Enchilada sauce is one of my very favorite things, ever. I love when it soaks into tortillas while baking and makes everything all tangy, spicy, and good. Mmmmm. 🤤 But when the selection of enchilada sauce at my local grocery store was less than impressive, I decided it was high time to make some red enchilada sauce myself. This Easy Red Enchilada Sauce is a total game-changer and now I can never go back to store-bought. It has ten times more flavor than anything I’ve ever had from a can and literally takes minutes to make. It’s a total winner.
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Quick Method, Big Flavor
This EASY enchilada sauce is not an authentic enchilada sauce made with dried chile peppers that you’ll find in Texas or Mexico, but it’s a quick and easy version that anyone can whip up in their kitchen using basic pantry staples. But I promise, once you taste it, you won’t regret the shortcuts. It’s still bursting with flavor and you’ll want to pour it over everything. If you want a made-from-scratch with dried chiles enchilada sauce, check out this Authentic Enchilada Sauce recipe from Isabel Eats.
How Spicy is Red Enchilada Sauce?
The “chili powder” listed in the recipe below is a store-bought mix of spices used to season chili. It is not straight chile powder, or pure ground chile peppers, which can be extremely spicy. The brand of chili powder I use is completely mild, but other brands can sometimes carry some heat. If you are using a spicy chili powder, simply reduce or eliminate the cayenne powder from this recipe to compensate. The heat level of the recipe below, using McCormick’s chili powder, is medium spicy, like a medium salsa.
How to Use Enchilada Sauce
Enchilada sauce is not just for Enchiladas! Here are some other great ways to use red enchilada sauce:
- as a simmer sauce for meat (in a slow cooker or skillet)
- as a rich sauce to smother burritos
- combined with eggs and fried tortillas for Migas
- combined with sour cream to make a creamy and spicy dip
- as a replacement for taco sauce
- a soup base (Chicken Enchilada Soup or 30 Minute Posole)
- to sauce up casseroles like Mexican lasagna, enchilada casserole, or Taco Stuffed Shells
But if you do want to use it for enchiladas, make sure to check out these great enchilada recipes: Cheese Enchiladas, Chorizo and Sweet Potato Enchiadas, Black Bean and Avocado Enchiladas, and Weeknight Enchiladas.
Easy Red Enchilada Sauce
Servings 8 ¼ cup eachIngredients
- 2 Tbsp cooking oil ($0.10)
- 2 Tbsp all-purpose flour ($0.02)
- 2 Tbsp chili powder ($0.30)
- 2 cups water ($0.00)
- 3 oz. tomato paste ($0.27)
- 1/2 tsp ground cumin ($0.03)
- 1/2 tsp garlic powder ($0.03)
- 1/4 tsp cayenne pepper ($0.02)
- 3/4 tsp salt or to taste ($0.03)
Instructions
- Add the cooking oil, flour, and chili powder to a sauce pot. Turn the heat on to medium and whisk the ingredients together. Continue to whisk as the mixture begins to bubble. Whisk and cook the mixture for one minute once it begins bubbling.
- After one minute, whisk in the water, tomato paste, cumin, garlic powder, and cayenne pepper until smooth. Allow the sauce to come up to a simmer. Once it reaches a simmer it will begin to thicken slightly.
- Starting with a 1/2 teaspoon, add salt to taste. I used about 3/4 teaspoon total. The sauce is now ready to use!
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Notes
Nutrition
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How to Make Enchilada Sauce – Step By Step Photos
Start by adding 2 Tbsp flour, 2 Tbsp chili powder, and 2 Tbsp oil to a pot. I use McCormick’s chili powder, which is not spicy, just flavorful, so don’t be frightened by the large quantity in the recipe. All of the heat comes from the cayenne pepper.
Whisk these ingredients together and allow them to come up to a bubble over medium heat, whisking the whole time. Whisk and cook for one minute. This will toast the flour and chili powder, adding to the flavor depth and making sure that the flour doesn’t taste like paste.
After one minute, add 3oz. tomato paste, 1/2 tsp ground cumin, 1/2 tsp garlic powder, 1/4 tsp cayenne, and whisk in 2 cups water (or broth).
Let the sauce come up to a simmer and it will begin to thicken. Taste the sauce and add salt to your liking. Start with about 1/2 teaspoon and add more if needed. The salt will really help bring out the flavors. If you’re using broth in place of water, you might not need to add any at all.
And now you’re good to go! Drizzle this thick and flavorful enchilada sauce over all of your favorite foods and enjoy!
I love this recipe, and I always have everything on hand to make this which makes it extra convenient! Additionally–I like a really spicy sauce, so I use a ground Chipotle chili powder or a ground Ancho chili powder, but eliminate the cayenne and a little extra tomato paste. I think it’s a bit more flavorful than many of the seasoning blends out there.
After years of trying the various canned enchilada sauces and always being disappointed, I started the search for a homemade sauce. I found this recipe and was happy to see how simple it was to make. The first time I made it we were all surprised at how delicious it was. This has since become my go-to enchilada sauce recipe. I’ve made it a ton of times! The only thing I have started doing differently is adding slightly less chili powder because my 5 y/o doesn’t like how spicy it is as written.
Don’t know why I wondered how good this would come out and I was pleasantly surprised! Think I will use this recipe often now that I tried it…Very good!
Made with coconut oil, chili and flour plus whatever I had in spices close enough. I really liked the coconut oil with the heat. Big hit here at home. Thank you
How long can this last in the fridge?
You could store it for three to five days. Or freeze it for up to six months.
I went looking for this recipe because my income has been heavily impacted by the stay at home orders due to Covid-19 and I wanted to see if I could make enchilada sauce with ingredients I already have on hand.
This is not really comparable to the canned sauces I have used in the past because its flavor profile and color were completely different from what I am accustomed to.
It came out looking more like a mole sauce to me (although it didn’t taste much like one), and tasted more like a chili gravy than the red enchilada sauce I am used to in Tex-Mex/ Americanized Mexican food. I will probably continue to use my preferred brand of canned sauce for some recipes.
That being said…. this was absolutely delicious and although I was surprised by the outcome, we all chowed down. My 22 year old daughter (also a foodie like myself) declared tonight’s dinner “the best enchiladas she has ever had”, my professional chef son-in-law asked for the recipe, and my Mexican-born and sometimes hard to impress stepfather was wowed!
We will definitely be using this again! Thank you for sharing this recipe, I am glad I found it!
Homemade for the win! So much better than anything from a jar!
can you jar this recipe?
Hi James! We haven’t canned this recipe ourselves. I think it would can great, but I’d recommend following instructions in the Ball Book of Canning or contacting your local extension office.
Wow!! Awesome Sauce. I can’t believe how good this is. seriously took less than 10 minutes to make and blows canned sauce so far out of the water. Thank you, Thank you for sharing Beth. Never using canned again. Incredible!!
Love this sauce! So easy and I always have the supplies on hand…I won’t be buying store bought any longer when I can make it so easily.
I think the flavor and spice of this will vary greatly based on the chili powder you use wo u used my freshest, most flavorful chili powder on hand.
I liked the flavor of this sauce even more after it was baked into the enchiladas and best the next day on leftovers.
Thanks!
Love this recipe! We made this last night along with homemade flour tortillas for wet burritos. I didn’t have any canned enchilada sauce and didn’t want to have to run to the store. This was super-easy and I had all the ingredients in my pantry. I will never buy canned sauce again!
This was excellent and very easy. I did opt for vegetable broth in place of the water to give a little more depth to the flavor. Thanks for a great recipe!
Very tasty and quick recipe with just the right amount of spice. I doubled it so i have another meal prepped for another time. Great meal for a stay in home order as i had all items in the house.
And to follow up on Kitty’s remarks :) I had left-over roasted chicken that I shredded. Then I also had a chicken gravy mix packet! (Yes, store shelves are bare! but didn’t even go to the store!) I used the gravy as a base and then all other ingredients in this recipe and made some chicken enchiladas (added some sour cream, too) and they turned out great! Minor modifications – no water/flour/oil since I used the Pioneer Roasted Chicken Gravy mix and also no salt…. again, gravy mix. But all the other spices. Really good!
I was kind of freaking out because I needed enchilada sauce and the store shelves were wiped clean (due to coronavirus shopping) and then I remembered this excellent recipe, which I’ve made before. I had everything I needed at home to make it. Problem solved. Thank you a million times!