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!
Delicious! Used a little xantham gum instead of the flour to make it low-carb. This is healthier and a way better price than buying the cans—thanks!
I’ve been making a similar sauce for about 40 years. Never added oregano though. My mother-in-law taught me, her mother-in-law taught her. It’s the only one we’ve ever used for enchiladas. We put it on other things as well.
Yummy & easy to make! Added a bit of salt & sugar at the spice to taste point. Not a Mexican cuisine officianado… the additions took out a little harshness for light weight me~
Would this sauce be a candidate for canning within traditional processing with Mason jars?
Yes I made this recipe and I couldn’t stop eating it it is the best I didn’t make Enchilada sauce but I did put nacho cheese in To meet my husband and I loved it thank you so much keep up the good work! Thank you Sherry
This was VERY good. Easy to make. The only thing i changed was i added a little cream cheese to the sauce. Used it with chicken enchiladas with cilantro and sour cream. Next time i’ll add chili pepper and avocado. Very good recipe. Thank you.
Outstanding recipe. Really nailed the flavor.
This really good!! I love enchiladas but it is very hard to find a mild sauce out there. I doubled the recipe and it made enough to make up a 9×13 enchiladas casserole, I like layering instead of rolling single enchiladas.The only thing to watch is the pan heat when you add the spices to the flour, the spices will darken in color fast, mine did but it tasted really good. The other thing I did was add a little sugar which just added a bit of smoothness to it. Will be making it again!!
When I make tacos/burritos I normally make a pot of cilantro lime rice, corn, seasoned grilled onions and sweet peppers, beans (whatever I have on hand), protein (ground Turkey, grilled salmon or shrimp, steak, or chicken) and shredded cheese. I do not like salsa and rarely have sour cream. I offer large burritos, hard and soft taco shells. From there it’s up the family to select what they want. Sometimes I hear: where’s the sauce? And I rarely have an answer: now I do!
I don’t know why I wanted to make enchiladas, but the idea came to me and I went searching for a recipe. I found this one and made the sauce, which I doubled. Here are some recommendations and substitutions:
I used Penzey’s chili 3000 mix, which was just under 1/4 cup. I topped it off with chili powder and chipotle powder. I omitted the cumin because I forgot it. It is an ingredient of the Penzey blend.
I baked my chicken thighs with a Tex Mex spice. I added a heavy splash of the drippings to the sauce. I only added a pinch of salt. I probably could have omitted it: my chicken stock was fully salted.
The resulting sauce was slightly spicy and smoky, with a nuanced finish. Highly recommend making the sauce.
Hello,
This is my third attempt to get an answer to my question about the recipe, which sounds so incredibly good. I am planning to make the sauce today, and, when I checked the yield of the 2x recipe, it calls for 4 cups of stock to be added to the blended mixture. The yield of sauce is posted to be 3 cups, and my question is…what happens to the final product after adding the 4 cups of stock to be added to yield only 3 cups of sauce.
Please do not delete this message again, since I feel this is a valid question, and wish to make this sauce.
Thank you,
Dan Gasparrini
I know this is a very late response but the short answer to your question, Dan, is that some of the liquid will evaporate while simmering on the stove. Hence, the reduced amount in the final product. I hope that helps.
When you simmer the sauce for 15-20 minutes with the lid off, some of the liquid will evaporate via steam, resulting in the sauce being thicker and the amount less than the original amount of the liquid. Hope that helps.
I see the author never answered you & I know you asked forever ago but I think I might can answer you.
Likely the amounts at the end are less from evaporation when you heat the ingredients. So you would probably want to triple the sauce recipe to make sure you have enough.
I made it with the 2x ingredients and I have four cups of sauce!
Dan no one has deleted any of your comments. And when you simmer a sauce it reduces down which will make it less in volume. It’s a very simple concept.
Hey Dan – here we are, one year later – I am not the moderator here, but I’m going to take a guess and say that perhaps the mixture becomes reduced after simmering and thickening? Was just preparing to make this, and I noticed your question had gone unanswered – hope my insight was helpful. Cheers!
Hey Dan, I don’t know why you aren’t getting the answer to your question but I can see all your posts. I’m sure she will get back to you and they are not being deleted.
During simmering process liquid evaporates.
Liquid evaporates when you cook it for an extended period of time.
Some of the water evaporates as you simmer.
C’mon Dan you can figure it out.