A simple sauce full of flavor, this Creamy Roasted Poblano and Lime Enchilada Sauce recipe is a unique and delicious addition to your favorite Mexican food!
This post contains affiliate links.
I love my Smoky Chipotle Enchilada Sauce but have been wanting to make another sauce that was green and pepper-focused for a while now. Roasted poblano peppers are full of flavor with a mild heat so they are the perfect foundation for this sauce. Just a few ingredients will make this flavorful sauce, and it is fast! The sauce is also keto low carb, gluten free, and vegetarian which makes it versatile for any enchilada filling and dietary restriction.
I make my creamy enchilada sauce with a food processor, my favorite kitchen tool, because it is SO fast and easy. A blender could also work however it might not be quite as smooth, depending on the blender.
This green enchilada sauce can either be made as a sour cream enchilada sauce or a healthy enchilada sauce with plain Greek yogurt. Peppers are a little like playing roulette with your food because you never really know exactly how spicy they will be. I have had some incredibly spicy jalapenos before! If you find your sauce to be too spicy, add more sour cream or Greek yogurt as dairy cuts through heat very well. You could also use green bell peppers instead of poblanos, or a combination of the two, but it will slightly change the flavor of the sauce as well. If needed, thin it out with some water.
This easy enchilada sauce is amazing on our Mexican Street Corn Enchiladas (pictured above)! Because the flavors are classic Mexican flavors, you could use this sauce on so many things:
- Enchiladas of any type (especially chicken or veggie!)
- Smothered burritos
- Salsa for chips
- Sauce for tacos
This Creamy Roasted Poblano and Lime Enchilada Sauce is amazing, and I love how versatile it is. The fresh flavors really let the roasted peppers shine! It has become one of my favorite homemade enchilada sauces to have on hand just in case I am looking for some flavor. I use it like a condiment like hot sauce! And you can even think beyond Mexican food and add some to your breakfast eggs, make it thinner for a salad dressing, or as an appetizer dip!
Ingredients
- 4 large poblano peppers (also called Pasilla peppers)
- ⅓ cup sour cream (or plain Greek yogurt)
- 2 cloves garlic chopped
- ¼ cup fresh cilantro
- 1-2 limes (just the juice)
- ¼ cup water
- ½ teaspoon salt
Instructions
- Roast the poblano peppers by turning on the broiler in your oven. Place the peppers directly on the rack at the top position, as close to the heating coils as you can get. Roast until the peppers are starting to turn black. Rotate the peppers until they are roasted on each side, typically a couple minutes per side. Remove the peppers from the oven and place in a large bag or tupperware, closed off, for them to steam and cool. This steaming process will make it easier to remove the skins.
- When the peppers are cool enough to touch, peel off the charred skin from the peppers and discard the skins. Remove the stems and seeds.
- In a food processor, combine all of the ingredients and blend until you reach your desired consistency. Add additional water if too thick. Season to taste with additional salt or lime.
I have an awesome enchilada sauce recipe using roasted poblanos, but I love that yours is creamy. What a great idea to use limes, too!
Thank you, Abby! I am a sucker for lime in Mexican food, and aren’t roasted poblanos just the best?!
Oh my gosh. This sauce looks so easy and it sounds so good! Totally adding this to my must-try list for the next time I’m craving enchiladas!
I love spicy sauces with lime in them – it makes me need a margarita, stat!
Yes! This would be so great with a margarita!
This sauce sounds amaaaaazing! I would love this on tacos or taco salad, or just with chips. Yum!
I absolutely love poblano peppers! I think I would totally dig this on Mexican street corn, and as a dip for raw veggies.
Oooh, yes! Those both sound amazing!
Wow! This sounds like the perfect enchilada sauce. Can’t wait to make it!
I love all things Mexican! This sauce is perfect with the poblano peppers! the sauce is easy to assemble and I will be having this with so many meals. From chicken to veggies.
What amazing flavors this sauce has! Just perfect for many Mexican dishes. Love that spicy kick!
Wow, this sauce look like the perfect topper for enchiladas…and nachos, and tacos, and burritos. Also, I completely understand when you say that peppers are like roulette…sometimes you get lucky (or unlucky, depending on your tolerance for peppers).
Oh yum!! I want to make this for enchiladas, but then I want to drizzle it over everythinggg, from chicken to kale to maybe just off a spoon right into my mouth 🙂
All great options!
Oh my goodness, this is my kind of sauce, I would enjoy this with just about anything, can’t wait to try it!
The pepper roulette game is SO TRUE. I bought some poblano peppers to stuff last year, and they were so spicy we couldn’t even eat them – and my husband and I love spicy food so much we grow our own habaneros. What freakish mutant strain of poblanos did we stumble upon?! I should have just used them for a sauce like this instead since like you mention, it’s so easy to add something like yogurt to chill the spices a little!
What a story! Definitely a mutant strand! I ate a jalapeno once that made me cry which has NEVER happened before! 😀
Hi! I’m making this today….looks amazing! Can I make the sauce one day in advance?
Hi Lilly,
Absolutely! And it will probably taste even better since the flavors will have time to meld together. I hope you enjoy it! 🙂
WOW! What a delicious sauce! I was on the hunt for a fresh take on my chicken enchiladas, and boy I found it. I made doubled the recipe and made two pans of enchiladas for my family + family in town, a total of 6 adults and 3 kids. EVERYONE was happy, even the kids ate it! All of the adults even had seconds! For the second time in less then a week, these enchiladas are being requested again.
What an AWESOME recipe! I’m so glad I took a chance on it. Thanks for posting!
Happy Cooking!
Thank you so much, Mercedes! You made my day! 🙂 I am SO glad your family loved it! It is also great on smothered burritos or tacos if you want to shake it up!
So happy I stumbled upon this recipe. Question, though: if I use it as enchilada sauce, would I cover the enchiladas with the sauce before baking, or pour it on afterwards? I’m wondering if the sauce would separate while baking.
Hi Jennifer,
I put it on before baking and have not had any issues with it separating. I typically bake enchiladas at 350 F (max 400 F) until the cheese is just melted (20-30 min). Hope you love it! It is really delicious and such a fun twist on enchiladas 🙂
2 whole Limes? Or juice of 2 limes?
Hi Susan,
The juice of the limes.
Loved this one!!
I made this last night and it was so delicious. My batch of poblanos turned out to be super spicy, so I added a little extra sour cream and lime juice to mellow it out a bit. We have lots of poblano plants this year, so I was looking for some new uses for them. Thanks for a great recipe!
How wonderful! What a great way to use up those extra peppers! So glad you liked it 🙂