My easy vegan breakfast enchiladas are a perfect savory vegan weekend brunch or breakfast for dinner recipe. They’re easy to make, and it’s a recipe even omnivores will enjoy!
The first words out of the Godfather’s mouth when he tried these vegan breakfast enchiladas were, “are you sure these are vegan?”. This recipe is that good. I’ve been thinking a lot about breakfast recently – it is my favorite meal after all – and looking for creative alternatives to the usual. I recently discovered black salt (also called kala namak), which is a salt that has a high sulfur content and is magical. Seriously. Add a sprinkle to just about anything for an instant “egg” flavor. After trying it with some mashed chickpeas for a breakfast scramble, I thought… this would be amazing with tofu and I need to find something cool to make! As luck would have it, the theme for my recipe club in February was “breakfast” and I decided vegan breakfast enchiladas would be perfect, and my recipe club would be the perfect test group for a dish I sort of just made up as I went along.
Before we go on, a brief disclaimer – I am not an always vegan. I am not an always “any diet” actually, but I am all about balance, and I think it’s (in my not-health professional opinion) a great idea to have a variety of foods in your diet and try to be mostly plant based. For the record, this recipe is also a little low on the plants. It is good, really good, and a delicious treat once in a while because there is soy, and apparently, like most things in life, soy is bad if you go overboard. Balance… and back to the recipe.
I used tofu because I think the texture best mimics scrambled eggs in this dish, and I wanted to see if I could find a recipe where the Godfather would eat and enjoy tofu, just because he told me early in our relationship life that he would “never” eat it because it’s gross. Saying “never” around the Godmother is usually seen as a challenge. 😉 For the record, I found 2 recipes, this is one of them, the other is coming soon-ish. Tofu is not gross.
I assembled my vegan breakfast enchiladas in just a few minutes. Enchiladas are supposed to be something easy you can whip together for a weeknight dinner, or in this case, brunch, or recipe club, without stress. To save time, I purchased a prepared enchilada sauce from my favorite chain grocery store with the Hawaiian shirts, which is also where I purchased my organic tofu. I would recommend organic tofu only because that means it’s not from genetically modified soybeans. The same grocery store is also where I picked up my raw cashews for the avocado “cream” sauce. You can make the sauce up to 2 days in advance as well.
If you have nut allergies, or don’t want to make the sauce, you may use a soy cheese alternative for the enchiladas instead. I don’t really care much for the fake cheeses, and the avocado cashew cream sauce was to die for. Seriously. Amazing. It was good cold, which is how I drizzled it on the hot enchiladas at first, but I reheated some leftover enchiladas in the microwave later (that already had the sauce), and it warmed up beautifully as well, so you may choose to add it before or after you bake in the recipe. This does make a bit more than you need depending on how liberal you are with topping, but I guarantee extra sauce won’t be a problem.
I use a high speed blender to make my cream sauce, so I didn’t soak the cashews for very long. In fact, I brought some water to a boil, poured it over my cashews, and let them sit for a total of about 45 minutes while I assembled and baked the enchiladas.
I’ve been told corn tortillas are the only “authentic” tortilla to use when making enchiladas, so they’re what I’ve always used. The trick to rolling corn tortillas so they don’t break is to heat them in a skillet with the tiniest bit of oil over a medium high heat for about 4-5 seconds each side. The tortillas become very pliable and make it easy to assemble the enchiladas without breaking.
I hope you enjoy my vegan breakfast enchiladas recipe, and give it a try next time you’re looking for something savory and meat-free to enjoy!
Vegan Breakfast Enchiladas
Ingredients
Filling
- 1 lb firm tofu*
- 3 tbsp prepared salsa, mild or medium
- 1 15 oz can black beans, drained and rinsed
- 2 cloves of garlic, minced
- 1 cup diced onion, about 1/2 a medium onion
- 1 tbsp olive or vegetable oil
- 1/2 tsp black salt, kala namak
- 1/2 tsp cumin
- 1/4 cup fresh chopped cilantro + more for topping if desired
Other enchilada ingredients
- 12 corn tortillas
- 12 ounce jar prepared enchilada sauce
Avocado cashew "cream" sauce
- 1 cup raw cashews
- 1/2 Hass avocado
- 1/4 c nutritional yeast
- 2 tbsp fresh lime juice, about 1 lime
- 1 cup hot water
- 1 tsp salt
- 1/8 tsp ground pepper
- 1/4 tsp cumin
- 1 clove garlic
Instructions
- Bring 4 cups of water to a boil. While this is happening, place the cashews in a bowl large enough to hold the cashews plus enough water to cover them by 1 inch. Remove the tofu from the package and place on a plate lined with some paper towels, don't worry about pressing.
- When the water has come to a boil, pour enough over the cashews to cover by 1 inch, then set the soaking cashews and remaining water aside.
- In a large skillet, heat 1 tbsp oil over medium heat. Add your onions and cook until translucent, about 3-5 minutes. Add the garlic and cook a minute longer. Add the tofu and use your spatula to break it up into chunks. It will release more liquid, allow about half to evaporate before adding the black beans, salsa, and spices.
- Stir frequently and cook until most of the tofu water has evaporated. Then stir in 1/4 cup cilantro. Turn off the heat.
- Preheat your oven to 350 F, and lightly oil an 11x13" casserole dish.
- Soften the tortillas by heating them in a lightly oiled (clean) skillet set over medium high heat. This will take about 5 seconds per side. Keep the warmed tortillas wrapped in a clean dish towel.
- Assemble the enchilada casserole by rolling about 1/4 cup of the filling into each tortilla and then placing the tortilla seam side down in the baking dish. Once all the tortillas have been rolled, top with the enchilada sauce and bake for 20 minutes.
Making the Sauce:
- While the enchiladas are baking, drain the soaking cashews and place into a blender with the avocado, nutritional yeast, lim juice, salt, pepper, cumin, garlic, and hot water.
- Blend until smooth. Adjust seasonings to taste, add more water for a thinner consistency.
- If making in advance, refrigerate until needed.
Serving
- Remove the enchiladas from the oven once they have finished baking and are warmed through. Drizzle the sauce over the baked enchiladas, top with additional fresh cilantro if desired, and serve warm.
Notes
*1 lb is approximate, the package I purchased was 19 ounces/539 g. So whatever size package you find that's about a pound will work.
Pin for later…
Dana
Wednesday 10th of May 2017
How many do you figure this recipe makes? Thanks.
Mary (The Goodie Godmother)
Wednesday 10th of May 2017
I used a package of 12 tortillas, which worked out to about 6ish servings with this as the primary dish.
Jennifer
Monday 7th of March 2016
I'm not vegan or vegetarian in the slightest... but these are definitely something that I could get behind! They look delish!
The Godmother
Monday 7th of March 2016
Thank you! I think it's fun to experiment with dishes outside your "usual" to add a bit of variety.
Erin
Friday 4th of March 2016
Ohhhhh a breakfast enchilada! How delicious! I be the vegetarian husband would be a huge fan!
The Godmother
Monday 7th of March 2016
And you could totally feel free to throw cheese on top if you don't need them to be vegan. The tofu filling was so easy to make (one skillet).