Do you want to know how to reheat enchiladas you made a few nights ago? Not a problem! Enchiladas are a terrific example of a popular Mexican dish that people like making at home. Since the early twentieth century, they’ve been a mainstay of the American diet. In the Tex-Mex version of enchiladas, any meat goes (steak or ground beef is commonly preferred), making it a great refrigerator-clean-out supper.
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Enchiladas are on the menu as long as you have tortillas, a chile or tomato-based sauce, and some meat.
While this is a really quick dish, it is also extremely easy to cook too much of it, and on enchilada night, you nearly always wind up with leftovers. This works out well because enchiladas keep well in the refrigerator (3-4 days) or freezer (2-3 months).
We recommend skipping the customary corn tortilla if you intend on meal prepping and cooking these ahead of time for subsequent consumption. Using a more robust whole-wheat or multigrain tortilla will help you avoid the all-too-common sad and soggy microwave enchilada.
Also Read :- How to Reheat Cornbread? 5 Easy & Simple Steps
So it’s leftovers or pre-made enchilada night, and you want to reheat your wonderful Mexican pockets of pleasure while making sure they still taste delicious and have a nice texture.
We’ve included a couple options for reheating your enchiladas for the best dining experience while also keeping safety in mind.
We’d always advocate using the oven for the greatest reheating, but it isn’t always the most practical option, so we’ve included a couple alternative techniques below.
Depending on the meat filling in your enchilada, we’ll include a few minimum temperature numbers below. We’ll also divide the approaches based on where your enchiladas were kept (refrigerator or freezer).
Minimum Temperatures
165° F for beef and pork; 170° F for fowl
Your enchiladas will be safe to consume as long as they reach these temperatures.
Methods of reheating
We recommend using these techniques to reheat your enchiladas for the best results and to avoid a sticky, soggy, and unhappy dish.
But don’t be too concerned since enchiladas are a very stable dinner; there’s enough filling and sauce to keep it from getting too dry, and the filling is usually too substantial to become an inedible paste.
How To Reheat Enchiladas Using an Oven
Fresh from the refrigerator
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
- Place your enchiladas in a casserole dish or other heavy-bottomed oven pan after removing them from their storage container.
- Bake for 15 minutes, covered with a lid or aluminum foil in a dish/tray like this one.
- After 15 minutes, take the lid from the dish and bake for another 5-10 minutes. You can add more cheese here if desired.
Fresh from the freezer
- You may defrost the frozen enchiladas overnight and then proceed as directed above.
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
- Even if the enchiladas were stored in a freezer-safe dish, place them in a separate oven-safe dish; extreme temperature swings can cause casserole pans to crack or even explode.
- Before baking, you can add more cheese or sauce.
- Bake for 30 minutes, covered with a lid or foil.
- Remove the lid after 30 minutes and bake for another 10 minutes.
How to Use a Microwave to Reheat Enchiladas
If you want to reheat a single dish without spending time and energy heating up the oven, the microwave will suffice.
The tortillas will be a little chewier than in the oven, but they will do the job.
Fresh from the refrigerator
- Place your preferred serving size on a microwave-safe dish and poke a couple of holes in it to allow heat to permeate to the center (you can slice up the enchilada into manageable slices for a more even reheat).
- Cover your enchilada and plate with a microwave-safe cover (like this one on Amazon) to prevent splatters and steam from escaping and drying out your enchilada.
- Heat for 1 minute on high, then check to see whether it has heated all the way through.
- If the center still does not feel piping hot, reheat for 30 second spurts, monitoring each time.
Fresh from the freezer
- Repeat the previous steps, making sure you’ve poked holes in (or quartered) the enchilada and covered it.
- Place in the microwave for 2 minutes on high power.
- Check to see whether it’s entirely warmed, and if not, return it for 30 second intervals.
How to Use a Toaster Oven to Reheat Enchiladas
If you don’t want your enchiladas to be too chewy and don’t have enough time to wait for the oven, the toaster oven is the ideal compromise.
Fresh from the refrigerator
Remove the enchiladas from their packaging and set them on a microwave-safe platter. Microwave for 1 minute. Don’t bother about poking holes or chopping them up this time since we’re simply attempting to warm up the core.
- Place your enchiladas on the baking pan and cover with foil.
- Toast them for 10 minutes in the toaster oven.
- If you’re concerned about the top burning, place a sheet of foil between the enchiladas and the heating element.
Fresh from the freezer
- You may thaw them out overnight again and then proceed with the same procedures as before.
- Follow the same steps as above for frozen enchiladas, but microwave them on high for 2 1/2 minutes before placing them in the toaster oven.
Conclusion
As previously stated, enchiladas are a pretty adaptable dish, so there’s not much that can go wrong with reheating them.
You may be confident that they are perfectly safe to ingest as long as they are cooked all the way through and reach the minimal temperatures.
We prefer warming them in the oven for that additional texture and flavor, but if you’re in a hurry, your microwave will suffice.
