enchilada

/ˌɛntʃəˈlɑdə/

/ɛntʃɪˈlɑdə/

Other forms: enchiladas

An enchilada is a Mexican dish that's made from tortillas wrapped around meat or cheese, and cooked in a spicy sauce. The earliest enchiladas were simply a plain tortilla served with chili sauce.

Enchilada comes from Mexican Spanish — it's the past participle of enchilar, or "season with chili." Traditional enchilada sauce is tomato-based and, appropriately, heavily seasoned with chili. You might've heard the phrases "the whole enchilada," which means "the entire thing;" or "the big enchilada," meaning "an extremely important person." Many people credit the Nixon administration's John Ehrlichman with this second term, which was famously caught on tape during the Watergate investigation.

Definitions of enchilada

1. noun

   tortilla with meat filling baked in tomato sauce seasoned with chili
   type of:

   dish

   a particular item of prepared food