What is homemade enchilada sauce and how does El Cholo's version differ?

A homemade red enchilada sauce is built on rehydrated dried chiles — not on chili powder, which is a spice blend. El Cholo's version uses California (New Mexico) chiles for mild, sweet red-pepper flavor and pasilla chiles for earthiness, simmered with tomato puree and beef stock. The distinguishing technique is the roux — a cooked flour-and-lard thickener stirred in near the end of a nearly two-hour simmer, then strained smooth. Most home enchilada sauces use chili powder and skip the roux entirely; El Cholo's sauce is made the way Mexican restaurants made it before jarred enchilada sauce existed. The result is noticeably smoother, deeper, and less acidic than any can or packet version.

What dried chiles should I use, and where do I find them?

California chiles (sometimes labeled 'New Mexico chiles' or 'dried Anaheim chiles') are the main workhorse — long, mild, and brick-red, they give the sauce its color and a clean, slightly sweet pepper flavor with very little heat. Pasilla chiles are shorter and near-black when dried; they add earthiness and a hint of dried fruit. Both are widely available in the dried-chile section of any Mexican grocery, most Latin supermarkets, and increasingly in the spice aisle of large grocery chains. Goya sells dried California chiles in clear bags, and Melissa's Produce stocks both varieties online. Do not substitute fresh chiles or chipotle in adobo — the flavor profile is completely different. If you cannot find pasillas, a small dried ancho chile is the closest substitute.

Can I make enchilada sauce without dried chiles, using chili powder instead?

You can make a serviceable red sauce with chili powder, but it is a different product. Chili powder is a pre-blended spice mix containing dried chile, cumin, garlic powder, and often oregano — so a powder-based sauce is thinner, more uniform, and faster but also flatter. El Cholo's method of simmering whole dried chiles for 90 minutes extracts flavor compounds that are not present in ground powder, including a slight natural sweetness and a depth of color that powder cannot replicate. If you are pressed for time, the closest shortcut is: bloom 3 tablespoons of ancho chile powder in 2 tablespoons of hot lard for 1 minute, add tomato puree and beef stock, simmer 20 minutes, and thicken with a cornstarch slurry. It takes 30 minutes and is good. The slow-dried-chile version is great.

Why does the recipe use lard instead of oil for the roux?

El Cholo's roux — and traditional Mexican cooking generally — uses lard because it adds a subtle savory depth that neutral vegetable oil cannot. Lard made from rendered pork fat has a clean, mildly porky flavor that amplifies the beef stock and dried chiles rather than competing with them. The practical difference is small: vegetable shortening (Crisco) produces an almost identical texture and is the common modern substitute; a neutral high-heat oil like avocado or refined coconut works too. The roux's job is to thicken — the flour is what matters, the fat is the carrier. Use what you have.

How long does homemade enchilada sauce keep?

Refrigerated in a sealed container, this sauce keeps for up to 2 weeks. It also freezes extremely well — pour it into ice cube trays, freeze solid, then transfer the cubes to a zip bag; they keep for 3 months. Each cube is roughly 2 tablespoons, so 2 to 3 cubes per enchilada makes it easy to thaw exactly what you need. The sauce actually improves after a day in the refrigerator as the flavors settle and deepen — it is a good candidate for making a double batch on a weekend and keeping it on hand.

What dishes can I use this sauce on besides enchiladas?

The sauce works anywhere a mild, savory red chile sauce belongs. El Cholo uses it on their cheese enchiladas and green corn tamales. At home it is excellent as a braising liquid for chicken thighs (brown the thighs, submerge in sauce, cover and braise at 325°F for 45 minutes), as a base for huevos rancheros, spooned over fried eggs with cotija cheese, thinned slightly with additional broth to make a red pozole base, or as a cooking sauce for pork shoulder. It also makes an excellent dipping sauce for quesadillas.

El Cholo Red Enchilada Sauce (Homemade, the LA Way)

Name: El Cholo Red Enchilada Sauce
Prep time: 20 min
Cook time: 2 h
Total time: 2 h 20 min
Yield: 8
Cuisine: Mexican
Ingredients: Dried chiles:; 6 dried California (New Mexico) chiles — stems removed, seeds shaken out, torn into pieces; 3 dried pasilla chiles — stems removed, seeds shaken out, torn into pieces; Sauce base:; 1 can (8 oz) tomato puree (not crushed tomatoes — puree is smoother); 3 cups water (or 2 cups water + 1 cup beef broth for deeper flavor); 1 teaspoon beef base (such as Better Than Bouillon Beef), OR skip if using beef broth; 1 teaspoon cumin; 1/2 teaspoon dried Mexican oregano (crumbled between your palms before adding); 1/4 teaspoon ground allspice; 1/4 teaspoon black pepper; 1 teaspoon kosher salt, plus more to taste; Roux (thickener — added near the end):; 3 tablespoons lard, vegetable shortening, or neutral oil; 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour

Prep time: 20 min Cook time: 2 hours Servings: 8 (about 2.5 cups — enough for 8 to 10 enchiladas)

El Cholo opened on Western Avenue in Los Angeles in 1923, and the same brick-red sauce has gone over every enchilada they have served since. It is not made from chili powder — it is built on whole dried California chiles and pasilla chiles, simmered low and slow until they surrender their flavor completely, then thickened with a cooked flour-lard roux and strained smooth. This is the homemade enchilada sauce that home cooks and restaurant chefs both mean when they say “real enchilada sauce.”

The two-hour cook time is almost entirely hands-off simmering. The active work is about 20 minutes total.

The Ingredients

The only specialty items are the dried chiles — available at any Mexican grocery, most Latin supermarkets, and online. Everything else is pantry-standard.

Dried California chiles (also labeled “New Mexico chiles” or “dried Anaheim chiles”) are the main building block: mild, slightly sweet, and deeply red. Pasilla chiles are darker and add earthiness. Together they give the sauce its characteristic color and flavor without any significant heat.

The beef base (or beef broth) adds the savory backbone that separates El Cholo’s sauce from the chile-powder versions most home recipes use. Allspice is the quiet differentiator — just 1/4 teaspoon — and it is what gives this LA-style sauce its warmth without reading as sweet.

The Technique: Why the Roux Matters

Most homemade enchilada sauces are thickened with cornstarch or just reduced by boiling. El Cholo uses a roux — flour cooked in lard until pale golden, then whisked into the simmering sauce — which gives the finished sauce a body that clings to tortillas and holds through baking. A cornstarch-thickened sauce tends to thin out under the heat of the oven; a roux-thickened sauce does not.

The final strain through a fine-mesh sieve removes all the papery chile skins and produces a glossy, smooth consistency that looks and behaves like a restaurant sauce. Do not skip the strain — it takes two minutes and makes a visible difference.

What to Make With It

This sauce is a base, not just a topping. Ladle it over rolled cheese or chicken enchiladas and bake; use it to braise meat for fillings; or spoon it over huevos rancheros. For the fillings themselves, our copycat Chipotle barbacoa and copycat Chipotle carnitas both shred perfectly into enchiladas, and a bowl of copycat Chipotle guacamole rounds out the plate. A double batch of this sauce frozen in cubes means a from-scratch enchilada dinner is a 20-minute weeknight job.

El Cholo is a trademark of its owner, used here only to describe the dish this recipe recreates. This is an independent copycat written in our own words — Copycat Spices is not affiliated with, endorsed by or sponsored by El Cholo.

El Cholo Red Enchilada Sauce

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