My Simple Enchilada Sauce Recipe

---

I love growing tomatoes in the garden to make my own pasta sauce but also, enchilada sauce! Packaged enchilada sauce can have a lot of sodium and making your own can control the salt intake. Making this sauce has brought me so much joy the past few years as it always tastes better from scratch!

The main ingredients are grown right in our backyard garden: onion, tomatoes, basil & garlic. The spices you add in the recipe are probably sitting in your cupboard right now, it’s a simple recipe that I hope you’ll love! I use medium to large size tomatoes for this recipe.

This recipe will make two enchilada dishes depending on the size of your main meal. I usually freeze the extra sauce for the next time I make enchiladas. Also note- I use frozen whole tomatoes for this recipe too if i’m baking during the fall/winter after tomato season.

Make a Sheet Pan Tomato Sauce:

INGREDIENTS

• 7-8 Medium Whole Tomatoes (fresh or frozen whole- if tomatoes are very large cut in half)

• 1 Medium Onion, sliced in chunks

• ½ cup Fresh Basil (packed)

• 2 tsp Olive Oil 

• 1 tsp Salt & Pepper 

• 1 tsp Fresh or Dried Oregano 

• 2 Garlic Cloves (cut in half)

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Mix all of your ingredients together in an oven-safe baking dish. Cover the baking dish, and put in the oven at 350ºF for 45 minutes to 1 hour.

2. Once cooked, allow to cool slightly. Add more fresh basil if desired and blend with an immersion blender or add to a blender. Once well combined, add to a pot on the stove top.

   * Note: This is a simple pasta sauce that we also use for spaghetti.

… Now, let’s make it into an Enchilada Sauce!

INGREDIENTS

• 1 cup Vegetable Broth 

• 2 tsp Cumin 

• 1 tbl Paprika 

• 2 tsp Chilli Powder 

• 2 tsp Salt

INSTRUCTIONS

• Add all of the above ingredients to the pot over medium heat. Simmer for 5 minutes.

• Once your sauce is complete, you can assemble & bake your enchiladas with whatever filling you want!

Let me know in the comments below if you tried this recipe and what you thought of it! It’s definitely a go-to in our home, and I love that I can easily freeze the remaining sauce for the next time that I make enchiladas. My goal one day is to can my own sauce!