Best Ever Enchilada Sauce

Name: Best Ever Enchilada Sauce
Prep time: 1 min
Cook time: 15 min
Total time: 16 min
Ingredients: 3 tbsp olive oil; 3 tbsp plain flour; 2 tbsp fajita seasoning; 250 ml vegetable stock; 250 ml passata

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If you LOVE enchiladas, then you should definitely try making your own enchilada sauce. It's so easy and tastes much better than store bought sauce. Just a few store cupboard ingredients gives you a wonderfully smooth and spicy sauce that has more uses than just enchiladas.

Enchilada sauce in a jar with a small wooden spoon.

If you want to make the best ever enchiladas, then you really need to be making the sauce yourself. It makes SUCH a difference. It is far easier than you think, and you probably already have the ingredients in your cupboard to make this. Make it as spicy or as mild as you like and it only takes 15 minutes to make.

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Why should you try it?
Step by step
Seasoning
How to use the sauce
FAQs
Extra tips
More sauce recipes
Recipe

Why should you try it?

It tastes far better than store bought enchilada sauce
You can batch cook it and freeze
It only takes 15 minutes to make
You can make it as mild or spicy as you like

Step by step

One: Heat the oil in a pan and then add in the flour and fajita seasoning.

Oil and flour being whisked in a saucepan.

Two: Slowly whisk together until it forms a paste.

A brown paste being whisked in a saucepan.

Three: Gradually add the stock and passata, stirring well.

Four: Reduce heat and simmer for 10 minutes.

Seasoning

You can buy fajita seasoning in a packet, but it’s usually loaded with extra sugar and salt. It’s really easy to make yourself, and then you can make a big batch and keep it in a jar for whenever you make fajitas. We like to sprinkle it on salmon before grilling too.

We mix together 1 tablespoon chilli powder, 1 tablespoon smoked paprika, 1 teaspoon garlic powder, 1 teaspoon onion powder, 1 teaspoon cumin, 1 teaspoon ground coriander, a pinch of sea salt, black pepper and sugar.

How to use the sauce

Well, obviously when making our Amazing Chicken Enchiladas. But there is so much more that you can do with it too. You could make some nachos and swap the salsa for this sauce, or mix it in to some shredded leftover chicken and add to tacos. You could get really creative and stir it in to pasta.

Enchiladas in a baking dish surrounded by tortilla chips, jalapenos, salsa and coriander leaves.

FAQs

Can enchilada sauce be frozen?

Yes, this sauce freezes well, which makes it great for batch cooking and making quick and easy enchiladas. Make sure the sauce has fully cooled and then portion it out in to freezer bags and it will keep in the freezer for a couple of months. Fully defrost and use as normal.

Extra tips

If you like your enchiladas really spicy, then feel free to add an extra teaspoon of chilli powder to the fajita seasoning, or you could stir a spoon of chipotle paste in to the sauce whilst it is cooking. American chilli powder is a lot milder than what we get here in the UK, so bear that in mind.
Add a pinch of cinnamon for an extra burst of flavour.
You can batch cook this sauce and it will freeze well. Let it cool and then portion it out in to freezer bags and it will keep in the freezer for a couple of months.
To make this sauce gluten free, make sure you use gluten free flour and stock.

More sauce recipes

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