Salsa Roja para Enchiladas
Use the visual recipe as your guide. Jump to the full recipe below for preparation details. All of the ingredients should be available at your local grocery store.
Our Homemade Enchilada Sauce Recipe Can’t Be Beat
Homemade enchilada sauce beats canned enchilada sauce every time. Period. If you have never made it from scratch, you should give this authentic Mexican recipe a try. It is prepared using dried chilis not chili powder and it is much easier to make than you may think and the results are phenomenal.
A Versatile Sauce
It’s great for topping chicken enchiladas, beef enchiladas, cheese enchiladas, enchilada casserole, or even wet burritos.
Three Different Names, Equally Delicious Results
Depending on where you are, red enchilada sauce may also be called salsa roja, salsa roja para enchiladas or mole rojo. Whatever you call it, the results are equally delicious.
How to Make An Authentic Mexican Red Enchilada Sauce
Ingredients
- 8 ancho chiles (mild fruity dried chili pods)
- 4 pasilla chiles (mild fruity dried chili pods)
- 1 medium onion quartered
- 2 plum tomatoes
- 3 cloves of garlic
- ½ teaspoon Mexican oregano
- ½ teaspoon marjoram
- 2 tablespoons cooking oil
- Salt to taste
The recipe calls for dried ancho chiles and pasilla chiles. Both are mild chiles with a pleasant fruity taste. Ancho chile translates as the “wide chile” and pasilla chile translates and the “raisin chile” due to its wrinkled texture and raisin-like fragrance.
Toast the Chile Peppers
- Toasting the chiles enhances the flavor of the chiles and make them more pliable and easy to work with.
- In a hot comal or pan, you toast them for about 10 to 15 seconds per side. If you leave them on the heat too long they develop an acrid taste which you want to avoid. It is quite obvious from the smell that you have toasted them too long.
- Discard any chiles that are overly toasted.
Char the Vegetables
- Charring the vegetables is another step that helps develop the flavor of your sauce. You want to blacken them.
- Char them in a dry pan. Don’t oil the pan.
- Avoid using a non-stick pan for charring. It’s not good for the pan and it’s difficult to get a good char on the veggies.
Prep the Chiles
- Remove the stems, seeds, and veins from the chiles.
- Tear the stems off using your fingers split the chiles down the side to get to the seeds and veins. Don’t worry if you are unable to remove every last seed from the chiles. A few seeds won’t affect the flavor or texture.
- Save the seeds. They are edible. You can toast them and use them as a condiment to add heat to a variety of dishes.
Reconstitute the Chiles
- Add the chiles and all of the other ingredients to your pan.
- You are going to simmer the chiles for 15 minutes to reconstitute them and to soften the vegetables.
- Add just enough water to the pan until the ingredients are nearly covered.
Getting a Smooth Texture
- After blending, strain the sauce to give it a smooth texture and to remove the chile skin which is hard to digest.
- Push down firmly on the pulp to extract as much flavor as possible.
- Discard the pulp that remains in the strainer.
Fry the Sauce
- Once you have strained the sauce, you must fry it. I know frying the salsa sounds crazy but this is the step that most helps it develop a rich flavor. Do not skip this step.
- Add 2 tablespoons of oil or enough to cover the bottom of your pan and get it really hot. Then you slowly pour the sauce into the hot oil. The sauce will begin to sizzle and the oil continues to sizzle as you pour all of the sauce into the pan.
- Once you have fried it, which takes about 30 seconds, be sure to turn the heat down to low.
- (NOTE: The oil tends to spatter. Be very careful with this step to avoid getting burned.)
How to Avoid a Bitter Enchilada Sauce
Dried chiles are a seasonal natural product and the level of heat and bitterness can vary greatly which means at times your sauce isn’t going to turn out the way you had planned.
But, don’t worry. You will almost always be able to fix it. It may take a little trial-and-error until you get it just right.
Methods to reduce the bitterness of your sauce:
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- 1 to 2 teaspoons sugar
- 1 to 2 teaspoons agave syrup
- 1 tablespoon creamy peanut butter (This is a reader recommendation that I haven’t tried but I think it would an interesting note to your sauce)
You want to add these ingredients little-by-little to avoid overpowering your sauce. A little goes a long way.
It’s an Easy Enchilada Sauce. Time to Start Cooking!
The first batch you make will be really good, the second batch will be excellent and your third batch will be out of this world. It doesn’t take long to learn to make an authentic salsa for enchiladas. Well? What are you waiting for?
Homemade Red Enchilada Sauce Recipe
Ingredients
- 8 ancho chiles mild fruity dried chili pods
- 4 pasilla chiles mild fruity dried chili pods
- 1 medium onion quartered
- 2 plum tomatoes
- 3 cloves garlic
- ½ teaspoon Mexican oregano
- ½ teaspoon marjoram
- 2 tablespoons cooking oil
- salt to taste
Instructions
- Toast the chiles in a hot pan until fragrant. (about 10 to 15 seconds per side)
- Allow chiles to cool and then remove stems, seeds, and veins.
- Char the onion, tomatoes, and garlic in a hot pan.
- Place the chiles, onion, tomatoes, garlic oregano and marjoram in a pot with just enough water until the ingredients are almost covered.
- Bring to a boil and then reduce the heat to low.
- Simmer for 15 minutes to reconstitute the chiles and soften the veggies.
- Blend the chiles, onion, tomatoes, garlic, oregano marjoram, and the soaking water until smooth. It usually takes about a minute.
- Add water little by little if necessary to blend. You may have to blend in two batches
- Strain the mixture.
- Add two tablespoons of cooking oil to a hot pan add the strained sauce to fry it.
- Reduce the heat and simmer for 30 minutes until the sauce has thickened.
- Add salt to taste.
- Allow the sauce to sit for at least 2 hours so that the flavors meld.
- Warm the sauce before serving.
Notes
- You can add a pinch of cumin.
- Substitute chicken broth or vegetable broth for the soaking liquid.
- The sauce is ready when it coats the back of a spoon.
- To runny? If it is a little runny and you need to thicken it just simmer until it has reduced the desired consistency.
- Too thick? If it is a little too thick, add water a couple of tablespoons at a time until it has reached the desired consistency.
- Too bitter? Add only one of the following to reduce bitterness: ½ teaspoon baking soda, 1 to 2 teaspoons sugar, 1 to 2 teaspoons agave syrup.
- Use any neutral flavor cooking oil to fry.
- Serving size is about ½ cup per person.
- You can also use this enchilada sauce as the base for red posole or on poached chicken breasts.
Heghineh says
Love your food photography and details, really helps,
thank you so much for sharing
Pat says
My sauce came out bitter and I added the soda and it is still a little bitter. Can I add the next thing on the list (sugar) without ruining my sauce?
Douglas Cullen says
You can add the sugar and it won’t ruin the sauce. Add a little bit of sugar at a time until you get the flavor that you are looking for.The sauce itself is not too sweet. Hope this helps. Cheers!
kris says
Can you can this recipe?
liz says
The recipe is well written and beautifully photographed. I followed it exactly and my sauce looked like your finished product but was very, very bitter. I was able to save it by adding a quarter teaspoon of baking soda. Is the problem that I had too high a heat while reconstituting the anchos and pasillas?
Dave R says
While there may be better answers, here are my thoughts:
1. You may have scorched the peppers at the beginning. Also, be diligent in removing the inner veins.
2. Try using chicken broth as your thinner and/or boiling liquid.
3. Add a small amount of sugar or alternate sweetener. Just use small amounts to start.
4. I’ve even used a tsp or so of paprika during the boil to round those sharp edges.
Morgan says
My sauce was extremely biiter before straining. I thought I did something wrong. Then I strained with a cone colander and pestle and it was absolutely delicious. I added a bit of tomato paste too to cut down on the bitterness.
Kim says
Just double the onions, (onion fix the bitterness) TRUST ME YOU WILL BE SURPRISE
Kirk says
That is what I did doubled the onions. I roasted the chilis in the oven at 350 for about 1-2 minutes instead of a pan.
Kirk says
By the way I used all pasillas instead of the ancho chilis
Douglas Cullen says
If you like pasilla chiles, you might like this recipe https://mexicanfoodjournal.com/chile-pasilla-tomatillo-salsa/ Cheers!
Cathy says
Can you use juajillo chiles?
Douglas Cullen says
How did the recipe turn out with the extra onion? Great I’m sure. You can never have too much onion!
Lorean says
This is a wonderful and delightful website. This is among the first enchilada sauce recipe that calls to use actual chiles. I’m so excited to make this and start this tradition for my family whose used canned sauce for decades. This will give new memories to our family New Mexico enchiladas we enjoy so much. Thank you for the beautiful details and page.
Alisha says
This is very similar to how my mother makes it. I have been looking for a recipe that doesn’t use the sauce in a can *starts to dry heave*. I can’t wait to make this! Thanks for posting. The pics made me salivate….?
Douglas Cullen says
Let us know how it turns out. Provecho!
Morgan says
So delicious and very easy. When I tasted my sauce before straining it was very bitter. But after straining the extra seeds and skins it was so good. I used a cone strainer and pestle. I also added 2 tablespoons of tomato paste because I like it a little more tangy.
Kirk says
My wife says that is what this needs a little tomato sauce…
Corey says
Hello–I’m wondering if this would suffice as a base for a chili? It sounds great and I am looking to incorporate both Ancho and Pasilla in my chili. Any thoughts or suggestions would be appreciated!
Thanks,
C
Kurt Gay says
Corey,
Oddly enough, America’s Test Kitchen had a wonderful recipe where you create your own homemade mole using dried peppers. I made it once, it turned out extremely tasty. it is pretty labor intensive but was one of best batches of chili that I’ve made, and I’ve made a lot of chili. I hope that you can find it on their website…it was hidden pretty well as I recall.
shawn says
Came out pretty dang nice. I strained the sauce after soaking just the chiles (A combination of guajillo and arbol). Then added the veggies cooked and blended again. I didn’t really need another strain. I added a bit of cilantro two cloves of garlic and a fresh pablano pepper to the onion and tomato grill. I used a 50/50 mixture of chicken broth and water for boiling/blending. Finished with a scant tsp of salt and a squeeze of Agave syrup.
The flavor of the resultant sauce was intense.
Lauren says
I couldn’t find pasilla chiles, so I got some guajillo. I have anchos. How many guajillo chiles to anchos to you recommend?
Michele says
I just made this and it is fantastic! Thank you!!
Jennie V says
Going to try this tonight. I used to use my mother in law’s recipe but I lost it :( Yours looks so yummy! Thanks!
Douglas Cullen says
Let us know how your sauce turns out. Provecho!