Easy Taco Sauce Recipe (Best Flavor!)

This taco sauce recipe is quick to make and tastes amazing! It’s like your favorite potted version… only better.

Looking for a killer sauce that takes no time at all? Try it out taco sauce Recipe! Why make it yourself when you can easily buy it in a store? Two things: it tastes amazing (yep!) and you know exactly what’s in it. No preservatives or weird ingredients here! Here we show you how to make a taco sauce that simmers on the stovetop in just 5 minutes. It’s our favorite for quick dinners, like our Black Bean Tacos or Refried Bean Tacos.

Everything you need for homemade taco sauce

Taco sauce, also called “salsa taquera” in Spanish, is a mixed red sauce made from tomatoes and peppers used for tacos. Versions of it are served in Mexican taquerias, and the Americanized version is a star in Taco Bell and Tex-Mex cuisine, so it’s Mexican-inspired food that’s been covering the kitchens. It’s tangy, a little spicy and whole yummy.

Homemade taco sauce is easy to make using mostly pantry ingredients. The one thing you might not have on hand is canned tomato sauce, depending on what you have on hand. Here’s what you need:

• Canned tomato sauce: it is a puree of unseasoned tomatoes: not Marinara sauce, spaghetti sauce or tomato paste! Look for the words “tomato sauce” on the can.
• white wine vinegar
• Hot saucelike cholula
• Sugar
• Spices: garlic powder, onion powder and cumin
• Salt
• cornstarchto thicken

Tips for making taco sauce…in 5 minutes!

With the taco sauce, you really don’t have to do anything: just add the ingredients and heat for just 5 minutes. Here are some notes on the process:

• Be sure to work on low heat. It is important that the sauce is not overheated, otherwise it will become sticky and too thick.
• Remove from the heat and stir in more vinegar. After you’ve cooked your sauce, add a little more vinegar at the end. Why? This maximizes the spicy, bright flavor.
• Cool: it thickens as it cools. The sauce will thicken after chilling to the texture you’d expect from the store-bought version.

Adjust the heat to taste

This taco sauce recipe uses Mexican hot sauce to add some spiciness and chili flavor. Our favorite hot sauce is cholula, the popular brand of Mexican hot sauce. You can adapt the recipe to suit your needs: The recipe below offers a range from mild to medium. If you want, you can of course do without it!

Does this taco sauce stand up to store purchases?

We compared this homemade taco sauce to a bottle of Ortega brand and it tasted very similar! We even liked it a little better. The ingredients we used here helped create an intensely flavorful, slightly tangy red sauce.

In some of our tests with tomato paste, it was too sticky or intensely tomatoy. Tomato sauce is the way to go! Remember that cans of tomato sauce are labeled with these words: It’s not the same as marinara or spaghetti sauce.

Smoked variant: Add the adobo sauce

Want to vary this taco sauce? You can make a deliciously smoky version with adobo sauce! cans Chipotle Peppers in Adobo Sauce are easy to find at most grocery stores near Mexican produce. The box includes chipotle peppers: smoked and dried jalapeños that are rehydrated and canned, and adobo sauce, a puree made with tomatoes, vinegar, garlic, and other spices.

All you have to do is scoop the adobo sauce out of the box with a spoon – you don’t even have to use the peppers! You can substitute this for the hot sauce, which adds a smoky, savory kick that’s undeniably delicious. Freeze the can and use it in other Adobo sauce recipes, like tortilla soup, chipotle ranch dressing, or chipotle sauce.

Taco sauce storage information

How Long Does Homemade Taco Sauce Last? They can be stored in the fridge for up to 2 weeks. It may probably take longer: try it at your own risk! The taste remains tart and spicy during the storage period.

The best tacos to serve

Of course, this sauce also goes well with this any tacos But here are some taco recipes that make it absolutely perfect together:

This taco sauce recipe is…

Vegetarian, vegan, plant-based, dairy-free and gluten-free.