High Protein Vegan Enchiladas

These High Protein Vegan Enchiladas take a little bit of time to make, but they are soooo worth it! The filling is black beans and TVP, which happens to be one of my all time favorite ingredients! The macros for TVP are incredible and it’s a cheap, shelf-stable ingredient that can be in so many recipes! The enchiladas are topped with a vegan queso sauce, which is super creamy and browns up in the oven!

I think this is the perfect dish for family dinners, Meatless Mondays, or just meal prepping in general. It keeps really well and I have personally taken it for lunch as leftovers several days in a row! I also think this is one of those recipes that you could serve your non-vegan friends and family and they would have zero complaints! My favorite thing about this recipe is that it doesn’t use meat substitutes which keeps it on the more affordable side. And this could be made WFPB (Whole Food Plant Based) fairly easily by just omitting the vegan shredded cheese.

Ingredients

“Queso” Topping

• Raw, unsalted cashews – you definitely need to buy raw and unsalted cashews for this recipe. For some reason, at least at my grocery stores, they usually have the raw cashews in the produce or bakery sections of the store, not next to the rest of the nuts.
• Soy Milk – I really feel like you need to use soy milk for this recipe just so the queso gets really creamy and browns well in the oven. I think oat milk could also potentially work but I have not personally tried that.
• Green Chilies – I just use the mild ones that they sell in cans.
• Nutritional Yeast – I use nutritional yeast (Nooch) in literally anything I want to taste cheesy. Also, those protein macros are insane!
• Salt – feel free to adjust to your own tastes!

Enchilada Filling

• TVP, Textured Vegetable Protein – this is possibly my favorite ingredient in the kitchen! TVP is just de-fatted soy flour and can be used in all kinds of things, from baked goods to Taco “meat”. It’s incredibly versatile, and it has so much protein! It’s also a very cheap, shelf stable source of protein. You can buy it in most stores. Usually they put it next to the gluten-free flour options, but if your store happens to not carry it, you can also buy it online. And if you get addicted to using it in literally everything you make, you can even buy a 25 lb bag which is what I did 🙂 I typically use the brand Bob’s Red Mill for my TVP, but there are other brands you could get as well. If you have issues with soy, there is also a product called TPP, Textured Pea Protein, that you should be able to use instead!
• Nutritional Yeast – yes, we also use it in the Enchilada Filling, because is it even a proper enchilada if it’s not super cheesy? There are so many great brands of Nooch and you can find it in pretty much any store – some of my favorites are Bragg’s, Bob’s Red Mill and Frontier.
• Black Beans – I used canned for this recipe, because I’m lazy. You can always use dried beans (prepared) if that’s your preference! I think pinto beans could also be good in this recipe if you don’t have black beans.
• Taco Seasoning – my favorite taco seasoning lately has been Siete brand. You can use whatever kind you want though, or even make your own. I like using the pre-made for this just because the flavors are already nice and balanced!
• Garlic and Onion Powder – mostly I just like adding onion and garlic powder to everything 🙂

Additional Ingredients

• Vegan Shredded Cheese – Violife Mexican blend has been my favorite for awhile. There are definitely other great vegan cheese options, so just use your favorite! If you’re trying to make this a whole food plant based (WFPB) recipe, feel free to omit this from the recipe!
• Tortillas – you can use your favorite brand of tortillas. The ones I have been using recently are Mission Plant Protein Tortillas; they have great macros that mostly come from pea protein. I think these taste just as good as normal tortillas, but can be harder to find in stores. If you use regular tortillas, just note that the calories and macros may change.
• Red Enchilada Sauce – use your favorite enchilada sauce for this!

Instructions

Making the “Queso” Topping

• First we need to get the raw cashews ready for blending; this is an especially important step if you don’t have a high-powered blender like a Vitamix, because it helps make sure everything will blend up nice and creamy and not grainy! We have two options for this – either soak in water overnight (or at least for several hours) or my preferred option – cooking in boiling water for 10 minutes. Either of these options will soften the cashews and make them easier to blend. I like the boiling water method because it’s faster and I don’t have to remember to do something the day before I want to make this!
• Now that our cashews are softened, throw all the ingredients listed under “Queso” Topping – cashews, soy milk, nutritional yeast, green chilies, and salt – into the blender and blend until very creamy. I like to add the milk first soy that it blends easier.

Enchilada Filling

• A lot of people swear by soaking their TVP; I never do this because I’ve never really felt like I needed to. So we will be using dry TVP that has not already been re-hydrated in this recipe and hydrating it as part of the recipe steps.
• In a medium heat skillet (should be non-stick), add the dry TVP, water, nutritional yeast and seasonings. I like to add them all at once and mix them together really well before the moisture starts cooking off; this is to make sure all of the seasoning is well distributed throughout all of the TVP.
• You’re going to cook this for about 15 – 20 minutes, stirring very regularly. It will have a tendency to stick to the pan, so I like to use a wooden spoon/spatula to scrape the TVP off the bottom of the pan to keep it from burning. It can be hard to scrape the bottom of the pan with a silicone spatula and I wouldn’t really want to use metal because I’d be worried about damaging the pan.
• Once most of the liquid has cooked out of the TVP, you can mix in the black beans. We don’t really need to cook these for any additional time. The TVP texture should be fairly dry, so that the tortillas don’t get super soggy.

Assembling the Goods

• Pre-heat the oven to 375 F.
• Find a large casserole dish. If it’s not non-stick or if you’re concerned about food sticking, spray the bottom and sides with some oil.
• Next, take your filling and evenly distribute it amongst 8 tortillas. We’re going to fill them up and roll them tightly.
• Place the rolled enchiladas on the casserole dish. I like to place the “seams” on the bottom so that they don’t open up and unravel.
• Top the rolled enchiladas with the red enchilada sauce.
• Lastly, pour the cashew “queso” evenly over the enchiladas.
• Cook the enchiladas for 20 – 25 minutes. The “queso” should start to brown and that’s when you’ll know it’s ready!

Silly Little Haiku

Enchilada Time

An excuse for more queso

Always more queso