EASY RED ENCHILADA SAUCE

Considering how much we love enchiladas, it’s insane that we didn’t have a go-to enchilada sauce recipe on the blog. Obviously, that had to change.

Meet your new best friend: saucy, spicy, red enchilada sauce ready in 30 minutes. Swoon! It’s so easy. Let us show you how.

Cutting board with onion, garlic, chilies, vegetables broth, tomato paste, salt, and spices for making homemade red enchilada sauce

The base for this hearty sauce is sautéed onion and garlic and a mixture dried chilies. We went for New Mexico chilies, which are milder in spice, as well as chilies de arbol for a little more heat. This combination can be tweaked to increase or reduce heat as needed (see the recipe below + notes!).

The peppers are cooked down and softened in some vegetable broth, and tomato paste, and a handful of spices bring it all together.

Making our homemade gluten-free vegan enchilada sauce recipe in a pan Blender showing the smooth texture of our Spicy Red Enchilada Sauce recipe

We hope you LOVE this sauce! It’s:

Smoky
Rich
Bold in flavor
Easy to make
Customizable
& Perfect for enchilada night

This sauce is perfect for adding not only to your favorite enchilada recipe – like our Butternut Squash & Black Bean Enchiladas – but also to things like Quinoa Taco Meat or Tortilla Soup to bring more depth of flavor. Be sure to make a double batch so you can store leftovers in the freezer! For more Mexican-inspired recipes, check out these 14 Vegan Mexican-Inspired Recipes!

If you try this sauce, let us know how it goes by writing a comment, leaving a rating, and tagging a photo #minimalistbaker on Instagram. Cheers, friends!

Big jar filled with our recipe for Spicy Red Enchilada Sauce

Ingredients

US Customary – Metric

ONIONS + GARLIC

3 Tbsp vegetable broth (or sub water or neutral oil, such as avocado)
1 cup white or yellow onion (chopped)
4 cloves garlic (peeled and smashed)

PEPPERS

7 mild dried chilies (such as New Mexico (our preferred), Ancho, or Guajillo)
1-2 dried arbol chilies* (stems removed (for heat // add more or less to adjust spice level)
2 cups vegetable broth (or store-bought – we like Imagine brand // or sub water)
1 cup water

SPICES

1/4 cup tomato paste
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp ground smoked paprika
1/2 tsp sea salt (plus more to taste)
1 tsp dried oregano (Mexican oregano if possible // optional)

Instructions

Heat a large rimmed skillet over medium heat. Once hot, add vegetable broth (or water or oil), onion, and garlic. Sauté for 4-5 minutes, stirring occasionally, until tender and slightly browned.
Add dried chilies and cook for 2 minutes on each side. Then add vegetable broth and water (see photo). Bring to a boil. Then reduce heat and cover. Simmer for 15 minutes.
Add tomato paste, cumin, paprika, salt and oregano (optional). Stir, cover, and cook for 5 more minutes or until peppers are tender.
Transfer to a high-speed blender and blend until creamy and smooth. Taste and adjust flavor as needed, adding more paprika or cumin for smokiness, salt for saltiness, or a pinch of cayenne pepper for spiciness (although it should be plenty spicy).
Use immediately. Store leftovers covered in the refrigerator up to 5 days or in the freezer up to 1 month.

Notes

*In place of the arbol chilies, you can also sub 1 chipotle pepper in adobo sauce or 1/4 – 1/2 tsp cayenne pepper (per 2 arbol chilies) when blending for added spice. Omit if you don’t like spicy sauces.
*Nutrition information is a rough estimate.