Enjoy enchilada night – real food style! Smokey, spicy, sweet and tangy this enchilada sauce has nothing on canned, and only 10 minutes to simmer stovetop!
Let’s do the taco Tuesday thing this week!
Enchiladas are one of my favorite make ahead meals for a busy weeknight that everyone loves to eat. The sauce can be made way ahead of time and only takes 10 minutes to simmer stovetop. It can even be frozen – I love making double or triple batches to stash in my freezer for a quick weeknight dinner anytime.
Smokey, flavorful heat is the name of my game – I love this sauce.
You can play around with the heat how you wish. This is really kid friendly heat – you can add more smoky heat with more chipotle powder, or more heat in general with a pinch or two of cayenne.
Once the sauce is made the enchilada filling is super quick to make. Whether choosing chicken, beef, pork, or sprouted beans, I take the opportunity to stuff my enchiladas with a big handful or two of greens. Once everything is cooked and drowning in that yummy sauce no one will even notice there is spinach or kale in there!
I’ll share my 10 minute enchilada sauce here and you can make your enchiladas how you like to in your house, or you can follow my favorite way to make them just below this recipe!
10 Minute Enchilada Sauce
Ingredients
- 2 TB friendly fat to cook in butter, lard, avocado oil etc
- 1 small onion chopped
- 2 cloves garlic minced
- 2 TB chili powder
- 1 TB cumin
- 1/8 tsp chipotle pepper powder or more if you want more heat
- 3 tsp honey
- 15 oz organic tomato sauce I get mine at Costco
- 1 cup bone broth or water
- Sea salt /pepper to taste)
Instructions
- Melt a couple of TB of friendly fat in a sauce pan and cook the onion with a pinch of salt for about 5 minutes.
- Add the garlic and cook for a minute.
- Add the rest of the ingredients and low simmer the sauce for about 10 minutes stirring occasionally.
- Puree the sauce with handheld blender or in a blender until smooth and then sea salt and pepper to taste.
Ok! So here is how I like to make the enchiladas at my house – I left plenty of play so you can use whatever veggies you have around or like to use.
I like to use the Sami’s Bakery “Lavish” for my enchilada tortilla wrapping. Sprouted rice or corn tortillas work fine too. If you can handle the gluten go for a sprouted wheat tortilla. You can find all of these in the freezer section of most health food stores. If you want to make your own, you can use this GF pita recipe and just thin out the batter to make a tortilla texture. If you are grain free you can Google grain free wraps – there are so many to try! Or just use the sauce in a great stir fry sans the wraps.
- 2-3 cups ground or shredded beef, pork, or chicken or sprouted beans of choice
- 1 tsp cumin
- 1 tsp chili powder
- 1/8 tsp or more chipotle powder depending on the heat you like
- 1 small onion, chopped
- 2 cloves of garlic, minced
- 3 cups vegetables of choice (zucchini, spinach, kale, peppers, etc)
- 1-2 cups organic corn (I get frozen organic/non-GMO at Costco)
- 1 recipe of my enchilada sauce (a little over 2 cups)
- 1 ½ cups cheese, freshly grated
- Sea salt/pepper to taste
- Tortillas of choice
- Melt a tablespoon of butter in a large skillet, and add the meat and seasonings. If your meat was already cooked you can just heat through and go onto the next step. If your meat was not cooked just cook it all the way through and go onto the next step.
- Add the onions, vegetables, and corn and cook over medium heat until the vegetables are cooked through.
- Turn the heat off the skillet and stir in ½ cup of the enchilada sauce, and 1 cup of the cheese and combine.
- Put ½ cup of the enchilada sauce at the bottom of a 9×13 baking dish and tip the dish around so the sauce covers the bottom of the dish.
- Scoop the meat/veggie mixture into tortillas and roll. Place them seam side down into the baking dish. My trick for rolling gluten free wraps that can be “dry” and hard to fold is to run them under a little water and then steam them in a pan quick – they soften and roll right up.
- Pour the rest of the enchilada sauce over the rolled up tortillas, sprinkle with about ½ cup cheese, cover the baking dish with foil, and bake in a 400 degree oven for 20 minutes.
For more real food dinner ideas you can follow my Dinner ideas board on Pinterest!
More real food recipes you might like:
Yum. I love enchilada sauce. This looks so good!
Thank you Jessica! It is one of our favorites!
This sounds so good Renee! We are huge enchilada fans in my home. I need to make some soon after seeing this! Yum! Pinned + sharing.
mmm!! This looks so good & I love the recipe!
This sounds so good! And your pictures are gorgeous.
Thank you Ariana!
I have never been impressed with any store-bought enchilada sauces I’ve tried so I’ve been looking for a homemade recipe. This looks great!
Love it. Ten minutes is awesome! Pinned and shared!
Love how quick and easy this is!!
This sauce looks awesome, as do those enchiladas! I love the use of bone broth in the sauce 🙂
Homemade is always best! I’ve avoided making enchiladas because the store bought stuff was scary, but now, now I can make my own! thank you! 🙂
This sauce sounds delicious! Thank you, Renee!
I made a sweet potato enchilada last night and my whole family (husband, 3 year old, and 6 year old) loved it.
Renee, your photos are stunning!
Thank you Alina!
Can you can or freeze the sauce to have it on hand?
Hi Jenn! Yes I do it all the time!
Can I make up ahead of time & put in fridge with sauce on?
Hi Marlys! I think that might make the wraps/tortillas soggy…
Ooh – I love this!! Homemade enchiladas are the best BUT they are even better with homemade sauce. Love that this comes together so quickly and easily!
Yum, this is so good! I accidentally put too much honey in, but I love it!
I’m so glad you enjoyed it Stephanie!