Enchilada Sauce w/ Red Chilis & Cherry Tomatoes
This enchilada sauce combines red chili peppers, cherry tomatoes, garlic, red onion, cumin, salt, and pepper. The produce is quickly and easily roasted in an air fryer, simmered on the stove, and blended in a food processor. Feel free to substitute your own peppers and tomatoes of choice to adjust for your own taste and spice level.
Equipment
- Air Fryer (or roasting method of choice)
- Large Pot
- Stovetop
Ingredients
- 20 red chilis
- 20 cherry tomatoes (or 2 large tomatoes)
- 4 cloves garlic
- 1/2 red onion
- 1 tsp. cumin
- dash salt
- dash pepper
- 3 c. water (divided, 2 c. + 1 c.)
Instructions
Roast Produce
- Place the chilis, tomatoes, garlic, and onion in the air fryer. It can help to cut the tomatoes and onion in half and pierce the chilis with a knife so they don't burst while cooking.Depending on the size of your air fryer, you may need to break this up into multiple batches. I cooked the peppers and the rest of the fruits and vegetables separately. You can also substitute any other roasting method of choice. An oven or BBQ would do just fine. It's more to get a char flavor than explicitly necessary.
- Cook for 7-12 minutes, or until the produce is lightly charred. The skin should begin to brown, but not entirely blacken or shrivel. You're trying to roast them, not dry them!The chilis and garlic will roast at about the 7 minute mark. While the tomatoes and onion are more around 10-12 minutes, depending on the size.
- Let cool to the touch.
Blend
- Once the produce are cool, add a food processor with 2 cups of water.
- Blend until pureed completely.In my Vitamix or Cuisinart Food Processor this takes about 15-20 seconds. In another blender, this might take a minute or two.Just be careful not to inhale the mixture when you open the lid! It's quite spicy.
Cook
- Add the pureed mixture to a large pot with the additional 1 cup water and the salt, pepper, and cumin.You can blend all of the water together when you puree it, but I found that it was easier to add 2/3 of the water then finish thinning it in the pot. None of this will effect cooking, though. Add as more or as little water as you need to puree the ingredients and then add the rest before cooking!
- Bring to a boil and reduce to a simmer for 30 minutes, or until thickened to the desired consistency. Make sure to stir occasionally.
- Serve immediately or refrigerate. With so many hot peppers, this enchilada sauce will last a good while in the refrigerator.
Tips, Tricks, & Notes
- If you do air fry the vegetables for too long, don’t fret too much. You’ll still end up boiling the ingredients and they will re-hydrate. You’re pretty much okay with any amount of char as long as you don’t seriously burn them!
- You can substitute any kind of pepper of choice. Even dried peppers will re-hydrate with the first simmer. If you don’t have fresh chilis or other peppers and want to use dried ones, just skip the roasting step and go straight to the first cooking stage.