This homemade Green Enchilada Sauce is made with roasted tomatillos, chilis, onion, garlic, and spices. It’s the best enchilada sauce for all of your favorite recipes like enchiladas, as a salsa, for chilaquiles, over grilled veggies, or meat.
It’s so easy to toss them together with your favorite seasonings and if you don’t like them sweet you can easily leave out the maple syrup and add in even more savory spices. You can’t go wrong with our go-to mix of parsley, garlic, salt, and pepper. So good and so super simple.
Recipe ingredients and notes:
- Tomatillos – you can use canned if you want.
- Jalapenos – use more if you want a spicy sauce.
- Poblano peppers – give great flavor to the sauce. You can also use Anaheim peppers if you can find those.
- Onion – we prefer white onion, but you could also use yellow onion.
- Garlic
- Cumin
- Mexican oregano – or regular works too.
- Chicken bouillon or vegetable – can be left out, but adds a lot of flavor.
- Salt
- Chicken or vegetable broth
- Lime juice
Step-by-step instructions
For the full ingredient amount and full instructions on how to make green enchilada sauce see the recipe card below.
Place all of the veggies onto a baking sheet. You can line your baking sheet if needed.
Roast the veggies.
Blend the veggies in a blender with the dry ingredients. If you’re not using a high-speed blender you may need to remove the skins if the blender cannot blend them.
After blending, cook the sauce.
Remove pan from the heat and then allow to cool. Also add in the lime juice.
Recipe Tips and Alterations:
- Don’t have the time to roast chili or can’t find them in season? Get canned diced green chiles!
- If you want more heat you can keep the seeds in with the jalapenos, or you can make it milder by removing them.
- If your sauce is too thick after cooking and cooling you can use a little bit of water or stock to thin it out.
- Some prefer to blend their tomatillos, jalapeno, and poblano raw, then cook as directed. Roasting adds more of that deep-roasted flavor.
- Love this sauce? Make an extra batch and freeze half to use later.
Storage and reheating tips:
- Refrigerate: Store any leftover green enchilada sauce in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 10 days.
- Freeze: Store any green enchilada sauce in a freezer-safe container and freeze for up to 3 months.
How to serve:
There are so many ways to use this green enchilada sauce in your favorite Mexican dishes. We love it for green enchiladas, but you can also use over meat, fish, veggies, or even rice. Our kids love eating it with chips too!
Frequently asked questions
Salsa verde is a raw sauce whereas enchilada sauce is cooked. You also add liquids to enchilada sauce to make it thinner for using in recipes like coating tortillas for enchiladas.
It can be. You can use jalapenos or leave them out if you don’t want much heat. If you want it extra spicy you can leave the seeds of the jalapenos in.
It can be made vegan by using vegetable broth or no chicken broth which is a vegan alternative to chicken broth.
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Green Enchilada Sauce
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 pounds tomatillos peeled and washed
- 1 jalapeno seeded and stem removed
- 4 poblano peppers or Anaheim, seeded and stem removed
- 1 small onion halved
- 4 cloves garlic
- 1 bunch cilantro
- 1 teaspoon cumin
- 1 teaspoon Mexican oregano
- 1 teaspoon chicken bouillon
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 3 cups chicken broth or vegetable
- 1 tablespoon lime juice freshly squeezed
Instructions
- Heat the oven to 400°F and line a pan with parchment paper or foil.
- Place the tomatillos on the pan. Cut the jalapeno and poblanos in half and remove the seeds. (Keep some of the seeds in the jalapeno if you want it extra spicy) Place them cut side down on the pan. Place the onions and garlic on the pan and place in the oven.
- Bake for 15 minutes, flipping after 8 minutes.
- Remove and place all the ingredients from the pan in the blender. (Remove the skin from the peppers if your blender cannot blend the skin) Add the cilantro, cumin, oregano, chicken bouillon, salt and broth to the blender and blend till smooth.
- Pour the sauce into a saute pan and cook over medium heat for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.
- Remove from the heat and stir in the lime juice.
- Use as desired or refrigerate until ready to use.
Notes
- Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 10 days.
- You can freeze up to 3 months.
- This recipe makes about 5-6 cups.
Nutrition
The nutritional information is automatically calculated and can vary based ingredients and products used. If the nutrition numbers are important for you we recommend calculating them yourself.
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