by Bottom Line: Trader Joe’s Enchilada Sauce is not too spicy, but it has good taste and plenty of uses.
I was at Trader Joe’s a little over a week ago picking up some things for the New Year’s holiday and discovered another item I had not tried before. I needed enchilada sauce for a tamale casserole I was going to make and happened to notice TJ’s version on the shelf. It saved me a trip to HEB, so I tossed it in the cart (carefully, though—it’s in a glass jar) and decided to see if this was better than the canned stuff I usually use.
Here is the description from the website:
It’s made for us by a trusted supplier, who starts with a base of tomato paste and red jalapeño purée, then seasons it with ground red chiles, onion, garlic, and chipotle pepper powder.
Trader Joe’s sauce has a rich tomato taste with a bit of tang. It also has an earthiness with just a touch of smoke, likely from the chipotle pepper. There are also some slight notes of cumin, and you can detect the taste of the jalapeños in the background, but they do not dominate. This is not like a Tex-Mex chili gravy sauce as it is heavier on the tomato flavor. But it is certainly quite good and a step above the more industrial sauces you get from a can. This is also not a spicy sauce—not even reaching Mild on my scale—but it offers a good base that you can kick up however you choose.
The casserole I added the sauce to calls for tamales (Trader Joe’s has those in the refrigerated section), enchilada sauce, canned chili con carne, diced onions, and shredded cheese layered together and cooked in the oven (sorry, I didn’t snap a photo of that after making it). The TJ sauce worked out really well, and I will be substituting it for the canned stuff going forward. I also made some chilaquiles with the sauce, and those were quite tasty (recipe for that is here). I had some leftover taco meat and refried beans, so I made a homemade Enchirito (picture above) and found it to be a good stand in for the one Taco Bell booted from the menu. There is plenty more you can do with this sauce, and you can kick up the heat however you like if you want some burn. A 24 oz jar sells for $4.49 in my area.
