Tempeh Vegetable Enchiladas

I had been meaning to tackle making these bad boys for a while now but always thought that making them looked so….complicated. I came across this recipe in “The 30 Minute Vegan” and had excuses no more. Turns out, they were actually really easy to make (start to finish 35 minutes total) and tasted insanely delicious. Make them!

What You Need: (4 Servings)

8 corn tortillas

1 cup of vegan grated cheese (the recipe calls for this but I actually had none on hand so I omitted it, but I can’t imagine that you could go wrong by adding the cheese, so if you do have some, add it!)

The Enchilada Sauce:

2 cups of water

1 6 ounce can of tomato paste

2 garlic cloves

2 tsp chili powder

1 1/2 tsps ground cumin

1 tsp dried thyme

1/2 tsp sea salt

1 tbsp agave nectar

2 tbsp soy sauce

Tempeh Vegetable Filling:

12 ounces of tempeh

1 cup of diced yellow onion

1 1/2 cups of green pepper, chopped small

2 tbsps soy sauce

1/2 tsp black pepper

2 tbsps olive oil

1/4 cup enchilada sauce

What You Do:

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Lightly grease an 8×8 baking dish.

Blend all of the Enchilada Sauce ingredients together in a food processor. Pour the sauce into a bowl big enough to fit a tortilla.

In a separate bowl crumble the tempeh with your hands. Add in the rest of the ingredients for the Filling and mix well.

Start assembling your enchiladas: dip a tortilla into the sauce making sure its covered completely. Scoop a 1/4 cup of tempeh filling onto the tortilla. Sprinkle some cheese on top, roll it up nice and tight, and place it,  seam down, in the baking dish. Continue with all the tortillas, packing them in tight side by side.

Pour the remaining sauce (there should be a lot left) over the enchiladas, sprinkle the remaining cheese, and bake for 15 minutes. Easy, right?

Note: The enchilada sauce might seem too watery at first but don’t worry! It will thicken while in the oven.

We made some guacamole (1 avocado, 1 tomato, 1/4 cup of red onion, juice of half a lime, 2 garlic cloves, salt and pepper) and used it to smother our enchiladas once they came out of the oven.

Other ideas: Add more vegetables to the filling! Red pepper, corn, black beans, even olives. This recipe as is makes a pretty standard filling that can 100% be dressed up with whatever else you have lying around the kitchen.