Mexican Enchilada Sauce

By Addie

"I got this recipe from my grandmother-in-law who was born and raised in Mexico City. The secret to its flavor is the cocoa"

Ingredients

• 3 tablespoons chili powder
• 3 tablespoons flour
• 1 teaspoon cocoa powder
• 1/2 teaspoon garlic salt
• 1 teaspoon oregano
• 3 cups water (or chicken broth)
• 1 (8 ounce) can tomato sauce

Preparation

Step 1

Combine all dry ingredients in a small bowl.

Stirring constantly, slowly add enough of the water to make a thin paste. Pour into pan and add rest of water. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until mixture thickens. Stir in tomato sauce.


NOTES:

Use in your favorite enchilada recipe. The amounts on the ingredients are very flexible.

For instance, if I am feeding my kids who do not like"spicy", I will halve the chili powder and double the tomato sauce. Experiment to suit your taste, but don't leave out the cocoa.

For a quick meal, we will soften a corn tortilla in a bit of hot oil, drag it through the sauce, and lay it flat on a plate, then cover it with grated Cheddar cheese, sprinkle it with chopped onions and sliced black olives. Then cover with another softened sauced tortilla and melt the cheese in the microwave for 1 minute on high.
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REVIEWS: (160)

I have had this recipe in my "want to try" file for a long time. I finally made it when I needed a quick sauce to put over some frozen burritos for a meal for my kids. My teenage son commented that it was really good, which is a complement because he usually eats things so fast he hardly notices how they taste. I'm sure I will make this often since it is so tasty, easy and uses common ingredients. Thanks for posting!

THE BEST. Period. I have made this multiple times and don't even consider buying the inferior canned version. This tastes just like the sauce they use in Amy's enchiladas. I love that sauce so much that I wrote to the company to tell them to please start bottling and selling it. Well, now I don't need to! This stuff is so amazing!!!!

This was a good base recipe. I started with the milder version of the recipe (halved the chili powder, doubled the tomato sauce) and made several of the changes suggested by others: doubled the flour, added 1 tsp. of cumin and subbed chicken broth for the water. It was very good. I will probably up the chili powder to 2 Tbs, next time and perhaps double the garlic salt. It made enough for two pans of enchiladas.

Awesome! My only complaint is that I felt like it had to be on the stove a really long time before it thickened up. The flavor was wonderful! I had enough sauce to make 4 large enchiladas and freeze the other half for later use. I'm sure I'll be using this again, it's much better than canned!

OMG ~ never buy enchilada sauce again. I found a copycat recipe for Taco Bell's Enchiritos and it tasted identical using this sauce. Yum Yum Yum. I can't say enough about this recipe. Thank you so much.

OMG!!! I made this recipe because I had a pound of lean ground beef in my fridge, 7 corn tortillas in a bag and no money for the next couple of days. The sauce reminded me of the food I had in Mexico a few years back. Absolutely SUPER, easy to make, and altogether wonderful. I used a 5.5 oz can of V8 to make the paste, cut the chili powder back to 2 instead of 3 Tbsps. and cut the water by 1 cup. It's fabulous and I can't thank you enough!!!!

Thanks so much Donna, your recipe has changed my life. I now use this in almost anything Mexican I cook.. works great if you add a cup to your Mexican rice too.

This is definitely worth the extra effort to make, as it's so much better than store-bought enchilada sauce. Thanks for sharing- this made my enchiladas taste great :)

Yummy! I made this to put on chili stuffed enchiladas. This is by far the best recipe for enchilada sauce I've found. I made it as written and wouldn't change a thing. Thanks for sharing.

I made this just as it is written. By far the best enchilada sauce I've ever had! I'm thinking of making up a huge batch and canning it.

Easy and delicious, so much better than anything in a can! Will make this from now on.