This Enchilada Sauce Recipe is the BEST! With no cooking required, this red enchilada sauce comes together in five minutes flat, using a blender. Video. Plus 45 Fresh & Tasty Mexican Recipes!
Here’s the easiest tastiest Enchilada Sauce that requires no cooking, no chopping and can be made in literally five minutes, using a blender! You’ll never buy it again! Full of flavor, this red Enchilada Sauce is silky smooth and perfect for Vegetarian Enchiladas, Chicken Enchiladas, smothered burritos, or Enchilada Pie.
Enchilada Sauce Video
Table of Contents
Ingredients In Enchilada Sauce
Ingredient Notes
- Tomatoes– diced, fire-roasted canned tomatoes are our go-to. But regular diced tomatoes work, tomato puree or even tomato sauce. If you have an abundance of fresh tomatoes, definitely use those!
- Vinegar- adds a tangy brightness to the sauce. Use apple cider, or any light colored vinegar.
- Garlic– easiest to use dried garlic powder or granulated garlic but fresh is best.
- Spices– a mix of chili powder, ground cumin, chipotle, oregano , salt and pepper totally create the depth of flavor in the sauce. Use fresh oregano if you have it!
See the recipe card below for a full list of ingredients and measurements.
Why You’ll Love This Enchilada Sauce Recipe!
- No pre-cooking required! This untraditional Enchilada Sauce is made in reverse, blended then cooked. It cooks in the oven with your enchiladas- and it comes in very handy when short on time.
- Made with simple pantry ingredients. Most everyone has these basic ingredients on hand, saving you from the dreaded last-minute trip to the grocery store. (Very similar in flavor to Trader Joe’s bottled Enchilada Sauce.)
- Use fresh or canned tomatoes! During the summer months, use fresh tomatoes, and during the colder months, diced canned tomatoes or tomato puree work well too.
- It’s healthy. This is such an easy way to cut back on highly processed foods. You know exactly what is in this sauce. No artificial flavors or preservatives. Make it organic if you like. We intentionally leave out the flour so its gluten-free and vegan.
How to make Enchilada Sauce!
- Place enchilada sauce ingredients in blender. (If using tomato puree, you can whisk or stir ingredients in a bowl.)
- Blend until smooth.
- It’s done and ready to use!
How to store Enchilada Sauce
Refrigerate Enchilada Sauce up to 5 days in a sealed jar in the refrigerator, or freeze for up to 6 months in the freezer. I haven’t tried canning this recipe, but I am sure it could be done easily.
Of course, you can cook the Enchilada Sauce after you blend it- just simmer gently, over medium heat, covered in a saucepan for 10-15 minutes, but if using it on something that will be baked, or cooked, not need to simmer ahead of time.
Recipe FAQS
Yes the sauce will stay fresh in the fridge for 4 days.
Yes! It freezes beautifully.
This easy enchilada sauce recipe is made from tomatoes, chili and Mexican spices.
In this authentic enchilada sauce recipe, the key is using high quality ingredients and achieving the perfect balance between savory depth, tangy and spicy heat.
There are many varieties of enchilada sauces. This version is red made with a tomato base. Green Enchilada sauce is made with tomatillos and green chilies.
Ways to Use Enchilada Sauce
We use this homemade enchilada sauce in so many ways! Of course on our enchiladas, drizzled over nachos before baking, in casseroles, with tamales, in smothered burritos, quesadillas, and mixed with shredded chicken.
More Recipes You May Enjoy
- Easy Chicken Enchiladas
- Shrimp Enchiladas
- Chicken(or Turkey) Enchiladas with Black Beans
- Butternut Squash Enchiladas
- 45 Fresh & Tasty Mexican Recipes!
A fast and easy recipe for Enchilada Sauce, not lacking in flavor!
Love this recipe? Please let us know in the comments and leave a 5-star ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ rating below the recipe card.
Print
Enchilada Sauce Recipe
- Prep Time: 5
- Total Time: 5 minutes
- Yield: 2 cups 1x
- Category: sauce
- Method: blended
- Cuisine: mexican
- Diet: Vegan
Description
A quick and easy, homemade, red enchilada sauce recipe that requires no cooking! Can be made in 5 minutes using a blender.
Ingredients
- 14.5-ounce can of diced tomatoes (with juices) preferably fire-roasted tomatoes (or sub-crushed tomatoes, tomato sauce, tomato puree, or 1 1/2 cups fresh tomatoes)
- 1/4 cup water
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 2 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
- 2 teaspoons chili powder
- 1 teaspoon granulated garlic (or onion powder, or 2–3 garlic cloves)
- 1 teaspoon cumin
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 teaspoon dried oregano (or 2 teaspoons fresh)
- optional: 1/4 teaspoon chipotle powder or cayenne pepper (or smoked paprika for smoky flavor) more to taste.
Instructions
- Place all ingredients in a blender.
- Blend until smooth.
- Taste, add more chili powder or chipotle powder to desired heat level.
- If serving over enchiladas, the sauce will cook as it bakes with enchiladas.
- Or feel free to simmer gently on the stovetop, covered for 10-15 minutes.
Notes
The sauce will keep 4 days in the fridge or can be frozen.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: ¼ cup
- Calories: 47
- Sugar: 1.2 g
- Sodium: 377.6 mg
- Fat: 3.7 g
- Saturated Fat: 0.5 g
- Carbohydrates: 3.7 g
- Fiber: 0.8 g
- Protein: 0.7 g
- Cholesterol: 0 mg
A staple in our house. So quick and easy to make and so flavorful. My husband calls it, “magic sauce.” Thanks for making me seem like a gourmet chef with all your great recipes on this site!
Awesome to hear! Thanks for circling back and rating it Leah, very appreciated!
This is my go-to enchilada sauce – it takes 5 minutes flat to make, it’s delicious, and I can control the sodium. We like spicy food so I increase the chipotle, but I only use 2 teaspoons of the olive oil instead of 2 tablespoons.
Perfect Linda!
Yum! I ran out of enchilada sauce, and looked up this quick recipe… this sauce was great! I honestly didn’t measure anything bc i was rushing.. just poured everything straight into the blender! I will definitely not be buying store bought sauce anymore.. this was so simple and much cheaper than buying a can if enchilada sauce.
Awesome! Great to hear.
Sooo very delicious! Have made this twice now- today did not have chipotle powder so used chipotle peppers. So good! In fact what I did not use in the enchilada casserole (winner!) I had as a dip- call me crazy however it’s just that good!
Thank you for your amazing recipes!
Haha, awesome Connie! Glad you enjoyed!
Nuthin’ new to report here. This is the fastest, easiest, most well balanced, delicious sauce ever. Thank you!
Yay! Thanks Rose.:)
So easy and delicious. I will never buy store bought enchilada sauce again.
Wonderful!
Delicious! Thank you for the great recipe.
Glad you enjoyed!
I just had to say this is the best blender sauce!! I was looking for a blender sauce recipe and had tried 3 others before this, they were ok, but I felt they needed tweaking somehow, then I came across this one, and holy moly, as soon as I gave it a taste, I knew, this was the one for me, perfect flavor profile as written and it couldn’t be easier, I used the fire roasted tomatoes in mine.
I’ve already deleted all my other enchilada sauces. This is my one and only now. Thank you so much for posting this recipe.
Thanks so much, PJR! So glad to hear this is working for you.
Super quick and yummy. I made this when I was out of canned sauce and now I never buy the canned sauce anymore.
Perfect Lynell- so happy this is working for you!
Thank you for this great, quick and delicious recipe. I like it better than any other prepared or homemade Enchilada Sauce I’ve made before. I used the diced tomatoes and the cayenne. I added less water, maybe a few tablespoons, because I wanted a slightly thicker sauce. On top of all of this, I decided to just layer some already made “taco seasoned” ground beef I had defrosted from the freezer, bite sized pieces of tortillas (I used flour but next time I’m going to use corn; either should be great), grated Sharp Cheddar and this sauce. I think you could also use other Mexican seasoned meat, like chicken and add some diced black olives to the top. I served this with some sour cream on the side. Very good!
Yum! Sounds perfect Kathy!
Great recipe, delicious flavours but WAY too spicy for us. We like mild/medium heat so I only used 1tsp chili powder and that was too hot when I tasted it before cooking over enchiladas. Turned it into a double batch (so 1/2 tsp chili for the normal recipe) and still too spicy. I can eat it, but only just. Not sure if we have spicier chili powder here or something (I definitely didn’t use cayenne!). Next time will just use 1/4 tsp chili but keep the rest the same. Besides being too spicy the rest is perfect! Soooooo much better than the packet you get in the enchilada kits from the supermarket 😀
Interesting Rachel. Yes, chili powder is usually not very spicy. I wonder if you got a particularly hot batch? Is it in a store-boughtlabeled jar? Or in a spice jar you filled at home that could have been mis-labeled? (I have done that before!). Without the chipotle or cayenne, this recipe is really quite mild- so I’m thinking there was a mix up.
I think you may be right about it just being a super hot chili powder. I came across some years ago at a bulk food store. I was surprised at the heat, but hurried back to buy more as I loved it!
I have made this enchilada sauce many times and have never found it particularly spicy.
Ok, I don’t find it very spicy either. Sometimes there are hot batches of chili powder- and in the bulk section, mistakes can happen I suppose?
This was delicious with granulated garlic and dried oregano. I’m looking forward to making it again using fresh oregano and garlic.
I wanted to use up half a small can of chipotle peppers in adobo sauce, so I added it as well. It tastes great but a little more spicy than I expected !😄
Glad you enjoyed it Yvonne! I love chipotle in this recipe… tasty and spicy!
Excellent! I’ll never buy jar sauce again. Thank you so much! I especially like the Rancho Gordo New Mexican Red Chili Powder you recommend.
So happy you liked it Alisa~!
This was way better than the time spent on it would lead you to believe. Made it as listed and simmered for 10 minutes.
Glad to hear Jason!
This is my go to enchilada sauce. Haven’t had one better than this!
Awww… great to hear Angie!
Yes in place of paprika I use Tumeric helps with inflammation
Perfect Zariah, I bet it gives it a nice golden color too!
So easy and perfect flavor! My new favorite! I was out of ACV, so used rice wine vinegar…and out of oregano, so used Herbs de Provence. PERFECTION!!!
Great Sarah! Good to know.
How many fresh tomatoes would be needed?
Thanks,
Stephanie
About 1 1/2 cups, diced with their juices.
This sauce is the BEST! I never liked enchiladas until I made this sauce! Thank you so much!
Awww… that’s awesome Alisa. Glad it made a convert out of you!
Through and through, on point, and delicious. Will definitely cheat again!!
Awesome Tulin!
This was a great substitute. I added a little more cumin and roasted chili powder to our taste, but this worked well.
Great to hear!
This is an awesome tasty recipe! Will definitely use it as my to go for recipe for enchilada sauce!
Glad you liked it!
This recipe creates the best enchilada sauce we have ever had!
Thanks Carol! Yes, it’s a good one and so darn easy. 😉
Excellent and fast. Love it!
Great to hear Heather!
So although true that my made from scratch, roasted red pepper enchilada sauce is better . . . for tonight, a start of the work week Monday night, it was perfection. This recipe truly did take only five minutes to make and the baked on flavor was delicious. The roasted red peppers can wait for a holiday. I will definitely make this again (and again).
Awesome Robin- yes, a quick, “cheater recipe” intended for busy nights. 😉