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This authentic enchilada sauce recipe is made with dried chiles and Mexican chocolate and is full of traditional Mexican flavor that’s better than any store-bought sauce. It’s the perfect way to elevate your enchiladas with its rich and savory flavor. It’s a total game-changer!
One funny thing about Hispanic moms, including my own, is that they never seem to measure anything when they’re cooking. They just taste as they go, and it comes out delicious every time.
My mom makes her famous cheese enchiladas using this rich enchilada sauce, and I asked her to walk me through the recipe while I measured all the ingredients so I could share it with you. Here’s why I love it:
- It’s unique. Adding a small piece of Mexican chocolate is what brings this sauce to the next level. It pairs well with the dried chiles and gives it a complex flavor that sets it apart from more Tex-Mex recipes that are made from mostly spices (like my easy enchilada sauce).
- It’s versatile. I love to use this sauce in other recipes that call for enchilada sauce, like soups or casseroles.
The Secret Ingredient
The secret to this savory, rustic, and perfectly spiced enchilada sauce? Mexican chocolate!
It seems unexpected, but Mexican chocolate has a slightly bitter and rustic taste, making it perfect for sauces, moles, and other Mexican dishes.
My mom puts it in her enchilada sauce, mole, and sometimes chile colorado. My favorite brand to use is Abuelita, which you can find online, in Mexican grocery stores, or even in the international section of big-chain grocery stores.
Authentic Enchilada Sauce Ingredients
- Dried chiles: I use a combination of ancho, guajillo, and árbol chiles that give a rich, savory, and complex flavor. You can find them in Mexican grocery stores or online.
- Roma tomato: I used only half of a large Roma tomato for a hint of sweetness and to help thicken the sauce. If you don’t have a fresh tomato, you can use 1 tablespoon of tomato paste.
- Water: A mixture of the chile-soaked water and a splash of fresh water adds thins out the sauce without diluting the flavor of the chiles and chocolate.
- Garlic: A must-have in any enchilada sauce.
- Mexican chocolate: This ingredient sets this enchilada sauce apart from the rest and makes it truly authentic. One small tablet of Mexican chocolate adds a small amount of sweetness and rich flavor. Mexican chocolate is not overly sweet like American chocolate bars and is used in both sweet and savory recipes. I used Abuelita brand.
- Kosher salt: I start with 1 teaspoon of kosher sal, but you can adjust depending on your taste.
- Olive oil: Simmering this authentic enchilada sauce in oil helps thicken the sauce and cook the raw tomato flavor. I like to use olive oil, but you can also use any oil you prefer.
How to Make Authentic Enchilada Sauce
Rehydrate the dried chiles. Add the guajillo, ancho, and árbol chiles and enough water to cover them completely into a saucepan or pot. Bring to a boil over high heat. Remove the pot from the heat, cover, and let the chiles soak for 10 minutes to soften.
Blend the sauce. Transfer the softened chiles to a blender using a slotted spoon. Add 1 cup of the chile-soaked water, ¼ cup of fresh water, and the tomato, garlic, salt, and Mexican chocolate. Blend until completely smooth. This step may take a few minutes depending on the power of your blender. Add more water if needed.
Simmer the sauce. Heat the olive oil in a medium skillet over medium-high heat. Pour in the sauce and bring it to a simmer. Reduce the heat to low and simmer for 3 minutes.
Cover and store in an airtight jar until ready to use.
Recipe Tips
- Adjust the heat. This enchilada sauce has a mild-medium spice. To make it extra mild, make sure to discard all the seeds from the dried chiles and omit the chile de árbol.
- Don’t have Mexican chocolate? You can use 1 teaspoon of unsweetened cocoa powder and 1 teaspoon turbinado/raw sugar instead.
Recipe Variations
This recipe gets its authentic and delicious flavor by using the recommended ingredients, but if you’re in a pinch, you can make some slight variations:
- Dried chiles: You can swap out chile guajillo for chile pasilla for a slightly smoky flavor.
- Tomato: Use 1 tablespoon of tomato paste instead of a fresh Roma tomato.
Ways to Use Authentic Red Enchilada Sauce
This enchilada sauce is delicious and can be used in so many different ways! It’s great in all types of enchiladas, like chicken enchiladas, black bean enchiladas, beef enchiladas, and breakfast enchiladas.
It can also be used as a sauce in chilaquiles, chicken enchilada soup, enchilada meatballs, and chicken tamale casserole.
Storing and Reheating
- Storing: Store the sauce in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to a week.
- Freezing: Freeze in portions for up to 3 months. Thaw overnight in the refrigerator before using.
- Reheating: Reheat on the stovetop over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until warmed through. You can also reheat it in a microwave.
More Mexican Recipes
Authentic Enchilada Sauce
Ingredients
- 4 guajillo chiles, rinsed, stemmed, and seeded
- 2 ancho chiles, rinsed, stemmed, and seeded
- 1 árbol chile, rinsed and stemmed
- Water, as needed
- ½ large Roma tomato, plus more if desired
- 1 clove garlic
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt, plus more to taste
- ⅛ tablet Abuelita Mexican chocolate (about 12 grams)
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
Instructions
- In a medium pot, add the guajillo, ancho, and árbol chiles and enough water to cover them completely. Bring to a boil over high heat. Remove the pot from the heat, cover, and let the chiles soak for 10 minutes to soften.
- Using a slotted spoon, transfer the softened chiles to a blender. Add 1 cup of the chile-soaked water, ¼ cup of fresh water, and the tomato, garlic, salt, and Mexican chocolate. Blend until completely smooth. This step may take a few minutes, depending on the power of your blender. Add more water if the sauce is too thick for your liking.
- Heat the olive oil in a medium skillet over medium-high heat. Add the sauce and bring to a simmer. Reduce the heat to low and simmer for 3 minutes.
- Cover and store until ready to use. It’s perfect for making chicken enchiladas, red chilaquiles, and chicken enchilada soup.
Notes
- Dried chiles: If you’d like to make this sauce as mild as possible, I recommend removing and discarding the seeds of the dried chiles in addition to the stems.
- Mexican chocolate: If you don’t have Mexican chocolate, you can substitute 1 teaspoon unsweetened cocoa powder and 1 teaspoon turbinado/raw sugar instead.
- Storage: Enchilada sauce can also be stored in the refrigerator for up to 2 weeks or in the freezer for up to 6 months.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
The post was originally published in October 2016 and has been updated with new photos and new recipe tips and tricks.
Photography by Ashley McLaughlin.
Do you think I could substitute the Mexican chocolate for just some more pure dark chocolate ? Having friends over who are gluten and dairy free so making the pozole is a good option but looking at the ingredients in the Mexican chocolate, it doesn’t look like they can have that. So do you think I could just substitute it for some dark chocolate ? Also I have made this enchilada sauce and your pozole before and everyone loved it. Thank you !!!
Hi Christie, yes! I think it would be totally fine to substitute regular dark chocolate for the Mexican chocolate. The flavor and texture of Mexican chocolate is a little different than regular, but I think it would still work! And thank you! I’m so happy you loved it!
Hi there, I am always willing to try new things but because I just made red chili and it came out great, to see chocolate thrown in was well, weird.
Mole is in it self a different chili, my grandmother used to make it from scratch and my Mom would say it took so many different chilies and chocolates mainly served at weddings and made with turkey, anyways back to the recipe, you only used a few chili pods, I buy a bag of extra hot dried chili and every once in a while I’ll throw in some dried chili de arbole but really not necessary. I also boil the pods, the aroma fills the house and is intoxicating plus you want them soft to blend well.
A couple of large garlic cloves, half an onion and about a teaspoon of cumin plus salt are blended first then add the pods with the seeds please to add the spice.
Get a pot add abit of flour and oil toast it then with a strainer pour a good helping of the paste add water and strain it into the pot, half a bag makes enough for enchiladas and leaves a good size amount for chili Colorado or menudo etc.
Keep it simple and keep it authentic don’t try to dress a pig in a dress it’s not right and annoys the pig.
Maybe you should start your own food blog instead of being negative on someone else’s. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
My sister makes killer enchilada sauce. She uses the same chili’s but she toasts them before soaking and she adds crispy bacon to the blender, uses chicken stock plus the other stuff. The addition of Mexican chocolate sounds amazing. Going to add that to my next batch.
Doesn’t this become Molé the minute you add chocolate? Yes, I believe it does. A whole other animal, and used in other recipes and style of cooking. To each his own, but call it what it is, lol, out of respect for Mexican Cuisine. Peace.
Mole is so so much more complex than a enchilada sauce. This really is a fabulous flavor with the added chocolate. Gracias!
Out of respect for Mexican cuisine this should NOT be called Mole. Mole has many other ingredients that make it what is. Yes this is similar, but this is not considered mole simply on the addition of chocolate. Mole contains ingredients like: chile mulato, chile pasilla, chiles anchos, chile chipotle,chiles mecos, almendras,anís, pimienta, clavos de olor e canela pan bolillo, telera o baguette chocolate ETC
There are a bunch of molés that don’t use chocolate.
In my endeavors, mole usually contains some type of seed, nuts, or both as well.
Haven’t tried the recipe yet, but it looks delicious! By the way, thanks a LOT for the amazon links for the ingredients. I’m from Canada, and at best you can get is 4, maybe 5 sorts of chiles in your average grocery store. Jalapeños, Cherry Bomb, Tianjin, Habanero and Scotch Bonnet are usually what’s available.
You’re so welcome! I know it can be difficult to find dried chiles in certain places, so Amazon is always a good choice 🙂
Amazing recipe! Instead of Abuelita chocolate I used baker’s chocolate and added a tiny bit of cinnamon, clove, and sugar. Abuelita isn’t gluten-free unfortunately. My husband has celiac disease so we have to avoid it. But baker’s chocolate with the other ingredients worked great. I am used to having oregano in my enchilada sauce so I added this too. This recipe is awesome! Thanks!
I don’t have Sea Salt. Can I use table salt instead?
Yes.
I just made this to whip up some chilaquiles from left over chips. Amazing! I wanted more chile flavor so I used the chile water for both cups of the sauce water and added a couple extra chile de arbol. Crazy good flavor. I know how I am with cheese and the chips were already salted so I reduced the salt. My son has a project for World History that requires him to track the origin of each ingredient in the recipe. We used your sauce for carnitas enchiladas. Wild to find out that everything comes from all over the world. Garlic and onion comes Iran. Chiles and Cocoa from central and south Americas. Cilantro (aka corriander) from the Mediterranean and can be traced to 5,000 BC in Egyptian tombs and the Old Testament. Similar story with salt. Earliest traces of cheese come from Poland. That’s as far as he has gotten… major food for thought <3
Wow, that’s so interesting about food origins! The world really is just one big melting pot 🙂 I’m so happy to hear that you’re loving the enchilada sauce recipe! I use it as a base for so many things, it’s just so good!
Can the chocolate be replaced with a low carb chocolate? Like Lilly’s or Choc Zero? This sounds yummy but would like to make it low-carb.
Hi Daya, I’m not quite sure since I’ve never tested it with low carb chocolate, but I definitely think it’s worth a shot! Next time I make this, I’m going to try it with 100% unsweetened cocoa powder to see if it still works. If you try it with low carb chocolate, let me know what you think!
I’ve never tried chocolate in a red sauce before and I was a little wary. I was pleasantly surprised at how well it works. Thanks for the tip.
As a heads-up, I opened a box of Abuelita’s the other day and was shocked to see that the tablets had changed. They were about half the size and only split into two parts. I don’t know if all their packaging is going this way or not. I broke one of the parts in half and it worked well.
Hi Jeremy, I’m so glad you liked it! And that’s good to know – I had no idea that they had changed! I bought a big box from Amazon so I have a lot in my pantry at the moment. But I might pick up some at the store to see what the packaging looks like. Thanks for the heads up!