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!
Thank you for sharing. The proof is in the sauce.:) I made this sauce and used in in a batch of enchiladas. My son made a big helping and, approximately five minutes later, came back with an empty plate and helped himself to another huge portion. When asked about it, he said it was good. When I told him I tried a new enchilada sauce recipe, he gave me a smile and a thumbs up as he descended the stairs back to his room. Awesome!! FYI…I used a mixture of chili powder that I bought from the spice shop and a brand that ran about $5 from the store resulting in a Very vibrant red coloring.
You’re welcome Shana, we’re happy you and your son enjoyed the enchiladas (and the sauce)! :) Thanks for sharing!
In markets, you can find red chile sauce which does not contain tomatoes. The stuff marked enchilada sauce always seems to include tomatoes.This red chile sauce is what I use on enchiladas. Some suggestions.
1) to thicken, you could add more flour. I thicken mine by adding a sofrito of carrots, celery and onion and then pureeing the sauce after it is cooked. If you use ground chile rather than chile powder, you will avoid the salt in the chile powder. If you can get ground chile, the mildest are ancho, California or New Mexico.
Thanks for sharing your tips with us Kerry!
No tomatoes. Now I am really intrigued. Will give it a try! Thanks.
Also, wondering how you pronounce 492th. My mind refused to compute that one.
This is the first red enchilada sauce I have seen that does not contain tomatoes or tomato sauce, paste, passata or any other form of tomato. Was it missed or is this recipe for real? Thanks.
Hi Wendy, no, this was not an error. Our recipe doesn’t have any tomatoes/tomato sauce/paste, etc. :)
Do not add any salt! It was way too salty with the broth, my partner said it was brutal and pretty much ruined the dinner.
We’re sorry to hear this was too salty Dominique! Did you make your own stock or use store-bought? If you make your own stock, you want to salt it pretty liberally (it helps preserve it so it will last longer), and then you generally don’t need to add much (if any) salt to your recipe, depending on what you’re using the stock for. Using a low/less sodium stock is one way to help cut back on the salt, and it’s good to season and taste as you go. We hope this helps!
Just tried this tonight! It is a delicious homemade enchilada sauce…but I’m pretty sure you forgot to mention the tomatoes? I followed your directions to a T and the sauce was brown, tasted very strongly of the spices and looked nothing like the picture. I added a small can of crushed tomatoes and now it is perfect. Just wanted to mention! Thank you for sharing this recipe. I had an actual can of enchillada sauce ready to go but I’m so happy I made yours instead! :)
Thanks Carla, we’re happy you enjoyed it! That wasn’t a mistake regarding the tomatoes, our recipe isn’t mean to have any, but you can certainly add them like you did! :)
Could you specify what kind of Chile powder? Like McCormick in the pack or chili powder in the bottle?
Like pure chili powder in the little spice jar/bottle. :)
This sauce is amazing and so quick to make!! I have made it a few times now but am going to add it to my regular roster as I roast a chicken every few weeks and am always looking for something yummy to make with my chicken broth.
I have the used the sauce in enchiladas, baked beans and a spicy soup. Thank you for the recipe and your great blog!!
Thanks Lindsey, we’re happy you like it! Thanks also for your sweet words about the blog, we’re glad you’re a fan! :)
For best results use Gebhardt’s Chili Powder.
Thanks for sharing this with us Lisa!