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Red Sauce, Green Sauce, and Simple Mole
Homemade enchilada sauce changes everything. Once you make it yourself, there is no going back to jars filled with preservatives, stabilizers, and flat, one-note flavor. This Enchilada Sauce Trio gives you three deeply rooted, classic sauces that cover nearly every craving. A bold red sauce built on dried chiles, a vibrant green sauce anchored in fresh poblanos, and a rich, balanced simple mole that somehow works on just about everything.
Each sauce is quick to prepare, endlessly adaptable, and designed to work with real food cooking. Red sauce pairs beautifully with beef, mushrooms, or roasted vegetables. Green sauce shines with chicken, beans, or enchiladas filled with greens. The mole is the wildcard, equally good over eggs, roasted squash, braised meats, or layered into enchiladas when you want depth and drama.
There are no rules here. Choose the sauce that fits your mood, your pantry, and the season.
Natural Chef Tips for Better Enchilada Sauce
For green sauce, skip canned green chiles entirely. Roasting your own poblano peppers gives unmatched depth and freshness.
To roast poblanos: place whole peppers on a baking sheet in a 400°F oven for 20 minutes, or grill over high heat for about 3 minutes per side, turning with tongs until all sides are blistered and blackened. Transfer hot peppers to a pot with a tight fitting lid and let steam for 20 minutes. Peel off the skins, remove stems, and chop. Keep seeds if you want extra heat.
Yield reference: three poblano peppers equal roughly one 4-ounce can of diced green chiles.
For red sauce and mole, longer simmer times equal deeper flavor. If you have time, let the sauce quietly bubble on the lowest heat setting. It rewards patience.
Nutrition Highlights
These sauces deliver more than flavor.
- Dried chiles provide antioxidants and capsaicin compounds that support circulation and metabolic health.
- Bone broth adds minerals, collagen, and amino acids for gut and joint support.
- Cacao, spices, and herbs contribute polyphenols that support inflammation balance.
- Olive oil improves absorption of fat-soluble nutrients while adding heart-supportive fats.
Why Make Enchilada Sauce from Scratch
When you control the sauce, you control the outcome of the entire dish. Homemade enchilada sauce allows you to adjust heat, acidity, thickness, and spice balance in a way no packaged version can. You also avoid seed oils, gums, artificial color, and hidden sugars.
From a nutrition standpoint, these sauces deliver antioxidants from dried chiles, polyphenols from olive oil, minerals from bone broth, and gut-supportive compounds from slow simmering spices. They are as functional as they are flavorful.
Pair these sauces with Einkorn Tortillas, Cajun Shrimp with Spaghetti Squash, or Braised Beef Brisket for complete, deeply satisfying meals.
Choosing the Right Sauce for the Right Dish
Red Enchilada Sauce
Earthy, warming, and classic. Best with beef, mushrooms, sweet potatoes, or layered enchiladas.
Green Enchilada Sauce
Bright, fresh, and herbaceous. Ideal for chicken, beans, greens, or vegetable-forward enchiladas.
Simple Mole
Rich, complex, and gently bitter-sweet. Excellent with eggs, roasted vegetables, braised meats, or spooned over rice and beans.
How to Build a Full Enchilada Night Around These Sauces
Think of this Enchilada Sauce Trio as your foundation, not the finished dish. Once you have the sauces made, the rest of the meal becomes effortless and flexible, which is exactly how real home cooking should feel. Here is a fully customizable recipe that starts with inspiration for homemade Enchiladas with Sweet Potato and Red Sauce.
Set out all three sauces and let everyone build their own plate. Warm Einkorn Tortillas in a dry skillet, add simple fillings like shredded chicken, slow-cooked beef, sautéed mushrooms, or seasoned beans, then let the sauces do the heavy lifting. A spoon of red sauce adds warmth and depth, green sauce brings brightness and freshness, and the mole adds richness that feels special without being heavy.
For a composed plate, try layering green sauce with chicken and greens for a lighter enchilada, red sauce with beef or mushrooms for something grounding, and finish the meal with a small drizzle of mole over roasted vegetables or eggs the next morning. These sauces are not limited to enchiladas. They work just as beautifully spooned over grain bowls, folded into scrambled eggs, or used as a simmer sauce for vegetables and proteins throughout the week.
This is the kind of cooking that builds rhythm in the kitchen. Make once, eat well for days, and let flavor lead the way.
Authentic Enchilada Sauce Trio
Equipment
- Immersion blender or blender
Ingredients
Red Sauce
- 1/4 cup high-phenolic olive oil
- 1/4 cup almond flour or einkorn flour
- 1/2 cup New Mexico chili powder or for a milder version use 1/4 cup New Mexico chili powder + 1/4 cup paprika
- 1 tsp ground cumin
- 1 tsp garlic powder
- 1 tsp onion powder or dried oregano
- 1 tsp mineral salt
- 2 cups organic tomato sauce or chicken bone broth
- 2 cups chicken bone broth or filtered water
Green Sauce
- 2 tbsp high-phenolic olive oil
- 12 roasted or fresh poblano chili peppers diced
- 1/2 sweet or yellow onion diced
- 1 jalapeno seeded and diced
- 3 garlic cloves minced
- 2 tsp ground cumin
- 1 tsp mineral salt
- 1 tsp freshly ground white pepper
- 1 cup chicken bone broth
Simple Mole
- 2 tbsp high-phenolic olive oil
- 1 sweet onion diced
- 3 garlic cloves minced
- 1 jalapeno seeded and diced
- 2 tbsp organic raisins
- 1/4 cup New Mexico chili powder
- 2 tbsp almond flour
- 1 tbsp raw cacao powder
- 1 tsp ceylon cinnamon
- 1 tsp ground cumin
- 1 tsp dried oregano
- 1/2 tsp ground allspice
- 1/2 tsp ground coriander
- 1 tbsp raw almond butter
- 1 tbsp raw tahini
- 1 tbsp tomato paste
- 1 oz dark chocolate
- 2 1/2 cups chicken bone broth
- 1 tsp mineral salt
Instructions
To Make the Red Sauce
- Heat olive oil in a saucepan over medium heat. Whisk in flour and cook for 1 minute until lightly browned.
- Add spices and cook for 1 minute until fragrant.
- Slowly whisk in tomato sauce and bone broth until smooth.
- Simmer uncovered on low for 1 to 3 hours to deepen the flavor.
To Make the Green Sauce
- Sauté poblano chilis in oil for 5 minutes.
- Add onion and jalapeno and sauté 5 more minutes.
- Stir in garlic and spices and cook for 2 minutes.
- Add bone broth. Use an immersion blender (or transfer to a high speed blender) to puree until smooth.
To Make the Simple Mole
- Sauté onion, garlic, jalapeno, and raisins until soft and fragrant.
- Stir in dry spices and flour and cook for 2 minutes.
- Off heat, stir in almond butter, tahini, tomato paste, and chocolate until melted.
- Add bone broth and salt. Use an immersion blender to puree until smooth (or transfer to a high speed blender, returning the mole back to the pot when done.)
- Simmer for 5 minutes until thickened.
RBK Ingredient Standard
Whenever possible, we prioritize organic, local, seasonal, and transparently sourced ingredients. Learn more about our sourcing approach.
Let us know if you make this recipe! Tag @redbootkitchen and use the hashtag #redbootkitchen
