I love Mexican food. Like I really really really love Mexican food. If my family would agree to it, we would eat some form of Mexican food every. single. day. But since they don’t share my love as much I usually have to make do with only once or twice a week.
One of my most favorite Mexican dishes is wet burritos. I used to just use a canned enchilada sauce, but since starting Trim Healthy Mama, I’ve tried to eliminate as much processed and gross ingredients as possible.
Almost every store brand enchilada sauce I checked had some form of sugar or other preservatives in it that I just didn’t feel comfortable serving my family. I found a few other enchilada sauce recipes online but none of them made me fully satisfied. So after months of tweaking my own recipe I’ve FINALLY come up with the most scrumptious enchilada sauce.
This recipe can easily be doubled or tripled if needed. It uses basic ingredients that most people would have on hand: tomato sauce, chili powder, onion powder, garlic powder, oregano, cumin, salt and crushed red pepper flakes (only if you like a little extra spice).
My favorite way to use enchilada sauce is for making low carb enchiladas. My recipe for Low Carb Beef & Cheese Enchiladas is so simple to make. It is a very yummy S meal. You could easily make this an E meal by using boneless skinless chicken breasts and not using any cheese or sour cream. You could have Greek yogurt on the side instead. I definitely prefer to make it an S meal though. I LOVE cheese and sour cream!
Another great use for this enchilada sauce is as a salad dressing! One night I ran out of low carb tortillas but made the sauce before checking. Oops! Well, it turned out to be a great thing. I just added the enchilada sauce to my taco salad and wow was it good!! Sometimes I do that instead of making an actual enchilada. Give it a try!
The beauty of this enchilada sauce it that it comes together so quickly. There is very little hands-on time required. I usually put my meat in the pan to brown and while that gets going I start my enchilada sauce. By the time my sauce is done simmering, my meat is done too. So simple!
Enchilada Sauce (THM: FP)
Yield 1 cup
Ingredients
- 8oz. can of tomato sauce
- 1 1/2 t. chili powder
- 1/2 t. onion powder
- 1/2 t. garlic powder
- 1/4 t. sea salt
- 1/4 t. cumin
- 1/4 t. oregano
- pinch of crushed red pepper flakes (optional)
Instructions
Combine all ingredients in a small saucepan and simmer on low for 15 minutes.
That looks really yummy! Can't find enchilada sauce here so when I'm craving them I have to make my own but I've yet to find a recipe that I really like. Will be trying yours!
Thank you for posting this! I planned to make ground turkey enchiladas tonight for dinner and had everything but a can of enchilada sauce. I've never made it from scratch, but now can't imagine ever buying the canned stuff…
I warm all the ingredients on low in a sauce pan, then dredge the tortillas on both sides before adding to the casserole (made more of a bake than individual enchiladas).
Life saver!
Do you use this for your no bake enchiladas or the one that comes with the recipe?
Yes I use this one!
Can you make extra and freeze it. I love to do that. This recipe is great.
Yes you could make a bigger batch and freeze.
Do you have a version for green enchilada sauce? My favorite is the big yellow can from Aldi, but I would love to find an alternative to it as its not on plan – I've yet to find a good recipe for a good Verde enchilada sauce.
Do you have a version for green enchilada sauce? My favorite is the big yellow can from Aldi, but I would love to find an alternative to it as its not on plan – I've yet to find a good recipe for a good Verde enchilada sauce.
I haven't yet but I need to make one.
Hi Darcie! How would we use this in a "FP" setting?
If you made a taco salad with lettuce, boneless skinless chicken breasts, salsa, enchilada sauce and a dollop of 0% plain Greek yogurt
how long would you bake the enchiladas for and at what temp? thx.
350° for 20-25 mins
First time making these. Sooooo delicious. I was a little sceptical since the recipe seems so simple. Truly fabulous!
I’m so glad you liked them!
Hi, Darcie, love your Mexican THMified recipes…. thank you for doing that… on your enchilada sauce can I premake it and refrigerate it? Will it last a week in the fridge? Thanks!
Yes. You couks evwn freeze it too if needed.
Can you please come up with a green enchilada sauce recipe? I’ve found some powdered green chili and wonder if that could be substitued?