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.
This post contains some affiliate links, which means that we make a small commission off items you purchase at no additional cost to you.
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!
See how we calculate recipe costs here.
Notes
Nutrition
Have you tried this recipe?Mention @budgetbytes or tag #budgetbytes on Instagram!Video
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!
Excellent! I make this all the time now!
which would be better to replace the vegetable oil with — olive oil or butter? thanks!
Thank you, you are definitely saving the world one recipe at a time! Cannot wait for your book to come out.
This sauce DOES freeze well. I added a bit of cooking wine to thin it out a bit, then threw it on some chorizo sweet potato enchiladas. Tasted fantastic!
Yum! So good and so easy to make. I made some basic bean burritos and poured this sauce over them. It made them *almost* gourmet haha!
Use butter instead of oil and eliminate the tomato paste. It’s like any other sauce and starts with a basic rue then add the spices and chili powder of your choice. I like the bite of the chipotle pepper but mild red chili powder works too.
Love your website – everything I’ve cooked has been AWESOME – including this! Don’t know if anyone else had this issue, but the 2 tbsp oil to 2 tbsp flour/2tbsp chili powder resulted in dry clay. Had to add more oil to get it to look like picture. (SO appreciate of all the photos!
Beth-
This has to be the best enchilada sauce recipe I have found! Due to chronic migraines I cannot use most premade sauces. This tasted so good and I cannot wait to make more.
Katie K.
I made your honey wheat pizza dough and used this as the sauce with black beans, cilantro, red onion, chard, and cheese. Enchilada pizza was a big hit in my house!
I have most of the leftover sauce in the freezer now, so I’ll report back in a few weeks on whether or not it freezes well. :)
This is the best thing ever! No more canned , not so great enchilada sauce for my family. Thank you!!!!
delicious but for the people who are not doing siracha sauce in shot glasses way to spicy! I already reduced it to 1tbsp chilli powder and it’s still very spicy (not sure who you can take it). I had to add some of everything else to make it edible to me (and I do like spicy normally)
Make sure the chili powder you’re using is not cayenne pepper. The basic kind of “chili powder” sold in most U.S. stores is a blend of mild dried chiles, cumin, and other spices. So, you get a lot of flavor, but no heat from it. Different brands may have more heat, though.
yeah, I think I have “chilli” chilli powder, (UK) , it burns my tongue off. I have to go back and try teaspoons instead of tablespoons.
I always have a big jar of Penzeys Chili 9000 on hand. That plus this recipe made absolutely the best enchilada sauce I’ve ever had. Delicious!
I’ve made this two to three times a month for the last year and it is AWESOME! So much cheaper then the Enchilada Sauce I used to buy at Trader Joe’s; thank you for sharing.
This was amazing. My 17 year old daughter would have eaten it like soup if I had let her :) We were low on groceries but had the ingredients for this as well as tortillas, black beans and a little cheese. I was surprised at how good it was. I don’t usually buy enchilada sauce because of the cost. I have made it before with dried chilies which was good but time consuming, and my family liked this simple, inexpensive recipe better. Thank you.
This was waaay to easy, and waaaay too good. I will truly never buy sauce again. Tried both with and without cocoa powder and you can’t go wrong either way. I’m seriously kicking myself for not doing this sooner. Thanks for sharing!