These enchiladas are extra delicious because they use shrimp in Buffalo sauce as the filling. Tips for making enchiladas are in here as well!
Enchiladas are one of my favorite things for weeknights. They’re easy to make and everyone loves them. That’s always a good thing. (Same goes for my delicious Homemade Shrimp Quesadillas.)
Using shrimp as a filling for enchiladas is a great idea because shrimp taste so good, but also because they cook up so quickly. That gets these enchiladas on your table lickety split!
There are three main components to enchiladas. Once you have these components down, you can do all kinds of variations, using shrimp or not.
What Kind Of Tortillas To Use In Enchiladas?
Either go with soft flour tortillas or soft corn tortillas. Remember that these are going to have sauce on them so they do get softened quite a bit.
The flour tortillas end up soft and slightly spongy. The corn tortillas absorb liquid and puff up. They end up with a texture like soft cornbread.
Whichever kind of tortilla you choose, get small ones (approximately 6 inches in diameter).
Enchilada Fillings
The filling is what you roll into each enchilada before putting them into the pan. You can use any number of things. Leftovers are a great bet – like chunks of roasted chicken and refried beans.
Another amazing option is found in your freezer, frozen fish or shrimp. For this recipe, I cooked up some frozen shrimp and then tossed them with Buffalo sauce.
Then I put 4 shrimp into a tortilla and rolled it up around them. Repeat until all shrimp are used, you’ll get about 8 tortillas worth.
What Sauce To Use For Enchiladas?
So you have some delicious saucy shrimp rolled up into soft tortillas. Now what do you do? Get them even saucier, I’d say!
You can buy enchilada sauce at the grocery store. I never do, mostly because I don’t think of it, not because I have anything against it. And it’s pretty easy to make a good, tasty sauce at home.
Some of my favorite things to use as an enchilada sauce are leftover chili or spaghetti sauce. Another option is to mix together a 16 oz. jar of salsa with a small can of tomato sauce or petite diced tomatoes.
For this recipe, I figured that we have a really tasty filling so we should have a really tasty sauce too. Into a blender, pour some basic tomato sauce, two avocados (peeled and pitted) and some ranch dressing. The ranch goes so so well with the Buffalo shrimp. Blend it up until it’s smooth. That’s it!
Putting The Shrimp Enchiladas Together
Now that you have the three components, you’re good to go. Preheat the oven to 400°F. Pour 1 cup of your sauce into the bottom of a 9×13 inch casserole dish. Line up your filled tortillas side by side on top of the sauce. Spoon more sauce over each one. You may not need all of the sauce – you just want a good thick drizzle over each tortilla. Then top it all with shredded cheese.
Bake until the cheese is melted and everything is heated through, about 20 minutes. Top with chopped green onions and tomatoes. Eat!
More Delicious Dinner Recipes
If you love this recipe, you may also enjoy my Chicken Enchilada Soup and my Stuffed Poblano Peppers. Here are some more recipe ideas that bake in a casserole dish for delicious and easy dinners.
Podcast Episode: Making Shrimp Enchiladas
Listen to me explain briefly about how to make these enchiladas, along with some other great tips, by clicking the play button below:
Listen to more Recipe of the Day episodes here.
PrintShrimp Enchiladas Recipe
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 35 minutes
- Total Time: 45 minutes
- Yield: 4 servings 1x
- Category: Entrée
- Method: Baked
- Cuisine: American
DESCRIPTION
These enchiladas are extra delicious because they use shrimp in Buffalo sauce as the filling.
Ingredients
- 1 lb. medium shrimp, peeled, deveined, and cooked
- 1/2 cup Buffalo wing sauce
- 1 (24 oz.) can tomato sauce
- 2 avocados, pitted and peeled
- 1 cup ranch dressing
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 8 flour tortillas
- 1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
- 2 green onions, chopped
- 1 medium tomato, chopped
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400°F.
- In a medium bowl, toss the shrimp together with the Buffalo sauce.
- In a blender puree together the tomato sauce, avocados, ranch dressing, and salt.
- Pour 1 cup of the tomato sauce puree into a 9×13 inch baking dish. Spread it around.
- Put 4 shrimp into a tortilla and roll the tortilla around it, burrito style. Put the filled tortilla into the cake pan, seam side down. Repeat with remaining tortillas and shrimp.
- Top each tortilla with about 3/4 cup of the puree. You may not need all of the sauce. Top each tortilla with 2 tablespoons of the cheese.
- Bake uncovered until heated through, about 20 minutes. Top with spring onions and tomatoes to serve.
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This post was revised and republished in March 2021.