I have made at least 6 enchilada sauce recipes off this site, even the scratch boil-the-chiles-put-in-blender-strain-etc. This one is not only the easiest, but it's the best. I've made it dozens of times with only a few minor adjustments. At times I use a mixture of New Mexico and Calif chile powders. If I'm out of one, I'll use the other. Both have the best flavor for enchiladas. There doesn't seem to be a reason to use self-rising flour, so I use regular. If I have chicken broth on hand, I use that as a substite for the water. Same with fresh garlic. I add about an ounce or two of dark chocolate to the mix for a bit more depth in flavor. You can't taste the chocolate, but it does add something.
I dip my corn tortillas in the sauce while the sauce is still pretty hot. I also pour sauce in the bottom of the baking dish before I place the rolled up enchiladas in. Don't worry if your sauce seems too thin; it thickens in the oven.
Don't bother with any other sauce recipes on this site. Take my word for it, this one is the best.
P.S. The best New Mexico chile powder is the 69 cent "Chile New Mexico Molido" in the red, white, and green package by the company "Mexico Spices Corp"
I hate to give this three stars but I hate it when people rate recipes by the changes they have made. I followed the recipe exactly and the sauce had way too strong of a chili powder flavor to it, I nearly gaged. So I added more garlic pwd, cumin and onion pwd, it ended up tasting pretty good. However next time I will try 3 TBSP chili pwd and double the rest of the spices. I hope this helps someone! Revised: 04-1-08 I made this again and doubled the spices and only used two TBSP of chili powder it was much better, not perfect but much better.
my family loved this! I had to make some changes though. I didn't have tomato sauce, so I blended up a 14 ounce can of tomatoes and juice and used all of it. It sounded like a whole lot of chile pwdr., and I had no idea what the diffference between New Mexico or Calif chile pwdr., but used what I had and it was great. I started out using half the amount of chile pwdr. called for just in case and found I needed the entire amount called for. When it was done, the sauce was a little bland for my taste, so I upped the amount of garlic, onion, cumin to 3/4 tsp. It was then great! To this sauce, I added boiled, shredded chicken, (3 boneless skinless chicken breasts) and 2 cans (4 ounce) green chiles. WOW!!!! Now we have a very versatile dish! Use for tacos, enchiladas, salad, nachos-you can't go wrong and I think the end product was a 5 star! Use your discretion at upping the amount of spice according to your own taste.
I have made this recipe for about a year. It got much better once I reduced the amount of water! It makes a creamy heartier sauce. 1 cup water max, trust me.
This recipe is great, I followed the advice of other reviewers and used plain flour, used only half the chili powder and it was fantastico. I also added 1 clove crushed garlic during the browning of the flour and 1 teaspoon of cumin with the chili powder. Deliciouso!
The problem with a 10 minute sauce is that it lacks the depth of flavor - which I think is needed in a really good enchilada sauce. I just made a small batch to see what I thought before making a large batch for our family dinner tomorrow. It tastes like tomato sauce and chili powder. I followed the recipe to a T. Living in Southern California avails you to many authentic mexican restaurants. It didn't taste bad, but it certainly isn't what I consider enchilada sauce.
This was so easy and yummy! Tasted like the sauce in the restaurants! I didn t have self-rising flour so I used regular flour and added a tablespoon of cornstarch once it was bubbling to thicken it up. I will never buy the packaged sauce again!
Very nice taste / texture. I would give it 4 stars but my wife & kids give it 5+, so 5 it is! I think the 'servings' is per enchilada, so for your average 9x13" pan of enchilads you will need to double the recipe. We will use this again & again.
I also prefer the New Mexico chili powder for this recipe. And I don't see why enchilada sauce requires a leavening agent (I never have self-rising flour on hand anyway) so I just go with the Wondra flour and decrease the water by 1/4 cup. I also like my garlic, so I double the amount, using granulated, and sometimes I'll add a pinch of cinnamon just for fun. This recipe has replaced the canned stuff in our house. Thank you, Brandi T.
Great photo, Linda! :)
