Enchilada Pasta Casserole with Healthy Homemade Enchilada Sauce
Rock your weeknight eats with this make-ahead Enchilada Pasta Casserole. This delicious freezer-friendly dinner can be meal prepped in advance enjoyed all week long!
Course Main Course
Cuisine American, Mexican Fusion
Keyword Enchilada Pasta Casserole
Prep Time 20 minutesminutes
Cook Time 40 minutesminutes
Total Time 1 hourhour
Servings 8servings
Calories 520kcal
Author Jenn Laughlin - Peas and Crayons
Ingredients
3-4cupsenchilada saucesee below
1lbground sirloin or equivalent (I use local/pasture-raised/grass-fed)
First start on your sauce: you can blend the ingredients beforehand with a blender or food processor or wait until your components have had time to soften and simmer to blend, process, or immersion-blend. Entirely up to you!
In a medium pot, combine all the ingredients listed above for the sauce recipe and simmer on medium-low, with the lid partially on, stirring occasionally to prevent sticking. After the sauce is hot and the flavors have had time to mingle, taste test with a tortilla chip [or a spoon!] and adjust the seasonings and hot sauce to taste. I always add a little extra garlic powder, cumin, and chili powder and sometimes even a little extra hot sauce for a kick!Some of you may be a bit sketpical about the beans in the enchilada sauce, eh? While they're not a typical component you'd find in this sassy red sauce, it adds a richness that I simply adore. It also adds fiber and protein too! No one will know it's there - do it!
While the sauce simmers away, get to work on sauteing or caramelizing your veggies and browning/cooking your meat. I used grass-fed ground sirloin, onion, and jalapenos [seeds and center removed to nix the extra heat]. Season with your sauce of choice [taco sauce or salsa work great!] and add in the chili powder, garlic powder, parsley/cilantro, cumin and salt.
At the same time you can start your egg noodles too. They boil fairly quickly and should only take 7-11 minutes to reach perfect tenderness.
Combine the sauce, meat, veggies and noodles in a large casserole dish (or two smaller ones!) and cover with cheese.
Bake on the center rack at 350 F for about 15-20 minutes or until hot and bubbly.
Top with fresh cilantro and all your favorite toppings (pico!!! sour cream!!!) and dig in!
Notes
Freezing this for later? Go for it! During step 6, stop before adding the cheese and freeze in an airtight pyrex container with a lid or in a foil baking dish covered in a layer of Saran Wrap then wrap tightly with aluminum foil to seal. To reheat, pasta may be defrosted overnight in the refrigerator and baked once thawed as directed above (should take about 30 minutes straight from the fridge) or bake directly from the freezer. To bake from frozen, remove plastic, add cheese, cover with foil. Bake at 375 degrees until hot in center, about 1 hour; remove foil.Nutrition Facts below are estimated using an online recipe nutrition calculator and include both the homemade enchilada sauce and pico from the recipe card. Adjust as needed based on swaps and such and enjoy!