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Ready in only 30 minutes, this bright and tangy green enchilada sauce will quickly replace your store-bought jars. Caramelized green peppers, onions, and garlic come together for a delicious and savory sauce, perfect for all your enchilada dinners!
For a long time, I have been looking for a store-bought green enchilada sauce that is close to homemade, but I have yet to find it.
My easy red enchilada sauce is more forgiving, but green enchilada sauce tends to be more sour and acidic, so I find making a homemade version worth all the effort. Here’s why I love this recipe:
- Great flavor: Cooking and caramelizing the tomatillos brings out both some sweetness and its tart flavor. Pair it with the roasted Anaheim peppers, onions, garlic, vegetable broth, lime juice, and seasonings, and it’s a match made in heaven,
- Easy to batch: This recipe makes 4 cups and is very easy to double or triple so you can freeze and store it.
Green Enchilada Sauce versus Salsa Verde
Though very similar, green enchilada sauce and salsa verde have some key differences. Both recipes include tomatillos, chiles, onions, garlic, and cilantro, but their flavor profiles are different.
Green enchilada sauce features Anaheim chiles and is milder in heat with a smoother consistency. Salsa verde is tangy and bright, can be chunky or smooth, and is often a bit spicier and more acidic.
Green Enchilada Sauce Ingredients
- Anaheim peppers: Also called “New Mexico” or “Hatch” chiles. These peppers are mild and have a great flavor when roasted.
- Tomatillos: These add a little tart and a bright layer of flavor. Cooking them tones down their acidity and adds a layer of sweetness.
- Yellow onion: These have a great flavor when they’re caramelized like they are in this sauce.
- Jalapeños: For a hint of spice. I took out the seeds to keep it mild, but you can leave them in to add some heat.
- Garlic: This enchilada sauce uses 4 garlic cloves.
- Vegetable broth: Some recipes use water, but I like to use vegetable broth to add lots of great flavor and savoriness.
- Seasonings: SImple seasonings like salt, cumin, and oregano add just the right amount of extra flavor.
- Olive oil: I used olive oil to cook and caramelize the peppers, onions, and garlic. You can also use any oil you prefer.
- Lime juice: Adds some acidity and brightness. You can adjust the amount to your liking.
- Cilantro: This is optional, but I love to add it to recipes whenever I can. It adds great fresh herb flavor!
How to Make Green Enchilada Sauce
Roast the Anaheim peppers under a broiler on a baking sheet for 4-5 minutes on each side until the skin is blackened.
Soften the pepper skin by covering the baking sheet with an additional piece of aluminum foil and allowing the peppers to steam for about 5 minutes.
Peel the skin off the peppers using a butter knife or your hands. Cut a slit into the pepper and scoop out the seeds. Set the prepared peppers aside.
Sauté the tomatillos, yellow onion, jalapeño, and garlic cloves in olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat until the tomatillos start to soften and the onions begin to caramelize, about 10 minutes. The tomatillos will start to change color to a light green-yellow color.
Blend the roasted peppers, tomatillos, yellow onion, jalapeño, garlic cloves, vegetable broth, cilantro (if using), kosher salt, cumin, oregano, and lime juice until smooth. Taste and adjust salt and lime juice as needed.
Serve immediately or store in a jar and refrigerate for up to 5 days.
Recipe Tips
- Save some time and multitask! While the peppers are roasting under the broiler, start sauteing the rest of the fresh ingredients. They should both finish at the same time.
- Great for batching. This recipe is great to double or triple and then freeze flat for easy thawing. That way you always have enchilada sauce stocked and ready for quick weeknight meals.
- Adjust the heat. In general, you can add some jalapeños or serrano peppers to make it a little spicy. This recipes is mild as written.
- Adjust the thickness. If you like a thicker consistency, reduce the vegetable broth to ½ cup.
- Can I use canned hatch chiles? You can, but I really recommend roasting your own Anaheim peppers. I find canned hatch chiles to be too acidic and sour, whereas roasting them brings out a level of sweetness that you can’t get with store-bought.
Ways to Use Green Enchilada Sauce
Even though this is technically enchilada sauce, you can use it in so many different ways. Here are a few of my favorites:
- Enchiladas (of course). Just swap out the mentioned enchilada sauce for this green enchilada sauce in these chicken enchiladas or beef enchiladas.
- Weeknight dinners. Use this sauce in recipes like quinoa enchilada bake or chicken enchilada stuffed sweet potatoes.
- Top it off. Drizzle it on migas or chilaquiles verdes for an extra flavorful breakfast.
Storing and Reheating
To store, pour into a jar and refrigerate for up to 5 days.
To freeze, place it in a freezer-safe bag and freeze it flat.
To reheat, place it in the microwave at intervals of 30 seconds until warmed through. You can also reheat on the stove in a medium skillet over medium heat until warm.
More Mexican Recipes
Green Enchilada Sauce
Ingredients
- 4 Anaheim peppers
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- ½ pound tomatillos, husked, rinsed, and halved
- 1 yellow onion, roughly chopped
- 1 jalapeño, seeded and stemmed, roughly chopped
- 4 garlic cloves, roughly chopped
- 1 cup vegetable broth
- ⅓ cup packed cilantro, optional
- 2 tablespoons lime juice (about 1 lime)
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt, plus more to taste
- ½ teaspoon ground cumin
- ½ teaspoon Mexican oregano
Instructions
- Line a large baking sheet with aluminum foil and place the Anaheim peppers on top. Set your oven rack directly underneath the broiler and turn the broiler on.
- Broil for 5 minutes per side until the skin is blistered and black.
- Remove them from the oven and cover them with an additional piece of aluminum foil for 5 minutes to soften the pepper skins.
- Peel the charred skin off the peppers using your hands or a butter knife, getting as much of the charred skin off as you can.
- Make a vertical slit on the pepper and scoop out the ribs and seeds. Set aside.
- Heat the olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add the tomatillos, onion, jalapeño, and garlic. Cook for 10 minutes until the tomatillos start to soften and the onions begin to caramelize.
- Transfer the cooked vegetables and roasted peppers to a large blender. Add the broth, cilantro (if using), lime juice, salt, cumin, and oregano and blend until completely smooth. Taste and season with more salt if necessary.
- Serve immediately or store in a jar and refrigerate for up to 5 days.
Notes
- Save some time and multitask! While the peppers are roasting under the broiler, start sauteing the rest of the fresh ingredients. They should both finish at the same time.
- Great for batching. This recipe is great to double or triple and then freeze flat for easy thawing. That way you always have enchilada sauce stocked and ready for quick weeknight meals.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
The post was originally published in October 2019 and has been updated with new photos and more helpful tips and tricks.
Photography by Ashley McLaughlin.
This was fantastic! We used it on chicken enchiladas and they were soooo good! I’m so glad I found this website. I can’t wait to try more of your recipes. Thank you!
This Green Enchilada Sauce recipe is now my go-to, tasted totally authentic (as far as I can tell, anyway), super flavor! Used four really large Anaheims, easy to roast & peel, and also used a serrano (removed the seeds & some ribs, kept a little of their heat). I can’t believe how easy this was, beats the pants off store-bought sauce, and really took only 25 mins for me. Assuming you have the peppers, etc., definitely well worth the relatively small effort to make this fabulous sauce.
Awesome recipe!!!! This is a staple in my kitchen!!!
Delicious! I used hatch chiles as suggested in the substitutions, but followed everything else to a T. Was perfect for enchiladas, and will definitely be our go-to from now on!
This is a wonderful recipe! I only had poblanos and jalapeños, but I followed the recipe and it turned out delicious. We used the sauce to make smothered burritos.
Wow! I needed to use some of the chiles and tomatillos that are coming on, so I made a huge batch to put in the freezer. The flavors are incredible, and I’m so looking forward to enjoying enchiladas all winter. Since it is going in the freezer, I left out the cilantro for now. I will add it and more lime juice to freshen it up when I use it. Pro tip: if you have an air fryer, it works GREAT for roasting the chiles!
My family won’t eat cilantro (tastes like soap) What is the best substitute? Thanks in advance.
Hi Cathy! I’m not sure about that, you may try parsley and see how that tastes, or try omitting it all together!
I’d like to add tomatillos to the sauce. Should the husk be removed before roasting? Thank you! I love green sauce and so glad you include a recipe.
Yes! Remove the husks and then rinse them under warm water to remove any of the sticky residue that the husk leaves.
Delicious! The second time I made a few changes and liked it even better. I quartered the onion and charred it in a dry cast iron skillet and also lightly charred the garlic. Used only 2 Tbl lime juice. Really great and authentic. Thanks!
Can you can this recipe?
Hi there, I don’t have any experience or expertise in canning so I can’t say for sure. However, I do know that it can be frozen for up to 3 months!
love making sauces like these from scratch, and love green sauces, including enchilada sauces like this one and one of the best things about them is the ability to control how spicy to make it, thank you