Homemade enchiladas with verde sauce is one of our family’s favorite meals and we eat it about once a month. It is so easy to make and is a great way to use up some of the shredded chicken left over after we roast a chicken. We’ve been growing heirloom tomatillos in our garden the last couple years and normally use them for making salsa verde. This year since we have hundreds of green tomatoes, we decided to use our tomatillos and green tomatoes to make a huge batch of homemade enchilada sauce to preserve and use throughout the year. We still made our salsa verde too, although this year it was just with green tomatoes and no tomatillos (here’s our recipe if you missed it!)
In the past I always bought a large can of green enchilada sauce to make our homemade enchiladas. Then one time I was curious if I could make it from scratch and turned the can over to read the ingredient list. I was appalled! (If you want to see for yourself, check it out!) There were quite a few ingredients I couldn’t even pronounce and some thickening additives that made me cringe because they weren’t natural at all. At that point, I vowed to figure out how to make a healthier, homemade version of green enchilada sauce.
This homemade verde enchilada sauce recipe is quite simple to make. We think it tastes SO much better than the store bought stuff so that’s a bonus too! I’m thrilled that I don’t have to buy enchilada sauce at the store anymore (have I ever mentioned here how much I really dislike going to the grocery store?!). To preserve our enchilada sauce, we froze it in containers with enough to make a batch of homemade enchiladas in a a 9×13 pan.
The great thing about this recipe is that you can make it with just tomatillos, just green tomatoes or a mixture of both. Tomatillos are so easy to grow so we always have plenty to use. If you happen to only have a large quantity of green tomatoes on hand, you can just use those. We also grow some of the other ingredients in this recipe: onions, garlic, peppers and cilantro.
We used our homemade chicken bone broth in this recipe so it is even more healthy and delicious. Since I roast a chicken at least once a month and then use the bones to make broth, I always have frozen chicken stock on hand to use in recipes like this.
Homemade Green Tomato and Tomatillo Enchilada Sauce
2 TBS olive oil
6 cloves garlic chopped
1 large onion chopped
2 chile peppers seeded and chopped
2 jalapenos seeded and chopped (or more if you want more spice!)
1 1/2 pounds tomatillos and/or green tomatoes
1 cup cilantro chopped
1 1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp black pepper
1 1/2 tsp cumin
4 cups chicken broth
1. Husk tomatillos. Core and quarter tomatillos and green tomatoes.
2. In a large stock pot saute onion, garlic and green pepper in olive oil for 3-4 minutes.
3. Add tomatillos, green tomatoes, jalapenos, cilantro and chicken broth to the stock pot. Cook on medium heat for 30 minutes.
4. With an immersion blender, process until the sauce is smooth. (If you don’t have an immersion blender, you can pour it into a regular blender or food processor to puree it).
5. Add salt, pepper and cumin and mix. Simmer the sauce for another 30 minutes or until it has cooked down to a sauce thickness you prefer.
We made such a huge batch of this homemade enchilada sauce that we ended up having nine containers of homemade sauce to freeze. Plus we also couldn’t wait to try it out so we made a big pan of chicken enchiladas for dinner with this sauce and loved it! We will have enough homemade enchilada sauce to make our chicken enchiladas once a month until next gardening season. Then I’ll have to make another big batch! This homemade enchilada sauce recipe is so delicious on homemade enchiladas. You can also use it as a sauce for tacos, burritos or even use it like a salsa and dip chips in it.
Is this recipe safe to can?
No! There is no acid. Unless it comes from Ball or the National Center for Home Food Preservation, you can assume it isn’t safe. That being said I made this recipe and it is fantastic!
Tomatoes canned with no other vegetables added (onions, garlic, celery, etc.) can be water bathed. Once you introduce any other type vegetables it MUST be pressure canned.
Debbie Laramore, Master Canner
So why couldn’t you pressure cook it?
It can! I did it last year & it turned out great! I used the time table & pressure for salsa because you’re using the same kind of ingredients..
I made a couple adjustments.
—1 shredded carrot added to onion, after saluting the garlic, green pepper & garlic. Saluting brings out sweetness to the carrot and seems to thicken a bit.
—Roast the halved green tomatoes on a grill or with the ovens broiler until soft. I do not remove skin, just pour it all into the sautéed vegetable mixture. I feel the broiling or grilling helps add a fuller, less ‘green’ taste.
Could this be pressure canned? If so, what time and pressure?
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I make green sauce every year. You can pressure can it but I am not sure what time or temperature? I don’t pressure can just water bath. But I add white vinegar to my sauce, to add some acid to it. It does change the flavor. I have never had a problem. If you use green tomatoes I would think there would be enough acid in them to not add much vinegar. I add a tsp to each jar of tomato sauce I can. I freeze my tomatillos and peppers all year and then make a big batch of salsa Verdi and green hot sauce. Some times and much as 20 quarts.
I made this enchilada sauce today. It is amazing! I used half tomatillos—the first time I have ever grown them or cooked with them, and half green cherry tomatoes (yellow pear). The blender turned it into the smoothest sauce ever! I will be making more. I only have green tomatoes left, but this is a great way to use them and we love chicken enchiladas!
Thank you so much!!
This recipe is wonderful! I found it when looking for ideas to use up the many green tomatoes I pulled in ahead of our first deep frost this year. I eliminated the cilantro (neither my husband or I like it) and swapped out the chili peppers for more jalapenos as that is what I had on hand and we like the spice! As soon as I tasted it (after immersion blending), I started chopping more tomatoes/onion/garlic/peppers and threw them in to double the batch. We are really going enjoy this over the winter!
is this recipe spicy?
Thank you!
What kind of chili peppers do you use? There’s so many varieties.
You could freeze it!
Excellent!
The instructions say to sauteed “green pepper” with the onion and garlic, but I only see chile and jalapeno peppers on the ingredient list. Does this mean to cook those peppers with the onions and garlic, or do i need to add green peppers?
When I researched Chili peppers in recipes it is commonly green bell peppers. I made this recipe and used green tomatoes with green bell peppers in first step. Then also used jalapenos when called for in second step. it’s not very spicy for our taste so next batch I plan to leave the seeds in the jalapenos.
If I’m preparing this for freezing, would it be okay to leave the chicken stock out while freezing, but mix it into the sauce when it is time to make the enchiladas? I’m trying to use less room in our freezer 😂