Trail Food: Green Chili Enchiladas

In honor of our  Pecos Wilderness project near Santa Fe (July 22 - 28), we're featuring a recipe for Green Chili Enchiladas.This recipe is suitable for cooking over a camp stove, and can be adapted for backpacking (see end).

 This easy, yummy entree features New Mexican-grown green chilies and be warned -- they're addictive.

Start by chopping a sweet yellow onion and sauteing it in a bit of butter or olive oil until the edges start to turn golden; set aside.

Next open a can of green enchilada sauce and add it with two cans of chopped green chilies to your pot. 

While the sauce is heating, use a frying pan to heat up some corn tortillas with a generous topping of cheese. I used a blend of cheddar and jack cheese. Heat over low heat until the cheese is melted.

Assemble the enchiladas by putting one or two of the cheesy tortillas (stack them) in your plate, add some onions, and cover with the green chili sauce.

Add, some salsa and maybe even some sliced avocado if you happen to have one.
Yummy. Dig in.

This recipe will serve five or six.

You can adapt this for breakfast by adding scrambled eggs to the enchiladas.

Recipe: Green Chili Enchiladas


1 yellow onion, chopped
2 Tbsp butter or olive oil
1 can green enchilada sauce (15 oz)
2 cans diced green chilies (4 oz)
12 corn tortillas
2 cups shredded cheese of your choice
Salsa
Optional: sliced avocados or guacamole, sour cream, cilantro

To adapt this recipe for backpacking:

This recipe is an easy one to take backpacking if you have a dehydrator (you can use an oven on the lowest setting (~200 degrees)). Make the green chilie sauce (above) at home and dry it in a dehydrator until you have green chilie leather. It took about 5 hours in the dehydrator when I did it, but will depend upon your dehydrator or heat source. When done, roll it up and put it in a ziploc bag. My favorite backpacking salsa is 505 Southwestern, especially the Honey Chipotle salsa. You can order it online in single serving packages suitable for backpacking.

In camp, add enough boiling water to make the sauce saucey and follow the directions above.