Green Enchilada Sauce is a quick and simple 8-ingredient recipe that you can use on many of your Mexican-inspired recipes. You'll love the homemade taste! This recipe uses frozen or canned diced green chiles for convenience.
Making your own homemade green enchilada sauce is a great substitution for the store-bought canned sauce you buy. This recipe is low carb, keto, vegan, dairy-free, Whole30, gluten-free, and has no added sugar.
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❤️ Homemade Green Enchilada Sauce
"One of my most favorite recipes (and most popular on our website) is the Green Enchilada Chicken Soup. Unfortunately, I can't always find canned green enchilada sauce in my store! The result: come up with my own! Problem solved" 🙂 -Kori
Quick and Easy
This is intended to be quick and easy enchilada sauce recipe. There are several ways to make green enchilada sauce - like roasting your own chiles, for example, but I was looking for a substitution you could make in a pinch - it also needed to taste amazing and be as close to authentic as possible!
I know that's a tall order, but I think I managed, and you'll find that this recipe does taste better than the canned green enchilada sauce you buy in the store. Bonus: it's simple, AND you can freeze it too.
1 recipe = 1 (28 oz) can of store-bought green enchilada sauce
Freezable
This homemade green enchilada sauce recipe is freezable! I love to batch cook a bunch and freeze it for later uses!
Side note! I plan on growing my own anaheim peppers and hatch green chili peppers this summer. I know there will be an abundance, and I'll be looking for something to make with them.
With this recipe, I'll be ready no matter how many peppers my garden throws at me! 🙂
Healthy
I think you'll love that this beautiful green sauce is low carb, keto, vegan, dairy-free, Whole30, gluten-free, and has no added sugar! Yay! So, on top of being easy, it's also quite healthy.
Only 2.6 net carbs as opposed to the store-bought variety, which has 4 per serving.
While the full nutritional value is provided at the end of the recipe card, here are the most important if you're following a low carb keto diet:
2.9 g fat | 2.6 g net carbs | 0.3 g protein
🌯 How To Serve
This is a pretty diverse green enchilada sauce recipe that can be used in many Mexican-inspired recipes! Here are some additional ways to serve if you want more inspiration!
- 1 recipe is equivalent to 1 (28 oz) can of store-bought sauce.
- Use in our Green Enchiladas Chicken Soup Recipe
- It's also used in Green Enchiladas with Chicken
- Makes a great topping for chicken, pork, fish, and beef.
- It's a great sauce over tacos, burritos, and such!
- Works with our Low Carb Chicken Enchiladas (Keto Zucchini Enchilada Boats)
🧾 Ingredients and Equipment
Here are the green enchilada sauce ingredients and tools that you'll need to make this recipe:
Ingredients
- Avocado Oil - you can use avocado oil or olive oil, whichever you prefer.
- Onion
- Garlic
- Diced Green Chiles - we used frozen hatch green chiles for convenience, but you can also use canned (equally convenient) or roast your own chiles in the oven. You can find instructions for roasting your own peppers in the questions below.
- Vegetable Broth - you can use vegetable broth or chicken broth.
- Cumin
- Oregano
- Salt - we use kosher salt or sea salt
- Pepper - fresh ground pepper always tastes best!
- Optional - jalapeno Pepper for more heat
Equipment
- 1 10" deep skillet
- immersion blender or a regular blender that can process hot liquids
- measuring spoons
- measuring cups
- cutting board
- chef knife
🔪 Instructions
Here's how to make this green enchilada sauce recipe:
Saute Onion and Garlic
Heat avocado oil in a skillet over medium-high heat. Saute onion until soft. Add garlic and cook for 1 minute.
Add Remaining Ingredients
Reduce heat to medium. Add diced green chiles, vegetable broth, cumin, oregano, salt, pepper, and optional jalapeno.
Simmer
Simmer, uncovered, for 15 minutes until the liquid is reduced by about 25% or 3 cups in volume.
Blend
Use an immersion blender to blend ingredients to your desired consistency. If you don't have an immersion blender, transfer to a regular blender and pulse until desired consistency is reached. Transfer back to your skillet.
Use or Store For Later
If the sauce is for later use, let it cool, then store it in an airtight container for storage in your refrigerator or freezer.
💭 Top Tips
- Feel free to adjust ingredients to your liking. If you like more heat, add fresh diced jalapeno peppers.
- Use fresh green chili peppers in place of canned. See Common Questions below for how to roast green chiles.
- The recipe calls for reducing the total volume from 4 cups to 3 cups, but you can reduce further for more intense flavor.
- If you don't have an immersion blender, add the ingredients to a blender and pulse until you reach your desired texture. I prefer something between smooth and chunky!
Questions
What is green enchilada sauce made of?
Green enchilada sauce is most often made of diced green chili peppers (such as anaheim peppers, hatch, jalapeno, etc.), garlic, vegetable stock, cumin, oregano, salt, and pepper. Additional jalapeno peppers may also be added for more spice. Sometimes recipes will add tomatillos as well.
What is the difference between Green Enchilada Sauce and Salsa Verde?
Both use very similar ingredients, but green enchilada sauce is cooked, and salsa verde uses raw ingredients. Not all green enchilada sauce recipes use tomatillos, whereas most salsa verde recipes use tomatillos.
How do you make green enchilada sauce from scratch?
Making your own homemade green enchilada sauce is quite simple.
Saute onion until soft, add garlic and cook for 1 minute. Add remaining ingredients and bring to a simmer. Simmer uncovered for about 15 minutes to reduce and thicken the liquid slightly.
Use an immersion blender to blend the ingredients to your desired consistency. Allow the sauce to cool if storing for later use.
How do your roast green chilies?
Broil them whole on a baking sheet covered in foil for 10 minutes, until blackened and skin is bubbled, flipping halfway through. Remove from oven.
Wrap tightly in the foil you used to line the baking sheet, and let sit for about 30 minutes.
Once cool, rub the skin off the peppers. I highly suggest using gloves if possible.
Remove the tops of the peppers, cut them in half lengthwise, and removed seeds. Use as needed in your recipe.
What are some good store-bought brands?
If you don't feel like making your own green chili sauce, here are a couple of good brands that I've used in the past that you might like:
- Old El Paso Green Enchilada Sauce
- Las Palmas Green Enchilada Sauce
Can you freeze green enchilada sauce?
Yes, this recipe is freezable! Cool your sauce and place in a freezer-proof container. Freeze for up to 4 months.
Recipes Using Green Enchilada Sauce:
Easy Mexican Recipes:
- Avocado Dressing (Vegan Salad Dressing)
- Chicken Fajitas Bake (Low Carb and Keto)
- EASY Jalapeño Popper Chicken Casserole (Keto Low Carb)
- Crockpot Chicken Fajita Soup (Low Carb Keto Soup Recipe)
- Easy Fresh Homemade Guacamole
⭐ Stay Connected
If you made this Green Enchilada Sauce, I'd love for you to come back and give the recipe a star rating and/or a review in the comments! 🙂 Let's stay connected, so please share photos of your creations with me and others on Instagram, Facebook, and Pinterest!
📋 Recipe
Green Enchilada Sauce Recipe
Homemade Green Enchilada Sauce is a quick and simple 8-ingredient recipe that you can use on many of your Mexican-inspired recipes. You'll love the homemade taste!
1 recipe = 1 (28 oz) can of store-bought green enchilada sauce
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons avocado oil (or olive oil)
- 1 cup onion, chopped
- 2 garlic cloves, minced
- 1 cup green chiles (diced or chopped; frozen or canned, do not drain)
- 2 cups vegetable broth (or chicken)
- 1 teaspoon cumin
- 1 teaspoon oregano
- 3/4 teaspoon sea salt or kosher salt
- 1/2 teaspoon pepper
- Optional: 1 jalapeno pepper, diced (if you like it spicy)
Instructions
- Heat oil in a skillet over medium-high heat. Saute onion until soft. Add garlic and cook for 1 minute.
- Reduce heat to medium. Add green chiles, vegetable broth, cumin, oregano, salt, pepper, and optional jalapeno.
- Simmer, uncovered, for 15 minutes until the liquid is reduced by about 25%. (3 cups in volume)
- Use an immersion blender to blend ingredients to your desired consistency. If you don't have an immersion blender, transfer to a regular blender and pulse until desired consistency is reached. Transfer back to your skillet.
- If the sauce is for later use, let it cool, then store it in an airtight container for storage in your refrigerator or freezer.
Notes
Nutrition Information:
Serving Size: 10 servings ( approx. 2.5 oz each)Amount Per Serving: Calories: 38Total Fat: 2.9gSodium: 246mgCarbohydrates: 3.4gNet Carbohydrates: 2.6gFiber: .8gSugar: 1.5gProtein: .3g
Best GREEN ENCHILADA SAUCE RECIPE! A quick and easy 8-ingredient sauce recipe that you can use on your Mexican-inspired recipes. Making your own homemade green enchilada sauce is a great substitution for the store-bought canned sauce you buy. Homemade tasty! This recipe is low carb, keto, vegan, dairy-free, Whole30, gluten-free, and has no added sugar. #greenenchiladas #enchiladasauce #lowcarb #keto #vegan #whole30 #dairyfree #glutenfree #sugar free
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