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?

Yes. This Enfrijoladas recipe includes ingredient substitutions to make it vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free, dairy-free, nut-free, or egg-free — including several of those at once, such as gluten-free and dairy-free together.

How long does Enfrijoladas take to make?

About 40 minutes total (15 minutes prep, 25 minutes cooking), serving 4.

Recipe

Name: Enfrijoladas
Prep time: 15 min
Cook time: 25 min
Total time: 40 min
Yield: 4 servings
Cuisine: Mexican (Oaxacan)
Ingredients: 12 corn tortillas; 3 cups cooked black beans with their broth; 1 avocado leaf (or a pinch of dried epazote/anise seed); 1 white onion — half blended, half sliced; 2 cloves garlic; 1 chipotle or árbol chile (optional heat); 1 cup queso fresco, crumbled; 1/2 cup crema; 3 tbsp neutral oil; a handful cilantro

North America → 🇲🇽 Mexico → Oaxaca

Enfrijoladas

Mexican (Oaxacan) · easy · serves 4

prep 15 min · cook 25 min

~816 cal · 35g protein · 121g carbs · 22g fat (estimated, per serving)

🍽️

Folded tortillas coated in black bean sauce with cheese and crema

🇲🇽 Oaxaca

In Oaxaca, black beans blended to velvet — often perfumed with avocado leaf — become a sauce for yesterday’s tortillas, and breakfast becomes something to cross town for. Enfrijoladas are the humblest member of the enchilada family and, Oaxacans argue, the most comforting.

Make it yours

Toggle a diet and the ingredients rewrite themselves with regional substitutes.

🥕 Vegetarian

🌱 Vegan

🌾 Gluten-Free

🥛 Dairy-Free

🥜 Nut-Free

🥚 Egg-Free

Ingredients

Serves 4 —

•

12 corn tortillas

•

3 cups cooked black beans with their broth

•

1 avocado leaf (or a pinch of dried epazote/anise seed)

•

1 white onion — half blended, half sliced

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2 cloves garlic

•

1 chipotle or árbol chile (optional heat)

•

1 cup queso fresco, crumbled

•

1/2 cup crema

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3 tbsp neutral oil

•

a handful cilantro

Instructions

Toast the avocado leaf briefly, then blend the beans and broth with it, half the onion, garlic, and the chile until completely smooth.

Simmer the bean sauce in a spoon of oil 10 minutes to the thickness of heavy cream. Season well.

Warm the tortillas in the remaining oil a few seconds a side so they soften without crisping.

Dip each tortilla through the sauce, fold into quarters on a plate, and spoon more sauce over.

Finish with cheese, crema, sliced onion, and cilantro. Serve immediately — enfrijoladas wait for no one.

Oaxacan breakfast tradition.

Ratings & reviews

No reviews yet — be the first to cook it.

🌏 While it simmers — know your destination

📍

Oaxaca. The land of seven moles and black-bean alchemy.

🗺️

Mexico. A UNESCO-recognized cuisine older than any border.

🌍

North America. A collision of Indigenous, colonial, and immigrant tables.

The story behind this dish is up top — worth a read while the pot works.

👩‍🍳

Richard Moore & Kelsey Tucker

Recipes cooked, tested, and researched by the creators of Spin the Globe. How we build our recipes →