No-Bake Sweet Pea Enchiladas Recipe

If you're hosting a dinner party, make these crowd-pleasing vegetarian enchiladas! They're a flavorful, creative main dish that's sure to be a hit.

I know you love cookbooks as much as I do, so I’m excited to share this recipe from Kristen Donnely’s new book, Modern Potluck. I met Kristin about a year ago while she was an editor at Food & Wine Magazine. When she told me about the concept of her book, I knew I’d want to share it with you

I love this… In her intro, she talks about the perfect dinner parties (with perfect hosts) that they would feature in the magazine, and how she’d always felt embarrassed that she didn’t grow up knowing how to throw a “proper” dinner party. Until one day she realized that these magazine features were always parties of 8 to 12 people, and that, growing up, her mom could host 50 to 100 without panic because her secret was the potluck.

But even potlucks have changed over the years, which is why she was inspired to write this book. These days there are things like dietary restrictions and “Instagram worthiness” to consider. Also, people have become more food savvy, and there’s always pressure to bring a standout dish. She wrote Modern Potluck to give people updated, foolproof, crowd-pleasing recipes that will hold up on the buffet table… and to bring people together around food in a way that’s as easy and fun as possible. One of my favorite parts of the book is that every recipe has a “Potluck Prep” tip that tells you how to prepare the recipe in advance, how long the recipe will sit out for, etc, etc.

About These Vegetarian Enchiladas

I made these no-bake enchiladas that I think are pretty darn Instagram worthy, don’t you? :). The recipe starts with a delicious carrot-cumin sofrito that I could not stop eating by the spoonful as it was cooking on my stove. The enchiladas are filled with a cheese, cilantro, and pea filling, while the sofrito, avocado, and seeds get piled on top.

We really enjoyed this fresh take on enchiladas – especially since it’s a little too hot to turn the oven on!

I was also eyeing this gorgeous Many Bean Salad:

And these Samosa-Filling Stuffed Poblanos (yum!):

If you love these vegetarian enchiladas…

Make these many-veggie tacos, my tomatillo salsa, or Mexican corn salad next!

4.9 from 23 reviews

No-Bake Sweet Pea Enchiladas

Prep time

30 mins

Cook time

1 hour 30 mins

Total time

2 hours

Recipe from Modern Potluck by Kristin Donnely. Reprinted with permission.

Author: Jeanine Donofrio

Recipe type: Main dish

Serves: 12 enchiladas

Ingredients

for the sofrito

1 pound carrots, coarsely chopped
1 small yellow onion, chopped
5 garlic cloves
½ pound ripe tomatoes, chopped
½ cup extra-virgin olive oil
1 teaspoon cumin seeds
kosher salt
1 tablespoon fresh lime juice

for the filling

9 ounces Cotija cheese
1½ cups frozen peas, thawed
1½ cups fresh cilantro, roughly chopped
¼ cup finely chopped white onion

for serving

Grapeseed oil, or other neutral oil, for frying
16 (6-7 inch) corn tortillas
2 tablespoons pepitas, lightly toasted
2 tablespoons sunflower seeds, lightly toasted
1 avocado, cut into small chunks and tossed with lime juice
½ cup tomatillo salsa, optional

Instructions

Make the Sofrito: In a food processor, pulse the carrots, onion and garlic until very finely chopped. Scrape the mixture into a medium bowl. Add the tomatoes to the food processor and pulse until nearly smooth.
In a deep, medium skillet, heat 2 tablespoons of the olive oil over medium heat until shimmering. Add the cumin seeds and toast until they pop, 1 to 2 minutes. Add the carrot mixture and a generous pinch of salt and cook, stirring every once in a while, until softened slightly and nearly dry, about 5 minutes. Add the tomato puree and cook, stirring occasionally, until most of the liquid has evaporated, 5 minutes.
Stir in the remaining 6 tablespoons olive oil, reduce the heat to low, and cook, stirring occasionally, until the carrots are very soft, about 1 hour and 30 minutes. Stir in the lime juice and season with salt. (Jeanine's note: my carrots were pretty wet and soft at this point, so I only added 2 (of the 6) tablespoons olive oil, and I continued to cook it for about 30 minutes instead of 1½ hours).
Make the filling: In a large bowl, toss the cheese with the peas, cilantro, and onion.
Assemble the enchiladas: In a small skillet heat ¼ inch of the grapeseed oil. When the oil is warm, use tongs to cook the tortillas, one by one, until pliable, about 20 seconds for each. Transfer to a plate.
When the tortillas are cool enough to handle, place a scant ¼ cup of the pea-cheese filling onto each tortilla and roll up. Arrange them on a platter or shallow baking dish. Spoon the sofrito on top, and sprinkle with the remaining filling, the pepitas and sunflower seeds, and the avocado, if using. Serve with salsa, if desired

Notes

Potluck prep: the carrot sofrito, without the lime juice, can be refrigerated for up to 1 week, stir in the lime juice before using. The assembled enchiladas can stand at room temperature for about 2 hours.