Easy Ranchero Sauce Recipe - The Anthony Kitchen

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This quick Ranchero Sauce recipe makes it easy to bring the flavors of your favorite Mexican dishes, like Huevos Rancheros, to your kitchen in less than 30 minutes. Savory, slightly smoky, and completely delicious, this tomato-based sauce is infused with tons of flavor and spice thanks to simple ingredients like canned tomatoes, peppers, and chili powder.

Being a Houstonian, I grew up in the heart of a booming Tex-Mex restaurant culture. This particular ranchero sauce is inspired by a renowned Mexican restaurant in Downtown Houston, one of my favorites. Huevos Rancheros has been my go-to breakfast/brunch order for as long as I can remember, and this recipe ranks up there with the best of the best. We also bring it to life in Bistec Ranchero, a timeless, authentic Mexican dish that everyone loves.

Table of contents

• What is Ranchero Sauce?
  • Ranchero Sauce vs. Enchilada Sauce
• Why This Recipe Works
• Ingredients
• How to Make Ranchero Sauce
• What to Serve with Ranchero Sauce
• More Mexican Recipes to Love

What is Ranchero Sauce?

Ranchero sauce is a savory, tomato-based Mexican sauce with a hint of smokiness and a whole lot of savory. Although it contains hot peppers (usually jalapeños or Serranos), it is not necessarily a spicy sauce.

It's totally worth mentioning that this sauce is for way more than just eggs. With it, you can enhance the flavors of just about any Mexican or Tex-Mex dishes, such as chicken flautas, ranchero chicken, or breakfast tacos!

Ranchero Sauce vs. Enchilada Sauce

Enchilada sauce (or rojo sauce) and ranchero sauce are not the same thing, although both are used to top enchiladas. Confusing, right? They look almost identical, but unlike ranchero sauce, enchilada sauce is heavy on the chili powder and light on the tomato flavor.

Why This Recipe Works

We can relate to the idea that making authentic Mexican sauce from scratch can be intimidating; however, this particular recipe is extremely simple and easy to execute. Looking for more condiment recipes to complement your dishes? We've got you covered!

Too many ranchero sauce recipes are invading the internet with overcomplicated steps and unnecessarily long ingredient lists. Our recipe is painless, straightforward, authentically Tex-Mex, and overflows with flavor. Plain and simple -- you're gonna love it.

Ingredients

• Olive Oil
• Onion
• Hot Peppers (Jalapeños or Serranos)
• Garlic
• Crushed Tomatoes
• Unsalted or Low-Sodium Chicken Broth
• Spices (Salt, Pepper, Cumin, and Paprika)

How to Make Ranchero Sauce

Sauté | Add olive oil to a medium-sized sauté pan and allow to come to temperature. Add diced onions, peppers, and garlic and sauté for about 5 minutes.

Add Canned Tomatoes, Broth, and Spices | Pour crushed tomatoes carefully into the pan with peppers and onions. Stir in the chicken broth, salt, pepper, cumin, and paprika. Reduce the heat to medium and allow to simmer for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Serve and enjoy!

This ranchero sauce can be served chunky or smooth. For a smoother sauce, use an immersion blender, a blender, or a food processor to puree it.

Hot tip! Just because this sauce isn't typically spicy doesn't mean you can't add a little heat. To spice it up, don't deseed the peppers.

What to Serve with Ranchero Sauce

Ranchero sauce is most popular and well-known because of Huevos Rancheros, a Mexican dish in which corn tortillas, beans, and over-easy eggs are topped with cheese and ranchero sauce. But the fun certainly doesn’t stop there.

This zesty Mexican sauce is also served on top of:

• Enchiladas
• Chili Rellenos (We use it in our Chili Relleno Casserole!)
• Burritos
• Tacos
• Tamales (Can't forget that Tamale Sauce!)
• Eggs
• Steak
• Shrimp

In our house, we use it on Mexican-inspired dinnertime creations like shredded chicken tacos, beef steak ranchero, and so much more.

It's a family-friendly sauce that goes with almost anything and makes pretty much everything better.

More Mexican Recipes to Love

• Chuy's Salsa Fresca
• Tex-Mex Beef Enchiladas
• Migas
• Homemade Beef Chimichangas
• Chicken Verde Enchiladas

Print Recipe 4.65 from 111 votes

Easy Ranchero Sauce

A quick and easy recipe for Ranchero Sauce, a tomato-based sauce infused with sauteed vegetables like jalapenos, onions, and fresh garlic. Prep Time5 minutes minsCook Time15 minutes minsTotal Time20 minutes mins Course: AppetizerCuisine: Mexican, Tex-MexKeyword: easy ranchero sauce Servings: 10 Calories: 31kcal Author: Kelly Anthony

Ingredients

• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• ½ of a white onion, diced
• 3 jalapeños, stemmed, seeded, and diced
• 1 clove of garlic, minced
• 28 ounces whole crushed tomatoes, preferably San Marzanos
• ¾ cup unsalted chicken broth (or water)
• 1 ½ teaspoons Kosher salt
• ½ teaspoon black pepper
• ½ teaspoon ground cumin
• ½ teaspoon paprika

Instructions

• Add the oil to a medium-sized saucepan over medium-high heat. Stir in the onion and jalapeño and sauté for about 5 minutes, until softened. Add the garlic and sauté 1 minute more.
• Carefully pour in the crushed tomatoes. Stir in the chicken broth, salt, pepper, cumin, and paprika. Reduce the heat to medium and allow to simmer for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.
• Optional: for a smoother sauce, transfer the contents of the saucepan to a blender or food processor. Remove the feed tube (to prevent a build-up of steam and pressure), cover with a dish towel, and process until smooth. Serve and enjoy.

Notes

Makes 2 cups. About 3 tablespoons per serving.

Nutrition

Calories: 31kcal | Carbohydrates: 4g | Protein: 1g | Fat: 2g | Saturated Fat: 1g | Sodium: 463mg | Potassium: 168mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 2g | Vitamin A: 187IU | Vitamin C: 13mg | Calcium: 26mg | Iron: 1mg