Enchilada Pasta Bake

I love enchiladas but I don’t always love prepping the tortillas. I have a pretty good technique of softening the tortillas on the stove top in hot water before stuffing them but that still takes a chunk of time that I don’t always have. That’s when the enchilada pasta bake was born!

I wanted enchiladas last week and throwing pasta on the stove was doable so I combined the two. I’ve never been so happy with a past bake! Joel’s mind was blown and I’m already planning on making it again tomorrow.

Enchilada Pasta Bake:

• 1 box cooked pasta of choice
• 1/2-3/4 cup red enchilada sauce (you can make your own but I usually just buy one that’s not super sodium filled from my local grocery store)
• 1 cup steamed veggies of choice (I used steamed carrots and one fresh diced jalapeño)
• 1 cup cooked ground meat of choice (I actually used two vegan breakfast sausage patties! Cooked them on the stove top then diced into cubes. You may omit the meat or add black beans!)
• 1/2 cup shredded cheese of choice (I used white cheddar)
• Fresh cilantro for topping after baking

Directions:

• Preheat oven to 350°F and spray an 8×8 baking dish with non stick cooking spray, set aside.
• Mix all of the ingredients, except for the cheese and cilantro, together in a large bowl or the pot you just cooked the pasta in. Pour the pasta mix into the prepped baking dish and evening top with shredded cheese. You can add as much cheese as you’d like!
• Bake for 10 minutes or until the cheese is melted and the pasta bake is heated all the way through.
• Remove from the oven and top with fresh cilantro. I served mine over romain lettuce to get some extra veggies in me but you can eat this straight from a bowl. It’s even better the next day as leftovers!

Thoughts on an enchilada bake? I was kinda weirded out when I thought about it but I was completely sold after the first bite!