Homemade Enchilada Sauce
This post may contain affiliate links. Please see our privacy policy for details.
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!
Love this recipe is great!! Tastes amazing and it’s not super hard to make!! Thanks Damndelicious!!!!
Enchiladas are possibly my favourite food, this sauce is pretty much bang on, just cut right back on the oregano, in fact just lose it altogether, definitely overpowers the fantastic flavour.
I make enchilada sauce from scratch on a regular basis, but ran out and needed a quick sauce for a recipe. I felt that this was way too tomato-y. I ended up thinning it down with more water and adding more chili powder, but for those who want a more authentic flavor, cut back on the tomato sauce (not crushed tomatoes) by half and use more water or chicken broth. Chipotle chili powder is a great suggestion by another reader.
I agree way to tomato tasting had to add more spices to even get the enchilada taste
The best enchilada recipe! I have been making this for years now and just saved the link to my phone. I really should write down the recipe in case this website ever gets deleted because my family would cry if I didn’t have this! I make huge batches at a time and freeze for a quick and easy chicken enchilada dinner night.
Yum! So good – made it once and making it again today! Thanks!
Is it freezer-friendly???
If so, for how long?
Freezing sounds like an amazing idea but unfortunately, I cannot answer this with certainty as I have never tried freezing this myself. Please use your best judgment for freezing and reheating.
Oh my god this sauce is so easy to make its simply delisious definitely making it again
Hi everyone Chungah did a wonderful job in her enchilada sauce recipe. I think I did read somewhere on her beef enchilada recipe if there is a can version that they can buy. Before finding this sauce recipe I have used Gebhardt Enchilada Sauce which can be found in almost super market. It’s not watery nor think at all. I believe in my own personal opinion the texture is perfect.
Just made this… it is indeed damned delicious as is. Simple too, although I used Chipoltle Chili Powder for the 2 tsp but also used regular chili powder for the 2 tblsp. It made a richer flavour and added a bit of heat. I should have made a little more for a 9″x 13″ baking dish of Enchilladas. Although dobling the recipe would have been too much maybe try 1.5 X
I just made this sauce without any flour or sugar and it is so darn yummy! I just heated the oil with a few tablespoons of tomato paste and it made the sauce thick. I also heated the spices in the oil first before adding the crushed tomatoes as I think heating spices in oil first really brings out their flavour. I will be using this more often for sure. I don’t even know why you would need flour. It’s thick on its own as long as you use tomato paste. I also crushed two little slices of jalepeños (from a jar – Old El Paso) in my crushed tomatoes for a little extra heat. The sauce turned out rich, thick and has a delicious flavour. I’m going to use it in a “Late Summer Vegetable Enchilada Pie” recipe. Thank you! 🙂
I use this recipe a lot and i LOVE it! Instead of the crushed tomatoes i use 2 cans of Rotel (not drained) and i run them through the blender. I’ve gotten a ton of compliments on it!
Thanks!
I love this recipe! I’m wondering if you could make it in large batches and can it for later use. Anyone try this and if so, what did you do? (Water bath or Pressure Canner?)
well decided for the 1st time to make my enchalada sauce homemade and tried this one however while it was very good it tasted NOTHING like enchalda sauce but more like a spagetti sauce 🙁
Try using Rotel instead of the crushed tomatoes!
My scratch recipe is the hot dog sauce we used to make at a ice cream stand my mother ran for years in the late 50s early 60s. I learned to make it when I was about 10 and I still know the recipe by heart. I am now teaching it to my granddaughter who loves it too ( and she doesn’t like much of anything) It makes a huge amount but freezes beautifully.
Would you share the recipe?
Omg, just made this sauce today and it’s AMAZING! I did a few adjustments w/ using low sodium ck stock instead of water, a mix of paprika/cayenne/Cajun seasoning since I didn’t have chili powder, added a little bit more sugar BC my canned tomatoes were tangy, a splash of fish sauce to enhance the umami factor, and simmered it for 30 mins. DELISH!! Hubby enjoyed my/your enchiladas very much. Thank u!
Made this a few times, it’s absolutely delicious!
I like to make my own chili powder and flour tortillas as well and add a can of diced tomatoes with the hot peppers in it for a little more heat 🙂 Once we added a can of salsa that boyfriend found too sweet and mild for his taste buds and he went nuts… but we never could get ahold of the salsa again so haven’t had any 🙁
Normally I’ll roast or bake a chicken (or crockpot it if I’m super lazy and want to make other dishes like chicken & dumplings) and I’ll have this the next day!
I did add corn to the enchiladas and that was delicious! Want to try olives and some fresh green onions and such and last time we had ranch / guacamole sauce that we added into it and it was delicious!
I love making biscuits and gravy from scratch! I one time made a chorizo gravy and tomato biscuit version, YUM!
I made this the other night to go with some Chile Rellenos and my husband loved it so much that he asked me to have a container of it on hand at all times, lol. He eats it on everything!
I make this everytime it’s enchilada night my house I make for enchilada casserole omg that’s amazing you should try it best thing I ever had its worth tryng
Could I use tomato sauce in place of the tomatoes? I have 2 cans totalling in 30oz of tomato sauce… would this work? Thanks!!
This sauce is great..i make enchilada sauce and barbecue sauce from scratch, mostly because it is hard to find store bought versions. I prefer my own combination of spices anyway, and also prefer to control the sugar.