I grew up eating enchiladas on a regular basis, usually beef with red sauce or chicken with green sauce, sometimes crab with green sauce. My Dad learned how to make traditional enchiladas from his Mexican immigrant grandmother, and Mom learned from both of them. For me, enchiladas are a heart-warming comfort food that always reminds me of my childhood. They are such an easy way to use up leftover meat — beef, chicken, turkey, and pork all work well as fillings.
Shrimp enchiladas are not in my culinary repertoire, although I frequently order them at restaurants. Mainly, it’s because I am too lazy to cook and peel the shrimp first. This recipe from Eat, Live, Run uses frozen pre-cooked peeled shrimp. So easy! Why didn’t I think of that? And I love that this method does not use oil to warm the tortillas, heating them on the pan works just fine. The enchiladas were delicious, and quick enough to prepare after work. This dish pairs great with our chilled corn and black bean salad.
I usually make two batches of enchiladas at a time and freeze one (before topping with the sauce and cheese for baking), but since this dish uses previously frozen shrimp, I wouldn’t recommend re-freezing prior to baking.
- 1 lb frozen cooked shrimp, defrosted
- 1 tsp cumin
- 1 tsp chili powder
- 28 oz green enchilada sauce
- ¼ tsp salt
- ½ cup reduced fat sour cream
- ¼ tsp cayenne pepper
- 1 4-oz can diced fire roasted green chilies
- 8 oz shredded Mexican blend shredded cheese
- 12- corn tortillas
- salsa verde for serving (optional)
- fresh cilantro for serving (optional)
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- Roughly chop your cooked shrimp and place in a large bowl with ¼ cup enchilada sauce, cumin, chili powder, salt, cayenne pepper, diced green chilies and sour cream. Mix well until everything is well combined.
- Pour about ⅔ cup enchilada sauce into the bottom of a 9 x 13 inch pan. Soften your corn tortillas by placing each in a hot skillet for about 10-20 seconds each side. Then, place about ¼ cup shrimp filling into each hot tortilla along with a sprinkle of cheese. Roll up tortilla and place seam-side down in the pan. Repeat until you have used up all your shrimp filling. (You might have a few extra enchiladas that don’t fit—place them in a small pan).
- Pour remaining enchilada sauce over the pan and sprinkle cheese on top. Cover with tin foil and bake for 20 minutes, then remove the foil and bake for an additional 10 minutes, until cheese is melted and bubbly.
- Serve with extra salsa, hot sauce and fresh cilantro.
You’re my kind of chef! Made them and turned out perfect! Added lime juice and cilantro and a little cheese to the mix. Worked with a Mexican chef…she taught me to add a little oil to pan as you warm up tortillas, prevents them from mushing up. Thank you for a great recipe!
Glad you liked them! And that is how my mom did corn tortillas as well!
Made these today. Came out perfect. Didn’t have any cayenne so I subbed it for chipotle & paprika. Still ate every bit of it!
muy delicioso ..perfecto
Can you make these ahead of time and refrigerate for a couple of days before baking?