This Cilantro Lime Enchilada Sauce is full of flavor and will help result in some tasty homemade Enchiladas! You can make and use it fresh, freeze it or bottle it in large batches!
This Green Enchilada Sauce is hands down my favorite! I love to garden and each summer I plant a couple of tomatillo plants, just so I can make a few batches of this recipe to bottle and have to use all year long!
Before I developed this recipe, I used to just freeze my tomatillos and make it fresh when I needed it. But, I hated using all that freezer room! So, years ago, I had a friend come over and we changed the recipe so that I could bottle it! I have made it a for about 5 years now and it stays good all-year-long, maintaining the amazing flavor and the texture holds up perfect!
Ready to see how easy this is to make?
HOW TO MAKE GREEN ENCHILADA SAUCE:
Chop the tomatillos into quarters, dice the onion and peppers and mince the garlic.
In a sauté pan add chopped tomatillos, onion, garlic, and peppers. Drizzle with olive oil and sauté for a few minutes on med-hi.
Add water, cilantro, cumin, and salt. Cover and reduce heat to low. Let simmer for about 10 minutes.
When the tomatillos are soft add everything to a food processor or blender and blend until smooth. A friend of mine also uses an immersion blender!
Add ¼ cup lime juice and softly mix it into the sauce.
Now it’s ready to be used! Pour the sauce into pint jars and it will stay good for 1 week in the fridge. You can also freeze it in ziplock bags for up to 3 months.
If you are wanting to bottle it, keep reading for instructions!
BOTTLING CILANTRO LIME ENCHILADA SAUCE
If you’re wanting to take this recipe and bottle it (aka ‘can’ or water bath) for long term saving, you totally can! You just need to add some additional Lime Juice and use a water bath canner.
Divide the recipe into clean and hot half-pint or pint jars. You want to add 1 additional tablespoon of Lime juice per ½ pint (so 1 tablespoon for each ½ pint jar or 2 tablespoons of lime juice for each pint jar). You’ll want to leave ½″ headroom to the jar in total after the lime juice has been added. This extra lime juice adds the extra acidity necessary for long term storage, so do not forget it!
Wipe the rims of the jar with a clean cloth, attach the heated jar lid (I leave my soaking in a saucepan with hot water on simmer until ready to use), and jar ring.
Process in a water bath canner for 40 minutes. When done, remove jars and place them on a towel on the countertop and allow the jars to cool. During the cooling process, you should hear the tops “pop.” Confirm that the jars have sealed corrected and then they can be stored in the pantry or a cabinet!
*If you’re not familiar with canning, please follow USDA canning guidelines.
If you love this recipe, then make sure and check out these others:
CANNING GREEN ENCHILADA SAUCE
GREEN ENCHILADA SAUCE RECIPE
Ingredients
Enchilada Sauce Ingredients:
- 6 cups Tomatillos cut in quarters or halves
- ½ cup Onion chopped
- 3 cloves Garlic diced
- 1 Jalapeno chopped
- 1 Anaheim Pepper chopped
- 3 tbsp Cilantro chopped
- ½ tsp Cumin
- 1 ½ tsp Salt
- ¾ cup Water
- Olive Oil
- ¼ cup Lime Juice
Additional Ingredients Needed for Bottling:
- 6 tbsp Lime
Instructions
Cooking instructions for Enchilada Sauce:
- Wash tomatillos and then cut them into quarters or half.
- In a sauté pan add chopped tomatillos, onion, garlic, and peppers. Drizzle with olive oil and sauté for a few minutes on med-hi.
- Add water, cilantro, cumin, and salt. Cover and reduce heat to low. Let simmer for about 10 minutes.
- When the tomatillos are soft, add everything to a food processor or blender and blend until smooth.
- Add ¼ cup Lime Juice and gently mix it into the sauce.
Additional instructions for bottling the Enchilada Sauce:
- Divide the recipe into clean and hot half-pint or pint jars. You want to add 1 additional tablespoon of Lime juice per half-pint (so 1 tablespoon of lime juice for each half-pint jar or 2 tablespoons of lime juice for each pint jar). Leave ½" headroom to the jar in total after the lime juice has been added. This extra lime juice adds the extra acidity necessary for long term storage, so do not forget it!
- Wipe the rims of the jar with a clean cloth, attach the heated jar lid (I leave mine soaking in a saucepan of hot water simmering until ready to use), and jar ring.
- Process in a water bath canner for 40 minutes.
- When done, remove jars and place them on a towel on the countertop and allow the jars to cool. During the cooling process, you should hear the tops "pop." Confirm that the jars have sealed correctly and then they can be stored in the pantry or a cabinet for up to a year!
Video
Notes
Nutrition
HOW LONG DOES HOMEMADE ENCHILADA SAUCE LAST?
After you’ve made it fresh, it can last in your refrigerator for one week. If you want to put it in an airtight plastic container or ziplock bag, you can freeze it for up to three months.
If you’re wanting it to last long term, I suggest following my instructions by bottling it using the hot bath method. Once bottled, it can last up to a year.
TOMATILLO ENCHILADA SAUCE
I am so excited about all of the sauce I can bottle this year! I love to give a sampling of my garden to my family each year for Christmas and I am excited to add this into their stash this upcoming year!
Can I ask about how many tomatillos average do you use in your recipe?
Will it work ok if I fire roast the peppers? For canning method I was thinking of pressure canning do you know how long to process? Also can I add more cilantro and spice or would that mess up the canning process?
Yes of course! I just updated the recipe with better pressure canning information. As for adding additional cilantro and spice – you could test it, but I have never added additional. The additional water pulled from the cilantro and pepper could throw off the acidity level, which would affect how long it stays good for.
Can you tell me about how many pint jars one batch makes?
It makes 3-4 pints, depending on the size of the tomatillos!
It’s more money up front, but invest in a pressure canner! You worry less about safety, and it gives you much, much more flexibility to can your stuff. For beginners, a water bath (non pressure canner) can only heat the interior so far, so you counter that problem by making the environment too acidic for the bad organisms. This must be calculated carefully. By using a pressure canner, you don’t have to worry about adding acids. You simply calculate the time necessary at your altitude and add acids like lime juice for the flavor. Going through more effort by caramelizing onions, peppers and tomatillos in the oven, using roasted chicken stocks instead of water, controlling the salt levels and then canning yourself gives you a superior enchilada sauce you simply open and pour over your tray, an incredible time saver for a superior result, because I’ve tried all the store bought canned enchilada sauces, and not only are their flavors terrible, they are way too salty!
I have to make this sauce. It sounds so amazing!!! Perfect with tacos and nachos!!
It’s so good! Hope you love it too!
This is my favorite sauce to make enchiladas with! So yummy!
I’m so glad you love it!
I am so excited for this recipe! Thanks so much!
Hope you love it!
This homemade sauce is going to make my enchiladas taste so much better. Cannot wait to try making the sauce.
It’s so easy! Hope you love it!
I had NO idea you could make this at home. We’ve been buying it for years. Now I know!!!
Plant some tomatillos this Spring! It’s so easy to make!!
If you have favorite storebought tomatillos, just slice them up and bury the slices 1/4-1/2 inch in the soil..they will grow from the seeds! Mine come back every year from the ones I miss..!
I just wanted to thank you for this recipe. I made this last year and my family loves it! I planted extra tomatillos this year to be able to make more, as we ran out last year.. It is especially good with pork enchiladas, we also make a great salsa Verde but this is one of my absolute favorite canning recipes!
YAY! I’m SOO glad to hear this! It’s for sure a go-to for me and many of my extended family! Happy Canning!!
Just getting started with the canning, gardening, house wife roll full time. I’m loving it! Funny i am also a graphic designer…lol maybe its a trend! I am also hoping to enter the blogsphere soon!
Yay!! It’s a lot of work, but so fun and a great community! Good luck!
What elevation are you canning this (amazing) sauce? In other words, at sea level, would it be processed at 30 minutes? Then add from there?
You can also process this in a pressure canner (not to be confused with a pressure cooker). I like to do so, because I like to add more peppers. (Good for flavor, and using up bumper crops!)
Great info! Thanks!
Can I roast the tomatillos and peppers 1st as I do normally? I am new to canning.
Yes, you could!
This is such a great idea! I love the recipe…thanks for sharing it!
Just saw your post. This sauce sounds yummy. I’m looking forward to trying it this year! Here is a similar recipe that I found on the National Center for Home Food Preservation. http://nchfp.uga.edu/how/can_salsa/tomatillo_green_salsa.html This website is sponsored by the USDA and all of their recipes have been tried and tested for safety. For folks with questions about canning, try calling your local county extension agency. They are really helpful. They also will reference the NCHFP. There is actually a great canning book that is basically their website. It is a great resource. Happy canning!!
Are the jalapeno and anaheim peppers required for canning purposes? I don’t like things too spicy.
No, actually they will bring the acid level down. You want a higher acid level if you are going to water bath. This recipe is close to an approved salsa recipe that I use so it should be safe to can. You may want to at least put the Anaheim peppers in for flavor.
Anaheim peppers are not spicy at all. Even with the jalapeno this is not very spicy but I don’t think you would need it for the canning.
How much does this recipe make?
Thanks for the recipe!
am not going to add the extra water since the tomatillos have plenty of moisture in them. I figure I can always thin it out when I use it if need be.
I made a double batch and it turned out really well. I did wind up using half the amount of water in the recipe and twice the cilantro. I just can’t seem to follow a recipe… Wound up canning 10 pints with one left over to eat now. Ate some with chips like salsa verde. Very delicious.
Thanks!
Thanks for sharing this recipe! I am new to canning and saw this recipe and made it that night! It only cost 3 dollars to buy the ingredients I didn’t have on hand. One recipe only made two pint jars so the next day I bought double the ingredients and it only cost 5 dollars. So cheap! It is very delicious and I can’t wait to try this with my enchilada recipe. The only concern I have is that the sauce separated in the jars 24 hours later. I hope that doesn’t affect the taste later. Thanks again!
Hi Camille! Its not a problem that it separated. You can just mix it when you are ready to use it. Just a word of caution – not every enchilada sauce recipe can be canned. Its a bummer because I have a salsa recipe I love that I can not bottle because the acid level is not high enough. You probably need to do some research on what ph is necessary for canning and then calculate the ph level of your recipe.
Are the Anaheim pepper, hot or mild?
I just bought a pressure canner. How long should I process this with my new toy?
I made this today and really would like to use quart jars but not sure how long to process the quarts in the boiling water bath? Can you help me?
I am not sure. I had someone help me adapt the recipe and she only helped me with the pints. I know with some canning salsa recipes you cant process them in quarts because the heat cannot penetrate the
larger jars in a manner in which it will kill all the bacteria. I actually use 2 pints each time I make enchiladas.Wish I could be more help but this is already a recipe that has some low acid foods so I don’t think I would try a quart of it.
Thank you Lisa…….I ended up freezing! Really like this recipe and plan on making more!
Can you tell me the recipe to put it in the freezer I dont know how to can but would love to make this
Hi Marzette. Its the exact same thing only I would cut the 1/4 cup lime juice and just squeeze 1 lime into sauce after you blend it. The lime juice is to up the acid to make it safe.
Looks AWESOME. I’m growing tomatillos for the first time and am glad to have a second recipe in which to use them. I’ve already made some excellent salsa. Thanks.