Stovetop Venison Enchiladas
These stovetop venison enchiladas are dipped in bold red chile sauce, filled with seared venison, and griddled like a quesadilla for crispy edges and saucy flavor.
Ingredients
For the Red Chile Sauce
- 4 dried guajillo chiles stemmed and seeded
- 2 dried ancho chiles stemmed and seeded
- 2 garlic cloves, unpeeled
- 1/4 tsp ground cumin
- 1/2 tsp black pepper
- 1 tsp sugar
- 2 cups chicken stock
- kosher salt, to taste
For the Enchiladas
- 1 lb venison steak (top round, sirloin tip, or backstrap, thinly sliced across the grain)
- 1/2 medium white onion, thinly sliced
- 1 garlic clove minced
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 12 corn tortillas
- 1 cup shredded cheese or crumbled queso fresco
- Salt and pepper, to taste
- olive oil, as needed (for cooking the enchiladas)
Instructions
Make the Sauce
- Heat a dry large skillet or griddle over medium heat. Add the unpeeled garlic and the chiles. Toast the chiles on each side until they are fragrant and start to smoke lightly. Remove the chiles and place in a bowl of hot tap water for 20 minutes, weighing them down with a small plate.
- Continue to cook the garlic on each side until it has softened, around 10 minutes. Let the garlic cool and then peel.
- Drain the chiles and place them along with the garlic, cumin, pepper, sugar, and chicken stock into a blender. Puree until smooth and then season to taste with salt. Pour the sauce into a bowl large enough to dip the tortillas into.
For the Enchiladas
- Make the Enchilada Filling: Heat a large skillet with olive oil over medium-high heat. Once the oil starts to smoke lightly, add the venison and season with salt and pepper. Cook the venison until just browned. Remove from the pan and set aside. Lower the heat to medium and cook the onions and garlic until softened. Turn off the heat and return venison to the skillet and toss together.
- Assemble and Cook the Enchiladas: Heat a large skillet over medium heat and add around 1 tablespoon of olive oil. Dip a tortilla in the chile sauce and then place it in the skillet. After 30 seconds, flip, then add a small amount of filling and cheese. Fold like a quesadilla and sear both sides until lightly crisped. Add more olive oil to the pan if needed. Repeat this process for each tortilla.
- Serve: Top with more chile sauce, cheese, onion and cilantro.
NOTES
- Shortcut Sauce: Blend soaked chiles with canned enchilada sauce, a sauteed garlic clove, and a splash of vinegar for a fast upgrade.
- Slice the venison thin across the grain and cook it only until just browned. It finishes in the enchiladas, so do not overcook it in the filling step.
- When making the sauce, toast the dried chiles only until fragrant and just starting to smoke lightly. If you scorch them, the sauce can turn bitter. Then soak them in hot water for 20 minutes before blending.
- Keep the filling light. These are folded and seared like a quesadilla, so too much meat or cheese makes them harder to flip and more likely to tear.
- After dipping each tortilla in the red chile sauce, let it cook about 30 seconds, flip, add the filling, then fold and sear both sides until lightly crisped. Add a little more oil to the pan as needed between batches.
- Ground venison or shredded venison roast both work here if you do not want to use sliced steak. For ground venison, brown it first with onion and garlic before filling the tortillas.
- For leftovers, reheat in a skillet over low heat to keep the texture. Do not freeze assembled enchiladas. Freeze the meat and red chile sauce separately for easier make-ahead prep.
Nutrition
Calories: 642kcal | Carbohydrates: 58g | Protein: 51g | Fat: 24g | Saturated Fat: 8g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 3g | Monounsaturated Fat: 9g | Cholesterol: 121mg | Sodium: 477mg | Potassium: 1172mg | Fiber: 11g | Sugar: 13g | Vitamin A: 5854IU | Vitamin C: 9mg | Calcium: 292mg | Iron: 7mg
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation. Nutrition is per serving.
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