Potato Enchiladas Verdes

by Mary on January 2, 2013

baking pan of potatoes enchiladas verde on a green kitchen towel

potato enchiladas verde

These potato enchiladas verde were a favorite of my boys while they were growing up. The recipe is fairly quick to the table, kid-friendly, and has simple, inexpensive ingredients. It’s not photogenic or gourmet but it has been a crowd-pleaser. I’ve written up the vegetarian version below, but you can make it vegan by leaving out the sour cream and cheese. Here’s a photo of the vegan version:

potato enchiladas verde in a small glass baking dish with a green kitchen towel

vegan version of potato enchiladas verde

Since I was feeding five big eaters I used to make a large quantity, one 9 x 13 pan and one small square pan, using 12 or more tortillas and a little more of the potatoes and everything else. I’ve cut down the recipe below to make just one 9 x 13 pan.

There are ways to upgrade this recipe. You can use a good, fresh Mexican farmer’s cheese: if you are in the Northwest, I like Don Froylan Queso Fresco (no business relationship). You can make homemade salsa verde from tomatillos, definitely better than the store version. But for years, I never did any of that. I used salsa verde from the cupboard, potatoes from the fridge, and whatever cheese I had on hand, usually a block of Monterey Jack or mild cheddar. Despite the lack of fuss, my kids loved it, and the ones who are on their own still enjoy having it for dinner when they come home. Now they will have the recipe so they can make it themselves.

Potato Enchiladas Verdes
 
Cook time
Total time
 
A fairly quick, family-friendly Mexican dinner that was a favorite in our house.
Author:
Recipe type: dinner
Serves: 3-4
Ingredients
  • 1# organic yellow potatoes, boiled
  • 9 small, thick corn tortillas such as Trader Joe's handmade corn tortillas
  • 1 cup organic sour cream
  • 7 oz. shredded queso ranchero (or Monterey Jack or cheddar)
  • about 12 oz. of canned salsa verde (1 can of Trader Joe's salsa verde) or homemade salsa verde
Instructions
  1. Scrub potatoes, add to large pot with water.
  2. Bring water to boil, then simmer potatoes for 20 minutes.
  3. Drain, cool, chop potatoes.
  4. Preheat oven to 350 F.
  5. Place steamer in a pot above few inches of water, heat water to a low boil. Steam tortillas one or two at a time in the steamer for a minute or less to make them moist and pliable. I do this while I'm putting together the enchiladas, getting a new tortilla or two ready while I use the one I just steamed.
  6. Spread a little salsa verde into bottom of 9x13" baking pan.
  7. Put some sour cream, potato, and cheese into each tortilla, roll tortilla, place seam side down in baking pan.
  8. Cover top of enchiladas with salsa verde.
  9. Bake uncovered for 15 to 20 minutes, until enchiladas seem like the right level of moistness, neither too wet nor dried out.

 

{ 10 comments… read them below or add one }

Heather January 3, 2013 at 12:42 am

I love a good mexican dish and enchiladas up near the top of the standards I enjoy. But I don’t think I’ve ever tried potato enchiladas – they sound great! Just in case you still want the dairy flavor, without the dairy – I would swap in some non-dairy subs for the cream cheese and cheese. 🙂 Looks great though!
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mary January 3, 2013 at 1:08 am

I do need to find some good, healthy non-dairy subs! Not there yet, though I did see some vegan mozzarella shreds the other day at Trader Joe’s that had a pretty decent ingredient list. I’ve made my own cheese substitutes, too, but am still experimenting with the recipes.

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Hannah January 3, 2013 at 3:08 am

I’ve only recently discovered the joys of salsa verde, so I’m thrilled to get more delicious (and easy) ways to incorporate it into meals. I’ve only made enchiladas once before, but that’s enough to know I’d love your version!
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mary January 5, 2013 at 9:42 pm

I’m sure you will do all sorts of wonderful things with salsa verde on your blog!
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Jane January 6, 2013 at 7:27 pm

Potato enchiladas sound soooo good! I love crowd pleaser type of recipes 🙂
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mary January 8, 2013 at 2:35 am

Thanks, Jane!
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Kiersten January 8, 2013 at 2:08 am

So many vegetarian enchilada recipes replace the meat with heaps and heaps of cheese, so I love this one! Potatoes and salsa verde are so delicious together!
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mary January 8, 2013 at 2:36 am

Thanks! I have to agree that potatoes and salsa verde are a good combination!
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kirsten January 12, 2013 at 11:09 pm

Mary,
This looks wonderful! I get tomatillos from my CSA farm share, and the first year here it was all I could do to give them away to the foodbank. Then I discovered salsa verde, and this past season canned a bunch of it when I got the farm share tomatillos.
I’ve bookmarked this recipe to use one of my jars.

Thank you!
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mary January 12, 2013 at 11:19 pm

I’m so glad you can use this recipe, and thanks for letting me hear from you! Aren’t tomatillos cool? I’m glad you’ve figured out what to do with them. I make my own salsa verde sometimes, but not always.

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