Use leftover pork or carnitas to make these tasty pork enchiladas. With a simple homemade enchilada sauce and gooey cheese, they will be loved by the entire family.
Enchiladas must be among the most soothing Mexican dishes available. I love that you can alter the ingredients to whatever is in your fridge, whether it be leftover rotisserie chicken, shredded beef from a stew, or in this case, pulled pork.
This enchilada dish is a fantastic way to adapt leftovers into an additional family-friendly supper.
How to Prepare Pork Pulled Enchiladas?
Simply create a simple enchilada sauce, warm the filling of your choosing, and lightly fry corn tortillas to prepare them for filling. Wrap the filling and place the enchiladas with the sauce on top in a baking dish. Bake until the cheese is melted and gooey in the oven with cheese on top.
Due to the chile arbol, the roasted tomato sauce has a medium level of heat. You can alter the level of heat by adding more or fewer peppers. Incorporating the flavour of lightly cooked tortillas, salty carnitas, and molten cheese, pulled pork enchiladas are a delectable and filling dish that your family will like.
I prefer to serve these enchiladas with a salad, Mexican rice, and black or refried beans.
Filling Options for These Enchiladas
- Carnitas or Pulled Pork: Shredded pork cooked slowly is my preferred option for this recipe. You can cook it from scratch or utilize leftovers. Carnitas are cooked gently and then crisped in the end, resulting in the ideal balance of soft meat and crispy edges. Instant Pot Mexican Pulled Pork also makes an excellent filling for enchiladas.
- Chicken: For enchiladas, use store-bought rotisserie chicken or leftover shredded homemade roast chicken.
- Beef: Leftover beef that is slow-cooked and easily shreddable (such as this recipe for pot roast) can be repurposed over the week to make these enchiladas.
Make it ahead of time
You can make the enchilada sauce a day or two ahead of time to save time. After blending, put it in a container that won’t let air in and put it in the fridge.
Using leftover meat from a previous meal makes this recipe even faster. If you are making carnitas or pulled pork from scratch, you can make it up to 3 days ahead of time. Let the pork cool down completely, then put it in a sealed container in the fridge. Just heat up the pulled pork and put it in tortillas.
I don’t like enchiladas that are too wet, so it’s best to put them together no more than 30 minutes before baking and serving them warm.
Tricks and Tips
- Before you put anything in your tortillas, fry them in a pan for about a minute. This will make them stronger so they can hold the filling and easier to roll up.
- Put the chiles de árbol under the tomatoes when making the sauce for the enchiladas. This will keep them from burning in the oven and let them soak up the juices from the pan at the same time.
- If you want your enchilada sauce to be less spicy, switch out the chiles de árbol for one or two dried guajillo chiles. You can also use ancho, cascabel, or pasilla chiles instead.
How to Keep and Heat Up
I think the best way to eat these enchiladas is right after they’ve been made. Put leftovers in a container with a lid and keep them in the fridge for up to two days.
Put them in a small baking dish and cover them with foil to reheat. Bake at 350°F/180°C for about 20 minutes, or until everything is warm.
If you use a freshly made filling, you can keep leftover enchiladas in the freezer for up to a month (not leftover meat). Defrost completely overnight in the refrigerator, then cover with foil and bake in the oven until warm. Before putting them in the oven, you might want to add some fresh enchilada sauce and cheese on top.
Ingredients
- 4 big plum tomatoes (about 1.4 pounds/650 grams), cut into quarters
- 1 white medium onion, cut into pieces
- 3 heads of garlic
- 3 tablespoons olive oil
- 2 to 4 stemmed and seeded dried chiles de árbol
- 1/4 cup water
- About 1 teaspoon of kosher salt, plus more to taste
- 1 teaspoon of black pepper that was just ground
- 1 teaspoon of cumin powder
- 4 cups (640g) pulled pork or carnitas
- 1/2 cup oil from plants split up as needed
- 12 tacos made of corn
- 2 cups grated Monterey Jack, cheddar, or Chihuahua cheese (8 ounces)
- 1 cup of sour cream to serve
- 1 small chopped red onion per serving
- 1 cup of chopped fresh cilantro to serve
How to make Pulled Pork Enchiladas
1. Set oven temperature to 400°F/200°C.
2. To make the sauce, roast the vegetables:
Put the cut tomatoes, chopped onion, and garlic cloves in a 9-by-13-inch dish that can go in the oven. Drizzle with olive oil and tuck the chiles under the tomatoes (to keep them from burning).
Bake for about 30 minutes, or until the tomatoes and onions are soft and a little bit charred around the edges.
Take the baking dish out of the oven and add the water while it is still hot. Use a wooden spoon to stir and scrape the bottom of the dish to get all of the roasted bits.
3. Mix the enchilada sauce together:
Put all the roasted vegetables, chiles, and juices into a blender. Mix in the salt, pepper, and cumin until you get a smooth sauce. If more water (up to 1/4 cup) is needed to get the right consistency, add it. Set aside the enchilada sauce.
4. Warm up the filling:
Bring the temperature of the oven down to 350°F/180°C. Wrap the leftover carnitas or pulled pork tightly in foil and put it in an oven-safe dish. About 20 minutes should do it.
5. Warm up the tortillas:
In the meantime, put half of the vegetable oil in a medium frying pan and heat it over medium-high heat. When the oil is hot, add a corn tortilla (or several, if your pan is big enough) and lightly fry for about 30 seconds on each side. Don’t let it get too crispy; you want the tortilla to be soft and strong.
Put the tortilla on a large plate or tray and do the same with the rest. If you need to, add more oil to the pan.
6. Put the enchiladas together:
Once the filling is hot and the tortillas are ready, put about 1/3 cup of carnitas on a tortilla that has been lightly fried and sprinkle with cheese. This will make about 12 enchiladas.
Wrap the filling in the tortilla like a taquito and put it in a medium-sized baking dish (about 7 x 11 inches). Repeat with the rest of the filling and tortillas until your dish is full, nestling the enchiladas next to each other in a single layer. Save about half of the cheese for the top.
7. Put the cheese and sauce on top and bake:
Pour the sauce over the enchiladas and spread it around evenly. Sprinkle the rest of the grated cheese on top.
Bake for about 10 minutes, or until the cheese is completely melted.
Serve the enchiladas right away while they are still hot. Add spoonfuls of sour cream on top, and if you want, you can decorate it with onion and cilantro.
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