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.
Love this awesome red sauce. Tasty and easy to make. Makes my enchiladas authentic.
OMG, I am never buying canned enchilada sauce again. Absolutely delicious. I doubled it because we like a lot of sauce. Definitely making this again. Wish I could post a picture.
Super easy to make and very tasty
Love the recipe.
Have used it multiple times. Never purchased canned, after I found this recipe!
Made this tonight, followed almost to the letter – added a little coriander & smoked paprika – and it came out wonderfully. I’ll be using this again!
Thank you for sharing.
Because of this recipe I get so many compliments when I make enchiladas for others. It is so simple to make but sooooooo much better than the most expensive canned kind you can find. Thank you!
Excellent. Nuff said
It’s the best! I made it exactly as recommended
This sauce is the bomb! So good you’d never guess how easy it is. Thanks a bunch for the recipe !
I make this for our beef enchiladas and we love it. If I left out the flour would It be safe to can this and what would the instructions be? Thank you. Bobbie W
If she did not answer you I will. I am a canner and NO you can not can this sauce, but I freeze it in glass jars, just do not fill it to the top it needs room to expand.
This is correct! Always use an approved canning recipe, but freezing works. I use the silicone molds, the pop them out and keep portions in a freezer bag.
This is SO SMART!!!! We started making homemade enchiladas last year and I found your recipe. It’s a winner every time!!
WOW this is the best enchilada sauce in the world. 5 start is not enough
This was delicious tonight in a pinch! I always buy jar sauce but don’t think I will need to anymore! I replaced the spices with 1-2 tbsp taco seasoning!
It turned out absolutely delicious.
I really liked this sauce. It was last minute, I didn’t have vegetable broth, so I used beef and it was fine. I followed everything else in the recipe exactly and was pleased with the turn out. It’s a keeper! Very economical to make too. Thank you.
I made your Homemade Enchilada Sauce I added some cinnamon, limon pepper, and some franks hot Sause and this Sause was better than store bought. I will never buy Enchilada sauce again at the store it was soooooooooo good thank you so much for sharing this with me.
When I first tried making enchiladas with red sauce, I used a can. I thought I was eating dirt, it was so disgusting. But that was years ago. I just recently thought I’d give homemade a try when I saw the simple ingredient list. After searching for recipes, yours was the recipe I chose. I’m so glad I did!! I was absolutely delicious and so super easy! Thank you for sharing!
This is my go to recipe when I need enchiladas. I’ve made it several times and shared it to my kids. My celiac daughter in law will love it too I’m sure. Thanks!
Can you freeze the sauce?
Hi Sharon, yes it is easy to prepare and freeze. Just defrost and warm before using in your recipe.
So I have made this 1/2 dozen time and alway triple it and freeze some in glass jars.
I have given it out to friends and hands down they LOVE it. I am a chef now a mom home chef, was given a hard time for not making this with dried peppers and NO flour. So I tried it, was oaky a little bitter and a LOT of work. So I now will never go back and ALWAY use this recipe. I do add little more spices a little bit of cut up chipotles in adobo sauce (I like spice) Mexican oregano. I just taste it at the end and add what I think it needs. Bottom line this is a GREAT recipe. I would give it a 10 star!!
Hi Barbara, thank you for taking the time to rate and review.
My 8 year old boy tried enchiladas when we went out for dinner. Loved them. He asked if we could make them at home. He never asked to cook dinner, so I said yes. We can make it. I found your enchilada sauce recipe. It was delicious. My wife isn’t a fan of enchiladas because most of the store bought versions don’t taste as good. She loved it. My son had such a huge smile on his face because mom loved his meal.
Hi Chris, thanks so much for sharing that story! I’m so glad your family enjoyed this and it ignited your son’s interest in cooking.
Hi,
I made this recipe but tried to double the quantity and my sauce tastes very tomatoey. How can I tone it down? I’m afraid if I add more broth, it’ll be very liquidy. The flavor is awesome, but I think I put too much tomato paste. Any ideas on how I can remedy this?
Hi Pooja, it sounds like you added extra tomatoes. I would increase the spices incrementally until you like the flavor.
Excellent and easy. I had all the ingredients in the pantry. I always used the canned sauce in my pozole but didn’t have any. I will be using this recipe now. Also need to control sodium and I can do this here with salt substitute.
Heck yah!!! Amazing & simple. And so much cheaper than store bought & far better tasting. Made with AP gluten free flour. Doubled the recipe. Hopefully there will be some leftover for enchiladas when I’m done taste-testing it on tortilla chips!!!!
Your website is horrible. Jump to recipe doesn’t work. And, I don’t want to sign up! I can’t get rid of that either!
Hi Judy, what browser are you using? Are you on mobile or desktop? You should be able to x out of the pop up for subscription easily and the “jump to recipe” works for me on both desktop and mobile. I’m sorry you’re having a difficult experience, but knowing some details may help troubleshoot.
I will never buy enchilada sauce from the store again.
So easy to make! I used part regular ground chili powder and part New Mexico ground chili powder. This recipe was so delicious I was tempted to eat it by the spoonful.
I made this today to include in a different “white chicken” enchilada casserole. It is fantastic. Only added a pinch of cayenne and smoked paprika to the spices. Delish!! Will be making again.
I don’t have vegetable broth. Will chicken broth be OK to substitute
Hi Jeannie, yes if you’re not vegetarian, chicken broth is fine.
I have been using this enchilada sauce recipe for years and realized I should write a review. So delicious and easy!! Really so much better than canned. Thank you :).
Could diced tomatoes be added instead of tomato purée or in addition to?
Diced tomatoes would yield a chunkier sauce.
My husband made this for us today and it was delicious! But incredibly spicy… When you say 1tbsp chilli powder, do you mean Chili seasoning or what kind of chili? The one we have is spicy and it was a bit overpowering.
Hi Kait, your chili powder must be quite strong, or you are sensitive to spice. You can adjust according to your needs. I’m using your regular grocery store ground chili powder.
Thanks. I think your Chili powder must be very weak just checking it wasn’t meant to be chili seasoning(a pice mix). We are no strangers to spice. Lovers of jalapenos, Serrano, Habernero, Burda eye, etc etc.
Granted the Chili powder we buy isn’t from a US supermarket, and I’ve forgotten what US chili powder tastes like. We’ll reduce by 2/3!
5-stars. I triple this sauce and freeze what I don’t use and it still works great w/o changing the texture. Definitely my go-to for enchilada night!
Have made this probably 10 times now…perfect every time. Follow the recipe to the letter with the exception of cinnamon ( not a fan!) should have sent a note earlier! Thx for the ease & my husband will not ever use a can again! My compliments & more than 5 stars!
Excellent sauce recipe that clearly is better than the canned stuff. Texture is good. Flavor is deep. Easy. Nuanced. Quick. Uses Ingredients that most of us will have in the house. . .GOOD.
I recognize the site is ‘vegetable oriented’, but just about any broth you have on hand would work. Likewise, I think tomato paste is a real bother . . . subbing tomato sauce works really well.
Ah! I had made this recipe once before, a long time back, but I neglected to save it and haven’t found another like it since. Finally came back to this today and so happy to have re-discovered it! This reminds me of the sauce my Dad used for his enchiladas when I was a kid. Delicious, and made exactly per the measurements and directions, except I did add just a pinch of cayenne as I do like the heat!
How many people does this serve? Please let me know.
Hi Shreya, it makes two cups of sauce, and the amount of people it serves will depend on how it is used. It is enough for a pan of any of my enchilada recipes.
Very bland and doesn’t make enough for a 13″x9″x2.5″ inch baking dish.
Thank you for this recipe! It’s a keeper with no changes. It’s easy and tastes delicious!!
WOW!
I am so glad I found your website! I tried your enchilada sauce tonight and it is delicious, as well as quick and easy to do too! I am looking forward to reading and trying your other articles and recipes, and appreciate the time and knowledge you are sharing here with us!
Hi Bandi, welcome! I hope you find more recipes you enjoy.
I’ve been searching for a sauce like this for ages.
Tried a lot, but only this came out truly wonderful! I’ve been to New Mexiko very often and know how a red or green chili sauce has to taste.
I hosted a dinner on Friday evening and dared to make the sauce without having tried it before and it was a great success. I made enchiladas and the guests ate everything!
My new staple, so easy and quick to make!
It is sometimes hard to find all ingredients when it comes to variations of chilies here in Germany, but this sauce works just so fine!
Thanks so much for sharing it!
Absolutely delicious and it gets done in a pinch! Thank you so much!
Easy and delicious . A firm favourite
If I double this recipe, should I double the vinegar? Thanks, look forward to trying it.
Hi Zan, yes I would double all ingredients for a double batch.
Msg does not give your mom migraines. That was racist propaganda from the 90s with no basis in reality.