Whenever I wanted to make enchiladas for dinner, I would simply head off to my local grocery store and buy canned sauce or a jar of red enchilada sauce. That is until I went on my health journey. It was 7 years ago when I decided I wanted to make enchiladas and thought to myself, “I bet I can make a fast enchilada sauce from scratch and not have to buy the canned stuff.”
Fast forward to now and I have been making my own flavorful enchilada sauce ever since!
I like to make a big batch and freeze it so that I can pull out jars at a time whenever I want to make enchiladas and not have to start from scratch.
Although that’s not necessary because this fast enchilada sauce recipe is truly that…. fast.
You don’t hardly need a lot of time to get it whipped up and it uses very simple pantry staples. I promise it won’t add a lot of time to your enchilada making recipe!
Why you should make your own enchilada sauce at home.
If I am being honest, I never even thought about making my own enchilada sauce at home. It kind of seemed out of my reach.
But when I started looking up recipes, I realized how this easy homemade enchilada sauce recipe uses simple pantry ingredients, plus can be made very fast. It just makes sense to do it at home.
On top of it being easy and fast, making this fast enchilada sauce at home allows me to be in control of the ingredients. There are no added sugars and the oil I use is a better choice, not to mention how much spice I add is a major factor.
My girls like a mild sauce, not too spicy when we are talking about Mexican food. Even the mild enchilada sauce you can buy from the store, is too spicy for them sometimes. When I make it myself I can adjust the chili powder so that I get the perfect spice every time and no one complains.
Now that is a win in my book!
Below is our favorite homemade enchilada sauce recipe.
Ingredients:
- 3 TBSP avocado oil or olive oil
- 3 TBSP all purpose flour (use a gluten-free flour blend if needed()
- 1/2-1 TBSP mild chili powder (use less if you are sensitive to a spicy sauce)
- 1 tsp ground cumin
- 1/2 tsp garlic powder
- 1/4 tsp dried oregano
- salt to taste
- pinch of cinnamon
- 2 TBSP tomato paste
- 2 cups chicken broth, vegetable broth, beef broth, or water
- 1 tsp apple cider vinegar or white vinegar
- black pepper to taste
How to make fast enchilada sauce:
- This sauce comes together fast, so it is crucial that you get all your ingredients ready to go ahead of time! The first thing you are going to do is take a small bowl and measure out all your dry ingredients into it. I measure the flour, chili powder, cumin, garlic powder, oregano, salt, and cinnamon into the small bowl. All other ingredients I have out on my counter ready to go.
- Place oil in a medium saucepan on the stove and heat on medium high heat. You want your oil to be hot before moving on. You know your oil is ready when you sprinkle a dash of your flour and spices into it and it sizzles.
- Once oil is hot enough, pour the small bowl of dry ingredients into the oil and whisk constantly for about 1 minute. The color should deepen.
- Next whisk the tomato paste into the mixture.
- Slowly pour the broth or water into the pot whisking constantly to remove any lumps.
- Raise heat slightly to bring the mixture to a simmer. Maintain a gentle simmer, while whisking often for about 5 to 7 minutes until the sauce thickens. You don’t want it as thick as a gravy but when you stir the sauce the spoon has some resistance.
- Remove the sauce from the heat and whisk in the vinegar and pepper to taste.
- You are now ready to use in your favorite enchilada recipe!
- Store leftovers in an airtight container, such as mason jars with the lid and ring or even freezer bags. It will keep in the freezer for up to 6 months or in the fridge for a week.
Can I make any substitutions in this easy recipe?
There are a few minor substitutions you can make and I added them into the ingredients list above! Even with the substitutions this is like a traditional enchilada sauce.
If you need to be gluten free use a gluten free all purpose flour or cornstarch. Either one will be your thickening agent.
You can also choose to use any form of broth or even water. I don’t notice much of a flavor change when I change it up, but there may be a slight change. I do find that with all the spices, using a broth vs water doesn’t make much of a difference.
I love the health benefits of apple cider vinegar along with the taste it brings, so I always use apple cider vinegar in this recipe. But feel free to use distilled white vinegar as a substitute if desired!
Watch how I am making enchiladas with this enchilada sauce recipe.
In this video I am showing you step by step on how to make this fast enchilada sauce but also how to make my Spanish rice recipe to go with them and the filling for my enchiladas. It is a triple whammy video with all kinds of recipes!
If you watched the video, you will see that I made gluten free enchiladas with green sauce. I buy my green enchilada sauce on Azure Standard.
No need to continue to buy store-bought enchilada sauce anymore. Now you are ready to make homemade enchiladas that are completely from scratch! Try making some from scratch gluten free tortillas to really make these enchiladas shine.
Two favorite recipes we use as sides with our enchiladas:
Red Enchilada Sauce
Fast and simple enchilada sauce using ingredients from your pantry.
Ingredients
- 3 TBSP avocado oil or olive oil
- 3 TBSP all purpose flour (use a gluten-free flour blend if needed()
- 1/2-1 TBSP mild chili powder (use less if you are sensitive to a spicy sauce)
- 1 tsp ground cumin
- 1/2 tsp garlic powder
- 1/4 tsp dried oregano
- salt to taste
- pinch of cinnamon
- 2 TBSP tomato paste
- 2 cups chicken broth, vegetable broth, beef broth or water
- 1 tsp apple cider vinegar or white vinegar
- black pepper to taste
Instructions
- This sauce comes together fast, so it is crucial that you get all your ingredients ready to go ahead of time! The first thing you are going to do is take a small bowl and measure out all your dry ingredients into it. So, I measure the flour, chili powder, cumin, garlic powder, oregano, salt, and cinnamon into the small bowl. All other ingredients I have out on my counter ready to go.
- Place oil in a medium saucepan on the stove and heat on medium high heat. You want your oil to be hot before moving on. You know your oil is ready when you sprinkle a dash of your flour and spices into it and it sizzles.
- Once oil is hot enough, pour the small bowl of dry ingredients into the oil and whisk constantly for about 1 minute. The color should deepen.
- Next whisk the tomato paste into the mixture.
- Slowly pour the broth or water into the pot whisking constantly to remove any lumps.
- Raise heat slightly to bring the mixture to a simmer. Maintain a gentle simmer, while whisking often for about 5 to 7 minutes until the sauce thickens. You don't want it as thick as a gravy but when you stir the sauce the spoon has some resistance.
- Remove the sauce from the heat and whisk in the vinegar and pepper to taste.
- You are now ready to use in your favorite enchilada recipe!
- Store leftovers in an airtight container, such as mason jars with the lid and ring or even freezer bags, in the freezer for up to 6 months or in the fridge for a week.
Love the bit of cinnamon in the sauce! Adding some depth of flavor! If you need jars for your creations I would rec taking a look here at sks-bottle.com they have some great options!
Thank you so much for the recommendation! And yes the cinnamon does add a depth of flavor for sure!