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Quick, easy, and flavorful Enchilada Pasta Casserole is a great weeknight dish for the entire family!
Enchilada Pasta Casserole
I LOVE Mexican food, especially enchiladas, but I don’t always have the time and dedication to make and roll individual enchiladas.
With this enchilada pasta casserole, I can bypass the tedious work of rolling enchiladas, without sacrificing my craving for enchiladas.
It’s like a deconstructed enchilada in a casserole where all of the beef, cheese, and sauce is freely flowing throughout a casserole dish, weaved in between egg noodles for a little pasta flair.
Don’t be afraid that a large casserole dish will make too much, trust me you’ll love having the leftovers, and I’m sure not even a single noodle will go to waste.
How To Make Enchilada Pasta
In a large pot, bring water to boil and cook egg noodles according to package instructions. In the meantime, in a very large skillet, brown your ground beef then drain the fat. Then add the chili powder, cumin, and cayenne pepper. Stir to combine and add in the cream cheese until melted and combined.
In a large bowl, combine sour cream, enchilada sauce, half the cheddar cheese, half the monterey jack cheese, corn kernels, and diced green chiles. Stir to combine. Pour mixture over the beef and let simmer for 2-3 minutes. In the meantime, drain your pasta and add it to the beef mixture.
In a large casserole dish, pour in the pasta mixture and top with the remaining cheese.
Bake until cheese has completely melted. Serve hot.
Can I Make It A Vegetarian Enchilada Pasta Casserole?
It’s very easy to make this recipe into a vegetarian option. You have a couple different options to chose from.
The easiest way to turn this into a vegetarian enchilada pasta is to simply omit the ground beef.
Since there’s a lot going on in the casserole, the dish can still stand on its own (and taste delicious) without the added ground beef.
If you don’t want to just completely eliminate that protein source, you can also add crumbled tofu to act as a ground beef substitute.
Check out this recipe for Vegan Tofu Taco Crumbles to see how to make tofu the resembles ground beef.
The last option you have is to find some plant-based “ground beef” this will be a plant-based meat-like product that will closely resemble the flavor and texture of ground beef without any of the actual meat.
BeyondMeat is a good product line to try that’s easy to find in most grocery stores.
Can I Use Different Noodles?
You can use just about any noodles you prefer with just a few exceptions. I do suggest the thicker or spiraled noodles because they are better for really grabbing all of the sauce, meat, and cheese. Thinner noodles like spaghetti won’t really work for this one because they just can’t hold up as well for a casserole like this one.
I’ve never tried it with short noodles like penne or ziti noodles, but I’m sure the recipe will work fine with those noodle types too.
Is This Recipe Spicy?
There is a bit of spice to the enchilada pasta because of the cayenne pepper, and the green chiles.
I wouldn’t say its overly spicy though. If you prefer completely mild you can skip those two ingredients, or tone them down, or choose a mild enchilada sauce.
To amp up the spice, try adding a handful of seeded jalapeno slices.
Tips For Serving and Saving An Enchilada Casserole Recipe
Casseroles are amazingly versatile when it comes to how to serve them. This Enchilada pasta casserole would be a great addition to any Cinco De Mayo party or Mexican themed fiesta.
That’s not where the line is drawn; whip out this recipe when you know you have a busy week coming up.
Casseroles are notorious for reheating well and being a dish you can feast on throughout the course of a couple days or even up to a week.
I love fixing up this recipe on a Sunday night before a particularly busy week, so I can still feel like I’m getting a home cooked meal without having to spend time making a new recipe every night.
When stored in an airtight container, in the refrigerator you can store the enchilada pasta casserole for up to one week.
You Have To Try These Other Mexican Recipes:
Stovetop Chicken Tortilla Soup
Chicken and Chorizo Rice
Enchilada Pasta Casserole
Equipment
Ingredients
- 12 ounces (340 g) egg noodles
- 1 pound (454 g) ground beef
- ½ tablespoon chili powder
- ½ teaspoon ground cumin
- ½ teaspoon garlic powder
- ¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper
- 5 ounces (142 g) cream cheese
- ¼ cup (58 g) light sour cream
- 10 ounce (312 g) can enchilada sauce, I used the red sauce
- 1 cup (113 g) shredded sharp cheddar cheese, divided
- 1 cup (113 g) shredded monterey jack cheese, divided
- 1 cup (164 g) frozen corn kernels, thawed
- 4 ounce (142 g) can diced green chiles
- Salt and pepper, to taste
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 °F (177 °C)
- In a large pot, bring water to boil and cook egg noodles according to package instructions.12 ounces (340 g) egg noodles
- In the meantime, in a very large skillet, brown your ground beef then drain the fat. Then add the chili powder, cumin, garlic powder, and cayenne pepper. Stir to combine.1 pound (454 g) ground beef, ½ tablespoon chili powder, ½ teaspoon ground cumin, ½ teaspoon garlic powder, ¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper
- Add in the cream cheese until melted and combined.5 ounces (142 g) cream cheese
- In a large bowl, combine sour cream, enchilada sauce, half the cheddar cheese, half the monterey jack cheese, corn kernels, and diced green chiles. Stir to combine.¼ cup (58 g) light sour cream, 10 ounce (312 g) can enchilada sauce, ½ cup (56 ½ g) shredded sharp cheddar cheese, 1 cup (164 g) frozen corn kernels, 4 ounce (142 g) can diced green chiles, ½ cup (56 ½ g) shredded Monterey Jack cheese
- Pour mixture over the beef and let simmer for 2-3 minutes. Season with salt and pepper, to taste.Salt and pepper
- In the meantime, drain your pasta. After you've drained it, add the pasta to the beef mixture. Make sure everything is coated in the sauce.
- In a large casserole dish, pour in the pasta mixture and top with the remaining cheese.½ cup (56 ½ g) shredded sharp cheddar cheese, ½ cup (56 ½ g) shredded Monterey Jack cheese
- Bake for 15 minutes or until cheese has completely melted.
- Serve hot. Keep in airtight container for up to 1 week.
Notes
Nutrition
Photography by Jesse Reilly
This looks really amazing and I wish I could eat it right now!!!
@Angie — http://barefeetinthekitchen.blogspot.com/2012/03/homemade-dairy-free-sour-cream.html
Though I have to admit I haven’t tried it yet, I’ve read lots of blogs where raw cashews were used to make some sort of dairy substitute, often to replace cheese or cream in a dip. This looks promising. :)
Also, I bet soft tofu would make a very close creamy, texture sub-in for cream cheese in this recipe. (And because it only calls for 1/4 c sour cream, you could probably get away with skipping it altogether. To add a little bit of the tang back in, try a squeeze of lime in the enchilada sauce mixture!)
I’m allergic to dairy, is there something else you can use instead of sour cream and cream cheese?
Does your store carry soy-based sour cream and soy-based cream cheese?
This pasta looks soooo good! I hear you on the not being able to fit into your skinny jeans thing. . in fact, I was wondering how all the food bloggers do it? Making all this wonderful, delicious food and NOT gain 20 lbs? I can’t go to the gym everyday (even though I would LOVE to) so I -sadly- only eat like a few bites of whatever I make. How sad is that? Otherwise, I would seriously gain some major weight. Re: Target sizes, yes, they are SO whack. . check out the colored skinny jeans at the GAP. They are awesome! I have 4! so pretty and TRUE to size. Word up.
It’s saying I didn’t comment here but Im pretty sure I did after I wiped the drool from my keyboard. I will be making this soon. Promise
Holy guacamole… that looks absolutely AMAZING! I cannot wait to dig into a big bowl of this the second it drops below 60 degrees in NYC :)
I don’t even like enchiladas but wanted to say how amazing and colorful the pictures are! Wow. And awesome board you have there. :) And yeah, that piece of parsley is kind of crazy looking but I didn’t even notice it until I read the post.
Oh, I didn’t know you bought the skinny jeans from Target. I’ll have to go and check out mine! I’m afraid to make this. =P
This looks like one of those dishes that is worth my skinny jeans getting a bit snug! Definitely wouldn’t last long in my house!
an 11?! What in the world?! I didn’t even have to buy that when I was pregnant so I think you just got a super wacked out pair of pants lol. And I know you’re way tinier than me. Oh and that parsley … totally floating in air and if you hadn’t said something I wouldn’t have noticed it. Love love this pasta. Such awesome comfort food.