This easy homemade enchilada sauce recipe is ready in no time – the perfect, healthier alternative for your favorite enchilada recipes! Vegetarian.
In a hurry? Click here to jump straight to the recipe!
Have you made your own enchilada sauce yet? Because I am adding it to the top ten list of things you absolutely, positively must do in your lifetime (or, y’know, with your weekend).
It is SO STINKIN’ EASY, and I love it a million times more than using store-bought because (1) It tastes better and (2) there aren’t a million chemicals and preservatives and (3) it makes your kitchen smell like a spicy, chili-filled heaven and (4) IT IS SERIOUSLY SO EASY TO MAKE THIS YOURSELF.
Like, “oh, I want enchiladas but we have no enchilada sauce and I don’t want to go to the store but HEY I could make it myself because I have every single thing I need to make it sitting in my pantry already and it takes all of five minutes to put together” kind of easy.
Even though I’m not the world’s biggest enchilada fan, I could – and, let’s be real, did – eat this enchilada sauce with a spoon.
I also put it in and on just about every meal I could think of because I am completely obsessed with its rich, smokey flavor and can.not.stop.eating.it.
(Also, PS: I based this recipe on easily accessed ingredients and my experience of eating mostly store-bought enchilada sauce – I’m certainly not claiming any kind of cultural authenticity! This is just how I happen to make my enchilada sauce).
I could talk for another twenty paragraphs about how much I love this recipe, or how sunny it is outside today, or how totally easy and tasty homemade enchilada sauce is – but it’s summertime and it’s the weekend and who wants to sit at their computer or stare at their phone any longer than they have to, right?
So, to sum up: Make some of this enchilada sauce this weekend (YUM).
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Description
An easy homemade enchilada sauce.
Ingredients
- 2 Tbsp. unsalted butter
- 2 Tbsp. flour
- 2 Tbsp. ancho chili powder
- 1 Tbsp. chipotle chili powder
- 2.5 cups vegetable stock
- 6 oz. tomato paste
- 1 tsp. oregano
- 1 tsp. cumin
- salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
- Melt butter in a medium saucepan over medium heat.
- Whisk flour into melted butter to form a roux. Let cook for 1 minute.
- Whisk chili powder into roux.
- Slowly add stock to saucepan, whisking constantly to work out any lumps.
- Bring sauce to a simmer, then whisk in tomato paste, oregano, cumin, salt, and pepper. Whisk until you have a smooth sauce, and let sauce simmer for 10-15 minutes until it’s thickened to your desired consistency.
- Serve immediately or cool and store in the fridge for up to a week.
Notes
You can substitute any kind of chili powder you have on hand – I didn’t have plain ol’ chili powder, so I used a combination of ancho and chipotle chili powders (and I actually kind of loved it).
Feel free to increase or decrease the amount of chili powder in this recipe based on your personal taste and spice preferences.
Use chicken stock in place of the vegetable stock if you like.
I’d like to make a suggestion? Why not boil a small bag of California dried chiles( Found in the Hispanic food area in grocery store) with an onion, tomato, garlic. Once boiled and softend, purée run through a sieve. Season with sea salt. This is the way it’s done in Mexico but my Mexican-Texan mother-In law made it like you 😉
I’ll definitely have to try this version! Thanks for the recommendation 🙂
Oh hell yes! I’m totally adding making this to my bucket list… or my weekend list depending which one gets done first! Also it’s winter here so I would like to read the twenty paragraphs about how much you love this recipe… 🙂
Thanks, Matt! I’ll start working on those twenty paragraphs 🙂
You are so right…I need to absolutely make this. I was just thinking of making a batch of enchiladas to freeze before baby makes it here. Starting with this homemade sauce will be a great idea!
Freezer meals are the best! I put this sauce in a few different freezer meals and it actually held up really well.
Interesting. Good resource
Can’t wait to try your smoky-spicy rendition. I should always make my own sauce, because you’re right, I’ve always got the supplies. Enchiladas happen a lot around here. They’re great for using up leftover meat, beans, even seafood.
Thanks, Danielle! Making enchilada sauce was always on my to-do list but I always put it off for some reason – I’m SO glad I finally did this; I can’t imagine ever using store-bought again!