Enchilada Sauce
Submitted by wojcain
From-scratch enchilada sauce made with roasted dried chiles, pasilla peppers, and a flour-thickened chicken broth base seasoned with Mexican oregano and cumin.
YIELD
6 servingsPREP
40 minCOOK
20 minREADY
60 minForget the canned stuff. This enchilada sauce starts with whole dried chiles, toasted on a sheet pan until they’re fragrant, then rehydrated, scraped, and blended into a smooth, deeply flavored Mexican red sauce with real body.
Toasting the chiles before soaking is what separates a flat sauce from one with smoky complexity. You’ll know they’re ready when you can smell them from across the kitchen. After soaking, scrape the pulp and discard the skins. The skins turn bitter and will ruin the smooth finish.
The flour roux thickened with chicken broth gives this sauce a velvety consistency that clings to tortillas instead of running off. Mexican oregano and cumin round out the flavor, but the chiles do the real work.
Kitchen Tips
- Remove seeds and veins before soaking to control the heat level. Leave a few seeds in if you want more kick.
- Save the chile soaking water. It’s packed with flavor and gets blended right back in with the pulp.
- Blend the finished sauce until completely smooth. Any chunks of chile skin will be noticeable in the final dish.
- This sauce freezes beautifully. Make a double batch and freeze in portions for quick enchilada nights.
Variations
- Use all pasilla chiles for a milder, earthier sauce, or all hot chiles for serious heat.
- Add a roasted tomato or two to the blender for a red enchilada sauce with more acidity.
- Swap chicken broth for vegetable broth to make it vegetarian-friendly.
Ingredients
Directions
Place the chiles on a cookie sheet, and roast in a 350℉ (180℃) Foven until slightly toasted (when you can smell them, they’re done).
Remove from the oven, and slit open.
Remove the seeds and veins, then cover the chiles with boiling water.
Allow to sit for about 30 minutes.
Remove the chiles from the water (reserve water), and scrape the pulp from the chiles.
Discard the skins (which can give the mixture a bitter flavor.) Return the chile pulp to the soaking water and reserve.
Sauté the garlic and onion in the lard until very soft but not browned.
Stir in the flour, and the stock.
Stir until thickened, then add the chile pulp mixture.
Add the spices, and simmer until thickened.
Place the mixture in a blender, and blend until smooth.
Season to taste with salt.
If you want a hotter mixture, add cayenne to taste.
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