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?
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You are seriously a GENIUS!! I have wanted to make homemade enchilada sauce forever since it’s so expensive in the stores. I am trying this today! Thank you 🙂
Hi Chelsea – did you make this enchilada sauce? Want to try to make it tomorrow but no one has posted here that they tried or liked it. If so, what did you think?
Hi Michelle,
I DID try it! Flavor is really good, very easy to make. I thought it was a little too thick, though, I’m going to experiment with that some.
Plain old cheesecake!!! Nothing better in this world!!! And so easy to make!!
I can’t wait to try this homemade enchilada sauce! Now my favorite thing to make from scratch is definitely marinara sauce. Always worth that low and slow effort!
tweet–https://twitter.com/mami2jcn/status/445892111930773504
My mother-in-law’s apple cake is worth making from scratch.
Chicken and dumplings with homemade dumplings and chicken stock. So worth it.
Is this a sauce that can be canned? I wasn’t sure because of the flour and oil used.
No, unfortunately, this is not a sauce for canning.
HOW ABOUT FROZEN?
Unfortunately, I have not tried freezing this so I cannot answer this question. Please use your own judgment for freezing.
In the post, you said that you could throw it in the freezer for next time. Just a guess I assume? I would have to say that it will be fine in the freezer. It’s tomatoes and vegetables – it should come out tasting pretty good…even after being frozen.
Yes, this can be frozen. Just be sure to bring the sauce to room temperature before freezing.
hi Chung-Ah thank you for all your recipes i love them i have to adapt a few as i am diabetic but so love asian food keep up the great site thanks kind regards sue
Looks delicious!
What a gorgeous sauce! I love the simplicity of the images and that sauce just pops! So pretty!
I second that!
Okay. No enchilada stuff here so could this be used for a spaghetti sauce or something else? The sauce seems nice.
Judy, this sauce is really catered for enchiladas, not so much for spaghetti.
Oh well. No point in making it then.
:'(
Replace the seasonings for Italian seasonings; basil, oregano, garlic, onion… follow same instructions. There you have it. Spaghetti sauce!
Sure you can. I have made Mexican style spaghetti often. It’s tasty. You just call it something different and no one would know the difference! I like to use a different type of pasta than the regular spaghetti, like bows.
Looks fantastic, but I need a gluten-free version. Do you think I could substitute flour with corn starch? :-)??
Lara, unfortunately cornstarch will not be an appropriate substitute. If you need a gluten-free version, this may not be the best recipe to use.
I’m curious as to why you think corn starch would not work – ? Wheat flour is used as a thickener in this recipe. I don’t think rice or coconut flour provides the same thickening action, and cornmeal just soaks up extra liquid to thicken it. Have you tried corn starch? It was my first thought as a GF sub for wheat flour. Making this soon, so curious to hear your reasoning/experience!
Cornstarch is just too heavy as a thickener for enchilada sauce. Enchilada sauce is not as thick as, say chowder, and has a bit of runny-ness to it. But by using cornstarch, you may lose a bit of the control factor and create a very thick enchilada sauce instead.
You should use Masa (the corn flour used for tortillas)
Actually this recipe is easily adapted to using cornstarch and eliminating that much oil would make it healthier as well. Skip the oil and flour roux. Simmer all ingredients together reserving 1/2 cup of water. Mix 1 tsp. cornflour into the remaining water and stir continuously while pouring into the sauce. This will give the sauce more body and you can let it simmer awhile to desired thickness.
Actually, this works beautifully for gluten free with an all purpose gf flour mix like King Arthur or Pillsbury gluten free flour. My son has celiac and I have made this successfully, so was surprised to see this comment.
Coconut flour
Lara, I have used cornmeal/ maize several times and it worked out wonderfully! I love the extra texture and added flavor it gives, especially when I’m using corn tortillas anyway!
Lara – we have been gluten – free for 8+yrs. I made this and just left out the flour completely. No substitution used. It was delicious!!! Try that!
Lara, you can use an equal amount of rice flour. Works in many recipes.
For all of you celiacs out there, a number of gluten free all purpose flours are available at many major supermarkets out there (Safeway, for instance). I’m doing this recipe tonite, gluten-free for my fiance, who has celiac disease. I’m sure there will be no difference in the taste. Thanks for sharing this recipe. Looks great!
I used gluten free flour, worked just great!
Make it without flour then don’t add the cup of water. Worked great for me! If you want it thicker use cornstarch or arrowroot.
Use tapioca
You could use pasta but make it with ground beef or chicken and add cheddar cheese and enchilada type toppings to it. Like a mexican pasta. Probably would be delicious!
Dear Judy,
Actually, oregano, basil, coriander, rosemary, cinnamon, cloves, chocolate, nuts and a host of other spices that you might associate with Italian or other ethnic foods are frequently used in traditional Mexican cuisine. Unfortunately, most Americans have never tried or been exposed to authentic Mexican food as most restaurants are reluctant to serve it, but more are starting to. Anyway, you may have missed the two important ingredients listed that make this a Mexican sauce and not Italian, chili powder and cumin. Many deep country enchilada sauces don’t use tomatoes at all, just chili’s and spices. Some use masa, I don’t, but I have had it that way. I figure with the corn tortilla you don’t need a thickening agent because the chili powder has it already. Some put chocolate or cocoa powder in their sauce, as I do. Perhaps you should try the recipe first before being critical. I don’t use sugar in mine, but try it with the cocoa powder, about a teaspoon per regular size can of sauce.
Ok…
Gorgeous enchilada sauce, Chung-Ah! Thanks for sharing, girl. Pinning!
I wanted to make enchiladas but I forgot to get sauce at
the
grocery store and thought
about making a trip only for the sauce then with a stroke of good luck saw your recipe!!!!! It’s simply DELICIOUS I
used
chicken broth instead of the cup of water and used a jar of ragu instead of crushed tomatoes. Very good
simple recipe.
Before I had added the brown sugar. It had tasted better. Brown should not be added.