Once you have a great Mexican braised pulled pork, and a great sauce, you can easily assemble and create a restaurant quality enchiladas! We show you how.
To cut through the confusion, an enchilada is, according to Wikipedia, “… a corn tortilla rolled around a filling and covered with a savory sauce. Originally from Mexican cuisine, enchiladas can be filled with various ingredients, including meats, cheese, beans, potatoes, vegetables, or combinations. Enchilada sauces include chili-based sauces, such as salsa roja, various moles, or cheese-based sauces, such as chile con queso.”
In other words, find yourself some high-quality corn tortillas (or better yet, make your own), then fill them with whatever you like. If you want to make your own tortillas, check out the Inspired Taste website, or the folks at Mexican Please, for a tutorial. They’re really easy, and worth the little bit of effort.
The key to most regional cooking, but especially Mexican cooking, is to find high quality starting ingredients. For this recipe, we had our butcher cut us a piece of the pork shoulder (also called pork butt) from the less fatty section. This was an ideal cut for the pulled pork portion of the recipe. We used the very flavorful Mirasol BBQ Sauce from Serious Foodie as the foundation for the pulled pork braising liquid, which is our quick/easy/healthy/full of flavor hack. Or you can use the Serious Foodie Hatch Chile sauce if you want to do Enchiladas Verde. Or you can make your own sauce – We love the recipes at Pati’s Mexican Table (Enchiladas Verdes), and, of course, Rick Bayless’s version of Red Chili Chicken Enchiladas.
While we love anyone who does the whole enchilada DIY, here is our version that will surely hit the right notes.
Enchiladas with Mexican Braised Pulled Pork
Ingredients
- 1 tbsp neutral vegetable oil Either safflower or sunflower will work
- 2-3 pounds boneless pork shoulder (Boston butt) fat trimmed
- 1 jar Serious Foodie Mexican BBQ sauce
- 1 cup Chicken stock
- Salt and pepper to taste
- 8 corn tortillas
- 10 ounces crumbled queso fresco you can also find a shredded 4-cheese Mexican blend at most stores, which works well
- Optional: diced and/or sliced red onion, avocado, cilantro, sour cream, slices of fresh lime
Instructions
- Salt and pepper the pork. Preheat oven to 250 F
- Heat vegetable oil in a medium heavy pot (Dutch oven) on medium high. Add the pork, and brown on all sides - about 10-12 minutes total. Pour off excess fat.
- Add the 1/2 of the jar of Mexican sauce and chicken stock so that at least half of the pork is covered by the liquid. If you need more liquid, add water. Bring to a boil, cover, and transfer to the 250 F oven.
- Braise the pork until very tender and shreds easily, about 1.5 to 2 hours. Skim fat from sauce, and transfer pork to a large bowl. Let cool slightly, then shred with 2 forks. Place pork back into the braising liquid (this works best if the pork rests in the liquid overnight - can be prepared up to 3 days ahead).
- Preheat oven to 425. Lay out the tortillas on a baking sheet and spray or brush lightly on both sides with oil; stack them in twos. Slide the tortillas into the oven and bake just long enough to make them soft and pliable, about 3 minutes. Remove from the oven and stack them in a single pile; cover with a kitchen towel to keep warm.
- Remove any visible fat from the shredded pork. Spread some of the remaining sauce over the bottom of a 13x9-inch baking dish. Lay out a warm tortilla, top with a portion of meat and some cheese, and roll up. Lay in the baking dish, then continue filling and rolling tortillas until all are used. Spread the remaining sauce over the enchiladas and sprinkle with cheese.
- Bake 10 to 15 minutes, until the cheese is starting to brown (the meat should be warm by then). Sprinkle with onion and cilantro sprigs, serve with some sour cream, avocado, and lime wedges, and you’re ready for dinner.
Notes
