Quick Smoky Red Enchilada Sauce

Quick Smoky Red Enchilada Sauce is a lightning-quick version of a traditional Mexican sauce. Use it for enchiladas, enchilada bowls, smothered burritos, or as a sauce for chicken, pork, or beef!

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Enchiladas: the perfect comfort food

Enchiladas are a favorite Mexican comfort-food meal in the Frank house. My traditional red enchilada sauce is a weekend cooking project.

It involves rehydrating guajillo chiles, slowly simmering, puréeing in a food processor, and running the sauce through a food mill.

Then, the sauce is fried in lard. The result is absolutely delicious—I use it up in meals during the busy workweek.

But sometimes, you need a faster solution, am I right?

Quick Smoky Red Enchilada Sauce starts with a big can of tomato sauce.

Next, you add in delicious smokiness from powdered chipotle peppers and ground cumin. Powdered ancho chiles provide a bit of kick.

Onion powder, salt, and freshly ground black pepper round out the flavor profile.

Finally, a simmer brings all the flavors together.

You can make Quick Smoky Enchilada Sauce in 15 minutes flat, and it keeps in the refrigerator for a week.

Although I love it in my Red Enchiladas or Chilaquiles, I also use it for enchilada bowls and Lightened-Up Smothered Burritos. It's also great as a simple sauce for meats.

This sauce is a simple matter of mixing all of the ingredients in a small saucepan.

Then, simmer until the color darkens slightly and the sauce is fragrant.

To store the sauce, I pour it into a twist and lock plastic in the fridge. You can also jar the sauce and give it as a gift.

That's it: I hope you love this Quick Smoky Enchilada Sauce! Enjoy!

—xoxo Michelle

P.S. For more dishes that come almost entirely from your pantry, check out Easy Pantry Meals – Living Out of Your Pantry (and refrigerator and freezer).

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Related posts:

Red Enchiladas or Chilaquiles: these easy red enchiladas come out of the oven creamy, bubbly, and delicious. They’re a great way to use up leftover meat. Turn them into chilaquiles for an even easier meal.

Enchilada Bowls with Sweet Potato Noodles:

A healthier version of the enchilada bowls from Chipotle. Served with homemade red enchilada sauce, black beans, cheese, and any fixings you like.

Red Enchilada Sauce: this is the long (authentic) method for making enchilada sauce from re-hydrated guajillo chiles. If you have the time to make some on the weekend, it's totally worth it!