Home dinner How to Make Overnight Enchiladas

How to Make Overnight Enchiladas

by Stephanie

Do you like shortcuts? I’m going to guess you do, since you’re on a microwave blog (ha!). This dish of Overnight Enchiladas is amazingly simple.

Title image with a blue plate of overnight enchiladas with rice and beans.

If you love a quick meal and you’ve been around here, you’ve probably seen The EASIEST Beef Enchiladas in the Microwave. This particular recipe for Overnight Enchiladas is a twist on those enchiladas.

The best part is that you can put them together the night before, pop them in the fridge to get good and tasty and soak up that enchilada sauce, and then they’re ready to cook for just a few minutes in the microwave when you get home the next day for dinner.

What ingredients do you need to make Overnight Enchiladas?

These enchiladas basically take 3 ingredients. You can add onions or cilantro, or sour cream if you’re really wanting to jazz them up. But, those are really not necessary if you don’t have them.

Ingredients to make Overnight Enchiladas - taquitos, shredded cheese, and Rosarita enchilada saucae.

A word about the taquitos and flautas. You’ll find a variety of them in the frozen aisle at the store.

Taquitos are made with corn tortillas whereas flautas are made with flour. Personally, I find it a sacrilege to use any kind of flour tortilla to make enchiladas. However, some people — like my husband — actually prefer flour tortillas for their enchiladas.

So, that choice is up to you. But taquitos and flautas come in beef, chicken, cheese, etc. You can choose your favorite for this dish. I usually choose the beef and cheese taquitos as that is what my kids prefer.

  • 1 package of frozen taquitos or flautas (12-18 taquitos or flautas)
  • 12-15 oz can of red enchilada sauce
  • 8 oz package of shredded cheese
  • Optional: chopped onions

How do you make these easy Overnight Enchiladas?

I use a 9 x 11 glass baking casserole dish, so it’s microwave safe, and with 6 people in our family, I can fit as many taquitos in that dish as possible. I find using a 9 x 13 pan just doesn’t spin on the turn table in the microwave.

A brown glass 9 x 11 dish on a red checked towel with frozen beef and cheese taquitos.

Lay the taquitos (or flautas) in the pan as evenly as you can. If there are just 3-4 extra, I’ll lay just a few on top, but I don’t make an entire extra layer. I just don’t think it cooks well that way.

A brown glass 9 x 11 pan with taquitos covered in red enchilada sauce.

Next, pour the enchilada sauce over all the taquitos (or flautas). Make sure they are covered. If you can only find 8 oz cans of enchilada sauce, you’ll probably need two cans. We like the Rosarita brand the best, and their enchilada sauce comes in bigger 15 oz cans.

The brown glass dish with enchiladas covered in Glad Press and Seal.

Next, cover the dish with plastic wrap and pop it in the fridge until dinner tomorrow. This will let the enchilada soak into the taquitos while they’re defrosting in the fridge overnight.

The overnight enchiladas after soaking in enchilada sauce overnight.

When you take them out for dinner, they should look like they’ve soaked up some sauce.

I don’t like to cook in the microwave with plastic wrap, so I remove it and just lay a sheet of parchment paper over the top. If you are comfortable with plastic wrap, seal it back up and then place the dish in the microwave.

Cook for about 5 minutes.

Brown glass casserole dish with overnight enchiladas covered in colby jack cheese.

Add the cheese over the top. I am very liberal with the cheese as we love it.

Remove covering and cook for an additional 4 minutes. Check the internal temperature to be at least 161 F degrees. If it’s not quite at temperature, cook for 60-90 seconds at a time until it reaches temperature.

Allow to cool for a couple minutes before dishing up and serving.

The overnight enchiladas covered in melted colby jack cheese.

What to serve with Overnight Enchiladas?

I serve mine with refried beans and Mexican rice. Knorr’s Mexican Rice is our favorite, and I always make it in the microwave. It does take about 10 minutes to cook, but it’s a super easy dish to make.

More Enchilada Recipes

Overnight Enchiladas
Yield: 12-18 enchiladas

Overnight Enchiladas

Prep Time: 3 minutes
Cook Time: 9 minutes
Total Time: 12 minutes

Ingredients

  • 12-18 frozen taquitos or flautas
  • 15 oz can red enchilada sauce
  • 8 oz package of shredded cheese - cheddar, colby, colby jack

Instructions

Lay the taquitos (or flautas) in the pan as evenly as you can.

Pour the enchilada sauce over all the taquitos (or flautas). Make sure they are covered.

Cover the dish with plastic wrap and pop it in the fridge until dinner tomorrow.

The next night, cook for about 5 minutes.

Add the cheese over the top. I am very liberal with the cheese as we love it.

Remove covering and cook for an additional 4 minutes. Check the internal temperature to be at least 161 F degrees. If it's not quite at temperature, cook for 60-90 seconds at a time until it reaches temperature.

Allow to cool for a couple minutes before dishing up and serving.

Nutrition Information:

Yield:

9

Serving Size:

2 enchiladas

Amount Per Serving: Calories: 466Total Fat: 27gSaturated Fat: 11gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 14gCholesterol: 58mgSodium: 1105mgCarbohydrates: 35gFiber: 3gSugar: 5gProtein: 20g

Any nutritional information on justmicrowaveit.com should only be used as a general guideline. This information is provided as a courtesy and there is no guarantee that the information will be completely accurate.

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