Pancho’s Cheese Enchilada Recipe

Boy! Do we need an excuse to make Mexican dishes at home? Mexican recipes are super easy to make, and some of them are great dinner items. And when you want a super easy-to-make Mexican recipe, Pancho’s Enchilada comes to our mind. 

Now, Pancho’s Cheese Enchilada Recipe is an easy-to-make recipe for home. The recipe will be on our table within an hour of cooking. So, follow our Pancho’s cheese recipe here when you don’t want to spend a lot of time preparing and cooking. 

Once you know the recipe, we are sure you will be excited to make this great dish at home. 

How to Make Restaurant Style Enchiladas?

Homemade enchiladas sometimes become soggy. But the restaurant-style Pancho’s enchiladas are moist. And we aim for a moist enchilada as the final result. So, it’s essential to make sure we get all the ingredients right. Now, there’s an option for adding shredded chicken or ground meat. However, we are going to make a meatless dish altogether. 

The main ingredient for our sour cream enchilada is corn tortillas. Sure, there are some drawbacks to using corn tortillas. Usually, they tend to tear, and the corn tortillas will gain an odd texture unless you get the consistency right. 

We love to make enchilada with flour tortillas. You might get a gummy texture depending on the sauce you add. So, making the sauce is also an essential part of this recipe. No need to worry – the world is going in the right direction – well, for cooking at least. You will find corn flour corn that will blend tortillas without creating a gummy texture. 

Almost every Mexican grocery store has corn flour for making tortillas. First, buy tortillas that are easy to work with. Further, you should ditch the oil while working with a good tortilla brand. There’s a myth in the cooking world – sour cream tortillas are not good. Well, it’s not true – even sour cream tortillas can pack plenty of flavors. 

Anyway, we should have a look at the ingredients to be able to understand the recipe and how it works:

Ingredients We Need 

Corn Tortillas: 12 oz. a yellow corn tortilla will hold the Enchilada better. We could have used white corn tortillas, but yellow ones can soften faster. It’s essential to avoid flour tortillas as they may produce a gummy texture. 

Corn Oil: Now, we don’t want the oil to add extra flavors to our Pancho’s Enchilada. We could use canola oil, but the best one is corn oil to fry the tortillas. This neutral-flavored oil has a high smoke point and can fry our tortillas fine. We need about 2 cups of corn oil for our recipe. 

Red Enchilada Sauce: You can buy 1 can of red enchilada sauce from the grocery store. A 28 oz. Can is enough for our recipe. You can substitute enchilada sauce with taco sauce. However, taco sauce doesn’t have the same profile as an enchilada sauce. 

Sour Cream: Traditional enchiladas have less sauce, and that’s why they become soggy quickly. Not to mention, lack of seasoning is why they disintegrate faster. So, we need sour cream to keep the Enchilada moist. For this dish, we need 2 cups of sour cream. 

Cheddar Cheese: Typical Mexican foods use mild and slightly salty cheese. And it’s better to add queso Blanco, but we will use 3 cups of Cheddar cheese. This can save us a lot of money over shredded Mexican cheese mix. 

Green Onion: Slice and prepare 1 large size green onion. The onion will caramelize while cooking and deliver a sweet flavor in our Enchilada. 

Ground Cumin: We will add ground cumin to our enchilada sauce. Just ½ teaspoon of ground cumin will be more than enough. 

Cayenne Pepper: There’s a chance that the enchilada sauce will generate a bitter flavor. However, ¼ teaspoon of cayenne pepper can mask the bitter taste and add a little bit of spiciness to our sauce. Anyway, you don’t have to use cayenne pepper if you don’t want to. 

Step by Step Instructions

Step 1: Preheat your oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit 

Step 2: While the oil is on heat, use a medium saucepan to warm the enchilada sauce over medium-low heat. 

Step 3: Now, we will combine the green onion, sour cream, shredded cheddar cheese, cumin, cayenne pepper, and sour cream. 

Step 4: Use a small skillet to heat corn oil over medium-low heat. 

Step 5: Fry the tortillas one at a time in corn oil for 5 to 10 seconds. 

Step 6: Then, remove the tortillas from corn oil and dunk in the enchilada sauce. 

Step 7: Take a plate and place the tortilla. 

Step 8: Add 2 to 3 tablespoons of sour cream mixture in the middle of the tortilla 

Step 9: Roll the tortilla 

Step 10: Place the tortilla seam upside down in a 9×13 inch baking pan. 

Step 11: Add the remaining cheese over the tortillas. 

Step 12: Bake the enchilada for 20 minutes until it’s hot and bubbly. 
Step 13: Serve it with a sour cream mixture.

Wrapping Up

See? This simple and perfect Cheese enchilada recipe is sure to make you happy. After cooking the enchilada, you can store it in the refrigerator for 2 days. Hey! Who’s going to store it? Once you have prepared the meatless dish, everybody will enjoy it to the fullest. If there’s any leftovers, make sure to wrap the whole pan tightly using aluminum foil.

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