My favorite homemade enchilada sauce recipe is easy to make with pantry ingredients, it only requires about 5 minutes of prep time, and it tastes so flavorful and delicious.
My best tip for kicking your homemade enchiladas up a delicious notch?
Use this homemade enchilada sauce! ♡
This recipe for Southwestern-style red enchilada sauce has been the starring ingredient in my favorite enchilada recipe for years and years. And every time I bake up a batch of enchiladas for a gathering, friends always ask for the recipe.
By contrast to many Mexican-style enchilada sauces, this recipe does not include tomatoes but rather centers its flavor around a rich blend of seasonings that you likely already have in your pantry (chili powder, cumin, garlic and oregano). On its own, the sauce is naturally fairly mild, although you are welcome to amp up the heat if you’d like. And its deliciously warm, toasty, earthy flavors pair perfectly with any variety of enchilada recipes.
The good news too is that this recipe only takes about 5 minutes to prep, plus an additional 15-ish minutes to simmer on the stove. It’s naturally vegetarian, vegan and can also be made gluten-free if you’d like. It’s made entirely with pantry ingredients, and can be customized to be more spicy, smoky, tomato-y, or even creamy if you prefer. And I must say — it’s a million times better than the canned stuff!
Thousands of our readers have made and loved this recipe over the years. So if you have yet to give it a try, I say it’s time!
Homemade Enchilada Sauce Recipe | 1-Minute Video
Homemade Red Enchilada Sauce Ingredients:
To make this easy enchilada sauce recipe, you will need the following ingredients:
- Oil and flour: These will form the roux to thicken the sauce. You’re welcome to use any type of neutral-flavored oil (or butter) that you prefer. And while I typically use all-purpose flour, you are welcome to sub in a 1-for-1 GF flour blend instead to make this recipe gluten-free.
- Chili powder: For all of our international readers, please note that this recipe calls for American-style chili powder, which is actually a blend of various chilis and seasonings, including a typically small percentage of cayenne. (Most chili powders sold outside of the States are 100% cayenne, which will not work for this recipe.) I recommend investing in a good-quality brand of chili powder for this recipe, since it is the primary seasoning for this sauce. But keep in mind that chili powder blends vary from brand to brand, so it’s worth experimenting with a few to find the one that you love best!
- Garlic powder, ground cumin, dried oregano: These are the other dried seasonings that we will use in the sauce. Feel free to increase the amount of any one of these once you have tasted the sauce, if you would like.
- Veggie or chicken stock: I also recommend using some good-quality stock in this recipe, which will add a delicious depth of flavor to the sauce.
- Fine sea salt: And finally, don’t forget to season the sauce! I typically add in about 1/2 teaspoon, but the amount needed will likely depend significantly on the brand and saltiness of the stock that you use.
How To Make Enchilada Sauce:
Here are the basic steps for how to make enchilada sauce (full instructions included in the recipe box below):
- Cook the roux and spices: In a small saucepan, we’ll first cook the flour and oil together to form the roux, and then whisk in the spices to briefly toast them in the saucepan before adding in the stock.
- Simmer: Gradually add in the stock while whisking the sauce, in order to blend in any lumps. Then bring the sauce to a simmer and let it cook (you want to maintain a low bubble) for 10-15 minutes, or until it has reduced to your desired thickness.
- Season: Season with salt (or any extra seasonings that you might like to add) to taste.
- Serve: Then serve it up in a pan of enchiladas or whatever recipe sounds good…and enjoy!
Possible Variations:
This recipe is quite flexible, so please feel free to tinker around with ingredient amounts and customize it however you prefer! For example, you could…
- Make it gluten-free: You can either use an 1-for-1 gluten-free flour blend, in place of the AP flour. Or you can omit the flour and instead add a cornstarch slurry (equal parts cornstarch and cold water whisked together) to the sauce once it is simmering to thicken it.
- Make it creamy: Whisk in 1/2 cup of heavy cream to turn this recipe into a delicious creamy enchilada sauce.
- Make it spicier: Feel free to add in a pinch or two of cayenne to make this sauce even spicier. Or alternately, you can choose to use ancho chili powder in place of standard American chili powder, which has a smokier and slightly spicier flavor.
- Make it milder: American chili powder should naturally be quite mild. But if you are wary of heat, feel free to start with 2 tablespoons (instead of 4 tablespoons) of chili powder in the recipe. Then once the sauce has simmered, give it a taste and feel free to add more if you would like.
- Make it smokier: Feel free to swap some of the American chili powder for chipotle chili powder, if you would like this sauce to have a smoky chipotle kick. (Also note that chipotle powder is considerably spicier, so this version would pack more heat too.)
- Add tomato sauce: If you would like to have a more tomato-y enchilada sauce, you are welcome to add a few tablespoons of tomato paste to the sauce.
Ways To Use Enchilada Sauce:
Here are a few of my favorite ways to use this easy enchilada sauce:
- Enchiladas: This red sauce works on just about any kind of enchiladas, such as my favorite chicken enchiladas, beef enchiladas, or roasted cauliflower enchilada.
- Soups: Enchilada sauce is a fantastic way to season soups, such as my slow cooker chicken enchilada soup, cheesy chicken enchilada soup, or sweet potato enchilada soup.
- Casseroles: If you don’t feel like rolling up your enchiladas, try ‘stacking’ them into a casserole, such as this chicken enchilada casserole (one of our readers’ favorite recipes!).
- Nachos, Cups, Skillets and More: I also love using this sauce in other enchilada-inspired recipes, such as my easy enchilada cups, chicken enchilada nachos and this easy enchilada skillet.
Red Enchilada Sauce
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons avocado oil or olive oil
- 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
- 1/4 cup chili powder (see note below)
- 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
- 1/4 teaspoon dried oregano
- 2 cups chicken or vegetable stock
- fine sea salt, to taste
Instructions
- Cook the roux and spices: Heat oil in a small saucepan over medium-high heat. Add flour and cook for 1 minute, whisking constantly. Add in the chili powder, garlic powder, cumin and oregano and cook for 1 more minute, whisking constantly.
- Simmer: Gradually pour in the stock, whisking constantly to combine until no lumps remain. Continue cooking until the sauce reaches a simmer. Then reduce heat to medium-low to maintain the simmer (the sauce should continue lightly bubbling) for about 10-15 minutes, uncovered, until the sauce has slightly thickened.
- Season: Give the sauce a taste and season with salt, as needed. (I typically add 1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt, but the saltiness of the sauce can vary depending on the brand of stock that you use.)
- Serve: Use immediately in your favorite recipe and enjoy!
Notes
Did you make this?Let me know how it turned out in the comments below!
We gave this recipe an A+! It makes the best enchiladas we’ve ever tasted. This recipe is a keeper, and we’ll be making it again very soon. We highly recommend it. Enjoy!
I usually would just buy cans but tried this sauce and it was DELICIOUS. I also included some diced tomatoes which I blended in at the end with an immersion blender, as well as some smoked paprika and chipotle chilli powder. 10/10 recommend this recipe!
This sauce is the bomb! I added just a touch more cumin (my favorite spice!), and next time will make a double or triple batch to have it on hand. Yay! p.s. I used a combo of veggie and chicken broth, since I had those to use up, and it worked great :^)
This is the best enchiladas sauce recipe! I’ve made it for years, exactly as written, and put it on my favorite homemade enchiladas. In the past year, I’ve had to go gluten free due to a celiac diagnosis, and it was heartbreaking to have to give away the batch hanging out in my freezer. Luckily, I have successfully made this recipe with rice flour instead of all-purpose. It has kept all the magic!
Can you freeze left over sauce?
Very good, quick and easy! Had everything on hand! Tasted fantastic!
This is my go to recipe and I always make a 4x batch and freeze off mason jars of it. Never had an issue with it separating myself and it’s awesome to have a few jars handy in the freezer to make for some quick enchiladas or soup or pasta bake! Thanks for a great recipe!
Outstanding recipe. So easy and so flavorful compared to store bought. This sauce took my Dad’s legendary enchilada casserole to a new level. He would be sooooo jealous!
Thanks.
Going to make this tonight – you’re great ! love watching your posts.
I accidentally used cayenne powder instead of chili powder.
Against my better judgment, I dumped 1/4 cup of pure spiciness into my pot and then read the disclaimer about three seconds later. Cut to me frantically trying to scoop out the powder while my mother looked on with a face of pure disappointment, wondering where she went wrong in raising her daughter. In all fairness, I’m 15 years old and have almost burned the house down on multiple occasions while trying to make instant ramen, so maybe she shouldn’t have let me near the stove.
Anyways, the sauce itself was amazing, even through hot tears of pain from the spiciness. The only thing more painful than that however, was the walk of shame as I went to throw out my unpalatable creation. The universe had won. I was ready to cut my losses and go back to instant ramen when my mother stopped me and did something that has quite literally changed my life. She took a bit of flour and water and kneaded them into two spheres, a little bigger than quarters. Then, she dropped these balls into the still-simmering sauce and waited for about 15 minutes. And then she told me taste the sauce. I took a tentative spoonful and my eyes began to well up. However, these weren’t painfully-spicy-food tears, but tears of joy. Somehow, those beautiful little dough balls soaked up the spice and my fiery inferno of a sauce was now edible?? I’ve scoured the internet to see if anyone else knew about this marvel, but came up with nothing.
Anyhow, this recipe is marvelously good and I will be making it again (minus cayenne powder)
LOVE your post!! :^D
You, Emaan, are a brilliant writer. Loved reading this. :) And thanks for the flour tip.