Pork Tamale Enchilada Casserole

The family likes to call these tamale enchiladas, because they taste like tamales, yet look like an enchilada!

This all happened by accident one night, as I was rummaging around in the cupboard looking for something to make for dinner, as I often did.

I had this beautiful pork butt roast that was simmering with a bay leave in the crock pot, waiting for a good recipe to use it in.

So I had yellow corn tortillas, enchilada sauce, and a jar of salsa verde I had made this past summer.

I thought “hmmm , what does this all mean?”

It struck me like my forehead to the cabinet door, I had the fixins for tamales without the tamale part, and fixins for enchiladas without beef or chicken.

I could make Tamale Enchiladas!  and so they were born.

Once the pork was in the crock pot for about 2 hrs., I took it out and into a pan it went were I shredded it and poured on the salsa verde, adding a bit of extra garlic, (who doesn’t like garlic!), and some cayenne pepper.

The casserole dish was greased ready and waiting while the pork simmered and I warmed the corn tortillas in my cast iron skillet on the stove, until they were nice and firm.

There is nothing like a warm corn tortilla with fresh honey poured onto it, a great snack to keep my energy up while I assembled my new found creation.

I assembled the enchiladas spooning in the pork mixture, adding cheese, rolled up and placed into the casserole dish, I did this about 14 times, smothered everything with the enchilada sauce and a lot more cheese, popped it in the oven at 350 for about 25mins.

So hot and bubbly, so delicious!

Print Recipe

Pork Tamale Enchilada Casserole

Author: Long Ears Farm Cooking Method: Casserole oven Cuisine: Mexican Courses: Dinner, Lunch

Difficulty: Intermediate Prep Time 25 min Cook Time 35 min Rest Time 10 min Total Time 1 hr 10 mins

Servings: 1

Best Season: Suitable throughout the year

Ingredients

Servings

Topping

• 4-6 pounds pork but roast
• 1 tablespoon cayenne pepper
• 1 jar salsa verde (or your favorite marinade base)
• ¹⁄₂ chopped onion
• 2 tablespoons minced garlic
• 1-2 tablespoon butter

Instructions

1. Whether you are using a small pork butt roast, or tenderloin, or pork steak, tenderizing the pork is very important. You can place the pork in a crock pot with a bay leave overnight on low, or in the morning put it in your cast iron skillet with liquid and 1 small can of enchilada sauce simmer until very tender.
2. Once the meat is fork tender remove the bay leaves, shred and stir in the cayenne pepper and set aside. Caramelize your chopped onions and garlic in butter, when done stir into the pork Spray non-stick onto your rectangle casserole dish.
3. In a separate hot skillet, start warming your corn tortillas, flipping them over, adding a light golden brown so they are still tender. Once all the tortillas are warmed, start by adding spoonfuls of the pork to your corn tortillas, sprinkle with cheese, and roll up, Place the filled tortillas side by side in your casserole dish, tucking them in tight.
4. Once the casserole dish is filled, cover with cheese and pour the enchilada sauce over everything. Bake 350 degrees for about 35 mins.

Keywords: salsa, spicy, jalapeno, peppers, onion, cumin, chili powder, canning, cooking, water bath, summer, fresh. farm