Homemade Enchilada Sauce with Chipotle Peppers
It’s so easy to make homemade enchilada sauce from scratch, and this chipotle enchilada sauce version is deliciously spicy and smoky! This recipe makes enough for 3-4 batches of enchiladas, so you can stock your freezer with this healthy, vegan recipe. It’s thick and luxurious, from using crushed tomatoes.
Similar to making homemade marinara sauce, this homemade enchilada sauce uses crushed tomatoes as a base. This helps make the texture luxuriously thick, and will work well with almost any enchilada recipe that requires red sauce!
It’s also spicy, but this can be tempered a bit by adding fewer chipotle peppers. But what I love about this recipe is that it uses a WHOLE can of chipotle peppers and adobo, meaning you don’t have to think of a use for the leftover chipotle chiles!
And it’s SO easy to make.
How to make homemade chipotle enchilada sauce
Just sauté some onions and garlic, add some crushed tomatoes, stock, spices, and chipotle chiles, simmer, and blend together!
Here are some tips for success.
- The longer you simmer, the deeper the flavors will be. I found that 20 minutes worked well, but if you want to let it simmer for a whole hour, be my guest.
- I used vegetable broth for this, but you can use chicken broth or even water, if you prefer. The liquid helps thin the sauce out a bit, so it’s more like traditional enchilada sauce and less like a thick marinara.
- I used an immersion blender to puree the whole thing directly in the pot, to make it smooth. If you don’t have one, you can puree the sauce in a standing blender, in batches if necessary. It is important to puree it, so you have a smooth sauce that’s easy to pour.
How to make it less spicy
This recipe packs a punch, because it uses a whole small can (3.5 oz.) of chipotle chiles. I find that the spiciness is balanced out by just a little bit of honey or sugar added to the sauce, and when you add it to enchiladas, it’s also tamed a bit.
But if you don’t like things too spicy, it’s an easy fix- just use fewer chipotle peppers! Try just 1 or 2, with a little bit of the adobo sauce.
If you have leftover chipotle peppers, you can try using them for 10-minute chipotle steak tacos or baked chipotle chicken burritos.
How to store/freeze enchilada sauce
I divided this batch into three standard mason jars. Then, I used one for enchiladas, and put the other two in my freezer.
If you use mason jars to freeze the sauce, make sure you leave some room at the top to allow for expansion and if you want to be extra safe, use freezer-safe jars. You can also freeze in any airtight container, or even in small zip-top bags.
It will stay good for about 6 months in the freezer, or about 5 days in the fridge.
Recipes to use chipotle enchilada sauce
You can easily use this chipotle sauce for a variety of uses- as a topping on chicken tacos, stirred into tortilla soup, baked beans, or in Mexican Lasagna! Here are more traditional ways to use the enchilada sauce:
- Easy Chicken Enchiladas
- Turkey Enchiladas with Black Beans and Corn
- Smoky Sweet Potato and Black Bean Enchiladas
- Chicken and Corn Enchilada Casserole
- Beef Enchiladas (from Gimme some Oven)
Other homemade sauces
Here are all my homemade sauces and condiments.
Did you make this homemade chipotle enchilada sauce recipe? Please click the stars below to comment and Rate this Recipe
Homemade Chipotle Enchilada Sauce
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Equipment
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil or canola oil
- 1 onion diced
- 2 cloves garlic minced
- 2 cups vegetable broth or chicken broth, or water
- 28 oz. canned crushed tomatoes
- 3.5 oz. canned chipotle chilis in adobo or less, if you don't want it spicy
- 1 teaspoon cumin
- 1 teaspoon oregano
- 2 teaspoons chili powder
- kosher salt and black pepper to taste
- 1 tablespoon honey or sugar optional
Instructions
- Sauté onion in olive oil until tender in a medium or large pot.
- Add garlic, sauté for about 30 seconds (or until fragrant).
- Add remaining ingredients and simmer on low, covered, for approximately 20 minutes. No need to chop the chipotle peppers- just add them whole!
- Use an immersion blender or regular blender to blend until smooth.
Notes
- To freeze, store in an airtight container or mason jar for up to 6 months.
Nutrition
Nutrition Information Disclaimer
The provided nutrition information is my best estimate and reflects one serving of the recipe (total servings indicated at top of recipe card). It does not include any added sodium from seasoning to taste, any optional ingredients, and it does not take brands into account. I use an automatic API to calculate this information. Feel free to calculate it yourself using one of these tools:
This post first appeared on Bowl of Delicious in June, 2014. It’s been updated with new photos, more relevant information, and an updated, improved recipe.
This is a great sauce. Smokey, and not overly sweet. To my palate, this sauce is about as hot as a commercial hot salsa. I didn’t add any sweetener to the recipe. I will make this again. I wonder what adding a bit of fresh cilantro would do. Maybe next time…
I’m so glad you liked this! That reminds me, I need to make a batch soon…
I bought some Herdez shredded chicken in chipotle sauce and planned to use it to make enchiladas. However, I realized it needed more sauce, and that’s what led me to your recipe. I deviated only slightly from it – using 3/4 of a large onion, chicken broth, and about 1/3 of a 7 oz can of chipotles in adobo. It was incredible, and the enchiladas turned out wonderfully. As an added bonus, I now have a little over 3 cups of sauce in my freezer for the next batch. This sauce blows away anything you can buy in a can! Thank you!
So glad to hear this worked well for you! And hooray for having a freezer stash for later!
Love this recipe and now making more to can for future use. Never used chipotle in adobo sauce before and it added that extra taste. My addition to the recipe was to caramelize 3 lbs. Sweet onions . Yummy!!
So glad you liked it! Love the idea of using caramelized onions in this, thanks for sharing!
I am living somewhere where you can not buy enchilada sauce. I was really missing enchiladas so I gave this a try, never having made it myself before. I have used this recipe 3 times now. I love it. I have yet to use the entire can of chilis but I get braver every time. Everybody loves it. We get a few friends together for Mexican Mondays and this enchilada sauce is the reason! It will be my go to even when I return to California where I can buy enchilada sauce. Thank you
So glad you liked it!
I never made or used chipotle but I love it! I even used dried chipotle until it was spicy enough.
So glad you liked it! Glad to hear dried chipotle worked well for you.
I have looked at this recipe for some time but had not made it. I am a huge fan of chipotle sauce, specially when it is served over enchiladas or boneless skinless chicken breast with melted mozerella cheese (Pollo Picoso). I made this sauce today with all the chipotle peppers. Bought extra because I like very spicy food. Did not need to add the extra peppers. This sauce is fantastic. I will use it in a lot of different recipes. Thank you.
That chicken and mozzarella dish sounds amazing! So happy you liked the sauce and thanks for leaving a comment :-)
I made this tonight and it was SO GOOD. I added some smoked paprika, but that’s about it. We made pulled pork and spinach enchiladas. Yum!
So glad you liked it! Those enchiladas sound SO good- I love spinach in enchiladas!
Could I use this as a cooking sauce in the skillet?
I don’t see why not! It’s similar to marinara sauce, so anything you’d use that for you can use this for. I think adding it to shredded chicken and then filling the enchiladas would be awesome.
What kind of onion should I use? Which one would give the sauce a better flavor?
I just used a yellow onion. Hope you like it!
Have you ever tried canning it instead of freezing? Just curious, I have a pressure cooker and tons of jars, I’m going to make some sauce this weekend because I am trying to duplicate something that a local food truck serves here so I can make it myself :) Love their food, and I love supporting local business, but I love saving myself money even more, lol! I’ll let you know if this sauce does the trick since I don’t want to use a bottled sauce if I can help it!
You know, for such a “make it yourself from scratch” cook, I’m surprised at myself that I’ve actually never canned anything in my life! But I would LOVE to try it, and this is one of the first things I would try it with. I don’t see why it wouldn’t work- if you try it, will you let me know how it comes out? Sorry I can’t be more help! And I feel you- I love saving money more than a lot of things :-)
So delicious! I just made this and was so happy with how it came out.
Thanks again Elizabeth!
You’re welcome! Glad you liked it! :-)
I tried this tonight and I loved the flavor of the chipotles in the sauce. I used it with tofu, mushroom and red pepper enchiladas and it came out great, excellent recipe, thanks for sharing!
Awesome, Drew! So glad you liked it! :-)
Followed your basic recipe , only thing in did different was replace the crushed tomatoes with a 6oz can ofv tomatoe paste, used raw garlic, 8 cloves, and 10 oz more chipotle
Glad you liked it and thanks for sharing your adjustments!
I thought it was very delicious,I did substitute crushed tomatoes with fire roasted tomatoes
Yum- I bet that gave it an awesome smokiness! Definitely trying that next time :-)