How to Make Enchilada Sauce
Enchilada sauce is so easy to make! This red enchilada sauce recipe comes together in ten minutes. I've tried all the other recipes and this is the best!
Updated by Kathryne Taylor on August 28, 2024
I’ve been working on my enchilada game lately, for both the cookbook and an upcoming enchilada recipe. There is an art to making great enchiladas, and the sauce is a key component.
I thought I’d share my tested and perfected enchilada sauce recipe today, in case you want to try it on your favorite enchilada recipe. It’s ready in under ten minutes, and I promise, it’s so tasty you won’t want to go back to the store-bought kind again.
When I developed my go-to sauce (first seen on my spinach artichoke enchiladas), I tried at least five of the top sauce recipes on Google, all with different ingredients and techniques.
I tried making sauce with tomato sauce, which tasted too raw and was kind of goopy. I tried making sauce with blended diced tomatoes, and it had the same issues. I tried sauce without any tomato ingredients, and it didn’t taste quite like the enchilada sauce I grew up eating, or the sauce at my favorite Mexican restaurants. I tried sauces made without any thickener (like flour or cornstarch), and they pooled at the bottom and turned my enchiladas into a soupy, texture-less casserole.
Finally, after some experimentation and cross-referencing with America’s Test Kitchen, I landed on the perfect enchilada sauce. Vegetable broth forms the base of the sauce, but it’s only added after you make a simple roux of flour and oil. You need a full three tablespoons of each to properly thicken the sauce. I tried making this sauce with a gluten-free flour blend and that worked great as well.
The Best Enchilada Sauce
Four reasons to love this recipe:
- This sauce is full of authentic Mexican flavor. It comes from a combination of dried spices, which are sautéed in oil to bring out their best, and umami-rich tomato paste.
- The cinnamon is optional since some people just don’t like it in savory applications, but just a pinch adds some lovely warmth and complexity.
- The final kicker is a tiny splash of vinegar, which really amps up the flavor.
- Unlike canned enchiladas sauces, this homemade sauce is free of unnecessary processed ingredients and MSG (that’s monosodium glutamate, which gives my mom migraines).
I love this sauce and I’m confident you will, too, since it’s gotten rave reviews on my spinach artichoke enchiladas and veggie black bean enchiladas.
Please let me know how this recipe turns out for you in the comments! Your feedback keeps me going.
Watch How to Make Enchilada Sauce
Homemade Enchilada Sauce
This homemade red enchilada sauce has authentic Mexican flavor! It’s so good and easy, you’ll never go back to store-bought sauce again. You can even make a double batch and freeze half of it for later. Recipe as written below yields about 2 cups (16 ounces) sauce.
Ingredients
- 3 tablespoons olive oil
- 3 tablespoons flour (whole wheat flour, all-purpose flour and gluten-free flour blends all work!)
- 1 tablespoon ground chili powder (scale back if you’re sensitive to spice or using particularly spicy chili powder)
- 1 teaspoon ground cumin
- ½ teaspoon garlic powder
- ¼ teaspoon dried oregano
- ¼ teaspoon salt, to taste
- Pinch of cinnamon (optional but recommended)
- 2 tablespoons tomato paste
- 2 cups vegetable broth
- 1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar or distilled white vinegar
- Freshly ground black pepper, to taste
Instructions
- This sauce comes together quickly once you get started, so measure the dry ingredients (the flour, chili powder, cumin, garlic powder, oregano, salt and optional cinnamon) into a small bowl and place it near the stove. Place the tomato paste and broth near the stove as well.
- In a medium-sized pot over medium heat, warm the oil until it’s hot enough that a light sprinkle of the flour/spice mixture sizzles on contact. This might take a couple of minutes, so be patient and don’t step away from the stove!
- Once it’s ready, pour in the flour and spice mixture. While whisking constantly, cook until fragrant and slightly deepened in color, about 1 minute. Whisk the tomato paste into the mixture, then slowly pour in the broth while whisking constantly to remove any lumps.
- Raise heat to medium-high and bring the mixture to a simmer, then reduce heat as necessary to maintain a gentle simmer. Cook, whisking often, for about 5 to 7 minutes, until the sauce has thickened a bit and a spoon encounters some resistance as you stir it. (The sauce will thicken some more as it cools.)
- Remove from heat, then whisk in the vinegar and season to taste with a generous amount of freshly ground black pepper. Add more salt, if necessary (I usually add another pinch or two). Go forth and make enchiladas!
Notes
Enchilada sauce recipe adapted from my spinach artichoke enchiladas.
Storage suggestions: Extra enchilada sauce will keep well in the refrigerator for up to 5 days. Or, freeze it for up to 3 months. Let it cool to room temperature before transferring to a wide-mouth mason jar, leaving some room at the top for expansion (don’t screw on the lid completely until the mixture is fully frozen), or a freezer bag (remove excess air before sealing).
Make it gluten free: Just use gluten-free all-purpose flour blend. I tried with Bob’s Red Mill brand and it worked great.
Make it tomato free: You can omit the tomato paste. You might want to up the spices a bit. The sauce won’t taste quite like the enchilada sauce you might buy at the store, but it will still be good!
Change it up: The chili powder, cumin and garlic powder are essential here, but feel free to change up the other spices to suit your preferences.
If you love this sauce: Check out more of my Mexican recipes here!
Nutrition
The information shown is an estimate provided by an online nutrition calculator. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice. See our full nutrition disclosure here.
I found this recipe when I was making enchiladas and came time for the sauce and only had one small can, definitely not enough for the size of my pan. The only thing I did different was use half the amount of chili powder as I’m not a huge fan of spicy. The recipe was so easy to follow, it took less than 10 minutes, and the sauce was amazing! I’m not going back to can enchilada sauce again.
Authentic enchilada sauce doesn’t use tomatoes! Soak and blend dried chiles!
My son made this and shared your recipe with me. I made my version gluten free and it was amazing! Thanks so much for sharing, Happy New Year!
Excellent recipe! Will use this instead of canned whenever I can.
This is easy and delicious. My family loved it.
My family absolutely loved this sauce! As the recipe suggested, I had my spices and broth all ready to go before I started and I’m glad I did, as it all came together very quickly. The flavor and consistency were on point! I’ll never buy canned enchilada sauce again!
I was looking for something to rescue an taco casserole that didn’t turn out so great. This sauce turned that failure into a superstar. I had no idea enchilada sauce could taste so good and be so easy. The cinnamon adds some depth and really takes it to the next level.
Love this recipe. I don’t know much about enchalada sauce, but this sauce reminded me of the mole I make with Dona Maria spice mix. I did use chicken stock (home made) and added some mexican chocolate. Next time I plan to add some ground pumpkin seeds and maybe almonds and peanuts (part of a traditional mole recipe). I’m glad to have this recipe because I will not have to hunt for Dona Maria anymore!
So, so good! Had all the ingredients on hand. Have made several recipes for enchilada sauce from scratch but this has the best flavor.
I made this for our all Mexican food Easter last year. (Great suggestion to have all ingredients ready ahead of time.) It was fantastic, and we will never go back to using canned enchilada sauce!
I thought this came out perfect! Such an easy recipe and to me it tastes exactly like enchilada sauce lol.
Thanks for publishing a useful blog on How to Make Enchilada Sauce. This is a learning topic on Enchilada Sauce. You covered every aspect i.e. ingredients, recipes, nutrition, health benefits, etc. I learned a lot from this article. I like sauce and also like organic products.
This receipe for enchilada looks great! I plan to make it tomorrow. Thanks!
So much better than canned!! It was just as you said, both easy and delicious. Thank you! It’s al’s nice to save a few dollars! I can’t wait to try this in my butternut squash enchiladas!
This is a fantastic recipe, and I have a few comments after making it tonight. I made another recipe along side it and the flavors in this one won, hands down, however I actually thought in the end the density was a tiny too thick. So I would minimize the flour. Additionally, you use paste in this and canned tomato sauce is an option (no tomato is traditional but oh well ha ha).
So the richness of this sauce and the flavor was lovely, and I also felt that a little more tomato sauce helped. The vinegar is a hit. Lastly, don’t use chicken stock. I did and it overpowered it. If I didn’t have vegetable, I could have just replaced it all with tomato sauce and in the end it would have been fine.
A keeper, but as I said, I would dilute a little with tomato sauce and skip the paste.
Can you substitute chicken broth for the vegetable broth? Thank you
This is, hands-down, the best enchilada sauce. I will admit that it is so good, I’ve actually set a little aside and dipped plain bread in it and eaten it as a little ‘cook’s treat’. I triple the recipe and freeze it in freezer bags. There is none better than this. Thanks so much for sharing! It is perfect as is with no substitutions needed or required!
Hi Kate. I’m such a fan of your site. Couldn’t count the number of your recipes I’ve made without taking both shoes off. For this one my concern is that, in Australia, “chilli powder” means ground chillies. I believe in the US it’s a more mixed spice. Is that right?
Any idea how I might approximate a US style chilli powder?
Xx
Anne
Thank you for this, so tired of canned enchilada sauce.
My go to enchilada sauce recipe! The best!
I was going to stop & buy can Enchilada sauce till I ran across this recipe. Trying it tonight for bean, Rice & corn Enchiladas!
I added half a tablespoon of sugar cz I like mine a bit sweeter, and used it in a chicken, tomato and black beans stew. Thank you for sharing the recipe :) very tasty
We doubled the recipe and poured the sauce over chicken tortillas. It was very tasty and so simple to make! Your notes were also helpful. Thank you!
I have always bought Trader Joe’s enchilada sauce until they discontinued!!! This recipie is delicious!!!!!! Even my most picky eaters loved itwill be making a lot
I’ve never had enchilada sauce before but decided to give this a try.
Mine did not come out looking red like your photo, more dark brown. Is that normal?
I used chicken stock, didn’t have tomato paste so I used ketchup. Thickened with cornstarch slurry.
Otherwise it tastes good
So basically you completely changed the recipe
This sauce is so easy and delicious thanks for sharing!
Best enchilada sauce I’ve ever tasted. I made it again with the following changes : I used Pacific low sodium chicken stock, added tsp of hot honey, cut the vinegar in half added small can of low sodium tomato sauce. I’ll never buy canned sauce again!
I just made this and OMG. The flavor is deep and mellow. I will never buy store bought again! Thank you for sharing.
This is a delicious sauce, wife and kids love it just the way it is. We don’t put cinnamon in, thanks for recipe we use it every time.
I make a huge batch of this and pressure can pint jars. I shred a rotisserie chicken for the enchiladas. Easy to make a fancy meal everyone loves.
I will never buy store-bought enchilada sauce again. This is a game changer. Thank you! Super easy. I only had chicken broth on hand. If you use it, just monitor salt, maybe skip adding it unless you have low sodium broth. Also, sauce thickens more if you bake it in the oven with the tortillas.
I love your recipes but this site is now completely unusable from the ads. It took me 5 minutes to scroll to the bottom to leave this comment. I’m sad to say it but I won’t be tempted to click your recipes again when they come up in search. We all gotta make a buck but come on. I will miss this enchilada sauce but I can’t see the ingredients through the ads and being force scrolled away.
I’m having the same problem. I’m on a mobile device and as soon as an ad pops up somewhere on the page it forces me out of desktop view and scrolls me back to the top of the page. It took me 11 minutes just to read the article and share it to my recipe keeper app. I’ve had this problem on most recipe blogs lately. onsive so they don’t completely alter the UI and for mobile view. I might have to make this my next coding challenge. I don’t want to have to stop using my favorite recipe sites, but overly intrusive ads on any sites get rated by Google as a “low-quality” website, so I was was hoping that hit to SEO would help change this a bit. But I guess if you want something done…
Just install an ad blocker.
Positively delicious!
Due to food allergies I cannot buy premade foods. Thank you for sharing easy, amazing recipes that don’t keep me in the kitchen all day. It’s much appreciated.
Thank you for a perfect recipe! I have searched for years and tried out many, and finally found one I really like. It tastes wonderful and is easy to make with pantry staples too. I used butter instead of oil as I just ran out of olive oil and did not want to go to the store, worked great!
Hi, Kate,
I love that you did the work and research for me here! I just made this recipe to go on your vegetarian enchilada recipe. Thanks so much! My sauce looks and tastes fabulous. I am not vegetarian but I always love your healthy and delicious recipes. ❤️
Its Excellent! Just made my enchiladas ❤️. Lovet
Excellent. So glad I found this recipe. I used 1/3 mild chili powder and 1/3 ancho chili powder from my local store, The Spice Merchant, in Wichita, KS. Wonderful. Never going back to the can! I wanted to find a recipe for enchilada sauce mostly because of the expense. Prices for the canned stuff are ridiculous, given the ingredients. Thanks so much for this recipe. Love it!
looks good, I have a question. The sodium content seems off, super high for 1/4 cup. 1/4 teaspoon of salt is 575 mg of sodium so how can one serving of this sauce be 540 mg of sodium? Unless the chicken broth is super salty?
Love ❤️ the recipe and easy to make.
Thank you
Some enchilada sauces call for too much chili powder but this was really well balanced. No tomato paste on hand so I cooked down a handful of cherry tomatoes with a clove of garlic and a splash of balsamic vinegar and used that (skipping the final addition of vinegar in the recipe). Delicious!
Really good… Some enchilada sauces call for too much chili powder but this was really well balanced. No tomato paste on hand so I cooked down a handful of cherry tomatoes with a clove of garlic and a splash of balsamic vinegar and used that (skipping the final addition of vinegar in the recipe). Delicious!
I love this recipe! I was always searching for my Nana’s sauce, but since she never wrote down her recipes, (it was always a handful of this or that!) when I tried yours I was like Eureka! I found it! The taste I was looking for! Thank U So much for sharing it!!!!
My goodness. First time of making enchiladas, have eaten in restaurants many times. This sauce recipe is a keeper and this Irish mama is not hesitant about making enchiladas anymore. So delicious and so glad I didn’t buy a canned version. Thank you for sharing!
The Best Enchilada Sauce ! I’ve made this recipe several times before ~ doubled & froze 1/2 this time . I used every ingredient listed ~ only adding a bit more flour .
It is amazing how simple it is & how all the flavours come together ~ the aroma is heavenly ! Be patient while whisking ~ it will blend properly & thicken when it cools . I will never use jarred sauce again .
I made this as written. 1st time I’ve made my own enchilada sauce and it was excellent. Great instructions too. It does come together quick. Not too thick or too thin. Great flavor. Perfect just as written.
Oh my goodness, Kate! Another winner. My son introduced me to your site years ago and I have enjoyed making sooo many of your recipes. I had no enchi sauce in the pantry and looked to you for an at home sauce recipe. This is a KEEPER. And why buy canned sauce when this comes together so quickly and it is incredibly delicious? There is no reason.
Tk you again
This Enchiladas sauce is way better than any I have made.
I usually boil and strain red chili peppers, but, no more.
I smothered Steak Burritos with this sauce. THANK YOU!
I made this without any alterations and it was very good, simple and fast! Definitely will make again!
This sauce is BOSS! Soooo delicious! My beef enchiladas were the BEST because of this sauce. I’m so glad I didn’t use a canned sauce!!!
Excellent instructions, amazing recipe
Excellent!!!! I do use a couple of different chili powders to give additional depth and a bit more heat! Best part is that this is truly a panty pull for me and any extra freezes beautifully!