Homemade Enchilada Sauce + Canning Instructions
This homemade Enchilada Sauce recipe is far superior to the stuff you buy in a can. Made with just a few ingredients, it’s a pepper sauce not tomato based. Like some of the recipes which aren’t authentic.
This recipe only contains six ingredients. It really couldn’t be easier.
Do you use canned enchilada sauce? If you do, you need to try this recipe! It is really easy and the taste is unbelievable! Of course, the other added bonus is that you control ingredients in your meals!! No artificial anything!
What you need
- dried peppers – Ancho, Pasilla and Guajillo chili peppers are the best. You can substitute others but be aware that the hotter the pepper you pick, the hotter the sauce. The japones pictured are hotter and make a hotter sauce.
- garlic – peeled
- onion – cut into wedges
- tomatoes – you need both fresh tomatoes and crushed tomatoes.
- oregano – if you have Mexican oregano, use that.
- marjoram
How to make it
- Buy a mixture of peppers, I use what I can find. Today I found Chile Arbol and Guajillo. I also use serrano and ancho when I can find them. To prepare the enchilada sauce, all you need to do is char the peppers in a dry cast iron pan..
- Let peppers cool and char the vegetables in same pan, or on the grill. Once peppers cool, remove seeds. Turn and brown vegetables on all sides.
- Add onions, tomatoes and peppers to a pan.
- Add crushed tomatoes and herbs.
- Cook for about 30 minutes.
- Make sure the vegetables are soft and the peppers are reconstituted.
- Transfer to blender container. Break up into batches if you multiply this recipe. Process in your blender until smooth.
- I clean the pan that I browned the peppers and vegetables in between. Then add a few teaspoons of olive oil to the pan
- Then, strain the sauce through a fine sieve.
- Discard the solids.
- Cook it down for another 30-minutes, or so, until it gets nice and thick. That’s all there is to it!
*** See recipe notes for important substitutions!!
How to Store leftovers
You can place the enchilada sauce in a sterilized jar and store it in the refrigerator for a couple weeks. It also freezes beautifully! Freeze it in a canning jar (leave at least 1″ headspace), or place it in plastic bags. Freeze sauce at least 1 year.
Thawing Sauce
When you want to use frozen sauce, thaw completely in the refrigerator and then reheat.
You can also add a few tablespoons of water to a saucepan. Cover pan with lid and slowly thaw sauce, over medium low heat. If sauce needs to thicken a bit, because of the added water, remove lid and cook on medium low, stirring occasionally, until desired consistency.
How pressure can sauce
This Enchilada sauce can also be pressure canned.
Ladle hot sauce into hot jars, leaving 1″ headspace (space between the sauce and the rim of the jar). Wipe rim of jars clean with damp towel. Center lids on jars. Tighten band fingertip tight.
Place jars in pressure canner on rack with 2″ of water in the bottom. Place lid on canner and lock. Allow steam to vent for 10 minutes. Place the dial or weighted gauge on pot. Allow pot to come up to 10 psi (pounds per square inch) for weighted gauge and 11 psi for dial gauge, over medium high heat.
Process pint jars for 50 minutes. Turn off heat. Allow pressure to vent naturally. Leave for 5 minutes. Then remove lid. Let jars sit in pot for another 10 minutes to cool.
Carefully remove from canner and place on counter. Do not disturb for 12-24 hours. Then check seal. Lid should not flex up or down. If any do then jar is not sealed and should be stored in the refrigerator for about a week or frozen for longer storage.
For step by instructions, via video, head over to my YouTube video! There is also a video for assembling and cooking the enchiladas.
How to use it
Use this enchilada for any type of enchiladas you like, such as chicken, beef, pork, cheese, bean. You can also use it for taco dips, make an enchilada pasta dish, an enchilada or tamale casserole, and lots of other recipes.
Subscribe to my YouTube channel for more instructional videos! Recipe for pork enchiladas is here.
Are you a fan of making your own sauces? Try this Green Tomato Sauce for pasta, honey BBQ sauce for grilling, Lobster Ravioli Sauce, or this Mojo Rojo, which is great for so many things.
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Please ask any questions or share your comments in the comments section below. We’d love to hear from you.
I hope you enjoyed the recipe today.
Enjoy. And have fun cooking!
Homemade Enchilada Sauce recipe
Ingredients
- 3 dried ancho clillies *see notes
- 3 dried guajillo or pasilla chillies
- 2 fresh tomatoes *see notes
- 1 c crushed tomatoes
- 1 medium onion
- 4 cloves garlic
- 1/2 tsp dried marjoram
- 1/2 tsp oregano, dried
Instructions
- Toast peppers in a dry cast iron pan on both sides, remove and let cool.3 dried ancho clillies, 3 dried guajillo or pasilla chillies
- Quarter onion. Peel garlic. Halve tomatoes. Toast the onions, garlic and tomatoes in the same pan.2 fresh tomatoes, 1 medium onion, 4 cloves garlic
- Remove to a medium saucepan.
- Once peppers are cool enough to handle. Remove seeds and stem end and place in the saucepan with the onions and tomatoes.
- Add crushed tomatoes , marjoram and oregano. Almost cover the vegetables with water and bring to boil.1 c crushed tomatoes, 1/2 tsp dried marjoram, 1/2 tsp oregano, dried
- Reduce heat and simmer for 15 minutes or so until the peppers have reconstituted.
- Place the contents in a blender and cover the blender with a kitchen towel, in case it splatters so you won’t get burned. Blend on high at least a minute.
- Strain the mixture through a fine mesh sieve to remove the solids. Discard the solids. The sauce will look thin at this stage.
- Add a few teaspoons of oil to a frying pan and heat over medium high heat. Add the strained sauce and fry for a few minutes.
- Reduce heat and simmer at least 30 minutes until sauce has thickened and coats the back of spoon.
- Let the sauce sit at least 2 hours for the flavors to mingle.
How to Pressure Can Sauce
- Ladle hot sauce into hot jars, leaving 1″ headspace (space between the sauce and the rim of the jar). Wipe rim of jars clean with damp towel. Center lids on jars. Tighten band fingertip tight.
- Place jars in pressure canner on rack with 2″ of water in the bottom. Place lid on canner and lock. Allow steam to vent for 10 minutes.
- Place the dial or weighted gauge on pot. Allow pot to come up to 10 psi (pounds per square inch) for weighted gauge and 11 psi for dial gauge, over medium high heat. See altitude adjustment in recipe notes below.
- Process pint jars for 50 minutes. Turn off heat. Allow pressure to vent naturally. Leave for 5 minutes. Then remove lid. Let jars sit in pot for another 10 minutes to cool.
- Carefully remove from canner and place on counter. Do not disturb for 12-24 hours. Then check seal. Lid should not flex up or down. If any do then jar is not sealed and should be stored in the refrigerator for about a week or frozen for longer storage.
See all of my favorite tools and gift ideas on my New Amazon Store!Check out Binky’s Amazon Store!Video
Notes
Nutrition
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Dried Marjoram ? I use cumin spice or roasted cumin seeds crushed. I pour mixture into plastic ice cube tray, when frozen, I then transfer into plastic bag, just use as needed. but mostly I use it freshly made. This had a nice taste to it w/cumin, I’ll give it a try with the marjoram.
It isn’t a lot of marjoram but it adds a nice flavor. Freezing it is a great option.
I was looking for this comment – can I use all canned tomatoes? I have everything on hand except fresh tomatoes.
Yes, you can used canned. Just drain them and don’t roast them.
I’ve always made it with just salt and garlic and then freeze, sometimes I add tomatillo. Question can I can it with just garlic, and salt?
It would depend on what else is in the recipe? Peppers? Tomatoes? Quantities? The mixture needs to be acidic enough to can it and make it shelf stable.
i dont pressure can. can i water bath and for how long.
thanks
It will not be stable if you water bath can it. You could water bath can and then store it in the fridge for about 6 months, if the jars are not opened. It’s probably a better idea to freeze it. It will freeze for at least a year.
Other than the taste of the sauce, do you need to add the tomatoes? I want to make sure they are not needed for acidity.
Use the tomatoes for acidity. Thanks!
Can you use fresh poblano peppers?
You could. The sauce will be mild and not as red.
I tried to recipe before canning and will now, definitely be making in bulk and canning as it is a lot of work. Mine was bitter so I added coconut sugar, and it was excellent. I also made your enchiladas. everything was a hit! Thank you for sharing!
The bitterness of the sauce will depend on the type of dried peppers that you use. Adding sugar was a good fix to mitigate that. We’re glad that you like it!
Hello I am trying to do 20 times the recipe with all fresh tomatoes can someone help on how many pounds of tomatoes I should use I am using all Romas thank you.
In the blue area above the recipe, there is a box that you change the servings that you want to make. It will multiply all of the numbers for you to increase the batch. The original recipe is for 8 servings. If you’d like to do 20 times that, you will change that number to 160 servings. 1 pound of tomatoes yields about 2 cups of crushed tomatoes, therefore, you will need about 10 pounds of fresh tomatoes. That should yield about 40 pints.
Can we ask why you rated the recipe 2 stars?
This recipe looks so good. I have the necessary ingredients but wanted to clarify the number of chili peppers I need for making 10 times this recipe. With 6 total peppers per recipe my humble math comes to 60 peppers. My confusion came after watching another youtuber do a video on canning your recipe. She was making 20 times the recipe to make to last her small family a year. She stated she used 60 total peppers. If it were 20 times the recipe amount wouldn’t that be 120 peppers? Thats a Wowser amount. I thought the recipe sounded so straight forward but now It gives me a headache to think about chili peppers at all. Can you clarify the total number of peppers I need for 10 times the recipe.
I would go with the 60 peppers. This recipe is medium hot to hot, depending on which peppers you use.