This Mexican Ranchero sauce recipe is made with fire-roasted tomatoes, onions, chipotle peppers, and Mexican spices blended together for a smoky Mexican-style sauce that’s perfect for steak ranchero, enchiladas, or your favorite Mexican dishes.
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Like Your Favorite Mexican Restaurant…
My mother-in-law loves beef steak ranchero. Whenever she visits her favorite Mexican restaurant, that’s what she orders – every single time. In fact, ever since I started dating my wife over two decades ago, I have never seen her stray from her normal beef steak ranchero order.
She loves it that much.
So when we decided to make a homemade ranchero sauce to use for a few different griddle recipes, she was the first person that I called for ingredient advice. Is it spicy? Is it tomato-y? Is it smoky? Is it similar to a salsa? I asked her all the questions to try and develop a recipe that would have her coming back for seconds… and that would win me a “Son-in-law of the Year” award!
And I think we nailed it!
With a few simple ingredients, the perfect combination of spices, a skillet, and a blender, you can make a fantastic Mexican-style ranchero sauce at home to rival your favorite Mexican restaurant! Here’s how to do it:
What is Ranchero Sauce?
Ranchero sauce is a flavorful Mexican sauce that serves as a versatile condiment in various dishes. It typically features a base of tomatoes along with onions, garlic, and chili peppers, creating a rich and tangy flavor profile with a hint of smoke and spice – though as with most foods, the exact ingredients in an authentic ranchero sauce can vary by region and by cook.
The sauce can vary in consistency from chunky to smooth, depending on personal preference and the intended use.
We personally prefer to add our warm ingredients to a blender for a smooth sauce, especially for popular Mexican dishes like beef steak ranchero and huevos racheros. But you can keep the simmered vegetables chunky as well.
Ideas for Using the Mexican Sauce
Since ranchero sauce is like a cross between a salsa and a smoky enchilada sauce, it has a wide variety of uses in Mexican recipes. Here are some recipe ideas that are perfect for this homemade ranchero sauce:
- Beef Steak Ranchero – This popular Mexican restaurant dish is actually the reason why we developed our own homemade ranchero sauce recipe. It consists of a thin steak that’s grilled and covered with the ranchero sauce. Often served with refried beans and warm flour tortillas. Mother-in-law approved!
- Huevos Rancheros – This is probably the most widely-known way to use ranchero sauce, because it’s right in the name of the popular Mexican breakfast dish. Huevos Rancheros consists of fried eggs served on top of corn tortillas and topped with ranchero sauce, so it’s the perfect way to use up leftovers of the smoky Mexican sauce.
- Enchiladas – Use ranchero sauce as a delicious topping for enchiladas. Simply roll your favorite fillings, such as shredded chicken, beef, or cheese, in corn tortillas, place them in a baking dish, pour ranchero sauce over the top, and bake until bubbly and golden.
- Soups and Stews – Stir leftover ranchero sauce into soups and stews to add a kick of flavor. It works particularly well in tomato-based soups, chili, and bean soups.
Ingredients for Homemade Ranchero Sauce
Before we jump into how to make ranchero sauce, let’s take a look at the key ingredients and some important things to note:
- fire-roasted tomatoes – We chose to use canned tomatoes to make this recipe even easier, but you can “blister” fresh roma tomatoes in a skillet or over a fire on the grill if you rather.
- chipotles in adobo – Find these in a can in the Mexican aisle of the grocery store. Chipotles in adobo are simply smoked jalapeno peppers that are canned with a blended sauce of tomatoes, onion, garlic, and various spices. They have a spicy and smoky flavor, perfect for adding to blended sauces for an extra kick.
- chicken stock – Or for a vegetarian sauce, you may substitute vegetable stock.
- tomato sauce – We used a small can to mellow out the spicy, smoky flavor.
- onion, garlic, and jalapeños
- lime juice
- cilantro
- Mexican spices – Cumin, smoked paprika, Mexican oregano, and a very small amount of ancho chile powder. If you don’t have the ancho chile powder, you can omit it or substitute extra of the smoked paprika.
- brown sugar – A pinch of sweetness to balance the spice in the sauce.
Recipe Tip for Chipotles in Adobo:
Because of their spicy and smoky flavor, you’d be hard-pressed to find a recipe that uses a full can of the peppers. So to avoid waste, I add 2-3 individual peppers with a bit of the sauce to snack-sized Ziploc bags. Label the bags with permanent marker and store in the freezer.
When you need a small amount for recipes like this one, you can use a knife to cut off 1 or 2 peppers, and then return the bag to the freezer.
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