How To Reheat Enchiladas – The Best Way

If you enjoy Mexican food, you probably love enchiladas. They’re easy to make in big batches or you can buy them frozen in big batches from the supermarket.

They’re surprisingly filling, however, so once they’re served, you may realize that your pre-dinner appetite was bigger than your stomach allowed for.

Of all the Mexican food dishes you can enjoy for dinner, enchiladas are probably the easiest to reheat.

So, what’s the best way to reheat enchiladas? The best way is to heat them in an oven at 350 F for 20–25 minutes, or until they’re heated all the way through. You can also reheat enchiladas using a microwave or toaster oven. Any of these options will also work on frozen enchiladas.

We go into more detail in the following article, so for best results with your enchiladas, read on.

Can You Make Enchiladas Ahead of Time?

One of the reasons it’s so common to be reheating enchiladas is because they’re so easy to make ahead of time and in big batches. Cook once and eat many times sounds like a brilliant idea to us.

The entire process of making enchiladas can be done well in advance. You can fill as many or as few tortillas as you have, wrap them, and even bake them ahead of time. If you want them for dinner tonight, why not make extra for dinner later in the week, or a month from now?

Enchiladas will stay delicious in your fridge for 2–3 days, and you can freeze them for 2–3 months as well. 

The one secret we have found to make the best, most reliable make-ahead enchiladas goes a little bit against tradition. We love using multigrain or whole wheat tortillas rather than corn or white flour tortillas if they are definitely going to be reheated.

Whole grains tend to be a bit thicker and more resilient, so they don’t soak in as much liquid nor get as soft or tearable during storage and reheating.

How to Reheat Enchiladas

Food can sometimes be tricky to reheat. Especially when tortillas are involved. Quesadillas should be reheated carefully in the oven or stovetop so they don’t go soggy, for example.

Enchiladas are not so temperamental. They use tortillas, it’s true, but they’re also covered in sauce, so they’re not meant to be crisp or crunchy. They don’t dry out and there’s enough hearty filling to keep them from turning to mush. 

There is a lot of wiggle room for successful enchilada reheating. That said, we still believe the best way to reheat enchiladas is in the oven.

How to Reheat Enchiladas in Oven

If you’re reheating homemade enchiladas that are still in their original baking dish, you can place the casserole dish into the oven without preheating it.

This way your cold baking dish will warm gradually as the oven heats up and you don’t have to worry about a drastic temperature change cracking your dish.

Reheating enchiladas in the oven is quite simple:

• Cover your casserole dish either with its matching oven-safe lid or with aluminum foil.
• Heat the oven to 350 F and bake your enchiladas for 20 minutes after the oven reaches baking temperature.
• Uncovering the dish for the final 5–10 minutes will help your surface cheese melt nicely without getting crunchy.

If you’re reheating enchiladas from a restaurant or packaged from a grocery store, follow the same procedure but make sure you first transfer the enchiladas to an oven-safe baking dish. 

It should go without saying but, to be safe, never put anything plastic or cardboard into your oven.

How to Microwave Enchiladas

If you’re only reheating a single serving of enchiladas and you don’t want to heat up your entire oven to accomplish such a small task, you can microwave enchiladas and they will turn out quite well.

They may be a little chewier than the first serving, but the sauce and filling help to keep the texture and consistency stable. 

To microwave enchiladas:

• Place a single serving onto a microwave-safe plate and slice a few holes through the top.
  • Microwaves don’t distribute heat evenly so by cutting some slices into the top of your enchilada you’ll let some steam escape and encourage the heat to seep throughout your dish. 
  • If you don’t mind serving yourself a pre-cut up enchilada, you’ll have even better results if you quarter your enchilada before microwaving it. 
• Cover your plate with a splatter guard, which will also help trap some steam and keep your enchilada from drying out.
• Heat for 1 minute on high and then check your enchilada. Make sure it’s not drying out or pooling in liquid and see if it’s heated throughout. 
• If it’s not hot enough, continue to set 30 seconds blasts until you’re happy with the temperature but haven’t overcooked your meal.

How to Reheat Enchiladas in the Toaster Oven

If you’re worried about your enchilada getting too chewy or soft in the microwave but don’t want to wait 25 minutes to reheat your enchilada in the oven, you could use a toaster oven. 

If you first warm your enchilada in the microwave just for a minute to heat up the center a little bit, then placing it in your toaster oven should only take about 10 minutes. 

Cover the baking tray with tin foil before putting your enchilada on to make clean-up easier. You can also cover your enchilada with tinfoil to protect the tortilla from drying out since it will be quite close to the heat source.

How to Reheat Frozen Enchiladas

Reheating frozen enchiladas is just as easy as reheating refrigerated ones. You can thaw them overnight in your fridge if you’re planning ahead, or you can simply bake them from frozen.

If you’re reheating from frozen, first make sure your dish is safe to go straight from freezer to oven. Silicone, metal or aluminum foil containers are safe for this but not all casserole dishes can handle this drastic temperature change, so be wary of what you’re baking in.

How to Bake Frozen Enchiladas

Before placing your frozen or thawed enchiladas in the oven, remove any plastic wrapping or aluminum foil. Add some fresh enchilada sauce and/or grated cheese to enhance the flavor and presentation even more.

Cover with a new layer of aluminum foil. Heat the oven to 350 F and bake:

• From frozen: 30 minutes, uncover and bake a final 10 minutes
• Thawed: 15 minutes, uncover and bake a final 10 minutes

How to Reheat Frozen Enchiladas in the Microwave

You can reheat frozen enchiladas in your microwave though this is best reserved for individual serving sizes.

For best results when microwaving frozen enchiladas:

• Unwrap your frozen enchilada and place it on a microwave-safe plate.
• Cover with a splatter guard and microwave on high for 2 minutes. 
• After 2 minutes, check your enchilada.
• For best results, you may want to poke some holes in the top of your wrap or even cut it in 2–4 pieces so that the heat can distribute better.
• Continue heating in 30-second bursts until the center of your enchilada is well-warmed.

Related Questions

How long to bake enchiladas

If you’re baking fresh enchiladas, the meat in your wrap should be pre-cooked, so you really just need to make sure any vegetables are cooked, cheese is melted and everything is thoroughly warmed.

Preheat your oven to 400 F and bake a full casserole dish of enchiladas for 15–20 minutes. The sauce should be bubbling and the cheese completely melted.

Let it cool for 5–10 minutes before serving and they’ll be much easier to scoop out of the dish without collapsing.

How to wrap enchiladas

Rolling enchiladas looks much more difficult than it is. Though with practice, it gets even easier. 

Start by laying a tortilla on a flat surface and adding your filling.

We highly recommend you portion out your filling to match the number of tortillas you have before you start rolling because it’s much easier to create equal portions if they’re done all at once, rather than one at a time. 

Depending on the size of your tortilla, about 1/3 cup of filling is usually plenty. You don’t want to overstuff which will make it very difficult to roll. Spread the filling in a line across the center of your tortilla.

There are various techniques, but our preferred method of wrapping an enchilada is to first tuck in the ends. Next, pull one half of the tortilla over the filling. Use the tortilla to grab any filling that tries to escape and tuck it back inside as you roll around the filling.

Always place the enchiladas with the seam at the bottom of your casserole dish, which should be heavily sauced.

How to reheat a burrito

Burritos are best warmed up in the oven or toaster oven. First, make sure it is well wrapped in tinfoil. Preheat your oven or toaster oven to 350 F and reheat your burrito for 15 minutes. The filling should be warmed all the way through before you eat it.

It’s best to avoid the microwave for reheating burritos, because they will get soggy and may not be able to hold your fillings. If you do decide to heat it in the microwave, make sure you do NOT wrap it in tinfoil, as metal is not microwave-safe.

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