These protein rich Vegan Enchiladas are made with lentils and other healthful ingredients. They’re gluten free, nut-free and plant-based ideal for dinner or lunch and very delisious!
They are so delicious, rich in protein, plant-based, nut-free plus they feature only ingredients that are wholesome. I’m sure, your whole family will love it!
They’ve a fantastic texture and taste, blended with flavorful-spices along with other plant based ingredients they remind a ground-meat.
That is the reason why they are the ideal filling for plant based enchiladas. In addition, I like that lentils because they’re not-expensive. They’re much easier to digest and they cook much quicker than just beans or chickpeas.
These simple to make enchiladas are filled with just healthy plant-based ingredients, such as lentils, rolled-oats, sunflower-seeds, bell-peppers, tomato-paste, carrot, tomato, ground-chia seeds, onion and flavorful-spices. If you aren’t fond of sunflower-seeds, you can of course, also utilize any seeds or nuts instead.
Vegan Enchiladas Lentils
Ingredients
- 12 tortillas
- 7 oz vegan-cheese or more to taste
Enchilada Filling:
- 2½ cups vegetable-broth
- ½ cup sunflower-seeds
- 1 cup dry-lentils
- 3 heaped tbsp tomato-paste
- 1⅓ cups rolled-oats gluten-free if needed
- 1 medium tomato chopped
- 2 bell-peppers
- 1 medium carrot grated
- 1 large onion chopped
- 2 tbsp chia-seeds (ground) or flax-seeds
- 2 cloves garlic minced
- 1-2 hot chili-peppers chopped (or less if you don't like it too spicy)
- 1 tbsp oil to fry the veggies
- sea-salt and pepper, to taste
- spice mix: 1/2 tbsp onion-powder, 1/2 tbsp garlic-powder, 2 tsp dried oregano, 2 tsp ground-cumin, 1 tsp smoked-paprika
Enchilada Sauce:
- 1 tbsp gluten-free-flour (or all-purpose flour if not GF)
- 2½ cups tomato-sauce
- 1 tbsp olive-oil
- sea-salt and pepper, to taste
- spice mix: 1/2 tbsp chili-powder, 1/4 tsp cayenne-pepper, 1 tsp garlic-powder, 1 tsp ground cumin, 1 tsp onion-powder
Instructions
- Rinse lentils thoroughly to remove any dirt and put them in a medium-pot. Add broth and bring to a boil, then reduce to a simmer.
- Simmer using a lid for 20minutes or till tender. Then remove the pot from heat but remain covered about 10minutes.
- While the lentils-cook, prepare your enchilada-sauce initially. Then begin creating the enchilada filling.
- To create the enchilada sauce, warm the olive oil in a skillet over moderate heat. Add all spices and cook for approximately two minutes. Stir in the flour and cook for a few minutes. Then add the tomato-sauce and bring to a boil. Let simmer till the sauce is thick about 5minutes.
- To create the enchilada-filling: In a skillet heat oil on moderate heat and then add garlic & saute for 3-4minutes, stirring periodically. Add chopped bell-peppers, tomato, grated-carrot and 1-2 hot chili-peppers and sautw about 5-7minutes. Remove from heat and put aside.
- Add all dry-ingredients (spices, sunflower-seeds, pepper, salt , oats and also the ground-chia seeds) to food-processor and mix for 20-30seconds. Add the cooked veggies along with the tomato-paste, then mix again.
- Add the cooked lentils and mix tlil everything is blended. If the mixture is not thick enough or does not stick together, then add more ground-oats.
- Preheat oven to 390°F. Then spread 2 heaped tbsp (or 100-120 g) of enchilada-filling over the surface of tortilla.
- Roll-up tortilla and put in a greased baking-dish. Repeat this step with the other tortillas.
- Then pour the enchilada-sauce on top of the tortillas. I created 2 layers of 4 tortillas per (7 x11 in baking-dish) however you can make only 1 layer with 8 tortillas.
- Bake uncovered for 15minutes. Remove from oven, pour my easy vegan-cheese sauce on the top (or use your favourite vegan-cheese to flavor) and place the enchiladas back in the oven for 10-15minutes.
- Serve warm, garnished with fresh-cilantro or greens of choice (optional). It is also possible to pour a bit of vegan sour-cream on top if desired.
Notes
Chickpea flour is a Fantastic alternative for oats.
You’ll be able to use different nuts or seeds (e.g. walnuts) rather than sunflower-seeds.
I topped these tasty vegan enchiladas with Easy Vegan Cheese Sauce that made them much more flavour.
Please, if you recreate this Vegan Enchiladas Lentils recipe, don’t forget to give me star rate or comment below. Thanks!
Try these other Delicious Vegan Recipes options:
- Healthy Vegetarian Mexican Rice Casserole
- Crispy Vegan Potato Tacos with Jalapeno Cilantro Sauce
- Vegan Thai Sweet Potato and Cauliflower Lettuce Wraps
- Chipotle Vegan Burrito with Cilantro Lime Rice Recipe
