Rich and Flavorful Enchilada Sauce

Julesong's Note:

I came by this recipe completely by accident one day when I was making a red sauce for another Mexican-style dish, and when I tasted it I realized it was the perfect rich but mild enchilada sauce for me! Rich and flavorful, this one is a winner. It's fast and easy to make, and tastes much better than the canned variety. If you like your enchilada sauce spicier, add some minced jalapenos or some hot chili powder. I plan to do some canning this fall, and batches of this sauce in jars is on the list.

• Total Time: 10 mins
• Prep Time: 5 mins
• Cook Time: 5 mins

Ingredients:

Yield: 4 cups

• 2 cups boiling water
• 2 teaspoons beef bouillon granules (*)
• 1 (15 ounce) can tomato sauce
• ¼ teaspoon butter
• 2 tablespoons dried onion flakes or ¼ cup finely minced fresh yellow onion
• 1 ¼ teaspoons garlic powder or 2 teaspoons minced roasted garlic
• 1 tablespoon dried ancho chile powder
• 1 teaspoon cumin
• ½ teaspoon cocoa powder
• ¼ teaspoon cider vinegar
• 1 teaspoon dry sherry
• Tabasco sauce or your favorite hot sauce , to taste (I used somewhere between 1/4 to 1/2 tsp, cause I'm a whimp)
• salt & freshly ground black pepper , to taste

Directions:

1. In a large saucepan over medium heat, stir together the boiling water and bouillon granules until dissolved.
2. Add remaining ingredients and simmer for 5 minutes.
3. Use in your favorite enchilada recipes!
4. *Note:I prefer using 1 tsp of Maggi Chicken with Chipotle bouillon cube and 1 tsp of Chicken and Tomato bouillon cube (in the international aisle, from Nestle products) instead of 2 tsp beef bouillon; please note that most Maggi bouillon cubes contain 2 tsps, so you'll be using half-cubes.
5. Makes about 4 cups (2 cups is usually enough for one batch of enchilada casserole).

Reviews

[messystation]

Cheese enchiladas are quite possibly my favorite food, so for me to say that these were uite possibly the best I have tasted is high praise. The only changes I made were that I started off with a roux because I like a thicker sauce, I left out the sherry because it was the last ingredient left to add and the sauce was already pretty perfect, and I added 1/4 tsp of cayenne instead of hot sauce. I was going to try to just stick to one, but they were so delicious, I had to hold myself back from eating a third.

[BigNanc]

This sauce was excellent. I did not add the butter or sherry as I didn't have any on hand. Also added a chilpotle pepper and a sprinkle of sugar. Poured the left over sauce into a freezer bag and froze flat so I can break off what is needed. Thanks for the recipe!

[sams1]

A wonderful enchilada sauce. Will be makeing again. Thanks for posting Julesong!