Once you try my homemade enchilada sauce, you won’t go back to store-bought! You’ll need just a few pantry ingredients and 15 minutes to make the best, most flavorful enchilada sauce.
My family loves enchiladas, so having a recipe for a great enchilada sauce is essential. This is my favorite enchilada sauce because it’s richly flavored and so quick to make with simple, wholesome pantry ingredients. This is one of those tried-and-true recipes that I’ve been making regularly for years. So many readers have tried it and loved it, too!
I’ve probably made this enchilada sauce recipe a dozen+ times. It absolutely destroys any store bought enchilada sauce and makes the best enchiladas everytime. Thank you for this recipe!
Stephanie
This recipe makes a flavorful red enchilada sauce, perfect for making Chicken Enchiladas, Beef Enchiladas or an Enchilada Casserole. If you’ve been buying enchilada sauce at the grocery store, you won’t believe how easy it is to make it yourself. Plus, it freezes well, so you can make a big batch to keep in your freezer, ready to use whenever you need it!
Why You’ll Love this Recipe
- Everyday Ingredients. It’s made with common ingredients that you probably already have in your pantry.
- Better than Store-Bought. Forget canned sauce, this enchilada sauce tastes like it came from your favorite Mexican restaurant.
- Adjust to Your Tastes. You can adjust the seasonings to make it more or less spicy.
- Quick and Easy. It takes just 15 minutes to make, with only 5 minutes of active prep time.
Ingredient Notes
Here’s a look at what you’ll need for this enchilada sauce recipe:
- Olive Oil: For sautéing the garlic, and to add a bit of richness to the sauce.
- Garlic: Fresh garlic adds flavor.
- Tomato Sauce: Some enchilada sauce recipes call for using tomato paste or are made without tomato, but I’ve tested this recipe all three ways and we like it best made with tomato sauce.
- Vegetable Broth: To achieve the best consistency. You can adjust the amount of broth to make a thinner or thicker sauce. Chicken broth may be used in place of the vegetable broth. I prefer using a low sodium broth.
- Seasonings: Chili powder, cumin, onion powder, garlic powder and salt bring the perfect seasoning to this easy enchilada sauce. For an extra spicy kick, also add a pinch or more of cayenne pepper.
Find the full printable recipe with ingredient amounts below.
How to Make Enchilada Sauce
Kristine’s Tip: Before beginning, have all of your ingredients ready and measure out the spices into a small bowl. Once you get the garlic in the pan, you’ll want everything else ready so that the garlic doesn’t burn.
First, sauté the garlic. Heat the olive oil in a saucepan over medium heat. Then add the minced garlic and cook, while stirring, just for 30 seconds or so, until the garlic is fragrant.
Then, stir in the tomato sauce, vegetable broth and seasonings. Bring the sauce to a simmer and then reduce the heat to low.
Simmer the sauce over low heat for 10 minutes, stirring it occasionally. That’s it! You’ll have from scratch enchilada sauce ready to add to enchiladas, casseroles, and more.
Recipe Tips
- This sauce has just a little spice to it. For spicier enchilada sauce, you can add more cayenne pepper. To make the sauce mild, omit the cayenne pepper and be sure to use a mild chili powder, or reduce the amount of chili powder.
- If the enchilada sauce is thicker than you like it, stir in a little more broth to thin it out.
- This recipe makes about 2 cups of sauce, and it’s easy to scale it up if you’re cooking for a crowd.
How to Store Enchilada Sauce
You can use this sauce immediately or store it for future use. Store the cooled sauce in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 4 days or in the freezer for up to 3 months.
Ways to Use Enchilada Sauce
My family loves making our favorite Mexican food recipes at home (we always have a batch of Taco Seasoning in our spice drawer!). Here are some of our favorite recipes to use our homemade enchilada sauce:
Made this recipe? I’d truly appreciate if you leave a comment and star rating below! Your review will help others who want to try this recipe. Thank you! 💛
Enchilada Sauce Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 15 ounce can tomato sauce
- ¾ cup low sodium vegetable broth, or low sodium chicken broth
- 2 tablespoons chili powder
- 1 ½ teaspoons cumin
- ½ teaspoon onion powder
- ½ teaspoon garlic powder
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- pinch cayenne pepper, optional, for spice
Instructions
- Heat olive oil in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Add garlic and cook, stirring, for 30 seconds.
- Add all remaining ingredients: tomato sauce, broth, chili powder, cumin, onion powder, garlic powder, salt and cayenne pepper (if using). Stir.
- Bring to a simmer, reduce heat to low, and cook at a low simmer for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.
- Enchilada sauce can be used immediately or stored for future use. To store, let it cool and then refrigerate in an airtight container for up to 4 days or freeze for up to 3 months.
Notes
- This recipe makes an enchilada sauce with just a little spice to it. For spicier enchilada sauce, you can add more cayenne pepper. To make the sauce mild, omit the cayenne pepper and use a mild chili powder, or reduce the amount of chili powder.
- If the enchilada sauce is thicker than you like it, stir in a little more broth to thin it out. If it’s too thin, simmer it to thicken it up.
I’ve never actually thought to make my own enchilada sauce before! And I buy it often, so I definitely need to change that. I love how simple this recipe is, Kristine! And it looks so much better than the store bought kind, too!
Thanks, Gayle! You’ve got to try this one!
This looks really delicious! I have never tried making my own enchilada sauce, but it sounds really easy!
It is so easy, Kelly! You’ve got to try it!
This enchilada sauce looks so full of flavor, but I love that it doesn’t have all that many ingredients!
Thanks, Christin! The short ingredient list is one reason why I made this so often. 🙂
Wow, I love how quick and simple this is!!! I wouldn’t have guessed it’s so easy to make.
Thanks, Rachel!
I will be giving this a go, thanks.
I hope you love it!
Hello, it looks very nice. I agree with you – homemade is the best. I make simillar, just add 2 tbs of plain flour at the beggining.
Thank you so much for the recipe! It was so easy and so delicious that I will no longer be buying the canned stuff. I also like how I can control the sodium and the spice level. I am now using it for your tortilla soup recipe, so I’ll be back 🙂
I’m glad you enjoyed this! Thanks for taking the time to leave a comment.
I just checked out how to make this looks so good look foward to trying this soon I have a question I love this type of sauce but one of my kids prefers the green sauce is there a way to make this one also besides your current one also? I am reducing my salt intake so this is perfect thank you
I am glad you like this recipe. I do not currently have a recipe for green sauce.
This is an amazing recipe!! I subbed a little Ancho Chili powder for some of the regular chili powder because I love the flavor. I’ll never go back to canned! I make this all the time and it’s solved my Mexican food problem of finding the right sauce. Thank you so much for this!
Hi Kristine,
I made this last night for Cinco de Mayo as my husband wanted enchiladas! Wowzer, it was a smash hit! The enchilada sauce to spot on. I added 1/8tsp of cayenne and then decided to add another one and it was just the right amount of zip. I think the words he uttered were, “Restaurant quality!” So thanks for sharing this recipe. It’s a keeper! :).
I’m so glad you enjoyed it! Thanks for trying the recipe and letting me know how it turned out. 🙂
Thank you for this recipe!!! I was all set to make burritos but did not have any enchilada sauce. I didn’t want to go the store for just a can or two of sauce with gas prices and just getting home from work. Found this and I love it!!! I’m not good at cooking but could follow this recipe easily. And won’t be buying the canned again.
Thanks again!!! 🙂
I was surprised to see that I had all the ingredients to make the sauce since we can’t buy it here.
It went really well with your chicken enchilada recipe.
This tasted awesome. Much better than store bought. What makes this so wonderful is you can spice it up or not.
I LOVE this sauce!! Used to buy; however, not anymore!! So simple and fast!! I use it for Mexican Pizza and Tostadas. Freeze leftover sauce, and it thaws in minutes. Thanks for this lovely recipe!!
I made this for dinner tonight. It was so easy and delicious. I agree with the others, I won’t be buying enchilada sauce any more. No need to and I know exactly what is in it, no preservatives or junk. That is peace of mind and better for my family. The enchilada casserole was delicious. Thank you so much.
I’ve probably made this enchilada sauce recipe a dozen+ times. It absolutely destroys any store bought enchilada sauce and makes the best enchiladas everytime. Thank you for this recipe!
One of the best homemade sauces ever!
Delicious and so easy to make…WINNER WINNER at our home.
I’m trying this today YUM. I like how I can make as much or as little as I want.
This is just the best I’ve ever had thank you! Making again tonight!
Excellent recipes
There is NO tomato sauce in red enchilada sauce. You boil dried red chili until tender blender then strain out the skins. Garlic and oregano
Hi Donald,
Thanks for your comment. I don’t claim this to be an authentic enchilada sauce recipe, this is just how I like to make it. It’s easy and uses readily accessible ingredients, and my family loves the flavor. Many others have tried this recipe and enjoyed it as well. 🙂
What a game changer! This is THE bomb!!’ I had no idea how simple it is to make Enchilada Sauce! All this time buying and settling for substandard flavor. Delicious fresh flavors AND easy rod quick to prepare. Couldn’t not believe how clean the plates where and they were asking for more. Highly recommend this recipe. She nailed it perfectly!!!
Had some frozen enchiladas in the freezer. Baked and no sauce. Ew. But, had the ingredients to make this recipe. Made it, poured it on top, and was a game changer. Thank you!
The flavour is great but I got to thinking you meant tomato paste not sauce. I found the sauce very thin so added paste to get the consistency I wanted.
I meant tomato sauce but I’m glad you found a way to make this to your preference.
This is missing cinnamon stick.
Made this last night exactly as listed (skipped the cayenne) and it really is excellent! My kids and husband loved it and they’re pretty snobby (okay extremely snobby, lol) when it comes to mexican food and getting the flavors right. I’ve been wanting to find a good recipe and this was excellent. It’s so good this one is going in my hand written recipe book. Thanks!
Almost the same as mine. But we are chili fans so I add 1 ancho and 1 guajillo. These dried peppers get de-stemmed and de-seeded, then put in boiling water for 5 minutes then left to cool for 20. This rehydrates them. Drain them off and then make a paste of them in your blender, Magic Bullet, whatever. I make my sauce a bit thicker so I add less liquid.
It was very tasty. I didn’t realize I didn’t have chili powder so I just eye balled some paprika. It still came out good. Reasoning for 4 stars is that I wish it made more as it hardly covered about 10 enchiladas.
I’ve been using old El Paso to make my enchiladas for years but decided to try this. My kids didn’t even notice the switch & I would say it’s definitely a step up! What an easy and affordable sub for the canned stuff! Thanks!
Would like to try this! What brand of chili powder do you recommend? I find that the taste varies with the brand.
I usually buy the McCormick Gourmet line, Morton & Bassett or the O Organics Safeway brand.
This sauce tastes amazing and is so easy to make! I agree, I will never go back to store-bought enchilada sauce! Thank you for this great recipe Kristine.
This homemade enchilada sauce is amazing & gave me the confidence to make all my own sauces. Goes amazingly well with her beef and chicken enchiladas!