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This Green Enchilada Sauce recipe is quick and easy to make, naturally gluten-free, and full of the best savory green chile flavor. Perfect for making enchiladas verdes, or using as a versatile sauce on any other favorite Mexican dishes.
Finally! After years and years of requests from those of you who have fallen in love with my favorite red enchilada sauce recipe, I’m finally getting around to sharing a recipe for its mean green partner in crime.
Meet…my favorite green enchilada sauce recipe. ♡
I’m obsessed, and already know you’re going to love it too.
First off, this green enchilada sauce recipe only takes about 15 minutes to make, tops. Second, it’s made with super-simple ingredients, including ready-to-go canned diced green chiles. (<– No need to roast them yourself unless they’re in season and that sounds fun, in which case please invite me over.) Third, this sauce is naturally very mild, but it’s super-easy to amp up the heat factor if you’d like. Fourth, it’s naturally vegetarian, vegan, and gluten-free. And most importantly, it is just totally, completely, I-can-happily-just-eat-it-with-a-spoon, want-to-drizzle-it-on-All-The-Things, crazy delicious.
It’s of course fantastic on verde enchiladas. (Or an epic verde enchilada casserole, stay tuned.) But it’s also just a super versatile green sauce that could be used in a million different ways! For example, I love mixing it into migas and chilaquiles and huevos rancheros for breakfast. Or drizzling it on tamales and tacos and nachos for dinner. It’s easy to use as a finishing sauce on top of baked chicken breasts, fish, shrimp and steak. If you thin it out with some water, it can double as a quick dressing for salads. Of of course, you could use it to season any other Mexi dishes that you might be craving (like quesadillas, burritos, tortas, fajitas, soups, stews…). Sky’s the limit.
Let’s make a batch!
Green Enchilada Sauce Ingredients:
For this green enchilada sauce recipe, you’ll need the following ingredients:
Roasted Green Chiles: I just used canned diced green chiles to keep things simple. But if it’s hatch green chile season and you feel like roasting up a batch yourself, power to ya!
Garlic and Onion: Which we will briefly sauté, to bring out their best flavor
Jalapeño: To add just a touch of heat. If you would like a spicier sauce, feel free to leave in the seeds and/or add an extra jalapeño to the sauce.
Vegetable Stock: Or chicken stock, whichever you prefer.
Cumin, Salt and Pepper: For seasoning! Be sure to taste the sauce at the end and add extra of any of these as needed.
How To Make Green Enchilada Sauce:
So easy! Simply…
Sauté your veggies: Sauté the onion, garlic and jalapeño in a touch of olive oil until soft and cooked.
Add everything to a blender (or food processor): Add the onion mixture and remaining ingredients to a blender or food processor.
Purée until smooth: Then give it a whirl until the mixture is nice and smooth.
Taste and season: Don’t skip this step! Give it a taste and season with extra salt, pepper and/or cumin if needed.
Ways To Customize Your Green Enchilada Sauce:
Feel free to also:
Add more heat: As mentioned above, you can always add the seeds in with your jalapeño (or toss in an extra jalapeño) to up the spicy factor
Add cilantro: If you’re planning to use this as a finishing sauce (and not cook it again), a small handful of fresh cilantro would be delicious in this sauce.
Thin out your sauce: If it seems a little too thick for your liking, feel free to add in a little extra water or vegetable stock to thin it out.
Ways To Use Your Green Enchilada Sauce:
As I mentioned above, there are countless ways you could put this green enchilada sauce recipe to work! It would sub in well for any of my recipes here on the blog that call for red enchilada sauce. (<– Just keep an eye on the amount, since this recipe yields a larger batch.) Otherwise, some suggestions could include:
Enchiladas: Swap red for green sauce in these chicken, roasted cauliflower, beef, vegan, or other various enchilada recipes here on Gimme Some Oven
Mexi Breakfast Recipes: This sauce would be perfect for making migas, chilaquiles, huevos rancheros or breakfast burritos
Mexi Dinner Recipes: This sauce would be delicious mixed intotamales, tacos, nachos, quesadillas, burritos, fajitas, soups, stews
Finishing Sauce: Free free to drizzle it on top of chicken breasts, fish, shrimp, steak, tofu…you name it.
Salad Dressing: Thin out the sauce with some water and try using it as a dressing for my everyday salad recipe.
It also freezes well, so feel free to make a double batch and save some for later.
This Green Enchilada Sauce recipe is quick and easy to make, full of amazing flavor, and perfect for drizzling or mixing into countless favorite Mexican dishes. See ideas above for how to customize your sauce to taste.
Heat oil in a sauté pan over medium-high heat. Add onion and jalapeño and sauté for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the onion is softened and translucent. Add garlic and cook for 1-2 more minutes, stirring occasionally, until fragrant.
Transfer the onion mixture to a blender or food processor. Add vegetable stock, green chiles, cumin, salt and pepper. Then puree until completely smooth.
Taste and season with additional salt, pepper and/or cumin if needed.
Serve immediately, or refrigerate for up to 4 days, or freeze for up to 3 months.
YAY! Just yesterday I was telling my co-worker that I’ve never made green sauce. I make red sauce all the time because the canned junk is unexceptional but we as a fam can tolerate the canned green sauce. Anyway, I’m super excited to give it a whirl!
Thank for sharing Ali,
Rose
Common misconception is the heat are in the seeds. That is false. It is contained in the pith, the inner white rib of the chili. The seeds may seem spicy as they are touching the pith. It’s that you want to remove or keep based on your heat desire.
Your red enchilada sauce is my go to recipe! Super excited about the green. I always sauté the canned green chilies as it adds the their complexity. I’d highly encourage you to give it a try! Thanks!
Just made this sauce with roasted chilies from my garden. Great way to showcase the freshness and fruitiness of these chilies. Great, simple, versatile sauce. It is delicious. Thank you!
This enchilada sauce sounds great. I much prefer green sauce to red, and salsa verde. Since the majority of my city’s population is hispanic, we have at least a couple grocery stores that roast chiles all year long. More “conventional” stores only do it for about a month in late summer. For me the smell of roasting chiles is about as intoxicating as the smell of rain here in the desert. That’s why I don’t mind roasting a chile or two myself every so often.
Just made it and it couldn’t have been easier! I left the jalapeño out since they can be a bit hot for me. It is zippy! I am going to let the flavors blend until tomorrow. I may do enchiladas but am thinking it would also be great to bake either pork chops or chicken in it with some black beans on the side and corn on the cob. Hmmm…
I still have a glut of green chilies from that shipment that went to/fro Spain. I’ll put them to use with this sauce. Can’t wait to experiment with it! Love from Wichita….
really nice sauce, thank you, used to only prefer red sauce, now favor green and love the jalapenos, will definitely add a little more than the minimum
I live in Tucson and at this time of the year we can get fresh roasted hatch green chiles at the grocery store; so I bought a bunch yesterday and made 3 batches of this recipe. It was hard to not just keep eating it by the spoonful. I froze quite a few and can’t wait to use it all winter. It’s delicious! Thanks so much.
Sooo good! I used Hatch chilies that I roasted this month and left out the jalapeno in case they had a kick (they did). Crazy easy and delicious. In case others are using fresh peppers, I used about 4 whole roasted peppers instead of the canned. It worked well.
Wow this recipe looks amazing. I’ve been looking for a recipe just like this for a couple weeks now. Definitely trying this at home next time I go to the store!
This looks really good and super-easy…just what I like in a tasty recipe! I have a bunch of extra peppers from my summer garden that I am going to use for this. Sounds like we’ll be eating Mexican food-something for supper! Yum! Thank you for this!
This was so delicious! The left overs are even better, since the flavors have had more time to meld and the consistency softens somewhat into the perfect comfort food. Thank you for posting.
Rhonda Hark —
Sorry, my comment was meant for the verde chicken enchilada casserole, but the sauce is a delicious component of that dish.
I made your green enchilada recipe to use in a chicken enchilada recipe that I used to make for my kids. I wanted to use a fresh homemade recipe rather than sauce from a jar. Your recipe is delicious ?. My son loved it. I would like to post my chicken enchilada recipe using your green sauce recipe with your permission please. Of course, credit for the green sauce recipe will go to you. If you prefer I don’t, that’s ok too ?.
This sauce was delicious and super easy to make. I substituted fire roasted poblanos (homemade) for the green chilies and it was awesome. It rececived rave reviews from friends!
Just made this sauce right now, but I had a 28 ounce can of chiles so I almost doubled it. Very nice and mild, but I am going back to shop rite for a lime n cilantro, seems to need a hit of a little acid. Thank you! I have a chicken brining right now, I’m gonna roast n pull off all the meat and make a green chile-chicken lasagna for a party.
I haven’t made this sauce yet, but I just bought some Hatch green chilies today. I will be making this tomorrow for sure. Thanks for all the ideas I get from your site. It gives me inspiration when I’m not sure what to make. I have made your red enchilada sauce with chicken, beef and turkey . WOW is all I have to say, and that’s a lot coming from a guy that grew up in San Diego with the best Mexican food in the country. Thank again. I’ll be writing more comment in the future.
Loved making my own sauce and use as much as I need in a recipe. Good flavor . Easy to do. I thought I had green enchilada sauce in my pantry and this was even better. Thank you.
It is so nice that your recipe of green sauce is super accurate to what we do in Mexico. However, to keep it natural I would not add canned chillies (why do you need them?), and I would skip the cumin. Mexican food does not use cumin a lot, unless it is about complicated dishes. I recommend to add cilantro to the sauce. You will enjoy it. You can either use olive oil or not. I do not, but it is everyone`s choice.
This recipe is just GREAT. It is simple and packed with flavor. Best of all, you know what’s in it and there are no fillers, gums, sugars or MSG. Long search. Who knew it could be so easy and SO GOOD.
This made a fabulous pan of enchiladas. I used your chicken enchilada recipe and just dumped the whole recipe of this on top of the enchiladas in the pan. Whole family loved them.
Good question — they are actually different. Green enchilada sauce is made with green chiles, and salsa verde is traditionally made with tomatillos. :)
Just made this sauce and I can’t praise it highly enough. It’s easy, flavorful, and has a little kick that will enhance any dish. Deep flavor with a fresh finish is a hard combination to create, but you all surely have. I’m looking forward to slathering it on some cheese or veggie enchiladas, huevos verdes, or just some scrambled eggs. Thank you so much!
I never would have thought to make my own enchilada sauce, but I ran out of the the canned kind and really wanted enchiladas. I don’t think I’ll ever buy the canned version again! It was delicious. Thanks for the quick and easy recipe!
This was absolutely delicious, and so easy to make! I was looking for a green sauce that didn’t use tomatillos (because I didn’t have any on hand), and this was perfect! I used jarred 505 Hatch Green Chiles and a whole jalapeno with seeds, so mine was quite spicy (just like we like it!) I also used chicken broth instead of vegetable broth, because I planned to use it for some chicken enchiladas. This is just a perfect, easy, and super tasty recipe. Thanks, and I can’t wait to try some of the other recipes on your site!
Just made it and it’s great! Added some WhoopAss spice blend in place of the jalapeno (thought I had some, but didn’t) but it was already good before I kicked the heat up.
I used Hatch Green Chiles (hot) and the sauce came up just right! I didn’t have any vegetable stock on hand so I just simmered some vegetables that were handy from the fridge (carrots, celery, onion, green beans) and seasoned with celery seed, salt, and peper. This sauce was terrific on the chicken enchiladas!. We will make this sauce again!
Can this green enchilada sauce be used with your chicken enchilada recipe or would another chicken enchilada recipe go better since both contain diced green chiles?
I’m so excited to try this! I notice that you are showing it in a canning jar … could it be safely canned? I’m thinking that and a jar of the red sauce would be a fantastic Christmas gift for friends and neighbors!
Made this chicken green chili anchlita sauce today. Haven’t tasted it all put together. But I nibbled on the chicken the cheese and the sauce. Well I think it is going to be delicious. I’ll let you know.
I like a thicker sauce, so I omitted the vegetable stock and replaced it with another cup of green chiles. I also increased the cumin to 2 tsp. We bought 5# cans of Hatch green chiles at the Sam’s in Phoenix.
Couldn’t find green enchilada sauce at the store as they were sold out, like weird, anyway I found the Chile’s and decided to make it, since I had no choice. This recipe is fantastic, quick and saves the day!!
Both of your red and green sauces are absolutely to die for! I made your chicken enchiladas tonight and used both sauces. I dont think I can name a winner yet, they both had such depth and variation.. I think I will always use both sauces.. I will always use these recipes! I had everything I needed and it was just so easy
Can’t wait to try this! Our family is crazy about your red enchilada sauce. We make it at least once a month!
I will try to make it. Looks perfect.
This looks great , I will make it soon. Pinned!
YAY! Just yesterday I was telling my co-worker that I’ve never made green sauce. I make red sauce all the time because the canned junk is unexceptional but we as a fam can tolerate the canned green sauce. Anyway, I’m super excited to give it a whirl!
Thank for sharing Ali,
Rose
Game changer!. Your red enchilada sauce is my favorite, go-to enchilada sauce. I can’t wait to make this one.
Common misconception is the heat are in the seeds. That is false. It is contained in the pith, the inner white rib of the chili. The seeds may seem spicy as they are touching the pith. It’s that you want to remove or keep based on your heat desire.
Chef Chris
I would like your verde chicken casserole. It looks so good.
Your red enchilada sauce is my go to recipe! Super excited about the green. I always sauté the canned green chilies as it adds the their complexity. I’d highly encourage you to give it a try! Thanks!
Just made this sauce with roasted chilies from my garden. Great way to showcase the freshness and fruitiness of these chilies. Great, simple, versatile sauce. It is delicious. Thank you!
This enchilada sauce sounds great. I much prefer green sauce to red, and salsa verde. Since the majority of my city’s population is hispanic, we have at least a couple grocery stores that roast chiles all year long. More “conventional” stores only do it for about a month in late summer. For me the smell of roasting chiles is about as intoxicating as the smell of rain here in the desert. That’s why I don’t mind roasting a chile or two myself every so often.
Just made it and it couldn’t have been easier! I left the jalapeño out since they can be a bit hot for me. It is zippy! I am going to let the flavors blend until tomorrow. I may do enchiladas but am thinking it would also be great to bake either pork chops or chicken in it with some black beans on the side and corn on the cob. Hmmm…
Love making homemade sauces versus using store-bought!! :)
I still have a glut of green chilies from that shipment that went to/fro Spain. I’ll put them to use with this sauce. Can’t wait to experiment with it! Love from Wichita….
really nice sauce, thank you, used to only prefer red sauce, now favor green and love the jalapenos, will definitely add a little more than the minimum
I live in Tucson and at this time of the year we can get fresh roasted hatch green chiles at the grocery store; so I bought a bunch yesterday and made 3 batches of this recipe. It was hard to not just keep eating it by the spoonful. I froze quite a few and can’t wait to use it all winter. It’s delicious! Thanks so much.
This is incredible…I made it for dinner tonight and will make it again….wonderful sauce
Sooo good! I used Hatch chilies that I roasted this month and left out the jalapeno in case they had a kick (they did). Crazy easy and delicious. In case others are using fresh peppers, I used about 4 whole roasted peppers instead of the canned. It worked well.
Wow this recipe looks amazing. I’ve been looking for a recipe just like this for a couple weeks now. Definitely trying this at home next time I go to the store!
My son helped me make this. This smells so good.
This looks really good and super-easy…just what I like in a tasty recipe! I have a bunch of extra peppers from my summer garden that I am going to use for this. Sounds like we’ll be eating Mexican food-something for supper! Yum! Thank you for this!
I will be making this, along with your salsa verde recipe, tomorrow ? I picked up some habanero peppers to add even more of a kick!
And yes, I suppose I could choose to make only one sauce … or even choose to combine the two recipes …
This was so delicious! The left overs are even better, since the flavors have had more time to meld and the consistency softens somewhat into the perfect comfort food. Thank you for posting.
Sorry, my comment was meant for the verde chicken enchilada casserole, but the sauce is a delicious component of that dish.
Hi
I made your green enchilada recipe to use in a chicken enchilada recipe that I used to make for my kids. I wanted to use a fresh homemade recipe rather than sauce from a jar. Your recipe is delicious ?. My son loved it. I would like to post my chicken enchilada recipe using your green sauce recipe with your permission please. Of course, credit for the green sauce recipe will go to you. If you prefer I don’t, that’s ok too ?.
This sauce was delicious and super easy to make. I substituted fire roasted poblanos (homemade) for the green chilies and it was awesome. It rececived rave reviews from friends!
Excellent flavor.
Can’t wait to give this a try, I SO love a good green sauce!
I can’t buy store-bought sauce anymore… this recipe is so darn good! Takes the Verde Chicken Casserole to another level.
Just made this sauce right now, but I had a 28 ounce can of chiles so I almost doubled it. Very nice and mild, but I am going back to shop rite for a lime n cilantro, seems to need a hit of a little acid. Thank you! I have a chicken brining right now, I’m gonna roast n pull off all the meat and make a green chile-chicken lasagna for a party.
Have you tried canning it? Will it keep? Thanks
I haven’t made this sauce yet, but I just bought some Hatch green chilies today. I will be making this tomorrow for sure. Thanks for all the ideas I get from your site. It gives me inspiration when I’m not sure what to make. I have made your red enchilada sauce with chicken, beef and turkey . WOW is all I have to say, and that’s a lot coming from a guy that grew up in San Diego with the best Mexican food in the country. Thank again. I’ll be writing more comment in the future.
Loved making my own sauce and use as much as I need in a recipe. Good flavor . Easy to do. I thought I had green enchilada sauce in my pantry and this was even better. Thank you.
Hi,
It is so nice that your recipe of green sauce is super accurate to what we do in Mexico. However, to keep it natural I would not add canned chillies (why do you need them?), and I would skip the cumin. Mexican food does not use cumin a lot, unless it is about complicated dishes. I recommend to add cilantro to the sauce. You will enjoy it. You can either use olive oil or not. I do not, but it is everyone`s choice.
Greetings :)
This recipe is just GREAT. It is simple and packed with flavor. Best of all, you know what’s in it and there are no fillers, gums, sugars or MSG. Long search. Who knew it could be so easy and SO GOOD.
I love that this is so quick and easy!! It tastes great too!!
Thanks!
This made a fabulous pan of enchiladas. I used your chicken enchilada recipe and just dumped the whole recipe of this on top of the enchiladas in the pan. Whole family loved them.
Is green enchilada sauce and salsa verde the same thing?
Good question — they are actually different. Green enchilada sauce is made with green chiles, and salsa verde is traditionally made with tomatillos. :)
Love this recipe. Use it all the time. My family loves it.
Just made this sauce and I can’t praise it highly enough. It’s easy, flavorful, and has a little kick that will enhance any dish. Deep flavor with a fresh finish is a hard combination to create, but you all surely have. I’m looking forward to slathering it on some cheese or veggie enchiladas, huevos verdes, or just some scrambled eggs. Thank you so much!
Excellent flavor
I never would have thought to make my own enchilada sauce, but I ran out of the the canned kind and really wanted enchiladas. I don’t think I’ll ever buy the canned version again! It was delicious. Thanks for the quick and easy recipe!
This was absolutely delicious, and so easy to make! I was looking for a green sauce that didn’t use tomatillos (because I didn’t have any on hand), and this was perfect! I used jarred 505 Hatch Green Chiles and a whole jalapeno with seeds, so mine was quite spicy (just like we like it!) I also used chicken broth instead of vegetable broth, because I planned to use it for some chicken enchiladas. This is just a perfect, easy, and super tasty recipe. Thanks, and I can’t wait to try some of the other recipes on your site!
I made this with the green sauce because I didn’t like the red one. It makes alot give halve to my friend
Just made it and it’s great! Added some WhoopAss spice blend in place of the jalapeno (thought I had some, but didn’t) but it was already good before I kicked the heat up.
Delicious sauce! We also enjoyed it like a green salsa with chips :)
I used Hatch Green Chiles (hot) and the sauce came up just right! I didn’t have any vegetable stock on hand so I just simmered some vegetables that were handy from the fridge (carrots, celery, onion, green beans) and seasoned with celery seed, salt, and peper. This sauce was terrific on the chicken enchiladas!. We will make this sauce again!
Hi Ali,
Can this green enchilada sauce be used with your chicken enchilada recipe or would another chicken enchilada recipe go better since both contain diced green chiles?
Thanks!
I’m so excited to try this! I notice that you are showing it in a canning jar … could it be safely canned? I’m thinking that and a jar of the red sauce would be a fantastic Christmas gift for friends and neighbors!
Made this chicken green chili anchlita sauce today. Haven’t tasted it all put together. But I nibbled on the chicken the cheese and the sauce. Well I think it is going to be delicious. I’ll let you know.
I like a thicker sauce, so I omitted the vegetable stock and replaced it with another cup of green chiles. I also increased the cumin to 2 tsp. We bought 5# cans of Hatch green chiles at the Sam’s in Phoenix.
Couldn’t find green enchilada sauce at the store as they were sold out, like weird, anyway I found the Chile’s and decided to make it, since I had no choice. This recipe is fantastic, quick and saves the day!!
Both of your red and green sauces are absolutely to die for! I made your chicken enchiladas tonight and used both sauces. I dont think I can name a winner yet, they both had such depth and variation.. I think I will always use both sauces.. I will always use these recipes! I had everything I needed and it was just so easy