A flavorful recipe to make delicious use of leftover veggies, meat, and cheese – all stacked and layered in a muffin pan. Give these mini enchilada stacks a try.

I often find myself with a fridge full of leftover ingredients appropriate for Mexican cooking. Food items like onions, salsa, and cheese – not enough for a whole meal, but enough to combine into something interesting.

It also seems that I can never use up a full package of tortillas no matter how many meals I make out of them.

While the obvious combination of these ingredients may be a quesadilla, I recently experimented with something a bit more creative.

These mini enchilada stacks are completely versatile and great for using up leftovers.

Layers of tortilla cut into small circles, vegetables, cheese, and sauce are baked in individual muffin tins and topped with fresh avocado-tomato salad.

Ingredient Options

While I used chorizo, tomato, onion, green pepper, and pepper jack cheese, you could use any combination of the following, or whatever suits your fancy:

• Protein: Chorizo, shredded chicken, ground beef, scrambled eggs, black beans
• Vegetables: Chopped tomato, corn, onions, green pepper, red pepper
• Sauce: Enchilada sauce, salsa, pico de gallo, salsa verde
• Mexican rice or refried beans

Want to get really fancy? Make your own tortillas at home!

Repurpose Your Leftovers, Save Money

Using leftovers is an obvious way to save money on cooking. This is just one cheap recipe idea that incorporates leftover foods, but there are undoubtedly a million different ideas.

Be sure to check back to see other creative ways to use leftovers.

• Cheesy kale rice fritters (using leftover fried rice)
• Turkey chili (using leftover Thanksgiving turkey)
• Black bean burgers (using leftover black beans, veggies, and more)
• Beer pancakes with macerated strawberries and blueberries (to use up the last berries in your fridge)

Continue to Content

Mini Enchilada Stacks

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Cook Time: 15 minutes

Total Time: 30 minutes

Cut circles out of tortilla shells using the top edge of a glass, cookie cutter, or other round kitchen object. Make sure that the size of the circles is right for your muffin pan.

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Ingredients

• Tortilla rounds (see note above)
• Sauce of your choice
• Meat of your choice
• Vegetables
• Shredded cheese (Monterey Jack, pepper jack or cheddar)

For topping

• Sliced avocado
• Chopped tomato
• Squeeze of lime juice
• Hot sauce
• Pinch of salt

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 375F. Grease the bottom and sides of a muffin tin. Put one tortilla shell round at the bottom of the muffin cup. Top with a layer of chopped vegetables, protein, sauce, and cheese. Repeat rotation of ingredients to fill each muffin cup. End with a layer of cheese. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes, or until heated through and golden brown.
2. For topping, mix avocado and chopped tomato. Add a squeeze of fresh lime juice and a sprinkle of sea salt.
3. Remove enchilada stacks, top with avocado-tomato mixture, a sprinkle of cotija cheese if desired, and serve.

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