Roasted Red Pepper Enchilada Sauce vs the Jarred Stuff – There’s No Comparison
I lived in a house with four other girls for about year when I lived in Australia. As you can imagine, getting time in the kitchen was always a challenge. We all loved to cook and eat. A couple of the girls would always make chicken enchiladas. I had a look one day at the jar of enchilada sauce they were using. The ingredients on the back start with roasted red pepper, tomato paste, vinegar, and after a few ingredients, it started listing all the chemicals and artificial flavorings that were added. Yuck. That cannot be good for your body. So I decided I was going to make my own sauce based on the real ingredients listed and omit the artificial flavorings. What I ended up with was this amazing, roasted red pepper enchilada sauce that takes any enchilada recipe to the next level.
If you’re looking for a delicious, healthy enchilada recipe, check out my Low-Carb Chicken Enchiladas recipe HERE.
Going the Extra Mile with Roasted Red Peppers
Most enchilada sauce recipes do not call for roasted red peppers, but I really love their addition. They add a smokiness and depth of flavor and give the sauce a great color. You can buy jarred red peppers, but it’s really not to difficult to roast them yourself.
- Just remove the seeds and core of the peppers and roughly slice them.
- Add the peppers to a sheet pan with the skins facing up, and drizzle them with a little olive oil.
- Roast the peppers at high heat in the oven until the skins begin to wrinkle.
- To help remove the skins, treat the still-hot peppers to their own little sauna by placing them in a bowl and covering the bowl with plastic wrap for about 10 minutes.
- Once cooled, the skins should be easy to remove.
- Give the peppers a rough chop, and puree them in a food processor. And boom….you’re ready to roll with the rest of your sauce making.
Step-by-Step in Photos
Roasted Red Peppers 
Remove Skins 
Chopped Skin-less Peppers 
Puree the Peppers 
Pureed Peppers 
Enchilada Sauce Ingredients 
Combine Seasonings and Bay Leaves 
Sautee Garlic in Olive Oil 
Add Bowl of Seasonings 
Saute for a few minutes to “cook out” flour taste 
Add tomato paste and cook until caramelized 
Stir in pureed peppers 
Add chicken stock and vinegar and cook until thickened 
Finished Roasted Red Pepper Enchilada Sauce 
Using the sauce 
Low-Carb Chicken Enchiladas using Roasted Red Pepper Enchilada Sauce
Roasted Red Pepper Enchilada Sauce
Ingredients
- 2 large Red Peppers Roasted, Skins removed
- 2 c Chicken Stock
- 2 Bay Leaves
- 1 tsp Cocoa
- 1 Tbs Garlic Minced
- 2 Tbs Tomato Paste
- 1 tsp Cumin Ground
- 1 tsp Chili Powder
- 2 Tbs Olive Oil
- 1 tsp White Vinegar
- 3 Tbs Flour
- 1 tsp Sugar or Swerve
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Core and deseed the red peppers. Slice them in half, and place them skin side up on a baking sheet. Drizzle with Olive oil and bake for 15-20 minutes or until skins have darkened.
- Remove the red peppers from the baking tray and place in a bowl. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and let the red peppers cool . Once cooled, peel the skins off the red peppers and discard. Give the peppers a rough chop and puree them in a food processor.
- Combine all spices, sugar, and flour in a small bowl. Add the oil to heated, medium sized pot. Add the garlic and stir for a few seconds. Add the spice mixture to the pot, and stir for a couple of minutes. Add the tomato paste and stir until the tomato paste has begun to caramelize. Add the pureed red peppers, and stir until well-combined.
- Add the chicken stock and whisk until there are no lumps. Add the bay leaves, and bring the sauce to a boil. Lower heat to a low setting, whisking often for about 7-10 or until sauce has thickened. The sauce will continue to thicken as it cools.
- Remove from heat, and stir in vinegar. Add additional salt if needed.
Notes
- After the sauce cools, you can store it in a mason jar in the refrigerator for up to 5 days or freeze for a couple of months.
- Adding the sugar gives the sauce a slight sweetness and reduces the acidity of the tomato paste.
- The cocoa is optional, but I think it gives the sauce more depth.
- I used regular flour for this recipe, but if you have a gluten allergy, you could use gluten free flour or thicken the sauce with corn starch. If using cornstarch, rather than adding the corn starch in with the spices, create a slurry using water and add it to the chicken broth.
Did you make this dish?
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