Turkey Mole Stacked Enchiladas

I love Thanksgiving. It's my favorite holiday. I can't really pinpoint why it has always been my favorite holiday, even as a kid. It has always been more relaxing than other holidays, even now that help prepare a lot of the meal.

I guess now that I'm grown, I can say I love the fact that it's not religious and therefore very inclusive, not overly commercialized like Christmas or Valentine's Day, and finally I just love to cook.

And possible more than cooking, I love leftovers. It's serious business in my family. My mom hosts Thanksgiving just to get her hands on leftovers.

Sometimes however, you need a little variety in your leftovers. You need a little spice. Most of all, you need something quick and easy because you just did a marathon of cooking and you need a quick meal.

Enter in these leftover turkey mole stacked enchiladas. The flavor of these enchiladas is radically different from most traditional Thanksgiving fare, so it helps break the monotony of leftovers. You could make the mole sauce from scratch, but you just cooked a giant meal for your friends and family, so I think you deserve a tasty and easy meal by buying premade sauce.

The easiest to find premade mole sauce is Doña María, and you'll normally see two types: a ready to serve sauce or a concentrated paste you mix with water or chicken broth. I find the ready to serve is the perfect size for this recipe, but you might want to do the concentrated paste if you are making these for a crowd! I love using this sauce both in recipes and just to spice up my weekday meals (FYI this post is not sponsored, I just really like it!)

This recipe also works amazing with rotisserie chicken, so feel free to make this even when you've already exhausted your cache of Thanksgiving leftovers. Mr. Mochi likes this as a quick weekday meal, and it reheats really well!


Turkey Mole Stacked Enchiladas
serves two

8 taco sized corn tortillas
1 package of ready-to-use mole sauce
2 cups (loosely packed) shredded cheddar cheese
1/2 cup leftover Thanksgiving turkey, shredded
Canola oil for frying
2 eggs
garnish with your favorite hot sauce!

Preheat oven to 450°F.

One pan of mole sauce, one pan of oil.

Heat the oil and mole sauce in separate pans over medium heat. I don't bother measuring the canola oil, as it will depend on how big your pan is. Just pour in just enough that you can completely submerge a tortilla in in. As soon as the oil bubbles when a teeny piece of tortilla is placed in it, its ready. Fry the tortillas one by one in the oil for about 40-60 seconds each, then transfer to the pan with the mole sauce, and use a pair of tongs to flip the tortilla to coat it completely in the mole sauce.

Spoon approximately two tablespoons of the sauce into a bottom of an oven safe skillet or similar (I use two pyrex pie pans) and then carefully place the mole coated tortilla flat in the middle of the pan.

Place a generous sprinkling of cheese as well as turkey on the tortilla, making sure not too pile it too high (see photo, it should be a flat layer).

layering the cheese and turkey

Repeat the same oil and mole smothering process for another tortilla, stacking it like a pancake onto of the cheese and shredded meat you just put on top the first tortilla, then add another layer of cheese and shredded meat.

After four layers of tortilla, and three layers of cheese/meat alternating, place a sprinkling of cheese atop the final tortilla and place in the oven.

The finished stack!

Repeat this process to make another stack, then place them in the oven. While the enchiladas are getting bubbly hot in the oven, use the leftover oil to fry two eggs sunny side up. After about 10 minutes in the oven or until the cheese is completely melted, place one sunny side up on each stack and serve in the hot dish at the table, or carefully transfer to a serving plate.

I made sure to take a picture where you can see the alternating layers in this enchilada below.

See Also:
Dad's New Mexican Enchiladas
New Mexican Green Chile Enchiladas
Turkey and Hominy Soup