Enchilada Sauce

I love the feeling I get when I make a meal that is truly home-made! Enchilada sauce is easy to buy and use but there is just something special about making it myself. I get a little feeling of accomplishment and pride that what I’m feeding to my family and friends is free from preservatives and other junk that comes from processed foods.

This recipe is written to use canned tomato sauce, but if you want to use fresh tomatoes that’s even better! You can also use canned whole or chopped tomatoes. Many options. If using canned tomato sauce make sure to buy a plain sauce with no oil or seasonings added. While researching other enchilada sauce recipes online I saw a lot that were made with various oils, as well as flour. These are completely unnecessary ingredients. They are fillers that only serve to add calories and fat to the sauce.

Makes: 2 cups (enough for about 6 enchiladas)

Preparation time: 5m
Cooking time: 5m
Total time: 5m

Ingredients:

  • 1 cup tomato sauce (or 1 can tomatoes drained or a handful of fresh tomatoes)
  • 1 cup water (approximate, this will change if using canned or fresh tomatoes)
  • 1/4 cup chile powder (mild)
  • 1/4 teaspoon ground cumin
  • 1/4 teaspoon garlic granules
  • 1/4 teaspoon onion powder
  • 1/4 teaspoon dried oregano
  • salt (to taste)

Equipment: blender, small saucepan (if using fresh tomatoes)

Instructions:

  1. Place the tomato sauce/drained canned tomatoes/or fresh, peeled and seeded tomatoes into a blender. If using canned sauce move on to step 2.
  2. If using canned tomatoes: puree on high until smooth then measure. Now add enough water to the puree to make 2 cups, move on to step 3.
  3. If using fresh tomatoes: peel and de-seed them, then place into the blender and puree on high until smooth. Measure the pureed liquid, you want to have about 1 1/4 cups of puree. Pour into a sauce pan and simmer until the sauce darkens. This will only take a few minutes. Measure the amount again and add water enough to make 2 cups. Then move on to step 3.
  4. Add 1 cup of water (only if using canned sauce).
  5. At this point you should have 2 cups of watered down tomato sauce in a blender. Now add the chili powder, cumin, garlic powder, onion powder, and oregano to the blender and puree on high until well blended.
  6. Taste and add salt as needed. This will vary based on if your beginning tomato sauce is salted or not. Blend again, taste again.
  7. Use to make INLINE-LINK-START title="Veggie Enchiladas" href="../../../recipes/veggie-enchiladas" target="_blank">enchiladas INLINE-LINK-END.