Enchilada Sauce

To this day, I can’t eat ‘red’ enchiladas at most places. There is something about the taste of these sauces that is off to my palate. Homemade sauces have always been fine, but more often than not, this sauce is from a can.

For years and years, I simply made my enchiladas with tomato sauce. I’d dip my lightly fried shells into a bowl of plain, unseasoned tomato sauce. When it baked, tasted just fine. As of late however, I have really wanted a more traditional enchilada sauce flavor. I opened a can of tomato sauce, put it in a pan, added some garlic and chili powder and off I went. I really liked this initial “enchilada” sauce flavor. I have played with the sauce a few more times to get it right where I liked it. The process of making this, I kept adding a bit more and a bit more chili powder until I ended up with a quarter-cup of the red spice in my saucepan–I did the math twice to make sure that was exactly how much I used, adding a tablespoon at a time until it was “right.”

2 tbsp olive oil

1 tbsp flour

¼ cup chili powder

1 tsp oregano

1 tsp cumin

1 tsp granulated garlic

1 can tomato sauce

1 can low sodium chicken broth

Salt/Pepper to taste

In a saucepan, heat the olive oil and add the flour, whisking to make a roux. Add chili powder, oregano, cumin, and garlic. Slowly add tomato sauce and broth. Add salt and pepper to your taste. Bring to a boil and reduce to a simmer. Allow to simmer for 15 minutes. Serve as desired.