Homemade Enchilada Sauce
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Made with whole dried chiles, this will take your enchiladas to the NEXT level! No more store-bought sauce!
I am all for a good shortcut here and there when you are in a pinch. But once you make enchilada sauce from scratch, it’ll be very difficult to go back to store-bought. (Similarly to homemade pasta.)
There are a few steps involved here but I promise, it is well worth it.
Now the recipe does call for New Mexico or California chile peppers as they are on the milder side, but please feel free to use your own combination of peppers if you prefer a bit of a kick.
Either way, this homemade sauce will take your enchiladas to the next level. I use it all the time for these weeknight enchiladas. It’s an absolute game-changer!
Homemade Enchilada Sauce
Ingredients
- 2 ounces dried chile peppers, such as New Mexico or California
- 1 medium yellow onion, quartered
- 2 Roma tomatoes, halved
- 3 cloves garlic
- 1 teaspoon dried oregano
- 1 teaspoon ground cumin
- 2 ½ cups chicken stock
- Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
- 1 ½ tablespoons honey
- 2 tablespoons canola oil
Instructions
- Heat a medium cast iron skillet over medium high heat. Add chiles and cook until toasted and fragrant, about 30-45 seconds per side. Set aside and let cool; remove and discard seeds and stems.
- Add onion and tomatoes to the skillet and cook until blackened, about 3-5 minutes per side; set aside.
- Add garlic to the skillet and cook until blackened, about 1 minute per side; set aside.
- Place chiles into a 3 quart saucepan. Stir in onion, tomatoes, garlic, oregano, cumin and chicken stock; season with salt and pepper, to taste.
- Bring to boil; reduce heat and simmer until chiles have softened, about 15-20 minutes. Remove from heat; cover and let stand 15 minutes.
- Combine chili mixture and honey in blender until smooth.
- Heat canola oil in the saucepan over medium heat. Working carefully, add chili mixture to the saucepan. Bring to boil; reduce heat and simmer until thickened, about 10 minutes; season with salt and pepper, to taste.
- Transfer to an airtight container and place in the refrigerator for up to 1 week or in the freezer for up to 2 months.
Did you make this recipe?
Tag @damn_delicious on Instagram and hashtag it #damndelicious!
I have two favorite from-scratch recipes – Robb Walsh’s authentic Tex-Mex chili gravy for my enchiladas, and a sweet and sour chicken.
https://twitter.com/ElenaIstomina/status/445968241169424384
I like to make lasagna from scratch
I’ve made some homemade enchilada sauces, but I haven’t found a favorite yet. I’ll definitely be giving this one a try! 🙂
making homemade cookies
This looks SOOOOOO good! What a good idea to make this from scratch. I simple love DIY food!
The Macadame. xx
http://www.creamstop.com
This should work with gluten-free flour, right? Who knew it could be this easy to make from scratch!! 🙂
Perfect! Enchiladas are on the menu this week at my house. Can’t wait to try your sauce it looks so thick and deeeelish!
Sounds delish!! Can’t wait to try it! Thanks for the recipe! 🙂
Homemade soup, always.
https://twitter.com/yoshiye23/status/445939205672542208
A recipe worth making from scratch? Spaghetti sauce!
Tweeted
https://twitter.com/mummytotwoboys1/status/445929755766845440
My favorite recipe worth making from scratch is definitely Belgian Waffles! So much nicer and authentic than a box mix
This sounds really good. Do you also have a version made without tomatoes? I found and lost a recipe that was made with chilies, chicken stock, and a few other ingredients but no tomatoes.
No, unfortunately I do not.
You can use tomatillos instead of tomatoes. They will make the sauce a pretty green colour instead.
Chili- so much better than the kind in a can
This looks delicious Chung-Ah! It looks thicker then the store bought sauce I normally add to my Chicken Tortilla Soup. How do you adjust for the difference when adding to recipes, or do you? Your slow cooker spaghetti sauce has become a family favorite, btw.
I think frosting is always worth making from scratch.
https://twitter.com/BBirdie2/status/445913461491789824
My favorite is for Chicken Enchiladas.