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My favorite homemade enchilada sauce recipe is easy to make with pantry ingredients, it only requires about 5 minutes of prep time, and it tastes so flavorful and delicious.
My best tip for kicking your homemade enchiladas up a delicious notch?
Use this homemade enchilada sauce! ♡
This recipe for Southwestern-style red enchilada sauce has been the starring ingredient in my favorite enchilada recipe for years and years. And every time I bake up a batch of enchiladas for a gathering, friends always ask for the recipe.
By contrast to many Mexican-style enchilada sauces, this recipe does not include tomatoes but rather centers its flavor around a rich blend of seasonings that you likely already have in your pantry (chili powder, cumin, garlic and oregano). On its own, the sauce is naturally fairly mild, although you are welcome to amp up the heat if you’d like. And its deliciously warm, toasty, earthy flavors pair perfectly with any variety of enchilada recipes.
The good news too is that this recipe only takes about 5 minutes to prep, plus an additional 15-ish minutes to simmer on the stove. It’s naturally vegetarian, vegan and can also be made gluten-free if you’d like. It’s made entirely with pantry ingredients, and can be customized to be more spicy, smoky, tomato-y, or even creamy if you prefer. And I must say — it’s a million times better than the canned stuff!
Thousands of our readers have made and loved this recipe over the years. So if you have yet to give it a try, I say it’s time!
Homemade Enchilada Sauce Recipe | 1-Minute Video
Homemade Red Enchilada Sauce Ingredients:
To make this easy enchilada sauce recipe, you will need the following ingredients:
Oil and flour: These will form the roux to thicken the sauce. You’re welcome to use any type of neutral-flavored oil (or butter) that you prefer. And while I typically use all-purpose flour, you are welcome to sub in a 1-for-1 GF flour blend instead to make this recipe gluten-free.
Chili powder: For all of our international readers, please note that this recipe calls for American-style chili powder, which is actually a blend of various chilis and seasonings, including a typically small percentage of cayenne. (Most chili powders sold outside of the States are 100% cayenne, which will not work for this recipe.) I recommend investing in a good-quality brand of chili powder for this recipe, since it is the primary seasoning for this sauce. But keep in mind that chili powder blends vary from brand to brand, so it’s worth experimenting with a few to find the one that you love best!
Garlic powder, ground cumin, dried oregano: These are the other dried seasonings that we will use in the sauce. Feel free to increase the amount of any one of these once you have tasted the sauce, if you would like.
Veggie or chicken stock: I also recommend using some good-quality stock in this recipe, which will add a delicious depth of flavor to the sauce.
Fine sea salt: And finally, don’t forget to season the sauce! I typically add in about 1/2 teaspoon, but the amount needed will likely depend significantly on the brand and saltiness of the stock that you use.
How To Make Enchilada Sauce:
Here are the basic steps for how to make enchilada sauce (full instructions included in the recipe box below):
Cook the roux and spices: In a small saucepan, we’ll first cook the flour and oil together to form the roux, and then whisk in the spices to briefly toast them in the saucepan before adding in the stock.
Simmer: Gradually add in the stock while whisking the sauce, in order to blend in any lumps. Then bring the sauce to a simmer and let it cook (you want to maintain a low bubble) for 10-15 minutes, or until it has reduced to your desired thickness.
Season: Season with salt (or any extra seasonings that you might like to add) to taste.
Serve: Then serve it up in a pan of enchiladas or whatever recipe sounds good…and enjoy!
Possible Variations:
This recipe is quite flexible, so please feel free to tinker around with ingredient amounts and customize it however you prefer! For example, you could…
Make it gluten-free: You can either use an 1-for-1 gluten-free flour blend, in place of the AP flour. Or you can omit the flour and instead add a cornstarch slurry (equal parts cornstarch and cold water whisked together) to the sauce once it is simmering to thicken it.
Make it creamy: Whisk in 1/2 cup of heavy cream to turn this recipe into a delicious creamy enchilada sauce.
Make it spicier: Feel free to add in a pinch or two of cayenne to make this sauce even spicier. Or alternately, you can choose to use ancho chili powder in place of standard American chili powder, which has a smokier and slightly spicier flavor.
Make it milder: American chili powder should naturally be quite mild. But if you are wary of heat, feel free to start with 2 tablespoons (instead of 4 tablespoons) of chili powder in the recipe. Then once the sauce has simmered, give it a taste and feel free to add more if you would like.
Make it smokier: Feel free to swap some of the American chili powder for chipotle chili powder, if you would like this sauce to have a smoky chipotle kick. (Also note that chipotle powder is considerably spicier, so this version would pack more heat too.)
Add tomato sauce: If you would like to have a more tomato-y enchilada sauce, you are welcome to add a few tablespoons of tomato paste to the sauce.
Ways To Use Enchilada Sauce:
Here are a few of my favorite ways to use this easy enchilada sauce:
Casseroles: If you don’t feel like rolling up your enchiladas, try ‘stacking’ them into a casserole, such as this chicken enchilada casserole (one of our readers’ favorite recipes!).
My favorite homemade enchilada sauce recipe is easy to make with pantry ingredients, it only requires about 5 minutes of prep time, and it tastes so flavorful and delicious.
Cook the roux and spices: Heat oil in a small saucepan over medium-high heat. Add flour and cook for 1 minute, whisking constantly. Add in the chili powder, garlic powder, cumin and oregano and cook for 1 more minute, whisking constantly.
Simmer: Gradually pour in the stock, whisking constantly to combine until no lumps remain. Continue cooking until the sauce reaches a simmer. Then reduce heat to medium-low to maintain the simmer (the sauce should continue lightly bubbling) for about 10-15 minutes, uncovered, until the sauce has slightly thickened.
Season: Give the sauce a taste and season with salt, as needed. (I typically add 1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt, but the saltiness of the sauce can vary depending on the brand of stock that you use.)
Serve: Use immediately in your favorite recipe and enjoy!
Chili powder (important note): The amount is correct. And as mentioned above, this recipe calls for traditional American chili powder, which is not cayenne. American chili powder is actually a blend of spices that are typically quite mild, whereas international chili powders are usually 100% cayenne (and very spicy). So if you live outside of the United States, please look specifically for an American-style chili powder blend.
Gluten-free option: Feel free to use a 1-to-1 all-purpose gluten-free flour blend in place of the all-purpose flour. Or alternately, you can thicken the sauce with a cornstarch slurry (equal parts cold water and cornstarch whisked together, then added to the sauce once it has reached a simmer).
Storage instructions: Let the sauce cool to room temperature. Then transfer it to a mason jar or food storage container and refrigerate for up to 5 days. Unfortunately this sauce separates a bit once it has frozen, so I don’t recommend freezing it.
Which brand of broth do you recommend? I’m looking forward to making this recipe (especially the sauce!) this week (: glad I found your blog. Pinning for later.
I have made this so many times in the past, and it’s delicious every time. Quick question. Is the flour in it only to thicken? I’m doing a whole 30 diet, and I think I could substitute in arrow root powder for the flower if it’s only a thickener.
We are from San Diego and moved to Denver and no matter what people tell us, we cannot find traditional Mexican food anywhere! I have made this sauce multiple times because it really does taste exactly like the enchiladas we ordered back home. I also have multiple requests to make these over and over again from neighbors! It’s and fave and you deserve all the credit. Thank you!
I’ll be making this tonight for my zucchini chicken enchiladas! I’m on a diet to help heal my liver and finding enchilada sauce without crazy additives is very difficult! I hope this works! I worry about the gluten free flour as a thickener, all I have is an almond/coconut mix (as I can’t use a rice blend). Do you know if xantham gum would work? I’ve tried using it to thicken gravy’s but it always ends in disaster. So I’m afraid to try that as well. Any advise?
Erin E —
Erin Z,
you can use more of the milder chile powder to help thicken the sauce, if the almond/coconut mix doesn’t do the trick. After you’ve added all the ingrediants and if it is too thin, then add water to the chile powder to make a paste. Then add this paste to the sauce that should be at a simmer. Bring back to a light boil for a minute and back to a simmer.
The enchiladas I made today were,indeed, the BEST EVER! The Red Sauce was WAY better than anything from a can. Very very good. Kept the recipe and will make it again! Thank you
Wow!!! That was the most amazing enchiladas my family has had. My child is so picky. Literally she picks onions peppers and basically any veggie. She loved it!!! Two thumbs up??
Made this and didn’t have enough chili powder on my shelf! I added a bit of cayenne, but not too much. I’m excited to make this again, with the correct amount of chili powder, along with the skillet chicken enchilada recipe.
Awesome! Thank you for being here!! Well, I have to have onion sooooo I put half the broth and a quartered onion in the blender before adding it. Next time I’ll add fresh garlic and cilantro to the blender…that should be good. GOOD STUFF! THANKS.
STEVE
This is my absolute go to recipe for enchilada sauce! We use it a lot. I’ll never used canned again! I add a big blob of plain Greek yogurt at the end to make it creamy (and make more sauce bc there can never be too much!)
Not a huge fan of the child powder flavours so I have some adobe chile in its sauce (it was frozen from being leftover from a previous recipe) I used instead. Its given it a smokier flavour. Very nice recipe. Plan to use again.
This is a fantastic sauce.! I did make one little substitution in the sauce recipe. I made the sauce gluten free by skipping the flour. I mixed 1/4 cup of the chicken stock with corn starch. And added that with the rest of the stock. The sauce is smooth and has wonderful color and flavor! Worth keeping some on hand for other recipes but it was amazing in the chicken enchiladas! Thank you!
Almost 30 years ago i was a foreign exchange student in Michigan and we had a lot of Mexican food in my american family.
But for some reason Tex Mex food has never been big here in Denmark, and certainly not Enchiladas. And you can not buy enchilada sauce here, at all..
Over the years I’ve tried to make it myself, but never got it quite right.. This recipie for the sauce is just perfect though..
Thank you, I will keep making this whenever I get the urge to “go back” to my Exchange student experience..
/Torben
Just made this recipe for the first time (to accompany the chicken enchilada recipe) and it was a TOTAL success. SO delicious and easy. It’s going to be our new bulk-prep lunch. Many thanks :)
Love this recipe! I usually double it to make the Enchilada Soup a day or so later. This time I won’t be making the soup for another week so don’t want to leave the sauce in the fridge. Have you ever frozen this sauce?
This is a wonderful recipe for Enchilada Sauce! I make my own chili powder from dried peppers I get from Mexico each year. Through trial and error (lots of over hot chilli powder) I have figured out which chili;s work best for us.
I’m making this tonight for the first time and so far it’s pretty awesome. I find it a bit salty at this stage (it’s still in the saucepan) but that’s probably from the bouillon cubes I used for the stock; I used one chicken and one vegetable. Next time I won’t add any salt and see how that works. But I gotta say this is a very impressive enchilada sauce. Thanks Ali. Looking forward to hoovering this down when it’s all put together!
This sauce is the best! I made the enchiladas twice, once with this homemade sauce and the second time with premade canned enchilada sauce and it was night and day! I will forever make my own now that I have this recipe. Thank you!
This is indeed the best red sauce EVER. I’ve made this many many times and the family loves it. Other recipes I’ve found used tomato sauce but I love how this one doesn’t and it taste perfectly yummy. I didn’t have black beans in my pantry so I used corn. Also used chicken thighs instead of breast because thighs are just tastier. Thank you for the recipe!
Best enchilada sauce I ever made. And I used chickpea flour. You don’t need to thicken it anyway. Once you mix it in with the chicken and beans is gets soaked up.
Love it and will be making it again and again
Love this! I’ll never buy a jar again. I usually have all the ingredients on hand. I’m not a huge fan of powdered chili so use an chipotle chili that’s in an adobe sauce. Will cut out the extra salt next time as I use veg broth and I think it has enough sodium in it.
This is THE best Enchilada Sauce ever! We like it really spicy so I used one teaspoon of chipotle powder in place of one of the teaspoons of chili powder. It’s also super simple to make. My husband loved it and when we made fajitas the next week he wanted the “special enchilada sauce” for his! Thanks so much for an awesome recipe. I’ll never buy store bought again.
I stumbled across this recipe and liked it because there was no tomato sauce in it. My family is picky when it comes to enchilada sauce so I was a little apprehensive in trying something new. I’m so glad I tried this recipe, the flavor is perfect and my family loves it. I double the recipe and make a huge pan of enchiladas. Thank you so much ?
Ali this sauce sounds AMAZING! I need to make chicken enchiladas for 26 important people at my new job where I just started cooking. They have meetings once a month and I’ve been asked to prepare a meal for them. The date is Cinco De Mayo, I will make your lovely enchilada sauce and the enchiladas too. How much do you think I should increase the recipe to make it REALLY saucy? Your recipe sounds really spot on with the right ingredient combination.
This turned out great! Very flavorful. My mom is very sensitive to spice so I cut the chili powder down to 2 tbsp but when making them for my husband and me I will keep it to 4.
I wanted to love this sauce so much, given the title, but it was not a hit in my family. It lacked flavor and dimension. I was looking everywhere for a simple sauce using what I had on hand, so I gave it one star for its ease. I guess my family is just used to tomato-based enchilada sauces.
Does this freeze and thaw well? I have a batch in my freezer and I plan to thaw it out for enchiladas tomorrow but now I’m worried it won’t thaw nicely!
I make this sauce often (and love it!) However, it never really thickens up for me no matter how long I simmer it. What am I doing wrong? (I usually double the recipe. Could this be part of the problem?) Any help would be appreciated! Thanks!
Oh….my….goodness! I made this for my husband because he grew up on Mexican food (I grew up in cheeseburgers and casseroles ?), but I rarely make any Mexican meals. This sauce is AMAZING! My husband loved it, and kept giving me high-fives for it. Thank you for sharing your recipe!
I’m surprised there’s no tomato sauce in this enchilada sauce? I haven’t made it yet but it doesn’t sound like it would taste right – or be red! – without any tomato sauce.
Was planning on making this for the weekend and was wondering if I could make a bigger batch of the homemade sauce and can it up for other times. If so, what would be the best way to can it-pressure or water bath, for how long, etc?
Made chicken enchiladas using your recipe, with a couple alterations but I used this sauce, making it exactly as written except that I reduced the chili powder to 2 TBSP. They were yummy and I really liked the depth of flavors in the sauce and how thick and gorgeous it looked! However….
Just a warning to anyone using the kind of chili powder used in indian cooking. Even 2 TBSP is wayyyy too much. I used 1 TBSP indian chili powder and 1 TBSP kashmiri chili powder which is a little milder but still the sauce was crazy spicy. Now my husband and I love spicy food so we ate up the enchiladas anyway but next time, I would definitely use probably just a couple tsp of regular chili powder and then add from there. I still give the recipe 5 stars because it is so easy to make and the burst of flavors is amazing for how few ingredients there are. Also, it is noted in your recipe that spice can always be modified so its absolutely my fault for adding it all at once. Just wanted to give feedback in case there are other people using chili powder in Indian cooking- completely different than what you get in stores here so its always good to know!
I made this sauce and it was truly so easy and so perfect tasting. One thing I noticed however is that in your Chicken Enchilada Casserole recipe, you have this sauce as a clickable part of the recipe so I made it first. Only to discover after that after making the chicken enchilada, that the sauce amount was insufficient to cover this recipe. I followed it to a T using a 9 x 13 baking dish.
Hi! I live in Australia and i tried to make this last night using only one tablespoon of the chilli powder you can buy over here and it was insanely hot! Like inedible! And i can handle a fair amount of chilli! Do you know what is in the chilli powder that you use?
Rachael —
Chilli powder in AUS is COMPLETELY different to the US. In Aus, we use only ground chilli in ours, whereas in the US, it is mixed with other spices (cumin, garlic, oregano, salt etc.). Best to dial it down to approx 1 TSP depending on how hot you like it. Remember – taste as you go (something I need to learn!)
Cat —
I also made the same mistake with Australian chili powder :( way too spicy but managed to fix the sauce by diluting it with more spices and stock. Next time I will definitely take your advice of going for 1 tsp of chili powder and adding more of the other spices.
Great enchilada recipe though!
This was really good. I have made it twice. I used grass fed butter and left out the flour, used an 1/8th of a teaspoon of xanthan gum instead. It was plenty thick. Served it over keto chicken enchiladas.
This has become our family’s go-to enchilada sauce. We’ve gotten to the point we dump the spice combination without measuring amounts into a roux and adding chicken stock to spice/consistency preferences on the fly. Thanks for a super tasty sauce recipe!
This is the same recipe I use for my enchilada sauce except you add oregano (I’ll have to try that). But I have been wondering if this can be canned. Would you happen to know?
Sue —
You can definitely can this! I have also frozen it. It is great to have a quantity made up to pull out when you are ready to cook.
It’s official. I can’t make enchiladas anymore without this homemade sauce. I don’t see a place to post photos here, but I made it again tonight. One enchilada batch with seasoned ground beef, onions and cheese. A second for a vegetarian dinner guest tomorrow, without the beef. This sauce rocks.
Which brand of broth do you recommend? I’m looking forward to making this recipe (especially the sauce!) this week (: glad I found your blog. Pinning for later.
Thank you!
I have made this so many times in the past, and it’s delicious every time. Quick question. Is the flour in it only to thicken? I’m doing a whole 30 diet, and I think I could substitute in arrow root powder for the flower if it’s only a thickener.
We are from San Diego and moved to Denver and no matter what people tell us, we cannot find traditional Mexican food anywhere! I have made this sauce multiple times because it really does taste exactly like the enchiladas we ordered back home. I also have multiple requests to make these over and over again from neighbors! It’s and fave and you deserve all the credit. Thank you!
I’ll be making this tonight for my zucchini chicken enchiladas! I’m on a diet to help heal my liver and finding enchilada sauce without crazy additives is very difficult! I hope this works! I worry about the gluten free flour as a thickener, all I have is an almond/coconut mix (as I can’t use a rice blend). Do you know if xantham gum would work? I’ve tried using it to thicken gravy’s but it always ends in disaster. So I’m afraid to try that as well. Any advise?
Erin Z,
you can use more of the milder chile powder to help thicken the sauce, if the almond/coconut mix doesn’t do the trick. After you’ve added all the ingrediants and if it is too thin, then add water to the chile powder to make a paste. Then add this paste to the sauce that should be at a simmer. Bring back to a light boil for a minute and back to a simmer.
I’ve made this so many times and it is super yummy. It’s very easy to make too. Thanks for the recipe.
The enchiladas I made today were,indeed, the BEST EVER! The Red Sauce was WAY better than anything from a can. Very very good. Kept the recipe and will make it again! Thank you
Wow!!! That was the most amazing enchiladas my family has had. My child is so picky. Literally she picks onions peppers and basically any veggie. She loved it!!! Two thumbs up??
Made this and didn’t have enough chili powder on my shelf! I added a bit of cayenne, but not too much. I’m excited to make this again, with the correct amount of chili powder, along with the skillet chicken enchilada recipe.
Awesome! Thank you for being here!! Well, I have to have onion sooooo I put half the broth and a quartered onion in the blender before adding it. Next time I’ll add fresh garlic and cilantro to the blender…that should be good. GOOD STUFF! THANKS.
STEVE
This is my absolute go to recipe for enchilada sauce! We use it a lot. I’ll never used canned again! I add a big blob of plain Greek yogurt at the end to make it creamy (and make more sauce bc there can never be too much!)
Thanks for the awesome yummy recipe!
–have never been inclined to endorse a recipe prior to this!
amazing recipe in its simplicity, healthiness & flavor!!
thanks !!!!!
Made this for the family and it was a big hit. Loved how simple it was to make. Using it again for the superbowl! Hope our friends like it.
Not a huge fan of the child powder flavours so I have some adobe chile in its sauce (it was frozen from being leftover from a previous recipe) I used instead. Its given it a smokier flavour. Very nice recipe. Plan to use again.
This is a fantastic sauce.! I did make one little substitution in the sauce recipe. I made the sauce gluten free by skipping the flour. I mixed 1/4 cup of the chicken stock with corn starch. And added that with the rest of the stock. The sauce is smooth and has wonderful color and flavor! Worth keeping some on hand for other recipes but it was amazing in the chicken enchiladas! Thank you!
So easy and so delicious. Thank you :)
Almost 30 years ago i was a foreign exchange student in Michigan and we had a lot of Mexican food in my american family.
But for some reason Tex Mex food has never been big here in Denmark, and certainly not Enchiladas. And you can not buy enchilada sauce here, at all..
Over the years I’ve tried to make it myself, but never got it quite right.. This recipie for the sauce is just perfect though..
Thank you, I will keep making this whenever I get the urge to “go back” to my Exchange student experience..
/Torben
Just made this recipe for the first time (to accompany the chicken enchilada recipe) and it was a TOTAL success. SO delicious and easy. It’s going to be our new bulk-prep lunch. Many thanks :)
Can i use chicken broth instead of chicken stock?
Love this recipe! I usually double it to make the Enchilada Soup a day or so later. This time I won’t be making the soup for another week so don’t want to leave the sauce in the fridge. Have you ever frozen this sauce?
This is a wonderful recipe for Enchilada Sauce! I make my own chili powder from dried peppers I get from Mexico each year. Through trial and error (lots of over hot chilli powder) I have figured out which chili;s work best for us.
I’m making this tonight for the first time and so far it’s pretty awesome. I find it a bit salty at this stage (it’s still in the saucepan) but that’s probably from the bouillon cubes I used for the stock; I used one chicken and one vegetable. Next time I won’t add any salt and see how that works. But I gotta say this is a very impressive enchilada sauce. Thanks Ali. Looking forward to hoovering this down when it’s all put together!
This sauce is the best! I made the enchiladas twice, once with this homemade sauce and the second time with premade canned enchilada sauce and it was night and day! I will forever make my own now that I have this recipe. Thank you!
This is indeed the best red sauce EVER. I’ve made this many many times and the family loves it. Other recipes I’ve found used tomato sauce but I love how this one doesn’t and it taste perfectly yummy. I didn’t have black beans in my pantry so I used corn. Also used chicken thighs instead of breast because thighs are just tastier. Thank you for the recipe!
Best enchilada sauce I ever made. And I used chickpea flour. You don’t need to thicken it anyway. Once you mix it in with the chicken and beans is gets soaked up.
Love it and will be making it again and again
Thank you for great recepy. Can I freese this sauce in portions for future use? What do you think?
Love this! I’ll never buy a jar again. I usually have all the ingredients on hand. I’m not a huge fan of powdered chili so use an chipotle chili that’s in an adobe sauce. Will cut out the extra salt next time as I use veg broth and I think it has enough sodium in it.
This is THE best Enchilada Sauce ever! We like it really spicy so I used one teaspoon of chipotle powder in place of one of the teaspoons of chili powder. It’s also super simple to make. My husband loved it and when we made fajitas the next week he wanted the “special enchilada sauce” for his! Thanks so much for an awesome recipe. I’ll never buy store bought again.
I stumbled across this recipe and liked it because there was no tomato sauce in it. My family is picky when it comes to enchilada sauce so I was a little apprehensive in trying something new. I’m so glad I tried this recipe, the flavor is perfect and my family loves it. I double the recipe and make a huge pan of enchiladas. Thank you so much ?
Ali this sauce sounds AMAZING! I need to make chicken enchiladas for 26 important people at my new job where I just started cooking. They have meetings once a month and I’ve been asked to prepare a meal for them. The date is Cinco De Mayo, I will make your lovely enchilada sauce and the enchiladas too. How much do you think I should increase the recipe to make it REALLY saucy? Your recipe sounds really spot on with the right ingredient combination.
Does this sauce freeze well?
This turned out great! Very flavorful. My mom is very sensitive to spice so I cut the chili powder down to 2 tbsp but when making them for my husband and me I will keep it to 4.
Can you freeze this enchilada sauce?
I wanted to love this sauce so much, given the title, but it was not a hit in my family. It lacked flavor and dimension. I was looking everywhere for a simple sauce using what I had on hand, so I gave it one star for its ease. I guess my family is just used to tomato-based enchilada sauces.
Does this freeze and thaw well? I have a batch in my freezer and I plan to thaw it out for enchiladas tomorrow but now I’m worried it won’t thaw nicely!
I love this recipe,
I make this sauce often (and love it!) However, it never really thickens up for me no matter how long I simmer it. What am I doing wrong? (I usually double the recipe. Could this be part of the problem?) Any help would be appreciated! Thanks!
Oh….my….goodness! I made this for my husband because he grew up on Mexican food (I grew up in cheeseburgers and casseroles ?), but I rarely make any Mexican meals. This sauce is AMAZING! My husband loved it, and kept giving me high-fives for it. Thank you for sharing your recipe!
I’m surprised there’s no tomato sauce in this enchilada sauce? I haven’t made it yet but it doesn’t sound like it would taste right – or be red! – without any tomato sauce.
How long can I store this in the fridge or can I freeze it?
Thanks
Was planning on making this for the weekend and was wondering if I could make a bigger batch of the homemade sauce and can it up for other times. If so, what would be the best way to can it-pressure or water bath, for how long, etc?
Made chicken enchiladas using your recipe, with a couple alterations but I used this sauce, making it exactly as written except that I reduced the chili powder to 2 TBSP. They were yummy and I really liked the depth of flavors in the sauce and how thick and gorgeous it looked! However….
Just a warning to anyone using the kind of chili powder used in indian cooking. Even 2 TBSP is wayyyy too much. I used 1 TBSP indian chili powder and 1 TBSP kashmiri chili powder which is a little milder but still the sauce was crazy spicy. Now my husband and I love spicy food so we ate up the enchiladas anyway but next time, I would definitely use probably just a couple tsp of regular chili powder and then add from there. I still give the recipe 5 stars because it is so easy to make and the burst of flavors is amazing for how few ingredients there are. Also, it is noted in your recipe that spice can always be modified so its absolutely my fault for adding it all at once. Just wanted to give feedback in case there are other people using chili powder in Indian cooking- completely different than what you get in stores here so its always good to know!
I made this sauce and it was truly so easy and so perfect tasting. One thing I noticed however is that in your Chicken Enchilada Casserole recipe, you have this sauce as a clickable part of the recipe so I made it first. Only to discover after that after making the chicken enchilada, that the sauce amount was insufficient to cover this recipe. I followed it to a T using a 9 x 13 baking dish.
I agree!
Hi! I live in Australia and i tried to make this last night using only one tablespoon of the chilli powder you can buy over here and it was insanely hot! Like inedible! And i can handle a fair amount of chilli! Do you know what is in the chilli powder that you use?
Chilli powder in AUS is COMPLETELY different to the US. In Aus, we use only ground chilli in ours, whereas in the US, it is mixed with other spices (cumin, garlic, oregano, salt etc.). Best to dial it down to approx 1 TSP depending on how hot you like it. Remember – taste as you go (something I need to learn!)
I also made the same mistake with Australian chili powder :( way too spicy but managed to fix the sauce by diluting it with more spices and stock. Next time I will definitely take your advice of going for 1 tsp of chili powder and adding more of the other spices.
Great enchilada recipe though!
This was really good. I have made it twice. I used grass fed butter and left out the flour, used an 1/8th of a teaspoon of xanthan gum instead. It was plenty thick. Served it over keto chicken enchiladas.
Excellent sauce, the only change i made was beef broth instead of chicken broth because thats what i had. Still came out great!
Obsessed with this recipe. It’s the best!! ?
This has become our family’s go-to enchilada sauce. We’ve gotten to the point we dump the spice combination without measuring amounts into a roux and adding chicken stock to spice/consistency preferences on the fly. Thanks for a super tasty sauce recipe!
This is the same recipe I use for my enchilada sauce except you add oregano (I’ll have to try that). But I have been wondering if this can be canned. Would you happen to know?
You can definitely can this! I have also frozen it. It is great to have a quantity made up to pull out when you are ready to cook.
SO easy and SO delicious!
It’s official. I can’t make enchiladas anymore without this homemade sauce. I don’t see a place to post photos here, but I made it again tonight. One enchilada batch with seasoned ground beef, onions and cheese. A second for a vegetarian dinner guest tomorrow, without the beef. This sauce rocks.