Cream Enchiladas, also known as "Encremadas"

Cream enchiladas, the creamiest enchiladas ever! Combined with a tomatillo sauce and topped with cheese & avocado slices, they are the perfect easy midweek dinner or weekend brunch. Add a grilled steak and you are ready to enjoy a memorable meal!

In Mexico, these Cream Enchiladas are also known as “Encremadas”, due to their rich cream sauce. Like with other enchiladas, you can serve them by themselves as a meatless dish or as a side dish for grilled meats. Either way, it is a delicious treat for the whole family, and you will be glad to add this recipe to your weeknight repertoire!

These enchiladas get their creaminess from LALA® Mexican Style Sour Cream, a thick, delicious cream from Mexico. Its flavors are authentic, and for many like me, it represents a familiar taste of home.

Encremadas with steak and beans

This dish is called “Encremadas” in my hometown of Tampico, as well as in a large region of Mexico known as “La Huasteca"“La Huasteca", where a large variety of enchiladas are found. Enchiladas can be made with many different types of salsas, and we like to serve them with thin grilled steaks (like skirt steak) and a side of fried black beans topped with crumbled cheese.

These particular enchiladas are referred to as “Encremadas” because the sauce they use has a good amount of cream in it (in some restaurants, it’s more cream than salsa!). Cooks add red or green sauce to the enchilada salsa, but others mostly use the cream with some type of pepper to add flavor and spice.

When making this enchilada sauce, some people like to add cream cheese (or sour cream) and a dash of chicken bouillon powder, but with LALA® Crema, you don’t need to add them. LALA® Crema alone is supremely creamy and tasty, and adaptable to many uses. You can use it for spicy dishes as well as for sweet food, like Strawberries and Cream.

I hope you enjoy making this recipe in your kitchen. It is very versatile and you can create your own combinations of salsa and cream. I’m pretty sure your kids will love it, too! In my hometown of Tampico, many people will let out oohs and aahs when they see this dish coming to the table!

Other similar enchilada recipes

• Enchiladas Suizas
• Enchiladas Potosinas
• Spicy enchiladas, these are made with piquín pepper.
• Red Enchiladas 

How to make Encremadas

Makes 12 enchiladas (4 Servings)

INGREDIENTS:

• 4 medium size tomatillos (about 12 oz.)
• 3 Serrano peppers*
• 1 small garlic clove
• 4 tablespoon vegetable oil
• 12 medium size corn tortillas
• 1¼ cup LALA® Mexican Style Sour Cream
• 1 cup Mexican Crumbling cheese (4.5 oz.)
• ¼ onion, cut in slices (to garnish)
• ½ avocado, cut into slices

NOTES:

• LALA® Crema is available at Walmart and other select stores.
• The use of the cream in this recipe reduces the spiciness of the peppers, but if you are not used to spicy foods at all, use only 1 or 2 Serrano peppers. If Serrano peppers are not available, use one jalapeño pepper.
• In order to keep the tomatillos from adding a bitter taste to the sauce, make sure to buy the ones that are small to medium in size (not the big ones). Additionally, do not overcook them (after the water comes to a boil, reduce the heat so that it simmers gently).
• If in any case, your tomatillo sauce has a bitter taste, add a pinch of sugar.

This is a popular way to serve cream enchiladas

DIRECTIONS:

Cooking the tomatoes and peppers for the salsa.

• Place the tomatillos, Serrano peppers, and garlic clove in a small saucepan and cover with water (about 4 cups). Cook at medium heat for about 15 minutes or until the tomatillos and Serrano peppers are cooked through.
• While the ingredients for the green salsa are cooking, heat half of the oil in a medium-size frying pan at medium-high heat.
• Lightly fry the tortillas, one by one, on both sides. Add the rest of the oil as needed. Do not allow the tortillas to get crispy, just fry them until they are soft and pliable. Place them on a plate and set aside.
• When you see that the tomatillos are cooked, wait until they have lightly cooled. Place the tomatillos, peppers, garlic, and a ¼ cup of the cooking water in your blender. Puree to make a smooth salsa.

• Now, add the LALA® Crema to the blender and puree again until you have a fine, light-green sauce.
• Drain any excess oil from the frying pan where you fried the tortillas. Pour the sauce into the skillet to warm it at medium-low heat.
• Dip each tortilla into the warm salsa, then, with the help of a large spatula, fold the tortilla in half, and place it on your serving plate. Place 3 enchiladas per plate. If you see that your salsa is reducing and getting thicker while warming it, you can add a little bit of the cooking water from the tomatillos.

• Top the Cream Enchiladas with a ¼ cup of Mexican crumbled cheese, and garnish with avocado slices and onion slices. Enjoy! Provecho!

This is a sponsored conversation written by me on behalf of LALA® Foods. The opinions and text are all mine.

I’m very selective with who I partner with, as I don’t want to overwhelm my readers with products & sponsorships. Therefore, if you see me working with a company or product, it’s because they rock! They help this little blog of mine keep producing delicious recipes and showing you the things that I love.

📖 Recipe

Encremadas

Mely Martínez

Cream enchiladas, the creamiest enchiladas ever! Combined with a tomatillo sauce and topped with cheese & avocado slices, they are the perfect easy midweek dinner or weekend brunch. Add a grilled steak and you are ready to enjoy a memorable meal!

5 from 4 votes

Print Recipe Pin Recipe

Prep Time 10 minutes mins

Cook Time 20 minutes mins

Total Time 23 minutes mins

Course Main Dish

Cuisine Mexican

Servings 4 people

Calories 584 kcal

Ingredients

  

1x2x3x

• ▢ 4 medium size tomatillos about 12 oz.
• ▢ 3 Serrano peppers*
• ▢ 1 small garlic clove
• ▢ 4 tbsp. vegetable oil
• ▢ 12 medium size corn tortillas
• ▢ 1¼ cup LALA® Mexican Style Sour Cream
• ▢ 1 cup Mexican Crumbling cheese 4.5 oz.
• ▢ ¼ onion cut in slices (to garnish)
• ▢ ½ avocado cut into slices

Instructions

 

• Place the tomatillos, Serrano peppers, and garlic clove in a small saucepan and cover with water (about 4 cups). Cook at medium heat for about 15 minutes or until the tomatillos and Serrano peppers are cooked through.
• While the ingredients for the green salsa are cooking, heat half of the oil in a medium-size frying pan at medium-high heat.
• Lightly fry the tortillas, one by one, on both sides. Add the rest of the oil as needed. Do not allow the tortillas to get crispy, just fry them until they are soft and pliable. Place them on a plate and set aside.
• Once the tomatillos are cooked, wait until they have lightly cooled. Place the tomatillos, peppers, garlic, and a ¼ cup of the cooking water in your blender. Puree to make a smooth salsa.
• Now, add the LALA® Crema to the blender and puree again until you have a fine, light-green sauce.
• Drain any excess oil from the frying pan where you fried the tortillas. Pour the sauce into the skillet to warm it at medium-low heat.
• Dip each tortilla into the warm salsa, then, with the help of a large spatula, fold the tortilla in half, and place it on your serving plate. Place 3 enchiladas per plate. If you see that your salsa is reducing and getting thicker while warming it, you can add a little bit of the cooking water from the tomatillos.
• Top the Encremadas with a ¼ cup of Mexican crumbled cheese, and garnish with avocado slices and onion slices. Enjoy! Provecho!

Notes

LALA® Crema is available at Walmart and other select stores.
The use of the cream in this recipe reduces the spiciness of the peppers, but if you are not used to spicy foods at all, use only 1 or 2 Serrano peppers. If Serrano peppers are not available, use one jalapeño pepper.
In order to keep the tomatillos from adding a bitter taste to the sauce, make sure to buy the ones that are small to medium in size (not the big ones). Additionally, do not overcook them (after the water comes to a boil, reduce the heat so that it simmers gently).
If in any case your tomatillo sauce has a bitter taste, add a pinch of sugar.

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Nutrition

Serving: 3enchiladasCalories: 584kcalCarbohydrates: 43gProtein: 12gFat: 43gSaturated Fat: 25gCholesterol: 58mgSodium: 325mgPotassium: 523mgFiber: 8gSugar: 5gVitamin A: 810IUVitamin C: 9.9mgCalcium: 318mgIron: 1.5mg

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