Homemade Enchilada Sauce
This simple homemade enchilada sauce will have you never wanting the store-bought kind again! Easy to make, packed with flavor and freezer-friendly, it’s ready in 30 minutes or less. Dairy free and gluten free with vegan / vegetarian option.
Promise me that you’ll never buy store-bought enchilada sauce again. Pinky swear?
Cross my heart that you won’t even want to buy it after trying out this recipe.
Making enchilada sauce at home couldn’t be easier and really only takes about 30 minutes.
You can make it in advance and keep it in your refrigerator (or freezer), so it’s ready to go whenever you need it.
And the flavor? So so much better than the canned version. None of that watered down taste.
This sauce is packed full of the good stuff and has a great consistency (not too thick but not too runny either).
Just right.
Enchilada Recipes To Use This Homemade Sauce:
- Enchilada Stuffed Peppers
- Sweet Potato & Black Bean Enchilada Stir-Fry
- Summer Vegetable Skillet Enchiladas
- Grilled Vegetable Enchilada Bowls
- Vegetable and Black Bean Enchilada Pasta
- Chicken, Black Bean and Vegetable Enchiladas
Did you make this recipe? Rate and review it down below! I’d love to hear from you.
Homemade Enchilada Sauce
This simple homemade enchilada sauce will have you never wanting the store-bought kind again! Easy to make, packed with flavor and freezer-friendly, it’s ready in 30 minutes or less. Dairy free and gluten free with vegan / vegetarian option.
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 small onion, minced
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 3 tablespoons chili powder
- 1 tablespoon ground cumin
- 2 teaspoons granulated sugar
- 2 (8 ounce) cans tomato sauce
- 1 cup low-sodium chicken broth*
- salt and pepper, to taste
Instructions
- Set a medium saucepan over medium-high heat. Add in the olive oil. When hot, add in the onion and cook for about 5 minutes, until soft and it starts to brown on the edges. Add in the garlic, chili powder, and cumin. Cook for 30 seconds, until fragrant.
- Add in the sugar, tomato sauce and chicken broth. Stir to combine then bring to a boil.
- Reduce the heat to low and simmer gently for about 10 minutes. Season with salt and pepper to taste (I added about ½ teaspoon salt and ¼ teaspoon pepper).
- Store in the refrigerator for up to one week or in the freezer for up to three months.
Notes
*To keep this vegan / vegetarian - use low-sodium vegetable broth instead.
Adapted from Tide and Thyme
Nutrition Information:
Yield: 6 Serving Size: 1Amount Per Serving: Calories: 58Total Fat: 3gSaturated Fat: 1gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 3gCholesterol: 0mgSodium: 226mgCarbohydrates: 7gFiber: 2gSugar: 3gProtein: 2g
Nutrition data shown is an estimate provided by an online calculator and is for informational purposes only. It should not be considered a substitute for a medical professional’s advice.
I have been making this recipe for years after seeing it on Pinterest. It is fanflippingtastic! I’ve served it at parties and everyone raves over it.I have 2 notes: 1) I have used a 6 oz can of tomato paste instead of sauce before, but added an equal amount of chicken broth to thin it. It was a good substitute, but not quite as good as tomato sauce. And 2) At the stage where you add the broth and sauce, I added a couple dried (seeded and destemmed) guajillo and pasilla chiles and boiled, then simmered the 10 minutes. Then put it in the blender on purée. Took it up even one notch higher than it already was! This is an excellent recipe!
This totally made my day Mindy! Thank you so much for letting me know 🙂 And I love the sound of adding the dried chiles – I’m going to have to try that!
Hi Ashley, I made this for the first time this evening. My husband and grown sons have almost finished it off in record time! Our local tortilla factory recently shut down for a while because of the current circumstances, so I had no access to tortillas and had to improvise. I used the enchilada sauce (great recipe BTW) on the bottom, crushed a couple of handfuls of Fritos Scoops on the bottom, and then added half of the chicken and bean mixture. I followed it with another layer of Fritos and chicken/bean mixture and baked. Huge hit! My husband and I are gluten free and I recently learned that I have to avoid dairy too, so I am so grateful that I found your website!!!
Oh I love this! First, so happy to hear you enjoyed it (I love how you improvised), and second, so glad you’re here. I totally understand the challenges that come with all of a sudden going dairy free!
Quite easy and delicious. I will cook it a bit longer next time because the spices taste a bit raw, but it was still very good.
Glad to hear you enjoyed it Rebecca!
Is the canned tomato sauce just tomato purée? I’m in Australia and we have purée (smooth) or passata which is also called tomato sauce and is usually a little chunky. It comes in bottles or jars. I just don’t want to use the wrong thing.
Hey Cherie! You’ll want to use the tomato puree here (you want the smooth stuff!). You may need to add a little extra flavoring to the enchilada sauce at the end (a lot of our canned smooth tomato sauces here have some extra flavor added, like garlic powder, etc).
Hey have you ever used tomato paste instead? I only have paste and I’m wondering if it would still work or how I would need to substitute
Hey Cali – I haven’t. My guess is that it would totally change the consistency / recipe – so I would wait until you have tomato sauce instead!
Here’s my 2 cents – every time a recipe calls for a can of tomato sauce, I just use a small can of paste & add water. The little cans take up so little space & it only takes a moment to do! :O)
Thanks for the tip Jennifer! Have a great weekend!!
How much water do u you add to keep the same consistency of tomatoe sauce?
I used 1/2 table spoon chili powder and it was super yummy. Will make this again, everyone LOVED it.
So happy to hear it Kelly!
I was searching for an Enchilada sauce recipe and found yours. I’m so glad I did! This was so easy and delicious and I will use it from now on. Thank you!
Yay! So so happy to hear this! Thanks for letting me know Roseann!
I am very new to canning. So this is probably a dumb question haha, but once the enchilada sauce is in the jars and the jars are sealed does the sauce need to be stored in the fridge or freezer, or can it be stored on the shelf?
haha no! I actually have never canned – in general or with this sauce (I just use the ball jars to store all my food since I like using them!). I keep mine in the fridge or freezer, depending on how quick I’m planning on using it.
Best recipe EVER!
Oh, I’m so glad to hear this! Definitely made me smile : )
Hi, I found your recipe on Pinterest and saved it to my canning board since the pic of the sauce is shown in a Ball jar I thought it was for “canned enchilada sauce”. Not to worry. I will just cook down my own garden tomatoes to create my own tomato sauce and then add the rest of your ingredients substituting canning salt for table salt @ one full teaspoonful to ensure that it cans up properly. Thanks for sharing. I’ll drop in the next time I make the enchiladas and let you know how it all turned out!
Hope you enjoy Rose!
I would have said you couldn’t improve on my hubby’s enchiladas. I would have been wrong! One day, in a pinch, I went searching for a pin after he got his mind set on making enchiladas & I didn’t have a can of red sauce in the house. The sauce was amazing & I decided I would not be purchasing Old El Paso anymore! So this afternoon I made the recipe times 5. I filled my canner with 7 pints and have another pint in the frig that wouldn’t fit in the canner! Probably enough sauce for the year. But if not… I know where there’s a REALLY good recipe!!
Hi Cindy! I absolutely love this : ) So happy that you and your husband enjoyed the sauce!
I feel dumb for doing this but I think the seasonings are perfect! Unfortunately I didn’t have onions or the right kind of tomato sauce!! I subbed with oregano flavored tomato sauce and onion flakes, and about 1/2 tsp onion powder. I also used chicken stock from the chicken I boiled to make my chicken enchiladas… RECIPE IS STILL A WINNER, NOT EVEN I COULD KILL IT! Less chili powder and a little more water and I’ve found a pretty good sauce that I LIKE and don’t feel I have to settle for like the store bought. Thank you for the recipe!! Will make it again with the correct ingredients and I’ll let you know how it turns out.
Hi Lili! haha I’m glad it still turned out great! And so happy to hear that you don’t have to settle for the store bought stuff : )
Did you end up canning this enchilada sauce? How’d it do?
Hi Carol – I still have not ever canned this sauce. Sorry!
Made this and the enchiladas last week – I halved the chili powder you have here, and it was still way, way too hot. Is it supposed to be tsp? I love spicy foods, and had to remake it with significantly less chili! (On that note, the enchiladas were AMAZING!!!!!! We don’t have the cheese you mentioned here in Australia and used ricotta instead and it was fab! Thanks!)
Hi Nat – So glad you liked the enchiladas!! I’m wondering if maybe chili powder is different here in the US? I’m a big baby when it comes to spicy food and I don’t find the enchilada sauce spicy at all … so I’m completely baffled!
Chili powder its just my opinion from eatting outside of the United States I would think the chili powder is different. I have lived all my life in the US but I have been to 3 other countries .
Thanks Melanie! That makes sense – I figured it had to be different since I don’t find chili powder here in the US very spicy!
A-MAZING! It’s thicker, sweeter…I doubled it and put about 1½ cups in the crock pot with the roast. Turned out awesome! I will never buy it in a can again! Thank you!!
This makes me so happy : ) Especially that you’ll never buy the canned stuff again!
When freezing… does it need to be ‘canned’ or just in a container or ziploc bag? When i’ve frozen sauces before, they come out tasting like freezer burn. I don’t think I do it right. What is best to preserve taste? THanks !
Definitely doesn’t need to be “canned” – I usually freeze mine in airtight reusable containers. I haven’t had any problems doing that! I usually only freeze things for about a month or two before using them though – so I’ve never tried for any longer!
That looks so yummy! Gotta love homemade!
I am SOOOOO ready to do this! Tex-Mex is my absolute fave, and I need to add this to my list of DIY’s! Salsa, guac, taco seasoning. . . and enchilada sauce. LOVE it!
Yes! It’s so easy too … and so much better than what you can buy : )
I didn’t even know you could MAKE homemade enchilada sauce!! My bf loves enchiladas – omg Ashley I’m so excited to try this!
Try it try it!
Homemade!!! I’m in!
haha I like it!
It looks amazing! Have you tried canning it? I would like to make 8 or 10 pints at a time. I don’t see why it wouldn’t work… do you?
Thanks Cindy! I’ve never tried canning it … I’ve actually never tried canning anything before so I’m really not sure! I don’t know much about the process!
please tell me you figured out how to can this?
Hi Ruby – I still haven’t tried canning this. Sorry!
I would have never thought about making enchilada sauce at home. Thank you for the recipe. Sounds delicious!
It’s so simple too! Let me know if you give it a try : )
Wow I’m really excited to try this! I’ve been craving some good Mexican food but I specifically wanted to get the sauce right, so I can’t wait to try this! Thanks for posting 🙂
Thanks Hannah! I’d love to hear how it goes if you try it out!
This post is very timely because just the other day I was looking for a homemade enchilada sauce! I love a good batch of enchiladas!
Me too : )
OMG I completely promise! Pinned this for my next enchilada sauce meal!
Nice! Let me know how it goes if you try it : )
How did you know I’ve been craving enchiladas?! This sauce looks awesome!
haha apparently I can read minds : ) Thanks Michelle!
I swear I’ll never eat aluminum flavored enchilada sauce out of a can again! It’s like you read my mind sometimes..I’ve been wanting to find a good recipe. This one looks perfect and easy, just what I’ve been wanting. Pinky swear!
Yay! I’ve tried a few other recipes that I liked but weren’t quite right – but this one hits the mark!
I’m not sure I’ve ever had enchilada sauce, although I definitely will now that you’ve posted this recipe. I guess I’ll be totally privileged, trying it for the first time homemade. I’ll probably never enjoy store bought and I’m totally at peace with that. 🙂 That little flat jar is adorable, where did you get it?
Never had enchilada sauce?? haha you need to try it! I got it at our local grocery store – they carry a lot of different sizes of the Ball jars!