Yellow Squash & Zucchini Enchilada Casserole (Meatless!)

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We’ve been on a casserole kick lately, haven’t we?

It seems like at least a few times a week we turn to casserole recipes because they’re so dang easy when you need something fast and delicious. This isn’t news to parents, obviously, as both of our sisters rely on Pinterest casseroles regularly for their large families, but we don’t think we could have anticipated just how essential they would be to our weekly dinner rotation.

Any time we have only a few ingredients and we don’t know what to make, we just type in the ingredients into Google and see what looks good. Do you do that, too? What did we do before the internet? We found this recipe on From a Chef’s Kitchen and it checked off every box we were looking for: meatless, easy, and most importantly- we had every ingredient. Almost.

We’ll put what ingredients we didn’t use in this recipe in the ingredient list below (because we just got back from a trip and we need to go to the store STAT, so we’re using up what we have), but all in all it was so good that the oldest came back for seconds. PJ was initially hesitant (frustrated?) when Thomas took it out of the oven and there was no meat in it (we’ve been trying to eat less meat lately but we do have some cooked, frozen chicken in the freezer that we need to eat up), but as soon as he tasted it, he was on board and immediately forgot about the lack of meat. Maybe it’s the enchilada sauce that everyone loves so much?

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Here’s how to make it…

Ingredients:

  • 2 tablespoons canola or corn oil plus 1/4 cup (we used olive oil)

  • 1 medium onion, chopped

  • 1 small green bell pepper or 1 large Ancho pepper, chopped (we didn’t use this)

  • 1 large red bell pepper, chopped (or this)

  • 3 medium yellow squash, halved lengthwise and sliced (we used one large yellow squash)

  • 1 large zucchini, halved lengthwise and sliced

  • 4 cloves garlic, minced

  • salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste

  • 2 cans (15-ounce) black beans, drained and rinsed (we used one can)

  • 8 corn tortillas, cut into 1-inch squares (we used 3)

  • 1 can (19-ounce) enchilada sauce (we used a 10 oz can)

  • 2 cups shredded Mexican blend cheese or a combination of shredded Monterey Jack and Cheddar cheese

  • Diced avocado (wished we would have used this but like we said, we needed to go to the store so badly)

  • Chopped cilantro (sadly didn’t have this either)

  • Lime wedges (fresh out of lime wedges)

Directions:

  1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Lightly oil a 13 x 9-inch baking dish.

  2. Heat 2 tablespoons oil over medium-high heat in a large skillet. Add the onion, reduce heat to medium-low and cook 5-7 minutes, stirring often.

  3. Add the green and red bell pepper. Cook 2-3 minutes then add the yellow squash. Cook 4-5 minutes or until the yellow squash is tender.

  4. Add the garlic and cook 15 seconds or until fragrant.

  5. Add black beans and remove from heat.

  6. Heat remaining 1/4 cup oil in another skillet over medium-high heat. Add the tortillas and cook until crispy and light gold in color. Stir frequently so they brown and crisp evenly. Drain on paper towels.

  7. Stir tortilla squares into black bean mixture.

  8. Add the enchilada sauce and half the cheese.

  9. Transfer to the prepared baking dish. Top with remaining cheese.

  10. Cover with aluminum foil. Bake for 30-35 minutes. Remove foil and continue baking until cheese is melted and casserole is bubbling.

  11. Serve with avocado, cilantro and lime wedges.

Hope you love it as much as we did! We can’t wait to make it again, this time with all of the right ingredients ;).