Homemade Authentic Enchilada Sauce Recipe. Pour this Mexican red chili sauce over enchiladas, tamales, and burritos.
Enchiladas are a great famiy friendly dinner. Tender beef, chicken, vegetables, and/or cheeses rolled in a corn tortilla then smoothered in chili sauce.
Ingredients For Homemade Enchilada Sauce
This authentic enchilada sauce is easy to make with simple ingredients.
- Dried New Mexico Chilis
- Water
- Tomato Paste
- Garlic
- Cumin
- Salt
- Oregano
- Beef Bouillon
- Canola or Corn Oil
When shopping for dried chilis I look for rich color and texture. Pass on the chilis that are browned, brittle, and dusty.
How to Make Enchilada Sauce
Set your oven to 275 F.
The first thing you need to do to make enchilida sauce is prep your dried peppers for your homemade enchilada sauce. You will cut off the stems, slice them open and deseed them. Next, lay the peppers in a single layer on a baking sheet.
Do not put them in the oven and walk away. The peppers will burn and turn bitter very quickly.
Place them in the oven for 1 to 2 minutes. Any longer you risk burning the chili peppers.
Remove the peppers from the oven and put them in a pot of 5 cups of hot water, not boiling. The peppers will soak for 30 minutes. Save the soaking water.
Transfer rehydrated peppers and soaking water to a high-quality blender. Add remaining ingredients: tomato paste, garlic cloves, ground cumin, salt, dried oregano, Better than Bouillon Beef Base, and corn oil. Blend the enchilada sauce ingredients until smooth.
Your blender will need to be strong enough to liquefy your enchilada sauce ingredients. Use a colander to strain the sauce and catch bits that did not get blended. Strain into a medium size sauce pot and heat through on medium-low heat.
If there are a lot of chili skin bits clogging your colander then take a rubber spatula and press the sauce threw the colander holes.
How to Store Leftover Enchilada Sauce
I save my leftover red enchilada chili sauce for other recipes like my breakfast burritos, tamales, nachos, and tacos.
To store leftover Enchilada Sauce place the sauce in an airtight container and refrigerate. It will stay good for up to 4 days.
You can also freeze it. Pour sauce into a freezer bag and place it in your freezer.
Do not store it in a plastic container. The sauce will stain the container.
More Recipes
Authentic Enchilada Sauce
Authentic Mexican Enchilada Sauce Recipe.
Ingredients
- 15 dried New Mexico Chilis, stems and seeds removed.
- 5 cups Water
- 6 oz. Tomato Paste
- 3 cloves Garlic
- 2 tsp Ground Cumin
- 1 tsp Salt
- 2 tsp Dried Oregano
- 5 tsp Better than Bouillon Beef Base
- 1/4 cup Corn Oil
Instructions
- Remove stems and seeds from peppers. Place chile peppers on a baking sheet and bake for 1 to 2 minutes at 275F. Avoid burning.
- Remove peppers from the oven and place them in a pot with 5 cups of hot water (not boiling) and allow them to soak for 30 minutes. Save soaking water.
- Transfer the peppers and soaking water to a blender. Add tomato sauce, garlic, cumin, salt, oregano, beef bouillion, and corn oil: blend until smooth.
- Strain enchilada sauce through a colander to remove any bits of pepper skin.
- Transfer the sauce to a saucepan and heat through.
Notes
Be careful not to burn the peppers in the oven. It will make your sauce too bitter to eat.