I assign the taste tests around here, and that means I can give myself preferential treatment when it comes to tasting fun things. Like frozen enchiladas. Or so I thought. To be honest, I thought enchiladas would be pretty tough to screw up, even for frozen food manufacturers. The best enchiladas have a flavorful filling, tender tortillas, and good enchilada sauce—not rocket science! Alas, finding the best frozen enchiladas was harder than I thought it would be. But we did find four good options—well, three pretty decent options and one great option. Here’s our take on the best cheese enchiladas, best vegetarian enchiladas, and the best chicken enchiladas at the grocery store (we’ll have to keep hunting for acceptable beef enchiladas).
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- Tapatio Chicken Enchiladas
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Tapatio’s frozen enchiladas are acceptable if you’re really in the mood for Mexican but you don’t want to leave the house or wait for takeout or just make a taco kit, etc., etc. The shredded chicken filling doesn’t have much flavor on its own, but the sauce is very savory and it has a very nice kick of heat that makes up for the overall homogeny of the dish. The corn tortillas are very thick, which I don’t love. These certainly aren’t the best chicken enchiladas you’ll ever eat, but the spicy, Tapatio-tinged sauce does a lot of work.
Credit: Merc / Walmart
- Amy’s Roasted Poblano Enchiladas
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If you’re into enchiladas suizas but you don’t eat meat, these are the best frozen enchiladas to kill that craving. The cilantro lime sauce is creamy and avoids being too aggressively tangy. The filling is made with tofu, which is meaty and filling even though there’s no meat involved. The poblano pepper flavor comes through nicely, too. This is a good vegetarian offering for folks who think cheese enchiladas are a bit too indulgent.
Credit: Merc / Walmart
- Stouffer’s Chicken Enchiladas
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This family-sized tray of Stouffer’s chicken enchiladas is filling slop in a good way. You get four enchiladas that are absolutely loaded with melty cheese and piled with a creamy sauce. The corn tortillas are very thick, but they contribute a nice masa flavor. The chicken is good, too—it’s well seasoned and reminded me of the chipotle chicken on the Cantina menu at Taco Bell. Some sweet crunchy corn kernels are a nice addition to the mix, but I could have done without the hard, mealy pinto beans. Still, these are the best chicken enchiladas we tried. Simple and tasty.
Credit: Merc / Walmart
- Amy’s Cheese Enchiladas
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Amy’s Cheese Enchiladas are the best frozen enchiladas we tried by a long shot. I honestly think these are basically as good as cheese enchiladas from a cheesy-saucy, combo-plate Mexican restaurant. The sauce is zesty, tomatoey, and nicely spiced without being a total cumin bomb. It’s an oily mess, but cheese enchiladas typically are. The cheese is goopy and has a lot of flavor, but the corn tortillas are the most impressive part. They’re flavorful and actually have some bite. I ended up eating this whole thing for lunch.
Credit: Merc / Walmart
Best Chicken Enchiladas (Runner Up)
Best Vegetarian Enchiladas
Best Chicken Enchiladas
Best of the Best
Other frozen enchiladas we tried: Saffron Road Chicken Enchiladas Poblano, Real Good Foods Chicken Enchiladas, Tapatio Beef Enchiladas, Better Goods Cheese Enchiladas
Agree on Amy’s. Please explain why every frozen meal has so much sodium/salt. No one-I think-makes a home cooked meal with so much added salt.
I believe it’s to improve the texture when it’s thawed/reheated? Salt lowers the freezing temperature of the things it’s applied to, so more salt would theoretically allow food to get down to normal freezing temperatures without becoming a weird block of ice. But you’re absolutely right that WAY too much salt is added to most frozen meals. People tend to like salty foods, and I imagine it’s cheaper to just add more salt to something than it is to actually make it out of better, tastier ingredients.