Easy Homemade Enchilada Sauce
A tasty homemade enchilada sauce that can be made in minutes, and used for all sorts of things – including perfect vegetarian enchiladas!
Not going to lie – I do occasionally use jars of shop-bought sauce. When I’m cooking for my family at the end of a long day, sometimes a jar of sauce is my best friend. But when it comes to enchilada sauce, I always make my own from scratch. Homemade enchilada sauce is so easy to make, and literally takes a couple of minutes. It’d be silly not to!
Homemade enchilada sauce
In my opinion, you can really tell the difference between homemade enchilada sauce and the shop-bought version. I’ve found that shop-bought enchilada sauce is sometimes a bit gloopy, whereas my homemade version is perfectly rich and silky.
Plus, if you’re making the sauce yourself, you can adjust it to your own personal tastes. Do you like your enchiladas to be so spicy that your tongue goes numb? Add a touch more chilli powder or cayenne (just don’t get carried away, you don’t want to ruin your dinner!).
Bit more of a wimp? Just add a touch less.
You can also play around with adding different spices, maybe even a few dried herbs, until you end up with your perfect sauce.
Easy enchilada sauce
Despite what you might expect, homemade enchilada sauce is actually incredibly easy to make. The process is pretty similar to making a white sauce – you start by making a simple roux with fat and flour, except this time you add plenty of tasty spices as well.
I used smoked paprika, chilli powder, ground cumin and garlic granules – but feel free to make it your own!
Next, a squeeze of tomato puree.
Make it saucy!
Then, all that’s left to do is to add some vegetable stock until your sauce reaches your desired consistency.
Just like when you’re making a white sauce, you ideally want to add the stock gradually to ensure you end up with a smooth sauce – I usually add about a third of the stock at a time. At first, it will thicken into a paste…
…then when you add a bit more, it will produce a thick sauce…
…and finally, it will make the enchilada sauce smooth and silky. You can add as much or as little liquid as you need to get your ideal sauce.
What can I use homemade enchilada sauce for?
The obvious answer is: enchiladas! This easy homemade enchilada sauce is perfect poured over any kind of vegetarian enchiladas to give them heaps of flavour.
But of course, it can be used in lots of other ways as well. Here are a few ideas:
- make an enchilada-inspired pasta bake like these enchilada stuffed shells
- to avoid all the rolling, make an enchilada stack!
- add a kick to soup or chilli
- use as a sauce on quinoa or any other grain
- drizzle it into tacos or fajitas to make them nice and saucy
What else would you do with your homemade enchilada sauce? I’d love to hear your ideas!
Homemade enchilada sauce
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Print Pin CommentIngredients
- 2 tbsp oil
- 1 tbsp plain flour
- 1 tsp smoked paprika
- 1 tsp hot chilli powder
- 1/2 tsp ground cumin
- 1/2 tsp garlic granules
- 1 tbsp tomato puree (tomato paste)
- 250 ml (~ 1 cup) vegetable stock
- Black pepper
Instructions
- Place the oil in a small saucepan over a medium-low heat. Add the flour and spices, and mix thoroughly to produce a fragrant paste. Cook for a minute or so, stirring constantly, then add the tomato puree, and cook for a further 1 minute.
- Add the vegetable stock a little at a time (I usually add it about 1/3 at a time), mixing well until smooth each time before adding a bit more. When you’ve added all of the liquid, you should have a smooth, silky sauce.
- Season with plenty of black pepper (you probably won’t need any salt unless you used low-sodium stock), and use to make enchiladas (or something else!).
Nutrition
Nutritional information is approximate, and will depend on your exact ingredients. Please calculate your own nutritional values if you require accuracy for health reasons.
I like it and it is easy
I really like the recipe and how you guided us on each step. Can you also tell us what would this really complement with? Any specific dish?
Thanks Eliza! There are lots of ideas in the blog post, just above the recipe :)
Please a print button, thanks so much. I really don’t fancy the stuff at the store :)
Hi, thanks for all your comments! All my recipes from the past couple of years have print buttons, and it’s on my to do list to reformat all of these old recipes, but in all honesty I probably won’t get round to it any time soon, as it’s a BIG job! In the mean time, just copy and paste the recipes into your word processing software and print from there :)
Fantastic recipe, Becca! I made this last night for the enchilada noodles and loved it — perfect spice and consistency! Thansk for sharing, as always!
Yay thanks Nicki!
Can you freeze this sauce?
I’ve never tried but I can’t think of a reason why you couldn’t!
Well I’m giving it a try! :)
I made this tonight from a can of tomato paste, and I didn’t want the paste to go to waste (also wanted to use up the rest of the veggie stock that I had in the fridge), so I made a few extra batches (and froze some batches of tomato puree, as well, haha). Made it for your spinach and black bean enchilada recipe — everyone agreed it was delicious! Stuck to the pan a bit, but no biggie. Thanks for the recipe!
Hubby and I both don’t care for enchiladas because we’ve never liked the sauce. Now that I can make it myself and adjust for our preferences, I think I’ll be able to add enchiladas to our menu!
this looks so good and how did I not follow your great blog after tweeting with you so long hugs
I KNEW I could make this at home but was having the worst time finding a recipe! Thank you! I am going to try this soon!
wow!! that is easy!!
this looks so easy and delish!