Verde Enchilada Sauce (From Scratch Recipe)

Chicken enchilada’s are best accompanied with homemade green enchilada sauce. Make your own enchilada sauce with a few easy steps. This recipe is also great for making in bulk and canning for future use.

Ingredients For Enchilada Sauce

Tomatillo

If you are not familiar with tomatillos, let me assure you, they are not green tomatoes. Even when I sent my husband to the store for a few more he said, “Aren’t those just green tomatoes”… No, they look like tomatoes but they have a different flavor and texture. They have a papery husk around them and a slightly sticky coating that is easily washed off. Tomatillos have a more acidic flavor then tomatoes and are more firm and less juice. They are a vital and main ingredient to all green salsa and enchilada sauces.

Jalapeno

Jalapenos add spice and flavor to our enchilada sauce. The seeds are what bring the heat. If you want a mild sauce you can take out the seeds after roasting them. For my kids I only leave the seeds in 1 of the 3 jalapeno’s and take them out of the other two. If I was cooking for just me and my husband we would leave the seeds in all three jalapenos and embrace the heat.

Onion

Yellow onions are my favorite for this recipe but red or white onions will still work. We will roast the onion along with the jalapenos, garlic and tomatillos. Onions are a give a little sweet and spicy flavor that pairs perfectly with the tomatillos and jalapenos.

Garlic

Garlic is another pungent flavor that add depth to our sauce. Three whole garlic cloves roasted with the rest of the ingredients will add so much more flavor than just adding garlic powder.

Cilantro

Some people are not a fan of cilantro. If you are one of those people leave the cilantro out. I love cilantro and it compliments this sauce wonderfully with its bright fresh flavor. If you don’t like cilantro you will not like the sauce unless you opt out of this one ingredient.

Lime Juice

Lime juice adds a fresh, zesty flavor. Its best with fresh limes but 2 teaspoons of bottled lime juice will also work great. If you don’t have limes, lemon juice will also add desired zesty flavor, just in a little different way.

Chicken Broth

Chicken broth add another layer and depth of flavor as well as the needed liquid for this to become a sauce. If you don’t have chicken broth you can use any other type of broth or plain water. I prefer the broth.

Salt

Salt to taste. If you are using water instead of broth you might need a little more salt.

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How To Make Enchilada Sauce

Cut Onion and Tomatillos

Cut the onion into quarters and the tomatillos in half or quarters depending on the size

Roast The Vegetables

On a baking sheet or roasting pan spread out quartered onions, quartered tomatillos, whole garlic cloves and jalapenos drizzled with a little olive oil. Roast them at 350 for 30 minutes.

Blend All Ingredients

Take the vegetables out of the oven and let cool for a few minutes. Take the seeds out of the jalapenos if you want a mild sauce or keep them if you want more heat. Add them a blender or bowl with an immersion blender. Add the broth, cilantro and lime juice and blend together till smooth. Add salt to taste.

Store

Store your sauce in a jar for about 2 weeks in the refrigerator or up to a year in the freezer.

You can also do a quick water bath canning with the recipe and store on your shelf for a year. If you choose to can don’t forget to through clean and sterilize your jars and lids. Although this recipe is already very acidic I would also add on the top of my sauce some extra lime juice. The acidic juice will help keep bacteria from forming in your sauce.