Making homemade versions of easy, convenient, store bought foods can be tricky sometimes. We’ve all come to rely on convenient, ready-made, over processed, and preservative added foods in our hectic fast paced lives. I am completely guilty of this, especially before I had kids. As I’ve started to become more aware of what I serve to the tots, my feelings about mass produced items has changed. If I have time to make it, I try… sometimes it’s an epic failure, but darn it, I try!
This enchilada sauce recipe is most definitely not a “fail”! My family loved it in the enchiladas I made a few days ago. It’s spicy, rich, and has a lot of depth of flavor for a sauce that takes minimal time on the stove. I did tweak it a bit to suit our tastes and I also made it vegetarian by replacing the chicken broth with vegetable broth. This sauce can also be vegan if you omit the sour cream.
After this experiment with the homemade, I don’t think I will be using the canned enchilada sauce of my past. The “real” stuff is just too good and too easy!
Homemade Red Enchilada Sauce
Makes abut 2 cups
1 1/2 cups tomato sauce
2-3 tablespoons chopped chipotle chilies
3/4 cup vegetable broth
2 garlic cloves, finely minced
1 teaspoon extra virgin olive oil
3 tablespoons low fat sour cream
1/2 teaspoon chili powder
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
salt & pepper to taste
Heat a medium sized saucepan over medium heat. Once hot, add olive oil. Bring to temperature and sauté garlic until fragrant. Do not brown. Add the tomato sauce, vegetable broth, chipotles, chili powder, cumin, and salt & pepper.
Stir well and bring to a low boil. Reduce the heat to low and simmer for 10 minutes, until the flavors have blended. Adjust salt & pepper to taste. Remove from heat and allow to cool.
Once cooled, transfer the sauce to a large bowl or container. Take a hand blender and blend until smooth. The sauce may be blended in a standard blender as well, in small batches.
Mix in the 3 tablespoons of sour cream until smooth. Refrigerate until ready to assemble the enchiladas.
Homemade Red Enchilada Sauce
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cups tomato sauce
- 1 tablespoon sauce chipotle chilies in adobo sauce + 1 chili
- 3/4 cup vegetable broth
- 2 garlic cloves finely minced
- 1 teaspoon extra virgin olive oil
- 3 tablespoons low fat sour cream
- 1/2 teaspoon chili powder
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
- salt & pepper to taste
Instructions
- Heat a medium sized saucepan over medium heat. Once hot, add olive oil.
- Bring to temperature and sauté garlic until fragrant. Do not brown. Add the tomato sauce, vegetable broth, chipotle sauce + chipotle pepper, chili powder, cumin, and salt & pepper.
- Stir well and bring to a low boil. Reduce the heat to low and simmer for 10 minutes, until the flavors have blended.
- Adjust salt & pepper to taste.
- Remove from heat and allow to cool.
- Once cooled, transfer the sauce to a large bowl or container.
- Take a hand blender and blend until smooth. The sauce may be blended in a standard blender as well, in small batches. Mix in the 3 tablespoons of sour cream until smooth.
- Refrigerate until ready to assemble the enchiladas.
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