You can easily bring the flavors of your favorite Mexican dishes home with this easy Ranchero sauce — a tomato-based sauce infused with Mexican flavors and sauteed jalapenos, onions, and fresh garlic.
In under 20 minutes, you’ll have a healthy, flavorful sauce perfect for topping all of your homemade Mexican creations! Enjoy this savory sauce on Chicken Flautas, Ranchero Chicken, Breakfast Tacos, and more!
WHAT IS RANCHERO SAUCE?
Ranchero Sauce is a savory, tomato-based Mexican sauce with a hint of smokiness thanks to the cumin. Although it contains hot peppers (usually jalapeños or serranos), it is not necessarily a spicy sauce.
WHAT’S IN IT?
- Onion
- Hot Peppers (Jalapeños or Serranos)
- Garlic
- Tomatoes
- Spices (Salt, Pepper, Cumin, and Paprika)
RANCHERO SAUCE VS. ENCHILADA SAUCE
Enchilada sauce (or Rojo Sauce) is not the same thing as Ranchero Sauce, although both are used to top enchiladas. Confusing, right? They look almost identical, but you’ll find enchilada sauce is heavy on the chili powder and the tomato flavor much less pronounced.
HOW TO MAKE RANCHERO SAUCE
Homemade Ranchero Sauce is simple to make and requires only a few ingredients. To begin, you’ll sauté the onions and jalapeños until softened and then add in the garlic. The garlic quickly cooks and in goes the tomatoes, along with your spices.
The mixture simmers for a short time on the stovetop to allow all those flavors to marry, and the sauce it ready!
QUICK RECIPE OVERVIEW
- Saute diced onions, peppers, and garlic on the stovetop
- Add the canned tomatoes and spices.
- Simmer 10 minutes.
SERVE IT SMOOTH OR CHUNKY — YOUR CHOICE!
You can serve this sauce chunky or smooth. If you’d like a smooth sauce, you could use an immersion blender, a blender, or a food processor to puree it.
WANT TO HEAT THINGS UP?
Just because this sauce isn’t typically spicy, doesn’t mean you can’t add a little heat. If you’d like to spice it up, simply omit de-seeding the peppers.
IS IT HEALTHY?
Ranchero Sauce in and of itself is a healthy sauce full of vegetables. It’s what we smother with it that’s typically the calorie culprit.
WHAT TO SERVE IT ON
Ranchero Sauce is most popular and well-known is for topping 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 Relleños (we use it here in our Chili Relleno Casserole!)
- Burritos
- Tacos
- Tamales
- Eggs
- Steak
- Shrimp
In our house, we use it on Mexican-inspired dinnertime creations like Ground Turkey Casserole, Huevos Rancheros with Shredded Chicken, and so much more.
It’s a family-friendly sauce that goes with almost anything and makes pretty much everything better.
5 MORE MEXICAN RECIPES YOU’LL LOVE
- Chuy’s Salsa Fresca is an easy, homemade salsa recipe, that tastes just like the beloved Tex-Mex restaurant Chuy’s famous salsa fresca.
- Tamale Sauce is a quick-fix, cheesy sauce that reigns supreme with its Tex-Mex flare and kick of spice! It’s the perfect consistency for dipping or drizzling over tamales, but can also be used for enchiladas, burritos, chimichangas and more!
- Tex-Mex Beef Enchiladas features a foolproof enchilada gravy and a flavorful beef enchilada filling smothered in cheese and baked to perfection!
- Homemade Beef Chimichangas are loaded with a savory ground beef filling and topped with a quick and easy stovetop queso! Plus, tips for frying to perfection and more.
- Chicken Verde Enchiladas are a gluten-free dinner recipe featuring shredded chicken, Monterrey Jack cheese, corn tortillas, and a green sauce with sour cream.
A quick and easy recipe for Ranchero sauce — a tomato based sauce infused with sauteed vegetables like jalapenos, onions and fresh garlic.
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1/2 of a white onion diced
- 3 jalapenos stemmed, seeded and diced
- 1 clove of garlic minced
- 28 ounces whole peeled tomatoes preferably San Marzanos
- 1 1/2 teaspoons Kosher salt
- 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
- 1/2 teaspoon paprika
- Add the olive 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.
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Carefully pour in the tomatoes and using the back of a wooden spoon, crush the tomatoes. Stir in the salt, pepper, cumin, and paprika. Reduce the heat to medium and allow to simmer 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.
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For a smooth 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.
Recipe Video
Makes 2 cups. About 3 tablespoons per serving.
I totally need to make your ranchero sauce for our next Mexican food night! It will be the perfect accompaniment for tacos, rice and beans and everything in between!
I love recipes like this that I can make ahead and use in a million ways throughout the week. My kids love all things Mexican so I know this will be a weeknight hit!
Your ranchero sauce looks like it would be delicious on all my Mexican favorites — or just a piece of grilled chicken or fish. This sauce would elevate the flavor in any dish!
I want to put this sauce on EVERYTHING!!! I mean seriously, it’s so versatile! Thank you for the recipe!
This ranchero sauce looks so delicious! I love how easy it is to make it. I am going to have to make it when I make burritos! Can’t wait to try it. PINNING!
Ranchero sauce sounds a lot more defined and tastier than enchilada sauce; I never really knew the difference between the two. I think I’d love the smokiness of Ranchero sauce.
I love putting ranchero sauce on everything, but never thought to make my own at home. Printing this recipe and going to the store!
This ranchero looks mouthwateringly delicious! I love the smokiness from the cumin, it sounds fabulous.
I love ranchero sauce and how versatile it is. So many great foods to top it with. Great recipe!
This loos and sounds delicious. Definitely must make this soon as I always try and love making my own sauce. This sounds gorgeous 😉
I love the sound of this ranchero sauce and its so simple to put together! I bet it would be wonderful on tacos, chicken, or even eggs!
Nothing beats homemade sauces and your Ranchero sauce looks and sounds delicious. I recently found fresh jalapenos for the first time here in Italy. Can’t wait to use them in this!
I remember trying a similar sauce at my friend’s house and it was the best sauce I have ever tried. I will be so happy if it is it – can’t wait to make it myself!
What a delightfully simple sauce! I love these types of sauces because they are nice and spicy. I love to have them with my eggs for breakfast!
Wow, I love the simple sauce. I love the ingredients that went inside this recipe. So simple yet delicious.
I love ranchero sauce and used to have it a lot but for some reason, I haven’t made it recently! Your recipe looks perfect and delicious and I’m glad I got your recipe so once again I can enjoy some delicious ranchero sauce.
This Ranchero Sauce looks so easy and delicious! I’d devoured this with a bowl of chips right about now!
I’ve made this so many times now I just wanted to pop by again and say we absolutely love it! It’s so good!
That’s amazing! Thank you, Michelle! 🙂
I am so ready for this sauce – it looks (and I am sure – tastes, too) absolutely amazing! Love the idea of adding it to a few of my favorite dishes – that must make a big difference!
This would take so many dishes to the next level with flavor. I love that it is bursting with flavor, but so easy to make. Thank you!
I’ve never made ranchero before but I love the cumin and paprika mixed into there! Sounds so good!
I am glad you explained what ranchero sauce was, because this is completely new to me!! I am dying to try this!
I’m a big fan of cumin so this sounds like my kind of sauce. I can think of so many things to put it on!
This ranchero sauce looks so delicious! I already can imagine all the dished I can use it with! I would make a double batch and use it later during the week!
Never tried this sauce before. Looks fantastic. Adding it to my to do list!
Have you used smoked paprika in this recipe before? I bet the smoked paprika taste really enhances the flavors! I cant wait to try this!!
Regarding the nutritional label…how many oz. is considered a serving? I understand the total yield is 2 cups.
About 3 tablespoons is 1 serving. There are 10 servings total.
Excellent recipe, simple & delicious. I added a bit of sweet smoked paprika & also some spicy smoked paprika, it was YUMMY!
Thank you so much!
Is there anything you can substitute for the jalapeno peppers?
You can leave them out altogether or sub in serrano peppers!
I can’t find a recipe for Rojo sauce, that you mention, but it’s the one I always use when I’m in Mexico. The link just took me to Wikipedia, would you consider creating a similar easy recipe? You’ve got tons of recipes it could be used with! (And linked too!) 😉
It is TOTALLY on my list, Laura 😉 Thank you!
I just made this and it’s not only simple, it’s absolutely delicious! Thanks, for sharing1
Thank you, Merrilee! So much!