Simple and delicious, these Black Bean Potato Vegan Enchiladas with Avocado Cilantro Sauce are the perfect weeknight dinner!
Enchiladas are one of those staple meals I could eat once a week.
There are so many options when it comes to filling and sauces.
The tricky part when making enchiladas vegan is getting a creamy texture without any cheese.
And I’ve told you more than once about my lack luster feelings about vegan cheese.
With both of my other enchilada recipes (Black Bean Green Chili Enchiladas and Vegan Enchilada Casserole) I used my Vegan Jalapeño Cream Sauce to get that creamy texture.
But I know everyone isn’t as much of a spice addict as me.
So I wanted to create a new recipe for people who want a more tame recipe.
But don’t worry, there is still plenty of flavor going on in these bad boys.
And most of that flavor is coming from the avocado cilantro sauce. Grilled onions, fresh cilantro and creamy avocado are blended up with some spices to make a sauce that is to die for.
These enchiladas are hearty and healthy – perfect for meal prepping or a weeknight dinner!
More of a visual person? Check out the video:
Black Bean Potato Vegan Enchiladas with Avocado Cilantro Sauce
Ingredients
FOR THE AVOCADO CILANTRO SAUCE
- 2 tsp olive oil
- 1/2 red onion roughly chopped
- 2 cloves garlic roughly chopped
- 1 1/2 tsp cumin
- salt to taste
- 1/2 avocado
- 1/2 bunch cilantro stems removed
- 1/4 cup water
FOR THE ENCHILADAS
- 1 russet potato peeled and roughly chopped
- 2 tsp olive oil
- 1/2 red onion diced
- 1 bell pepper diced
- 1 can black beans drained and rinsed
- 1 1/2 tsp cumin
- salt to taste
- 1 1/2 cup red enchilada sauce separated
- 8 corn tortillas
- OPTIONAL TOPPINGS cilantro, jalapeños, avocado slices
Instructions
FOR THE AVOCADO CILANTRO SAUCE
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Heat olive in a pan over medium heat. Add red onion, garlic, cumin and salt to the pan. Saute until onions begin to soften - approx. 5 minutes. Add onion mixture, avocado, cilantro and water to a blender. Blend on high until combined. Pour into a bowl and set aside.
FOR THE ENCHILADAS
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Add potatoes to a pot and cover with water. Bring to a boil and simmer until potatoes are fork tender - approx. 10 minutes. Drain potatoes and set aside.
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While potatoes are boiling heat olive oil in a pan over medium heat. Add red onion, bell pepper, black beans, cumin, salt and 1/4 cup enchilada sauce to the pan. Saute until onions and bell pepper are softened - approx. 5-7 minutes.
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Place the pot you used to cook the potatoes back on the stove. Add drained potatoes, 1/2 the avocado cilantro sauce and 1/4 cup of enchilada sauce to the pot. Using a potato masher or wooden spoon, break apart potatoes* until they are combined with the sauce. Add bell pepper, bean mixture to the potatoes and stir to combine.
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Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Wrap tortillas in a damp paper towel and steam in the microwave for 30 seconds. Cover the bottom of a baking dish with 1/2 cup of enchilada sauce. Fill each tortilla with approx. 1/4 cup of filling and roll up to contain the filling. Place each filled tortilla seam side down in the baking dish. Top with remaining enchilada sauce and place in the oven for 20 minutes. Remove from the oven and allow enchiladas to cool for 5 minutes. Top with remaining avocado cilantro sauce and any optional toppings you are using. Serve and enjoy!
Recipe Notes
*You want the potatoes to be creamy, but you can leave some chunks for texture.
If you make this recipe be sure to snap a photo + post it + and tag #thissavoryvegan and @thissavoryvegan!
Thanks for sharing! Do they keep long?
This looks so good! I love that it is a hearty dish that will fill you up too!
Made this recipe first time tonight for a small gathering. Everyone loved it! Cooked jalapenos on top of enchiladas. Gave the kick every wanted and loved! Simple, easy and most of all tasty! I’m not even vegan! Thank you for sharing!
Jalapenos on top – a girl after my own heart. lol. Can never get enough spice. So glad these were a hit!
I thought it was a great recipe! One of my roommates and I both ate it and enjoyed it. It’s a guilt-free, healthy, and filling dish. I would definitely make it again!
Made these tonight and my husband and I both really enjoyed them! Thanks for the recipe!
You’re so welcome – glad you and the hubby liked it!
I made these the other night and they turned out pretty tasty. Pretty standard vegan enchilada recipe, so I added some extra flair. I made a cilantro garlic cashew crema along with homemade raw cotija “cheese” made with almonds. These keep really well in the fridge and my husband and I enjoyed them for a few meals this week!
I made these a few weeks ago and they are amazing! We are expecting out first child in just under 4 weeks and I am prepping a bunch of frozen meals for after hes born. Has anyone tried freezing these either before or after baking do I could just thaw them and then pop them in the oven?
HI Mandy. You can definitely freeze these. I would do everything up until baking them. Cover them and allow them to cool completely before placing in the freezer. No need to thaw before baking. Just increase the cooking time when reheating. It will take 60+ minutes to reheat.
A few weeks ago my husband and I decided to try the vegan lifestyle for health reasons and this is the first recipe I made. Amazing!!! It’s now part of my 3 week meal plan. I promise to post pictures next time. It definitely takes me longer to prep and cook but I’ve learned to ignore the posted prep times. Thank you for sharing this recipe!
Awesome! So glad it was a hit.
These are delicious for sure. But please tell me how you can prep these in 10 minutes?! You must have ninja-like knife skills. A realistic prep time for us mortals is more in the 20-30 minute range.
This dish was amazing. It was easy to make and my non vegan husband loved it. Thank you so much for the recipe.
Yay! So glad it was a hit!
I’m very excited to try this recipe for dinner tonight, but I’d like to use a sweet potato instead of russet. Do you think this will work with the flavor of the recipe? Thanks for sharing!
Sweet potato would definitely work. Different flavor, but still tasty!
Amazing! My first successful home cooked dish (I swore I wasn’t cut out to be a cook) and it’s vegan ?. New follower, subscriber, fan! Can’t wait to try out more of your recipes.
Yay – so glad you liked these. Cooking skills develop over time, so don’t be too hard on yourself. 🙂
These were awesome! I used sweet potato because that’s what I had, and it was so good! Will be making way more often!
Is there a link to the red enchilada sauce?
She lists a prepared (I assumed pre-made) sauce. I used the sauce recipe from a different vegan enchilada pin &it worked great.
I’d also like to know what brand of enchilada sauce was used if it all possible ?
Just any store-bought canned enchilada sauce 🙂
Child of New Mexico writing here…but…it really does make a difference! Most of the common American brands use tomatoes in the sauce, which is kind of horrible to someone from New Mexico. El Pato (a Mexican brand, likely in the Hispanic food aisle) is much better, at least for the red. Hatch canned sauce is excellent for both red and especially green. There are some sauce mix powder packets from local brands in the Southwest (like Francisco’s) that you might find hanging on a peg that are better than the cans. But for a really elevated dish…it’s SO easy to make your own red enchilada sauce. Traditionally you soak dried chiles and then blend them, but you can also use ground Ancho chile (which is mild-to-medium). Here’s an example of Santa Fe-style enchilada sauce:
https://www.newmexico.org/things-to-do/food/recipes/red-chile-sauce/
can you prep this all the night before and then cook it the next day?
Totally! You can literally do everything up until the point you would bake them. Cover them and place in the fridge until ready to bake. Make sure to increase your bake time as well. The only other thing you should keep in mind is that your avocado cilantro sauce will not be as vibrant in color the next day – since avocados turn slightly brown overnight. This doesn’t mean the sauce has gone bad or that it won’t taste just as good, but just be prepared for the change in color.
These were seriously so amazing!!!!!!! The best enchiladas ever!
The enchiladas were very falvorful and delicious, I had extra filling to make an additional 4 tacos. However, i only have a nutribullet and the blade I used made the cilantro avocado sauce a bland, thick. chunky mess. I added more water and some lime juice, but the flavors never came together. I am excited to try the sauce again when i have a proper blender.
Instead of cooking in the oven could one crockpot it instead? Any suggestion on time?
Hi Ashley – I’ve never made enchiladas in a crockpot, so I’m not sure on the cooking time. You are mostly baking to heat everything through (since there isn’t anything that really has to be cooked), so I would throw it on low and just check back on it as it cooks. I know that’s not a lot of help, but without testing it, I won’t know any exact cooking times. If you try it out, let me know how it goes!
I enjoyed this for dinner tonight. It’s delicious!
This was delicious!!!
I substituted a piece of turnip for about half of the potato (cooking with the potato chunks) because I have too many turnips in the CSA box…it also reduces some calories. Using some turnip still tastes like “mashed potatoes” if you stay below half.
I also added about half a package of fresh baby “power greens” (chard, kale, spinach) by putting a layer of greens inside each tortilla, before the filling. The fresh greens play well with the potato/bean filling inside the enchilada.
Yum! Those sound like some great additions!
Love this recipe! We tried it for the do time in November and have made it four more times since!
Yay! So glad it was a hit!
Delicious as is, no changes! My family loved this dish. I agree with keeping the potatoes creamy/chunky and I kept the peppers/onions a little crisp and we liked the texture.
Awesome – glad these were a hit with your family!
seems delicious, but like a recommendation for an enchilada sauce. being where I live , haven’t been able to get a great sauce.
Hmmm…I usually just go with the typical brands – Old El Paso or Las Palmas. You should be able to get either of these at Target or Walmart. If not, Amazon will be your best bet!
This is what I use.
http://ohsheglows.com/2016/01/31/enchilada-sauce/
Made this tonight… HOLY YUM! Seriously, this recipe is deelish. I topped it with a dollop of vegan sour cream too. Mmmmmm. Thanks so much for sharing this! So far i am three for three – all three of your recipes that i have tried so far have been awesome! So glad i found TSV!
Yay – so glad you liked this! And super glad you found TSV too! 🙂
This is soooo good! Thanks for the recipe!
This was delicious! Even my kids did well with it! We did half in flour tortillas and half in corn. Flour was our fave, but both were yummy!
Awesome – so glad they were a hit!
These are so good (currently eating right now)… only change I made was to cover with a Mexican cheese blend (not quite vegan-ready yet) and served over bed of spinach. Thank you for posting this!! Will definitely be making again
So glad you liked it! And baby steps towards a plant-based diet are awesome – you’ve got to start somewhere 🙂
Looking forward to making this. Here in Texas, once a week is not nearly often enough for enchiladas.
Ha – I love that rule!
These were amazing! I pan fried the potatoes, then added the red pepper, black beans and spices. Wonderful recipe!
Thank you for the amazing recipe! So good!
So glad you liked it!
This has been my husband’s favorite vegan meal so far. It really broke up the vegetable monotony. I will be adding this to our weekly menu.
This was so delicious! Creamy, hearty and complex in flavor. I’m making it today for the second time! ❤️
Yay – so glad you liked it!