Everyone has had traditional rolled enchiladas, and even had enchilada lasagna or enchilada stuffed peppers or enchilada chili, but what about enchilada soup? I think I maybe love enchiladas? I hadn’t realized I have made so many enchilada-flavored recipes! But why not? So let’s add a spicy Mexican flavored soup, with tons of veggies! Probably not what you would find in a traditional enchilada at a restaurant, but you would find these veggies in my enchiladas. And a soup – so healthy, and warm! Warm is what I need right now with mid-teens throughout the morning and early afternoons. Brrrr. Here is this weeks lunch of vegan and gluten-free Enchilada Soup.

Well I thought I was past my soup craze, but nope. I got a hankering for enchiladas – all that cheesy tortilla goodness and instead of succumbing to it I decided to make a healthier soup version of it. Get all the same things, just in a better way. Because when I eat enchiladas I also have to have the refried beans and Mexi rice. all smothered in cheese and salt. But with soup you can totally cut out the bad and keep the good, have all the spices and heat, but none of the fat or unnecessary yuck that goes into normal restaurant foods. This soup keeps everything you want in good enchiladas, but adds tons of veggies and flavor and you even get to keep the beans and rice. The beans were dried, not canned (and you can totally used canned I just happen to buy dried), which is why the soup cooks so long. If using canned beans dump everything except the corn in and let cook 30 minutes, then add corn and finish cooking until rice is done. Simple.

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This is one of my easier soups. The enchilada sauce is so easy – easier than you think – but I changed it up this time because I didn’t want to use oil and flour and I didn’t have tomato paste. I do however have cornstarch and that is what I used. I made the sauce by adding the 2 cups of stock and all spices to the soup pot and brought it to a boil. I made my cornstarch-roux in a cup (2 tablespoons starch and 1/4 cup water) then slowly added that to the pot and whisked. Let sit at low-medium heat while chopping veggies. While chopping slowly add in rest of container stock, in small increments whisking a little as you do. Once first container is in turn heat up to medium and start adding veggies. Once all veggies are in add soaked beans and let cook with lid off for about 30 minutes. Add as much of the container of stock as you can and add tomatoes and brown rice and cook 30 minutes. At 30 minutes add corn and beefless crumble and let cook until rice is all done. Enjoy! As you can see from the pics my pot isn’t too big so I had to use a small pot as well. I just made sure to evenly distribute between the two, and I had stock left over – about 1 cup.

Enchilada Soup,

Homemade Enchilada Sauce (2 C stock, 1 c tomato sauce, 1 tbsp oregano, 2 tsp cumin, 2 tbsp cornstarch, 1/4 c water)
28oz Can Muir Glen Fire Roasted Tomatoes
2 Cntrs Vegetable Stock
4 Carrots, chopped
3 Zucchini, chopped
2 Cntrs Sliced Mushrooms
1 Red Onion, chopped
2 Green Peppers, chopped
3 Green Onions, chopped
5 Cloves Garlic, minced
2 C Dried Pinto Beans, soaked overnight
1 1/2 C Brown Rice
1 Pkg Beyond Meat Beefless Crumbles
2 C Frozen Corn, defrosted

1. In a large pot make homemade enchilada sauce by pouring 2 cups veg stock, 1 c tomato sauce, cumin, and oregano and bring to a boil. Add cornstarch roux and whisk until thick then turn low. Pour in rest of container of stock and whisk while chopping veg.
2. Chop all veggies and dump into pot turning heat up to medium.
3. Add soaked beans and cook 30 minutes on medium heat.
4. Add as much veg stock from second container as you can to the pot along with the crushed tomatoes and brown rice and cook about 30 minutes. The rice needs liquid to soak up.
5. Add corn and beefless crumbles and cook 30 more minutes or until rice is fully cooked.
6. Portion out and enjoy!