thank you! Will try it.
Sarah says
I have a question about the quinoa. Do I cook one cup dry and then add it? I know it expands a little. This looks so great I hope to make it next week!
Angela G. says
Hi Sara, thanks for asking. It would be one cup of dry quinoa. Cooked it does expand a little. I am pretty loose about measuring things in general lol so if you added a cup of cooked quinoa it wouldn’t make a big difference. Don’t stress too much about it but I do typically measure it dry since it’s harder to estimate how much dry quinoa will become 1 cup cooked.
RMAU says
This was so delicious! I subbed quinoa for barley just because I had some cooked already and it was wonderful. A real hit at Taco Tuesday with my girl and guy friends alike ??
Angela G. says
Great to know barley would work as well. Glad to hear it was a hit. Thanks for the feedback. 🙂