The Easiest Trick To Add New Life To Canned Enchilada Sauce

When it comes to Mexican food, enchiladas are an undeniable favorite. There are few, if any, faults to be found in a fresh batch of enchiladas 一 but those who have cooked them before know that they can be time-consuming to make. One of the most convenient ways to cut down on cooking time is to use canned enchilada sauce. It not only eliminates half the work, it also provides consistent and reliable results for less-experienced home cooks who may not have a blender or access to key ingredients, like Guajillo chilis or tomatillos.

Where canned enchilada sauces excel in convenience, though, they noticeably lack in overall taste and texture. If you've ever had enchiladas in a restaurant, you've probably wondered why their sauces adhere so well to the tortillas. The answer is restaurant sauces are properly thickened with roux, and thankfully this technique is easily replicable for home cooks.

Start with equal parts of flour and fat, and cook them together in a pan over low-to-medium heat, stirring carefully so as not to burn the mixture. Once the roux is light brown, pour in your stock slowly while whisking to avoid any lumps forming, and follow by adding the canned enchilada sauce. Re-season with salt and pepper, bring it all to a boil, and simmer to your desired thickness. This easy trick will give your sauce a restaurant-like texture and has the added benefit of stretching the sauce further since it yields double the quantity of the original can.

In keeping with the theme of speed and convenience, this tip is as easy as sprinkling in salt and pepper. Sure, you could roast some vegetables and chilis and add those to your canned enchilada sauce, but then you'd disrupt that signature velvety, uniform texture. You could circumvent this problem by blending the vegetables and chilies, but then you might as well have just made enchilada sauce from scratch. This is exactly why dried spices exist!

Remember the roux you made? After cooking it to the color of light toffee candy, you can get really creative by sprinkling in your own customized spice blend to amplify the flavors that are already present in canned sauce, like chili powder, garlic powder, cumin, and oregano. If you'd like to get really experimental, try adding some more unconventional spices like cinnamon and cardamom, or toss in a few splashes of that quirky artisanal hot sauce sitting in your pantry. Just be sure to add new ingredients in small quantities first, so you don't accidentally ruin the enchiladas with overpowering or unwanted flavors.

There are other ways you can customize the process, like experimenting with different types of fat for the roux or swapping out chicken stock for veggie or beef. If the canned sauce tastes bitter, you can add your favorite sweetener to balance it out. Just don't forget to always taste what you're making as you cook it so you can find the right mix of flavors that works for you.