Mexico's home-cooking staple — corn tortillas in dried-chilli sauce, filled, baked and buried in crema and cheese. The sauce from dried chillies is everything. Tinned tomato is not a substitute.
About Enchiladas
Mexico City's quintessential home cooking — corn tortillas dipped in chilli sauce (salsa roja or verde), quickly fried and filled with chicken, cheese or potato, rolled and arranged in a dish, drenched in more sauce and topped with crema, crumbled cheese, onion and coriander; the sauce must be made from rehydrated dried chillies; a tinned-sauce version is an affront.
Mexico's quintessential home cooking: corn tortillas dipped in chilli sauce (salsa roja or verde made from rehydrated dried chillies — not tinned), lightly fried, filled with chicken or cheese, rolled and arranged in a baking dish, drenched in more sauce and topped with crema, crumbled cotija cheese, sliced onion and coriander.
The sauce must be made from rehydrated dried chillies — guajillo for rojo, tomatillo and serrano for verde. A tinned tomato sauce is not enchilada sauce. The difference in flavour is the entire difference between enchiladas and failed enchiladas.
What to Expect
The enchiladas arrive in a baking dish, the red or green sauce covering everything. The crema goes on cold. You cut through and the tortilla inside is soft and sauce-soaked. The cheese is crumbled, not melted.
Why Try It
Enchiladas tell you the most about Mexican daily cooking — the technique is accessible, the results are completely dependent on the quality of the chilli sauce.
Insider Tips
- Use guajillo chillies for red (rojo) and tomatillo for green (verde) — the dried chilli sauce is the entire dish.
- The tortillas should be corn, not flour — corn holds up to the sauce better.
- El Cardenal in Mexico City and any family restaurant in Oaxaca serve reliable versions.
