Homemade red enchilada sauce is incredibly easy to make at home for all of your enchilada needs! With only 7 ingredients and in 20 minutes, you can make your own and forget about buying the canned stuff from the grocery store ever again.
Who’s with me on the whole “make your Mexican food at home” thing? Sure, it’s awesome to be crooned to by a mariachi band singing Happy Birthday in Spanish over strawberry frozen margaritas while a pile of warm, salty chips and a 15 pound natural stone bowl of guac sits waiting to be devoured.
Believe you me, we’ve got a place like that in town that we’ve been frequenting for years. And they have take-out.
But there comes a time in one’s life when a noisy night out in a restaurant just doesn’t cut it anymore. You get old[er].
The margaritas don’t flow as easily as they used to and the day-after effects linger longer than ever.
So you (and by you, I mean me) turn to conquering the enchilada at home.
At first it’s easy! A box full of the ingredients from the grocery you need, minus the protein of choice, takes care of the hard part. Sometimes you opt for a can of enchilada sauce if you have an actual enchilada recipe to use.
And then after some attempts and some mediocre recipes, you decide to make your own enchiladas, from scratch, at home. And you LOVE making your own! You even start to use your Instant Pot for the chicken along with this red enchilada sauce!
This homemade enchilada sauce is phenomenal and it’s SUPER easy to make!
To make outstanding enchiladas, you don’t have to make your own tortillas (though they are amazing) but this sauce will take you 20 minutes to make, tops. It’s a slightly adapted version of the sauce I use for the best chicken enchiladas ever and it’s versatile enough to be used for all kinds of red enchiladas.
I love this sauce so much that I even dip my tortilla chips in it like it’s salsa!
How to Make Enchilada Sauce
You’ll need 7 ingredients (plus water) for the sauce and 20 minutes of time to make it. Here’s a quick run down but be sure to check out the recipe card below for the full list of ingredients and instructions:
Ingredients:
Canola oil
Yellow onion
Fresh garlic
Ancho chile powder
Ground cumin
Granulated sugar
Canned tomato sauce
Water
STEP 1: Heat the oil in a saucepan and cook the onion until softened. Add the garlic, chile powder, and cumin, and cook until fragrant.
STEP 2: Stir in the sugar, tomato sauce, and water. Simmer for 10 minutes.
STEP 3: Press the sauce mixture through a sieve into a bowl. Use the sauce in the bowl for your enchiladas. Either discard the onion mixture or stir it into your enchilada mixture for extra flavor.
Then just serve some black beans or refried beans on the side of your enchiladas with some cilantro lime rice and you’ve got yourself an authentic restaurant meal at home. And please invite me over!!
More Homemade Versions of Store-Bought Stuff:
corn tortillas
marinara sauce
ranch dressing
peanut butter frosting
iced lattes
hot lattes
chex mix
crescent rolls
bbq sauce
Yield: about 2 cups
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 10 minutes
Total Time: 20 minutes
Homemade enchilada sauce is an essential staple recipe to make whenever your cravings for enchiladas arise. It takes 15 - 20 minutes and 7 ingredients to make and makes enough for a large batch of chicken enchiladas. Leave the canned enchilada sauce, with all of its unprounceable ingredients, at the store and make your own!
Ingredients
1 tsp canola oil
1 medium onion, finely chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
3 tbsp ancho chile powder
2 tsp ground cumin
2 tsp sugar
1 (15 oz) can tomato sauce
½ cup water
Instructions
Heat the oil in a medium sauce pan over medium-high heat. Add the onions and saute until softened, about 5 minutes. Stir in the garlic, chile powder, cumin, and sugar. Cook, stirring, for 30 seconds. Pour the tomato sauce into the saucepan. Use the water to rinse out the tomato sauce can and pour that in to the saucepan as well. Stir everything together, reduce the heat to medium-low and simmer for 5 to 7 minutes.
Set a mesh strainer over a large bowl and pour the sauce into the strainer. Stir with a spatula to strain the sauce through and press the onions with the spatula to squeeze out as much of the sauce as possible. Discard the onions or add them to your enchilada filling mixture, if appropriate for the dish. Stir the sauce for a couple of seconds until it takes on a uniform consistency. Use immediately, store in the refrigerator for up to a week, or freeze in an airtight container for later use.
Notes
adapted from America's Test Kitchen The Healthy Family Cookbook
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The most important tip for avoiding soggy enchiladas is to briefly fry your tortillas in hot oil before you fill and roll. This creates a little bit of a barrier so that the tortillas don't soak up too much of the sauce and therefore start to break down.
Instead, all the rich and savory flavors come from only a handful of ingredients – dried chiles, garlic, salt and Mexican chocolate. (Check out this easy enchilada sauce recipe for a 10-minute version made with easy-to-find pantry ingredients like chili powder, tomato paste and broth.)
If you're using fresh garlic, onion, or peppers, sauté those first in a bit of oil, then combine the butter, stock, and seasonings. Mix in the flour to thicken it, then pour in that canned enchilada sauce, and bring the mixture to a boil.
Tomato sauce is a good way to replace enchilada sauce if you're looking for a milder alternative. It's easy to take a pre-made tomato sauce and spice it and add other ingredients to get closer to a real enchilada sauce.
While some recipes use flour tortillas, corn tortillas are traditional — and for good reason — are the better option for enchiladas. Corn tortillas have a distinct flavor that plays a key part of the enchilada experience, compared to flour tortillas, which are more like a blank slate.
Dairy-based products such as sour cream or a combination of sour cream and salsa can be used as a substitute for enchilada sauce. This will create a creamy and tangy flavor profile for your enchilada dish.
Dishes such as enchiladas can be authentic or of the Tex-Mex variety. Authentic Mexican enchiladas have a variety of ingredients wrapped and often fried. They can be topped with cheese, chicken, lettuce, or sauces. Tex-Mex enchiladas are typically baked and are made with beef and cheese.
If you taste your enchilada sauce and find it has a bitter or sour aftertaste, this could be simply due to the acidity of the peppers or tomato, if added. Not to worry. Mix in agave syrup or brown sugar, starting with 1/2 teaspoon and adding more until the taste is evened out to your liking.
To make your canned enchilada sauce taste homemade, grab some butter, a little flour, and some chicken stock. This trifecta of ingredients infuses a canned enchilada sauce with a satisfyingly thick texture and a rich, savory flavor.
Another thing that adversely affects enchiladas is the addition of too much sauce. If you've ever thought, "There is no such thing as too much sauce," you might want to think again. Although it might be tempting to dump the whole serving of sauce in, this can actually be an enormous mistake.
The main difference is that red sauce is made from dried red chile peppers instead of green peppers, and the spices used are sometimes slightly different.
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.
You don't have to dash out to the store if you're out of tomato paste; tomato sauce and tomato puree are both an excellent substitute. For every 1 tablespoon of tomato paste needed, use 3 tablespoons of tomato puree or sauce.
Corn tortillas go well with Mexican dishes like tacos, enchiladas, and tamales. They are also perfect for use in tostadas, sopes, and quesadillas. Flour tortillas are often used in burritos, fajitas, and chimichangas. They are also great for making quesadillas, sweet dishes like dessert tacos, and breakfast burritos.
Bake uncovered for 20 minutes, until the enchiladas are cooked through and the tortillas are slightly crispy on the outside. Transfer the baking dish to a wire baking rack. Serve. Serve the enchiladas immediately while they're nice and hot and melty, garnished with lots of fresh toppings.
Pour extra red sauce over enchiladas. Top with remaining cheddar cheese. Bake for 20 minutes or until bubbly. Sprinkle cilantro over enchiladas before serving.
Introduction: My name is Melvina Ondricka, I am a helpful, fancy, friendly, innocent, outstanding, courageous, thoughtful person who loves writing and wants to share my knowledge and understanding with you.
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