How to Make Enchilada Sauce
Enchilada sauce is so easy to make! This red enchilada sauce recipe comes together in ten minutes. I've tried all the other recipes and this is the best!
Updated by Kathryne Taylor on August 28, 2024
I’ve been working on my enchilada game lately, for both the cookbook and an upcoming enchilada recipe. There is an art to making great enchiladas, and the sauce is a key component.
I thought I’d share my tested and perfected enchilada sauce recipe today, in case you want to try it on your favorite enchilada recipe. It’s ready in under ten minutes, and I promise, it’s so tasty you won’t want to go back to the store-bought kind again.
When I developed my go-to sauce (first seen on my spinach artichoke enchiladas), I tried at least five of the top sauce recipes on Google, all with different ingredients and techniques.
I tried making sauce with tomato sauce, which tasted too raw and was kind of goopy. I tried making sauce with blended diced tomatoes, and it had the same issues. I tried sauce without any tomato ingredients, and it didn’t taste quite like the enchilada sauce I grew up eating, or the sauce at my favorite Mexican restaurants. I tried sauces made without any thickener (like flour or cornstarch), and they pooled at the bottom and turned my enchiladas into a soupy, texture-less casserole.
Finally, after some experimentation and cross-referencing with America’s Test Kitchen, I landed on the perfect enchilada sauce. Vegetable broth forms the base of the sauce, but it’s only added after you make a simple roux of flour and oil. You need a full three tablespoons of each to properly thicken the sauce. I tried making this sauce with a gluten-free flour blend and that worked great as well.
The Best Enchilada Sauce
Four reasons to love this recipe:
- This sauce is full of authentic Mexican flavor. It comes from a combination of dried spices, which are sautéed in oil to bring out their best, and umami-rich tomato paste.
- The cinnamon is optional since some people just don’t like it in savory applications, but just a pinch adds some lovely warmth and complexity.
- The final kicker is a tiny splash of vinegar, which really amps up the flavor.
- Unlike canned enchiladas sauces, this homemade sauce is free of unnecessary processed ingredients and MSG (that’s monosodium glutamate, which gives my mom migraines).
I love this sauce and I’m confident you will, too, since it’s gotten rave reviews on my spinach artichoke enchiladas and veggie black bean enchiladas.
Please let me know how this recipe turns out for you in the comments! Your feedback keeps me going.
Watch How to Make Enchilada Sauce
Homemade Enchilada Sauce
This homemade red enchilada sauce has authentic Mexican flavor! It’s so good and easy, you’ll never go back to store-bought sauce again. You can even make a double batch and freeze half of it for later. Recipe as written below yields about 2 cups (16 ounces) sauce.
Ingredients
- 3 tablespoons olive oil
- 3 tablespoons flour (whole wheat flour, all-purpose flour and gluten-free flour blends all work!)
- 1 tablespoon ground chili powder (scale back if you’re sensitive to spice or using particularly spicy chili powder)
- 1 teaspoon ground cumin
- ½ teaspoon garlic powder
- ¼ teaspoon dried oregano
- ¼ teaspoon salt, to taste
- Pinch of cinnamon (optional but recommended)
- 2 tablespoons tomato paste
- 2 cups vegetable broth
- 1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar or distilled white vinegar
- Freshly ground black pepper, to taste
Instructions
- This sauce comes together quickly once you get started, so measure the dry ingredients (the flour, chili powder, cumin, garlic powder, oregano, salt and optional cinnamon) into a small bowl and place it near the stove. Place the tomato paste and broth near the stove as well.
- In a medium-sized pot over medium heat, warm the oil until it’s hot enough that a light sprinkle of the flour/spice mixture sizzles on contact. This might take a couple of minutes, so be patient and don’t step away from the stove!
- Once it’s ready, pour in the flour and spice mixture. While whisking constantly, cook until fragrant and slightly deepened in color, about 1 minute. Whisk the tomato paste into the mixture, then slowly pour in the broth while whisking constantly to remove any lumps.
- Raise heat to medium-high and bring the mixture to a simmer, then reduce heat as necessary to maintain a gentle simmer. Cook, whisking often, for about 5 to 7 minutes, until the sauce has thickened a bit and a spoon encounters some resistance as you stir it. (The sauce will thicken some more as it cools.)
- Remove from heat, then whisk in the vinegar and season to taste with a generous amount of freshly ground black pepper. Add more salt, if necessary (I usually add another pinch or two). Go forth and make enchiladas!
Notes
Enchilada sauce recipe adapted from my spinach artichoke enchiladas.
Storage suggestions: Extra enchilada sauce will keep well in the refrigerator for up to 5 days. Or, freeze it for up to 3 months. Let it cool to room temperature before transferring to a wide-mouth mason jar, leaving some room at the top for expansion (don’t screw on the lid completely until the mixture is fully frozen), or a freezer bag (remove excess air before sealing).
Make it gluten free: Just use gluten-free all-purpose flour blend. I tried with Bob’s Red Mill brand and it worked great.
Make it tomato free: You can omit the tomato paste. You might want to up the spices a bit. The sauce won’t taste quite like the enchilada sauce you might buy at the store, but it will still be good!
Change it up: The chili powder, cumin and garlic powder are essential here, but feel free to change up the other spices to suit your preferences.
If you love this sauce: Check out more of my Mexican recipes here!
Nutrition
The information shown is an estimate provided by an online nutrition calculator. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice. See our full nutrition disclosure here.
SO delicious! I made it tonight using homemade tortillas as well. I think I’m going to make several batches to freeze and speed up the process next time our family has enchiladas for dinner. It’s definitely better than store bought sauce.
I tried this last night and it was great! I added about 1/4 tsp of crushed red pepper to give it a little heat. The sauce was a little too thick for my preference, so next time I’ll cut the oil and flour to 2 Tbsp and see how that works. The taste was just right.
I’ve been using this recipe for a couple of years. Saves me money, pennies on the dollar compared to store bought sauce. I make up 3 little containers so that it’s easier each time, the measuring the ingredients is the most time consuming! Thank you for sharing with us.
Definitely trying your enchilada sauce, thanks for sharing this wonderful recipe..
This recipe is so easy and tastes great! And knowing there isn’t a bunch of additives is such a bonus. I do have a question, can I can this recipe?
Hi Lexi! Because this recipe has flour it is not recommended for canning. Freezing would be your best option.
OMgoodness this turned out so well. Homemade enchilada sauce from now on.
Used fresh garlic (4 smallish cloves) instead of garlic powder.
Thank you for the recipe!
This is so good and just like you said, better than any store bought brand
I will share it with my friends and family!
My kids love this. We put it over rice, beans, and corn and with cheese for a quick meal. It’s become so popular that I keep a dry mix of the right proportions of flour/cumin/garlic/oregano so all we need to do is drop it in the oil and add the liquids.
Out of this world!! I made this recipe to use on Mexican pizzas. It was AMAZING! When my husband went back for seconds, he slathered each piece of pizza with the enchilada sauce. Now, I am trying to think of more ways to use this amazing recipe.
This sauce is not bad. I chose this recipe because I was short on time, but never again. I had never heard of a roux that turns into enchilada sauce. This sauce tastes nothing like Mexican enchilada sauce. From now on, I will continue to take the time to make enchilada sauce with dried chile guajillos.
I have the same reservations! I’m going to make this but use dried chilies for the chili powder. But I would love to try your authentic sauce if you could post or send to me. I don’t want to offend Kate or Cookie Thank you for this recipe!
I think this is more of a Tex-Mex version opposed to authentic Mexican enchilada sauce. I believe they call this chili gravy.
We absolutely loved the red enchilada sauce. I substituted ancho chili powder for a smokier flavor and it was delicious. I bought your cookbook as well. Can’t wait till it arrives so I can try new recipes.
Thanks Kate.
So glad you enjoyed! Ancho chili powder sounds wonderful.
I always want to make enchiladas, but have shied away from it due to my inability to find a good sauce.
This sauce is AMAZING I’m looking forward to trying it out with the black bean enchilada recipe from your site.
If making this ahead,can it be canned or do you have any other storing suggestions? Thank you!
Hi Jen, glad you enjoyed! Homemade sauce can make all the difference. You can make a batch ahead of time and freeze for up to 3 months.
I will make this recipe thank you for sharing
I made your enchilada sauce. It is beyond AMAZING! As a native West-Texan and having enchiladas all my rather advanced life – this ranks up there with the best of the best!!
Thank You for sharing – I’ll be making this sauce all the time!
What a fantastic compliment, especially coming from a Texan! Thanks for sharing.
Used jalapeño chili powder and fresh garlic instead of powder. It’s amazing!!!
Easy and delicious. I will never buy enchilada suace again.
Just made it and followed each step religiously and it tasted like ass! Worse than the cafeteria enchiladas in high school. Worse than crappy Annie’s frozen enchiladas at the super market. Worse than Trader Joe’s enchiladas. Worse than enchiladas from a Chinese restaurant found in a street trash can covered in other trash. There is not even any actual chilies in it or anything. It’s just spiced broth? This is some weird shit you put online.
Why do people feel entitled to respond so rudely online. I’m sure you would not have said these things in person to the chef. You could simply have said you didn’t like it at all and left it at that, instead of being so unkind in your comments.
P Wilson,
I totally agree with you !
There is no excuse for Rudeness!
In this world , where you can choose to be anything?
Choose Kindness !
The quality of life is much nicer
Wow! That’s harsh
Just made it and followed recipie to the tee
It’s delicious
Will definitely keep this recipe and will be making it again
That was really unwarranted and cruel. If it doesn’t work for you. It can be said simply as that. No need to be ugly!!!
How rude and inconsiderate, just say it didn’t suite your taste and move on
I agree with the other people who called you out. Completely, unnecessarily HATEFUL.
That said, I don’t often make enchiladas and when I did, I just threw seasonings in tomato sauce and called it good. Im glad I tried an actual recipe because I really liked this sauce! It’s definitely a keeper and so easy. I think I’ll go the route of the person who used guajillos next time. Great idea!
was that really neccessary ? why did you pick this to troll? Go away! If you had anything intelligent to say you might have used real conversational language and stated what you would have changed. To use your colorful but inappropriate language, “All you did was make yourself look like an ass! “
Just finished making this and it’s really good, better than store bought. I’m one of those cooks who rarely measures or follows recipes to the letter, but I did both this time and I’m glad I did. Thanks for this!
Marvelous sauce! My enchiladas had so much more depth and richness thanks to this sauce. I used chicken broth and the cinnamon.
Super easy, fresh and delicious. I came across this recipe and was thrilled that it came together so quickly.
I don’t have vegetable broth. Would chicken broth be better than just water?
Hi Kelly, you could definitely use chicken broth instead of vegetable broth if that is suitable for your diet.
This is so much better than the can stuff. I did add the cinnamon and was surprised at how good it was. Be adventurous! Will be making it again.
Thank you for ruining me for store bought enchilada sauce. Ohhemmgee.
I wanted to fix a quick meal of carnitas enchiladas last evening but have never been properly satisfied with the canned sauce, no matter what brand. I had all the ingredients for this recipe, so decided I would take a few extra minutes to give it a try.
This stuff is drinkable! And honestly? It didn’t take that much time. What bit of extra effort I made was 100% worth it. Thanks for this awesome recipe. I can’t wait to try it on other enchilada dishes. Bon Appetit!
This is absolutely best enchilada sauce I’ve ever had. I made a couple of alterations one of which would have no impact on the flavor. I needed to make the sauce low-carb so instead of the 3 Tbsp. of flour I substituted 1/2 tsp. Xanthan Gum and 3 Tbsp. coconut flour (almond flour would work just as well). I also added 1 Tbsp. of paprika only because I grew pimento peppers last year and they made amazing paprika so I put it in lots of things. I concur the pinch of cinnamon is strongly recommended. Thanks Kathrine, my chicken enchiladas on low carb tortillas was spectacular
Yum! It was my first time making enchiladas and this sauce was delicous! Thanks for sharing!
This was not good. Nothing at all like enchilada sauce. I was hoping it would work because I was short on time, but even after trying to adjust the flavour it could not be saved.
Normally love the recipes from this page, but this is a total fail.
Made this with my kids tonight and it was really easy and tasted good too! We doubled the recipe and added tomato sauce in place of half the broth (so we did half and half with it), had tried enchilada sauces before that had tomato sauce as the base. Worked well!
This sauce couldn’t be easier or more delicious! I used a homemade broth from the bones of a chicken that I roasted which was bathed in fajita seasoning, thus my broth was extra flavorful. Still, this is a beautiful enchilada sauce…I could drink the entire batch!
This was great! I didn’t have veg broth on hand, but was going to use the sauce with ground beef so used the sub of beef broth. Also used avocado oil to start the roux. I’m really picky about my enchilada sauce and am a fan of El Paso brand ~ this one I plan to save and use. I have to make a note to these haters in the comments, if you don’t like it … why are you wasting your time commenting? Yikes. And authentic sauce, whatever is meant by that, can also be found with an easy google. Mexico is a big country with states and just like the USA with the south vs west coast, etc. It’s not just one big “state.” There are going to be different takes on enchilada sauce! I’m happy with this one though, thank you to Kate for taking the time to post/type out this FREE recipe.
tried this minus the cumin – mom’s allergic – and it turned out amazing, never going back to storebought sauce!
It’s seriously bomb. Way better than store bought
We love this enchilada sauce. So much flavor with things from the pantry and spice rack and in hardly any time. The cinnamon is definitely not optional :)
Could I substitute avocado oil for the olive oil?
Hi Erin, yes you could use avocado oil. It has a higher smoke point and more neutral flavor but should be fine in this recipe.
This recipe was wonderful! Much better than sauce from a can. It was well seasoned and smooth. Whatever you do, do not leave off the bit of vinegar at the very end. It really caps everything off and blends all the flavors nicely. I give it 5 stars and then some!!
You are absolutely correct on the vinegar. Amazing how little of something can make such a difference.
our favorite
After making this enchilada sauce I will never use canned sauce again!!
I added a bit of Mexican chocolate to the dry ingredients.
Hi Alicia, I’m so glad you enjoyed the recipe. The addition of the chocolate sounds amazing!
OK I was sceptical about how great an enchilada sauce could actually be …… but I would drink this it is so good!
I have been using this enchilada sauce recipe for several years now, everyone loves my “homemade sauce”. I have told them where I got the recipe from. I gave it to them since I know it by heart and know one else in the neighborhood has made it yet. I keep hoping someone else will take a turn and make them lol. Everyone loves your recipe!!!
I’m low carb and the flour (even gluten free) is a no-go for me. Can I use gelatin to thicken it? How much would you add, do you think?
Hi Carol, I haven’t tried that, but from what I have read, you can use 1-2 tsp per cup of liquid to thicken a sauce.
I found your recipe and few years ago and was hooked on the first make. I make a huge batch and freeze it in portions. I’ll never go back to the canned stuff.
This is my go-to enchilada sauce. It’s easy and delicious! And more depth of flavor than store bought cans.
The recipe is awesome . Five Stars. Please send me the recipe. Thank you
(:
This sauce was the first trial of homemade enchilada sauce and it was delicious! the consistency and flavor were right on par, I will definitely be using this one again!
This is the best sauce I have come across. The cinnamon adds a nice flavor.
Thank you for sharing this recipe!
I enjoyed this recipe. I couldn’t really taste the pinch of cinnamon. Instead of vinegar, I use jalapeño juice from the jar. I added a little too much garlic powder, and then some blackstrap molasses to balance it back out.