You’re going to love how quick this easy Carnitas Enchiladas recipe comes together with just a few ingredients. These enchiladas are stuffed with leftover slow-cooked carnitas, black beans, cheese, and rolled in corn tortillas, smothered in your favorite traditional red enchiladas sauce and ooey gooey melted cheese.
Savor these enchiladas stuffed with tender, savory pork carnitas even longer when you freeze a batch!
Pork Carnitas Enchiladas Recipe – The EASY Way!
Any dish that you can bring together in just a few minutes is a winner in our house! Especially this leftover carnitas enchiladas recipe. Slow cook a large batch of pork carnitas with this recipe to fill your weekly meal plan with delicious, savory Mexican fare.
If you love Tex-Mex favorites like enchiladas, you will definitely want to check out my Cheese Enchiladas, Ground Beef Enchiladas, and our super fast Chicken Enchilada Casserole!
Why I LOVE this recipe!
- Quick and Easy – With just a few ingredients this pork carnita enchilada recipe is super simple and perfect for a no-fuss weeknight family meal.
- Freezer Meal – This is an easy one to double up the batch and freeze for a no fuss meal. Read below for freezing and reheating instructions.
- Kid-Friendly – This is one of those fun dishes to get the kids involved in. Once the tortillas are cooled enough to handle, fill with the carnitas mixture and cheese, roll up, and place in the pan. Something super simple that the kids can help with!
What to Serve with this Carnitas Enchiladas recipe
Since this dish has the classic flavors of Mexican and Tex-Mex cuisine, it will pair well with many of your favorite Mexican side dishes. There are both classic options and some healthy options to keep it light.
Side Dish Ideas
- Mexican Corn Salad– perfect light and refreshing salad
- Mexican Street Corn Casserole – one of our most popular side dishes!
- Chipotle Corn Salsa – just like Chipotle! This is perfect for serving with chips on the side of the carnitas enchiladas
- Mexican Roasted Vegetables– These are SO GOOD!… and so easy! They are also one of my personal favorites!
You can choose one or add a few sides to make a wholesome, well rounded dinner.
Recipe Notes
This pulled pork carnitas enchiladas recipe is as simple as promised! Just 30 minutes from start to finish for a family-friendly meal.
In this section I am going to go through a few tips and tricks I use when making this recipe to get the absolute best and most delicious results.
Make sure to scroll to the bottom for the FULL recipe card for how to make Carnitas Enchiladas.
Ingredients + Substitutions
- Shredded Carnitas – You will want to use leftovers from our slow cooker pork carnitas. If you have leftovers from a restaurant or something else, you can also use those. Or you can just whip up a batch of carnitas for this recipe, they are easy to make and the enchiladas are definitely THAT GOOD!
- Corn tortillas – for a traditional enchilada, corn tortillas have the best texture and flavor. If preferred, flour tortillas may be substituted, but you will not need to soak them in the sauce or fry since they are already soft and pliable.
- Enchilada Sauce – you can find red enchilada sauce at the grocery store in the Mexican foods sections. I prefer to use red enchilada sauce, and they usually offer mild or hot which you can use based on your taste preferences. If you prefer, you can use green enchilada sauce (see recipe variations below!)
- Black Beans – Adding a can of beans is a great way to bulk up the dish and add a nice little boost of protein.
- Cheese – I prefer shredded Colby Jack but cheddar, monterey Jack, or Mexican blend cheeses would be a great substitution.
- Garnish – Top with pico de gallo, sour cream, guacamole, or your other favorite toppings.
Recipe Tips
- Bulk Up – You can bulk up the recipe to make it more filling, or help add more to the filling if you are running short on meat. We add beans in our recipe, but there are a lot of other things you can add as well such as corn, chopped spinach, sautéed bell peppers and onions, etc.
- The Sauce – It’s easy to grab a can of enchilada sauce from the grocery store down the Mexican food aisle or make your own enchilada sauce from scratch for a traditional style enchiladas carnitas dish.
Switch out the red sauce for green salsa verde for a tasty alternative. See recipe Variations below. - Corn or Flour Tortillas? – I prefer to use corn tortillas for this recipe for the traditional flavor and texture, but flour tortillas could be used instead depending on your preference.
TIP: It’s common to hear that corn tortillas are difficult to work with, but there’s a trick! Make the corn shells more pliable by heating them in hot enchilada sauce before assembling. They’ll soak in all that yummy red sauce and make it super easy to fill and roll.
Another option is to heat the corn tortillas in a hot skillet with oil for a few seconds on each side. This also warms the shell enough to make it easier to roll. Though, the sauce method is my preferred way since it is a little lighter and already uses the same ingredients we are making the enchiladas with. - Mix Up Filling – Mixing the meat, beans, and cheese first makes it easier to fill enchiladas evenly with all the filling. You can do them separately, but it just takes longer and sometimes I find that I run out of things before the end that way.
- Freeze Meal – Double this recipe and freeze an extra baking dish of Carnitas Enchiladas.
Freezer Instructions – Line disposable baking dish with parchment paper. Assemble enchiladas by following the recipe. Instead of baking, wrap the dish tightly with foil and store in a freezer bag.
To reheat – preheat oven to 375 and place frozen enchiladas in oven for at least 30 minutes or until internal temperature reads 160°F.
Recipe Variations
If you love this recipe as much as we do and want some quick ways to change it up for variety, these little tips will do the trick!
- Carnitas Enchiladas Verdes– Switch out the red sauce for the green enchilada sauce. Topped with a little extra cilantro.
- Carnitas Enchiladas with Cream Sauce– Mmm.. this version is so yummy and creamy. Plus, it takes little effort to make. Simply combine 2 cans of green enchilada sauce with 1/2 cup sour cream. Follow the same instructions to assemble your enchiladas.
- Carnitas Enchilada Casserole– This casserole is built different.. literally. The same ingredients are used, but instead of rolling the carnitas filling inside a soaked corn tortilla, you will layer them in a baking dish. Lightly grease a baking dish and layer the tortillas with the pork and bean mixture, then cheese, and repeat.
More EASY Recipes
If you enjoyed this recipe, I really hope you will take a moment to grab a few more easy recipes for another busy night!
You can check out all of my Leftover Crock Cooker Pork Carnitas recipes here, or see a few of our readers favorite recipes below.
Carnitas Enchiladas
Ingredients
- 1½ cups shedded carnitas
- 8 corn tortillas
- 20 ounces red enchilada sauce, (2 cans)
- 1 cup black beans, drained and rinsed
- 1 cup shredded colby jack cheese, divided in half
Garnish (optional)
- pico de gallo
- sour cream
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375˚F.
- Mix together the carnitas, black beans, and half of the cheese and mix together in a large bowl. Set aside.
- Heat the enchilada sauce over low in a large skillet. Once it starts to simmer around the edges, place 2-3 tortillas in the sauce and turn to coat. Let them cook in the sauce for about 30 sec or until they become soft and pliable.
- Use tongs to take the tortillas out one at a time. Stuff them with the carnitas mixture, roll tightly, and place in a 2 quart casserole dish. Repeat with remaining tortillas until all of the tortillas are stuffed, rolled, and in the casserole dish.
- Pour the remaining sauce over the enchiladas and top with the remaining cheese.Cover with foil and bake for 20 minutes.
- Once done, remove the foil and garnish with fresh pico de gallo, sour cream, or whatever toppings you love!
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