Enchilada Sauce – A Lovely Mess

Enchiladas can be such a great weeknight dinner—and the key is great enchilada sauce. We will often change up what goes inside the enchiladas, like if they are mostly beans and cheese, stir fried vegetables, or cooked ground beef or chicken. And I’ll even change up if I use corn tortillas or flour. But this is my go-to homemade red enchilada sauce. It’s simple, flavorful and made of mostly self stable ingredients.

This enchilada sauce recipe is a classic. No matter what you like to fill your enchiladas with, top them with this sauce and some shredded cheese and you’ve got dinner made!

Related: If you love this classic (red) enchilada sauce, you may also like Creamy White Sauce Vegetable Enchiladas or Chicken Verde Enchiladas.

Ingredients

• Butter
• All-purpose flour
• Chili powder
• Cumin
• Garlic powder
• Onion powder
• Oregano
• Salt
• Tomato paste
• Stock – I usually use chicken stock
• Lime

Directions

In a small to medium pot, melt the butter over medium heat. Whisk in the flour, this will make a thick paste. Turn the heat down to low and quickly add in the other spices, salt and tomato paste. Cook for another 30 seconds, this will make a very fragrant and thick paste.

Now whisk in the stock. Turn the heat up just a little and continue to whisk until the sauce thickens. Remove from heat and stir in the lime juice. Taste and add more salt if you feel it needs it.

You can use this sauce right away or store in an airtight container in the refrigerator for at least five days. You could also choose to freeze this homemade enchilada sauce.

Tips for Making

• This sauce comes together quickly, so it’s best to have all your ingredients ready and measured out before you begin. The aim is to toast the spices and tomato paste, not burn them.
• If you feel the sauce isn’t thickening up to your liking, you can whisk together 1 teaspoon cornstarch with 2 teaspoons of water, then pour this into the sauce and continue to cook (before adding the lime juice) until it thickens to the level you prefer. I like my enchilada sauce thick enough to coat a spoon, but not like syrup, so I rarely find this necessary.
• If you want to make this vegan, you can swap the butter for oil and the chicken stock for vegetable stock. Sometimes, I will use vegetable stock anyway, if I have it on hand. I think both work well in this recipe.
• If you want to add more heat than the chili powder provides, try adding 1/4 teaspoon cayenne or blending a chipotle pepper into the sauce.

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