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The best homemade red enchilada sauce recipe. This recipe has lots of flavor and is pretty much effortless! Believe me, you’ll never go back to the canned enchilada sauce again! Simple to make and can be frozen for later use.
I have my days.
Days where I absolutely ❤ nothing more than cooking (except family, of course).
Where I’m willing to make even my red enchilada sauce from scratch for my enchiladas. And then there are those day. Where even popping frozen tator-tots into the oven seems like a chore.
I have been on the hunt for a good red enchilada sauce recipe for a VERY long time. And yes, lets be honest, there are times when you want enchiladas and you want them now. And times like that, sure I use to just grab a can of sauce and go pour happy. But believe me, this recipe is it. I will never, ever, ever use another canned enchilada sauce ever again. Like ever. If I haven’t made that clear already. 😉
It should come as no surprise that canned red enchilada sauce contains both sugar and ‘natural flavors’. I just think that if it truly is a ‘natural flavor’, shouldn’t they be able to disclose what it is? Is it so natural that it can’t have a proper name of its own? I want to know whats in my enchilada sauce. No mystery ingredients, please and thank you. You’ll notice that my enchilada sauce recipe contains just 5 simple ingredients (other than a few additional spices) and none of those are described as ‘natural flavors’ or sugar.
The best thing about this red enchilada sauce is that you can make a large batch at one time and use what you need and freeze the rest. Just let the sauce come to room temperature overnight in the refrigerator when you need to use it again. This recipe is also going to be a lot more cost effective than constantly purchasing cans of enchilada sauce for every recipe you need it for.
The sauce doesn’t just stop at enchiladas either. Enchilada sauce can be used for things like chicken enchilada soup, a quick marinade for poultry or fish, or an easy dip for quesadillas. Having this sauce is the freezer also makes it a lot easier when you need to throw a meal together on a weeknight.
The sauce can also be customized for your preference of spice level. Since we use chipotle peppers in our enchilada sauce recipe, cutting back the amount of chili powder will allow you to make the sauce mild, medium, or hot. The recipe calls for a total of 4 tablespoons of chili powder with 1 chipotle pepper. If that is too much spice for you, cut it back to 2 tablespoons of chili powder and the 1 chipotle pepper. I used a total of 4 tablespoons and did not find this recipe to be very spicy. But play around with the spice level and do what tastes good to you! Keep in mind that this recipe also makes about 3 cups of enchilada sauce.
And coming up next… my black bean and rice enchiladas. What? You didn’t think i’d leave you with just the enchilada sauce, did you? 😉
Homemade Red Enchilada Sauce
Ingredients
- 1 chipotle pepper + 1 tablespoon adobo sauce
- 3 cups chicken or vegetable stock
- 3 tablespoons olive oil
- 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
- 1 8 oz can tomato sauce
- 4 tablespoons chili powder*
- ¾ teaspoon garlic powder
- ½ teaspoon cumin powder
- ½ teaspoon dried oregano
- ½ teaspoon onion powder
- ¾ teaspoon salt
Instructions
- Combine the chipotle pepper, adobo sauce, and 1/2 cup of the chicken stock in a blender. Blend until the chipotle pepper completely blends down with no solids remaining.
- Heat the oil in medium saucepan over medium-high heat. Add the flour and whisk for 1 minute, making sure the mixture doesn’t stick to the bottom of the pan. Add the tomato sauce, chili powder, garlic powder, cumin powder, dried oregano, onion powder, and salt. Continue to whisk and add the chipotle pepper mixture. Once the sauce starts to thicken, add the chicken stock 1/2 cup at a time. When the sauce is just thick enough to coat the back of the spoon, remove from heat.
Notes
- Use the sauce immediately or let the sauce cool completely before refrigerating in an airtight container for up to 1 week. The sauce can also be frozen. Allow the sauce to cool to room temperature before freezing. To use, simply allow the sauce to defrost in the refrigerator overnight.
- I think the sauce is about a medium level of spice if you use as directed. If you’re hesitant to use the chipotle along with the 4 tablespoons of chili powder, start by using half the quantity. More chili powder can always be added once the sauce has started to simmer. Feel free to increase the chili powder too if you prefer a spicier enchilada sauce.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Like This? Leave a comment & rating below!
Great recipe, family loves it! Do you have nutritional information including calories?
This recipe was the BOMB! I added a couple of different types of chili powder; standard, New Mexico chili powder and I ground up some guajillo peppers. Very amazingly good. Nice heat, with a deep flavor.
Great recipe, tastes amazing with our enchiladas we make regularly
Super delicious! Now don’t need to buy the canned stuff. Thanks for this recipe.
Loved this recipe!❤️
This is a great recipe! I usually make my enchilada sauce with the dried peppers. It’s very tasty but much more time consuming. I saw this recipe and decided to try it. We loved it and it is so quick and easy. This recipe also cans very well. I have already canned two batches. I much prefer opening a jar of this sauce instead of a can from the store. Thank you for sharing!
Update. I multiplied the recipe by 8 today and canned it all. Great recipe! I saw a post that said you can “not” can it because it has flour. The flour is minimal in this recipe. It does not affect the canning of this recipe. It cans very well!! I have opened a jar months after canning and it still tastes awesome!! Thanks again for sharing!
Can you share the canning technique used? I would also like to can it for storage and future use.
Found this recipe via Google. I purchased a can of Chipotle Peppers in Adobo yesterday for another recipe and ended up not making that recipe. Fast forward to tonight, I had enchiladas on the menu and decided to give a go at homemade enchilada sauce using the chipotle peppers. We have never had enchilada sauce on ours at home, normally just salsa. That red enchilada sauce you get at the Mexican restaurants tastes so bad!!
But, I happily landed on this recipe and made it as directed, with the exception of having to use water instead of Chicken broth because I was out.
Let me just say the entire family raved about the enchiladas with this sauce. I also had homemade tortillas from another site and the combination of these two things leveled up my enchilada game to AMAZING.
Thank you so much
So good! Made mine extra spicy. And added 1 tsp. Vinegar.No more canned enchilada sauce for us! Thank you for a great recipe.
Is the chipotle pepper dried or canned.
nice doing
Hey Marzia…first let me thank you for the lovely recipe….today I had made red enchiladas for dinner…they turned out very yummy.
I want to make this. What happens if I don’t add the oil.?
If you want flavor without the heat, you can use ancho chili powder instead of regular chili powder.My sister told me about this as I cannot eat too much red chili powder. Thanks for the recipe!
I was making chicken and veggie stuffed Anaheim peppers tonight and no enchilada sauce! Found this recipe because I was low on chili powder but had the chili’s in adobo in the pantry. Oh my! This is crazy good! I added a second chili because I was low on the chili powder. I decided to taste test it by dipping a corn chip into it. Can’t stop eating it that way!! I will never buy store bought again.
Do you have a green enchilada sauce recipe too?
My husband is Hispanic, raised in San Antonio on his Mama’s from scratch Mexican food. He found this recipe, made it, and has been in love with it ever since. He won’t even consider another recipe or anything prepackaged. You have won our enchilada hearts! Thank you!
This makes me so happy, Gail! Thank you so much for taking the time to comment 🙂
Delicious!! Nice and spicy and flavors well rounded. I made this to top polenta stuffed poblano peppers. Yum!
Wow! Delicious!
Wow! I’m on Whole30 and just made your red enchilada sauce. Amazing. I replaced the flour with 5 tablespoons of almond flour and it turned out fine! I also only used a tablespoon of red chili powder and it was definitely spicy enough for me. So easy and flavorful!
I’ve been looking for an easy enchilada sauce for so long; the canned stuff has so much sodium (and whatever else) that I don’t want. This recipe is SO delicious! (Note: I *hate* when people say, “I love this recipe, but I changed this and this and this….” – which means they actually didn’t follow the recipe. In this case I did follow it except for one thing because I had to, so I apologize in advance for this next statement.) I had to substitute extra tomato sauce and water for some of the stock/broth because I didn’t have enough, but I followed everything else to the letter. It still turned out dark and rich and so delicious. It’s definitely a keeper. Wow. THANK YOU.
No need to comment on the enchilada sauce, it speaks for itself but I need help handling corn tortillas and rolling them for enchiladas. I am 80 yrs old and can no longer do the dipping and frying to make enchiladas. When I try to stuff and roll corn enchilada they often break and crack but I prefer them to the flour tortilla. Anybody got a better way to hndle them?
Same trouble here; I can never keep them whole! What I usually do instead is layer all the ingredients, lasagna style, in a casserole dish. Mix some of the sauce into the meat mixture (if you use meat), and then after you build the “lasagna,” pour a cup or so over the whole concoction. Bake until bubbly. Delicious every time.
Yes, heat them briefly in the microwave. I heat 5 at time, wrapped in paper towels, hi at about 15 to 20 seconds. softens them up enough to roll.
Yes I have a gas stove top and I cook the tortilla right on the fire just til browned a bit . I love them this way. Hope you like it
Agree either microwave or gas cooktop, or best bet, wrap in tin foil and heat in oven or toaster oven 5-10 minutes.
Wet a small kicten towl in water then place the corn tortillas inside the towl place in microwave for 3mins this will make them moist and keep them from breaking.
Down here in South Texas we fry the corn tortillas in a little oil, only a few seconds on each side. Then drain on paper Towels, four on one then another towel and do on until you use them all. Very delicious and they won’t fall apart.