Enchilada Sauce

Origin: Before it was named, it was a prayer in motion — maize rolled in chile and carried through rain and sun.
Among the Maya and Aztec, tortillas were dipped in spiced sauces made from dried chiles and herbs, offered to gods and travelers alike.

When the Spanish arrived, they called it enchilada — “seasoned with chile.” They brought garlic, onion, and lard, and the sauce thickened, shifting from sacred to sustenance, from altar to hearth.

Across Mexico, it changed hue and texture — red in the center, dark in Oaxaca, pale in the north — yet it never lost its pulse. It is the taste of survival in everyday form: simple, relentless, alive.

Ingredients

This deep red enchilada sauce is smoky, earthy, and thick enough to hold memory. It’s made from dried chiles, garlic, cumin, and broth—blended to silk and simmered until every note sings.

3 dried guajillo chiles

2 dried ancho chiles

1 dried pasilla chile (optional, for depth)

2 cups hot water, for soaking

3 garlic cloves

½ tsp cumin

½ tsp Mexican oregano

½ tsp smoked paprika

1 tbsp tomato paste

1½ cups vegetable or chicken broth

Salt, to taste

1–2 tbsp oil, for frying the sauce

How The Alchemy Happens

Remove stems and seeds from the dried chiles. Toast them lightly in a dry pan—just until fragrant, not burnt.

Soak chiles in hot water for 20–30 minutes until soft. Reserve soaking liquid.

Blend chiles, garlic, spices, tomato paste, and about 1 cup broth until smooth. Add more liquid as needed for a pourable texture.

Heat oil in a saucepan. Pour in the sauce and fry it—yes, fry it—for 5–10 minutes, stirring until it thickens and deepens.

Add remaining broth to loosen if needed. Salt to taste. Simmer a few more minutes.

Use immediately or store in the fridge up to a week. It freezes beautifully too.