I’m to the point where I don’t buy pre-made salsa, meat stock, pizza sauce, pasta sauce, Dijon mustard, barbecue or even Asian dipping sauce anymore. I can all of these things, for healthy, inexpensive, and to-my-taste pantry staples. I recently added enchilada sauce to my pantry preps. Along with my home canned meat and beans, this enchilada sauce means any night I can put together homemade pork, chicken, beef, or bean enchiladas in a couple minutes. Now that’s fast food.
We crave this enchilada sauce, even for just for chip dipping. Pop open a jar, add some cheese and warm up for a ranchero cheese sauce. Besides enchiladas and dip, serve over burritos or as a dip for rolled tacos. I’ve seen homemade enchilada sauces using dried chilies, and while that looks incredible, this uses dried chili powder making it a cinch to put together.
Because this is a canning recipe, I’m using Clear-Jel instead of flour or common corn starch. Some prefer a thin enchilada sauce, but I like mine with some heft, so just make it your desired thickness. Yes, I know there is a large amount of chili powder and cumin, but if you are making food from scratch, particularly canning, buying spices in bulk is the way to go to save money. Savings can also be earned with buying industrial cans of tomatoes, including tomato sauce. I paid $3.50 for a 6 pound, 6 oz can of tomato sauce. I also recently switched from canola oil to avocado oil as a healthier alternative, but use any appropriate oil here.
- Note – I followed Ball’s canning instructions for enchilada sauce, but this exact recipe has not been tested by the USDA.
Home Canned Enchilada Sauce
Yield – 8 1/2 pints
3/4 cup avocado oil, or canola oil
1 cup chili powder
1/4 cup cumin
8 cups beef broth, or 8 cups of water and 8 tsp bouillon
10 cups tomato sauce
2 tsp Mexican oregano, crushed
4 cloves of garlic, minced
salt and pepper to taste
3/4 cup Clear-Jel
Warm oil and toast chili powder, cumin, oregano, and garlic.
Add broth, tomato sauce and salt/pepper to taste.
Bring to a simmer. Take enough hot mixture out to make a slurry with the Clear-Jel. Add Clear-Jel mixture to pot and stir until incorporated. Bring back to a simmer and cook until desired thickness.
To clean, pint canning jars, add enchilada sauce leaving one inch head space. Pressure can for 50 minutes at 10 pounds of pressure, following your canner’s instructions.
Is the oil necessary? Or can I use a bit of vegetable/chicken broth to toast the spices?
I’ve never made it without the oil, but the point of the oil is toasting the spices which you can’t do with broth. Also gives it a velvet texture. You can certainly experiment.
Why pressure can? Don’t the tomatoes have enough acid to water-bath can?
There are lots of ingredients in this not just tomatoes.
I’m sure you can
Can I use olive oil in place of Avacado or canola? Does the type of oil matter?
Avocado oil would be just fine!
Does not matter what type of oil, in fact I moved to avocado oil myself.
Sounds great. We were eating at a TexMex Restaurant once or twice a week. My wife’s favorite is Cheese Enchiladas and she wants me to make several dozen and freeze them. I guess I can’t stall any longer. Do you have a recipe for Pechuga de polo Asada? My favorite.
I’ve never heard of Pechunga de polo asada, but it sounds delicious! :) I have found freezing enchiladas with the sauce doesn’t turn out well, so I would put together the enchiladas and freeze, then just add the sauce before cooking.
Now we need the next step. How about a recipe for Cheese Enchilada’s. The Mexican Food Restaurants prices are going through the roof.
Jerry, all you need for the enchiladas is the cheese (beans too if you want), or meat and cheese, fill the tortillas, pour the sauce over, cover the cheese and bake. How about I post another recipe using the enchilada sauce just for you this week? :)
Can I use the water bath canning method?
I pressure can because this is how Ball cans its enchilada sauce, and I’m unsure if it’s safe for WB canning.
Laura, I just finished a batch of this sauce last night and, while typing the recipe into my recipe file, realize I omitted the Clear-Jel. What’s the impact? Is the sauce still shelf stable?
Hi Lynn! Absolutely it’s still shelf stable after canning! The Clear-Jel thickens the sauce. If you like a really thin sauce that’s perfect, if you like something thicker, just make a slurry and thicken it with cornstarch or flour after opening. Hope you enjoy the sauce!
Glad you switched from canola. I think you know that it really bothers my stomach, and when I do research on it, I don’t think I’m the only one. I believe other oils are definitely healthier. I’ve never tried avocado though.
I guess I’ve just always used corn, canola or vegetable oil, but after doing some reading avocado oil is a better choice. However, avocado oil is also expensive. I don’t deep fry much, but when I do it will have to be in like a corn oil because of the amount I need to use. I have been baking with avocado oil too. Since bread bothers your stomach too you might want to consider switching to bread made with ancient grains, or bread made with non-GMO grains. This has made a big difference for a lot of people. I’m working on a blog article on this topic.
This sounds awesome, and I can’t wait to try it. How many jars did you end up with? Thanks!
Hi Susan! Oh goodness, I forgot to put the yield! I will edit right now. It makes 8 1/2 pints, so I just took that other half pint and used it for chip dip. I’m actually using a jar of this tonight in chicken enchilada soup. I hope you enjoy this, and thank you!
Awesome! I believe that I have all of the ingredients on hand except the Mexican oregano, which I will pick up today. Thanks for the quick response!
You can use regular oregano, but the Mexican oregano is special and has a hint of lime in my opinion. I get mine at the Mexican grocery for a good price. :)