Recipe
🍳 BREAKFAST
Enfrijoladas
Corn tortillas bathed in silky black-bean sauce, folded and finished with cheese, crema, and onion.
Mexican (Oaxacan) · easy · serves 4
prep 15 min · cook 25 min
~377 cal · 8g protein · 40g carbs · 21g fat · 6g fiber · 4g sugars · 3g sat fat (estimated, per serving)
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Enfrijoladas are the black-bean cousin of the enchilada, and in Oaxaca, a state that lives and breathes the black bean, they reach their finest. The heart of the dish is a smooth, velvety sauce made by blending cooked black beans, often perfumed with the aniseed fragrance of avocado leaf (hoja de aguacate), into something as silky as it is deeply flavoured.
The construction is thrifty genius: yesterday's tortillas are dipped and folded through the warm bean sauce so they soften without falling apart, then plated and topped simply with crumbled fresh cheese, raw onion, crema, and sometimes an egg. Nothing is wasted, and the humble becomes something people cross town to eat for breakfast.
They are the plainest, most economical member of the enchilada family, and, many Oaxacans will argue, the most comforting of all. Soft, savoury, and quietly rich, enfrijoladas are Oaxacan home cooking turning very little into something worth waking up for.
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Make it yours
✓ Naturally vegetarian and gluten-, nut-, egg- and pork-free. No swaps needed.
Toggle a diet and the ingredients rewrite themselves with regional substitutes.
🥕 Vegetarian
🌱 Vegan
🌾 Gluten-Free
🥛 Dairy-Free
🥜 Nut-Free
🥚 Egg-Free
🐖 Pork-Free
Dietary labels are a cooking guide, not allergen-safety advice. We track dairy, egg, gluten, tree nuts and peanuts (we count coconut as a tree nut, following FDA labeling), fish, and shellfish; we do not screen for sesame, soy, mustard, celery, or sulphites. If you have a food allergy, read the label on every product you use, and note that a kitchen can cross-contaminate in ways a recipe cannot control.
Ingredients
US
Metric
Serves 4
12 corn tortillas
3 cups cooked black beans with their broth
1 avocado leaf (or a pinch of dried /anise seed)
1 white onion, half blended, half sliced
2 cloves garlic
1 chipotle or árbol chile (optional heat)
1 cup queso fresco, crumbled
Hard to find? mild feta rinsed under cold water, or ricotta salata - queso fresco softens without melting, and both of these behave the same way; feta needs rinsing because it is much saltier
1/2 cup crema
3 tbsp
a handful cilantro
Instructions
1
Toast the avocado leaf briefly, then blend the beans and broth with it, half the onion, garlic, and the chile until completely smooth.
2
Simmer the bean sauce in a spoon of oil 10 minutes to the thickness of heavy cream. Season well.
3
Warm the tortillas in the remaining oil a few seconds a side so they soften without crisping.
4
Dip each tortilla through the sauce, fold into quarters on a plate, and spoon more sauce over.
5
Finish with cheese, crema, sliced onion, and cilantro. Serve immediately, enfrijoladas wait for no one.
Oaxacan breakfast tradition.
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🌏 While it simmers, know your destination
📍
Oaxaca. The ingredients are unusually specific to the ground. Chilhuacle chillies, grown almost entirely within Oaxaca, give mole negro its colour; hoja santa leaves scent the green one; and short, fat bolita corn is ground both for tortillas and for tejate, a cold maize and cacao drink whipped by hand until it foams.
🗺️
Mexico. Chillies are treated as a vocabulary rather than a heat setting, with the same pod carrying one name fresh and another dried, poblano becoming ancho and jalapeno becoming chipotle, each toasted before it is ground. The comal, a flat unglazed griddle, is the busiest surface in the kitchen, used in turn for tortillas, chillies, tomatoes and whole cloves of garlic.
🌍
North America. North America's table began with Indigenous foodways, the "three sisters" of corn, beans, and squash, plus chiles, tomatoes, and cacao, then layered on colonial, African, and immigrant influences. From Mexico's UNESCO-recognized cuisine to the Cajun and Creole pots of Louisiana and the fiery jerk of the Caribbean, the region turns ancient staples into something new. Barbecue, tacos, gumbo, and mole all carry stories of migration and adaptation.
The story behind this dish is up top, worth a read while the pot works.
More from Mexico
Cochinita PibilPork marinated blaze-orange in achiote and sour orange, wrapped in banana leaves and roasted until it shreds itself.
BirriaJalisco’s chile-marinated slow braise, served as a rich consomé with tortillas, or griddled into dripping quesabirria tacos.
Pozole VerdeHominy and chicken in a bright green broth of tomatillos, pepitas, and herbs, Guerrero’s Thursday ritual bowl.
Browse all Mexico recipes →
Good to know
You’ll need: Blender.
Storing it: Thickens as it sits. Reheat with extra water or milk to loosen, and keep 2 to 3 days refrigerated.
Make it a Mexico meal
HorchataDrink
Calabaza en TachaDessert
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Frequently asked questions
What is Enfrijoladas?
Corn tortillas bathed in silky black-bean sauce, folded and finished with cheese, crema, and onion.
Where does Enfrijoladas come from?
Enfrijoladas is a Mexican (Oaxacan) dish from Oaxaca, Mexico.
Can Enfrijoladas be made vegan, gluten-free, or dairy-free?
This Enfrijoladas recipe includes substitution suggestions for vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free, dairy-free, nut-free, egg-free, and pork-free versions, including several at once such as gluten-free and dairy-free together. Treat them as a starting guide rather than a guarantee, and see the allergen note below.
Is Enfrijoladas safe for people with food allergies?
Our dietary labels and substitutions are a cooking guide, not medical or allergen-safety advice. We track dairy, egg, gluten, tree nuts and peanuts (we count coconut as a tree nut, following FDA labeling), fish, and shellfish, but we do not screen for sesame, soy, mustard, celery, or sulphites. If you have a food allergy, always read the label on every product you use, and remember a home or commercial kitchen can cross-contaminate ingredients in ways a recipe cannot control.
How long does Enfrijoladas take to make?
About 40 minutes total (15 minutes prep, 25 minutes cooking), serving 4.
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