Ranchero Sauce
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.
Servings: 6 cups
Equipment
- blender
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 large onion diced
- 1-2 jalapeno peppers seeded and diced
- 2 14.5 oz cans fire roasted tomatoes
- 1-2 chipotles in adobo (from can) *See notes below
- 8 oz can tomato sauce
- 6-7 garlic cloves smashed and skins removed
- 1 cup chicken stock
- ½ cup chopped cilantro *About 1 bunch with stems removed
- 1½ teaspoon cumin
- 1 teaspoon smoked paprika
- 1 teaspoon Mexican oregano
- 1 teaspoon brown sugar
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- ½ teaspoon black pepper
- juice from 1 lime
- ½ teaspoon ancho chile powder optional, or substitute an extra ½ teaspoon of smoked paprika
Instructions
- Heat about 1 tablespoon of oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the diced onions and jalapenos, and cook until slightly translucent and softened.
- Add the canned fire-roasted tomatoes, chipotles in adobo, tomato sauce, chicken stock, garlic cloves, brown sugar, lime juice, chopped cilantro, and all the spices (including cumin, smoked paprika, Mexican oregano, chile powder, salt, and pepper). Stir well and cook on medium heat for about 5 minutes. Then, reduce heat and simmer for about 10 minutes.
- Transfer to a large blender cup. Blend until smooth, or slightly chunky if you prefer. *When blending the warm ingredients, cover the hole of the blender lid with a kitchen towel instead of having the lid completely closed. This helps for some of the steam to escape instead of building up pressure while blending the hot ingredients.
- Pour the blended mixture back into the skillet and bring to a simmer. Let the sauce cook for about 5-10 minutes, stirring occasionally, until it thickens slightly and the flavors meld together. Add 2-3 tablespoons of water to thin the sauce for a looser consistency if you prefer.
Notes
- The chipotles in adobo are smoky with a good bit of spice. Use one pepper for less smoke flavor and a milder ranchero sauce. The remainder of the canned peppers can be stored in a freezer-safe zip top bag in the freezer until you need more for other recipes.
- If you choose to only use 1 chipotle pepper, then you may not need to add the brown sugar. Since our sauce was quite smoky and spicy with the addition of 2 peppers, we added a small bit of brown sugar to balance the flavors.
- This recipe yields about 6 cups of sauce, plenty for making multiple Mexican dishes. You can freeze leftover sauce in a freezer-safe zip top bag for up to 2 months. Thaw overnight in the refrigerator and reheat in a saucepan on the stovetop.