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Homemade enchilada sauce is an easy DIY kitchen recipe. It’s healthier than the store-bought version, which is full of unnecessary additives.
Homemade enchilada sauce is one of the easiest condiments to make. The canned version tends to include lots of questionable ingredients, including MSG, modified corn starch, and hydrolyzed soy protein. You can control the ingredients in your sauce by making your own.
This sauce is very versatile. You can use it in my vegetarian enchilada casserole or chicken enchiladas to spice things up on taco night.
Homemade Enchilada Sauce Tips
It takes just a few minutes to put together, and it tastes fantastic. If you’re short on time, you can skip the stovetop part of this recipe by using a bit of onion powder and garlic powder. Simply stir the ingredients together in a bowl, and you’re ready to go.
Freeze the extra sauce and save it for a Mexican meal on a busy night. It’s such a great recipe to have on hand!
Here’s a video that shows the easy process behind this enchilada sauce:
Enchilada Sauce
Ingredients
- 1 tbs olive oil
- 1/4 cup diced onion
- 1 clove garlic crushed
- 2 tbs chili powder
- 1 1/2 tsp cumin
- 1 tsp salt
- 2 cups tomato sauce
Instructions
- In a medium skillet, cook the onion in the olive oil over medium-low heat for five minutes, or until soft. Add the crushed garlic, chili powder, cumin, and salt to the pan. Stir and cook for another minute to combine the flavors.
- Add the tomato sauce to the pan. Simmer gently for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.
- Let the sauce cool, then transfer it to an airtight container. You can store it in the refrigerator for several days, or freeze it for several months.
Nutrition Estimate
Homemade Enchilada Sauce Price Breakdown
This recipe costs a total of $1.81 to make and it yields 2 cups. This quantity of store-bought sauce would cost over $3.00, and it would be full of ingredients you don’t want to be eating. This sauce is a simple DIY staple that your family will love.
Linda says
I’m going to try this next week. My plan is to make my own flour tortillas and this sauce for veggie enchiladas. I’d love to make this for my granddaughter!
Annemarie says
Sounds delicious! Enjoy.
Liz says
I’m in a food coop,and I’m expecting 40 pounds of tomatoes this weekend. I wasn’t happy with my current enchilada sauce, so I’m lining forward to teeing this one along with my passion tomato sauce, pasta sauce, and salsa! Thanks!
Annemarie says
Thanks, Liz. I hope you enjoy it! We love this sauce.
Glenna Olson says
I have home canned tomatoes in their own juice. If I pour off the juice or broth and cook down the tomatoes into a sauce I would think I could use them in this recipe. What do yo think. I would definetely use the broth elsewhere when I need veggie broth.
Annemarie says
Yes, that should work, Glenna. You could also puree what you have canned and use that (juice and all). You may need to simmer it a bit longer to get the consistency you want. Let me know how it turns out!
Jessica says
I’m having a hard time viewing the actual recipe. I’ve used it before and loved it but now when the page has loaded the actual recipe is not there.
Annemarie says
So sorry about that, Jessica! There was a problem with my recipe plugin, but you should be able to view the recipe now.
Amy Lehman says
I made this tonight and it was fabulous!!!! No more mystery can for us. Thank you for sharing
Annemarie says
Thanks so much for the feedback, Amy! I’m glad you liked it.
Lyn says
Thank you so much for posting this. I have hated buying the grocery store stuff so I’m really excited to try this very soon.
Annemarie says
Thanks, Lyn! I hope you like it.
Kirsten says
Annemarie,
You’re so right! I made a massive batch of enchilada sauce using some slow roasted tomatoes (just the tomatoes, not made into tomato sauce or anything). The recipe made so much sauce, in fact, that I froze a QUART of leftovers for another batch of enchiladas. I had amazing success growing and putting up tomatoes last summer, and though I’ve still got ample jars of crush tomatoes and tomato jam, I am running low on tomato sauce and salsa–and that makes me hopeful that this winter will at some point end so I can put up more tomatoes!!
Annemarie says
If you’re running out of tomato stuff, spring must be coming!