This homemade guajillo sauce recipe is perfect for any Mexican dishes, from tamales and enchiladas to soups, tacos, meats and more. It's so easy to make.
We're making homemade guajillo sauce in the Chili Pepper Madness kitchen today, my friends. You are going to love this recipe, so get the print button ready. It may become your next go-to sauce.
Guajilo sauce is slightly earthy and rich with flavor, and it's ideal for any number of recipes and Mexican food. I like to swirl it into soups and stews for a big flavor burst, and just let it simmer a while in the pot. I also heat it up and spoon it over all of my quick taco dinners and lunches, or use it in place of taco seasoning.
It's really easy to make so you can make a big batch on Sunday and use it all throughout the week for quick and easy, yet flavorful, meals.
The key, of course, are the guajillo peppers, so grab yourself some of these wonder peppers and get cooking.
About Guajillo Peppers – Why They are so Great!
The Guajillo is one of the most popular chili peppers in Mexican cuisine. It is the dried form of the mirasol pepper. The peppers are grown then dried, and are then called guajillo peppers. It is a mild to moderately hot pepper with dark red skin, with a flavor described as either fruity or green-tea like, with hints of berries.
Guajillo chilies are very common in Mexican cooking for making mole sauce, salsas and sauces, like this wonderful guajillo sauce that goes great on anything.
I often buy them in bulk, as I can find them in large plastic bags at my local grocery store. I make tons of sauces from them.
Learn more about guajillo peppers here.
Let's talk about how to make guajillo sauce, shall we?
Guajillo Sauce Ingredients
- Dried Guajillo Peppers. Stemmed and seeded.
- Olive Oil.
- Small Onion. Chopped.
- Garlic Cloves. Chopped.
- Coarse Sea Salt.
- Cumin.
- Water.
How to Make Guajillo Sauce - the Recipe Method
First, dry toast the dried guajillo peppers in a skillet over medium high heat. Toast them a couple minutes per side, until they start to puff up slightly.
Cool, then set them into a heavy bowl with enough hot water to cover them. You shouldn't need more than a few cups of water.
Let them soak for 20 to 30 minutes, or until they become very soft. Some dried chiles can soften in 15 minutes or less. Remove them and place them in a blender or food processor. Reserve 1 cup of the dark soaking water, if desired.
Heat the olive oil in the same heated pan. Cook the onion about 3 minutes, or until it becomes translucent.
Add the garlic and cook another minute, until you can smell the garlic.
Add them to the food processor along with the sea salt and cumin.
Pour in the reserved soaking liquid and process to form a sauce or smooth puree. It will be very thick at this point. Or, use water to thin it out.
Add in more water, a half cup at a time, until you achieve your desired consistency.
Strain, if desired, and serve as needed.
Boom! Easy enough, my friends! Use it to add zest and zing and HUGE flavor to so many different meals.
Recipe Tips & Notes
- Spice It Up. Recipes can vary from kitchen to kitchen, mostly depending on the different spices used. I use simple cumin and sea salt, along with fresh garlic, and let the guajillo peppers shine, as they have a wonderful flavor on their own. Feel free to use this as a base recipe, and adjust with other herbs and seasonings you prefer, such as spicy chili powders, Mexican oregano, dried basil, cloves. You can also add a touch of sweetness by adding honey or brown sugar.
- Add an Acid. Consider adding vinegar, lemon juice, lime juice, or a combination of any of these ingredients. Guajillo sauce is very tasty with a nice pop of tang and citrus. The acid can also help to preserve the sauce so you can keep it longer in the refrigerator.
- Soaking Water. You’ll notice that the soaking water used to soften up the dried guajillo chiles becomes very dark. This is because some of the nutrients from the peppers seeps into the water. You can use this steeped water to thin out your guajillo sauce, though some people consider it to be slightly bitter. Give it a taste for yourself and if you feel it is too bitter, use fresh water to thin your sauce instead.
Storage & Freezing
Store guajillo sauce in a sealed container in the refrigerator for 4-5 days. Reheat it gently in a saucepan and use as desired.
Freeze It. Guajillo sauce freezes nicely. You can freeze it in freezer friendly containers, or freeze them in ice cube trays, then bag them to use smaller portions as needed.
How are you serving yours? Here are some ideas.
Recipe Ideas for Guajillo Sauce
- Enchiladas. Use guajillo sauce in place of red enchilada sauce the next time you make chicken enchiladas. Delicious!
- Tamales. This sauce is outstanding for making homemade tamales.
- Soups and Stews. Spoon some of this sauce to add great Mexican flavor to soups like Mexican chicken posole or taco soup.
- Flavor Meats. Use it to season meats for dishes like beef barbacoa, carne asada, easy shredded chicken, or pulled pork carnitas.
- Salsa. Serve it in a bowl along with tortilla chips and you have an instant guajillo salsa!
See my Mexican Recipes for even more ideas.
That's it, my friends. I hope you enjoy it! Let me know how yours turns out, and how you wind up serving it. I'd love to hear!
Try Some of My Other Popular Sauce Recipes
Got any questions? Ask away! I’m happy to help. If you enjoy this recipe, I hope you’ll leave a comment with some STARS. Also, please share it on social media. Don’t forget to tag us at #ChiliPepperMadness. I’ll be sure to share! Thanks! — Mike H.
Guajillo Sauce Recipe
Ingredients
- 10-12 dried guajillo peppers stemmed and seeded
- 1 teaspoon olive oil
- 1 small onion chopped
- 4 cloves garlic chopped
- 2 teaspoons coarse sea salt
- ½ teaspoon cumin
- Water as needed
Instructions
- Dry toast the dried guajillo peppers in a heated pan over medium heat. Toast them a couple minutes per side, until they start to puff up slightly.
- Cool, then set them into a heavy bowl with enough hot water to cover them.
- Let them soak for 20 minutes, or until they become very soft. Remove them and place them in a blender or food processor.
- Reserve 1 cup of the dark soaking water, if desired.
- In the same heated pan, add the olive oil. Cook the onion about 3 minutes, or until it becomes translucent.
- Add the garlic and cook another minute, until you can smell the garlic.
- Add them to the food processor along with the sea salt and cumin.
- Pour in the reserved soaking liquid and process to form a sauce. It will be very thick at this point. Or, use water to thin it out.
- Add in more water, a half cup at a time, until you achieve your desired consistency.
- Strain, if desired, and serve as needed.
Video
Notes
Serving = 1/4 cup.
Keeps about 1 week in the refrigerator. Freeze it for longer storage.
Nutrition Information
NOTE: This recipe was updated on 11/30/25 to include new information. It was originally posted on 2/7/20.
James B. says
Very delicious and simple Guajillo Sauce!
I added juice of one lemon and some cayenne pepper for extra heat, and served it over fresh halibut with refried beans and Spanish rice, delicious 🙂
Mike Hultquist says
I love it! Sounds awesome to me, James!
M Navarro says
Is it possible to make this with Guajillo Powder?
Mike Hultquist says
Yes, absolutely. By weight, 4 ounces of dried pods = about 3 tablespoons of chili powder.
Lisa says
Awesome!! Was going to ask as well. I have a recipe for Smoky Guajillo Beef Bowls and can't find this sauce already made anywhere. Just ordered the powder. So I'll try it out!!!♡♡♡
Mike Hultquist says
Enjoy, Lisa!!
Darlene Vasquez says
My family cannot tolerate any heat at all. A couple due to medical reasons and the rest because they are wimps lol...Out of the 10 of us I'm the only one that can eat and loves spicy food. With that said which dried chilies are the mildest? It's pretty sad that most of the time I have to resort to roasted bell peppers, but we all know there is nothing there that remotely resembles the wonderful flavor of dried chilies. I REALLY need a mild dry chile. All your sauces look amazing and I'd love to be able to cook with them. Thanks
Mike Hultquist says
Hi, Darlene. I hear you. This happens to many families. Check out my page here for dried Mexican peppers to start: https://www.chilipeppermadness.com/chili-pepper-types/mexican-peppers/. Also, consider some of the milder dried Hatch varieties, or California peppers, which are fairly mild. I hope this helps!
Marianne says
I've used this recipe before to mimic the delicious shrimp tacos from Cristina's in Dallas - as we live in England we have to make do with mimicry rather than simply getting the real thing, but this sauce makes for delicious tacos! I'm making it again today, using a little more garlic and frying the cumin with the onion and garlic first.
Mike Hultquist says
Awesome! Thanks for sharing, Marianne!
Bruce says
I tried your recipie for the first time. I have also tried others. Your guajillo recipie is super yummy. One thing I think I must be doing is somehow my color is very dark from the pepers I presume. how can I get that pretty orange color like a tobasco. or challah
Mike Hultquist says
Thanks, Bruce. A lot has to do with the peppers uses, the spices included, but also the amount of heat and length of cooking. All can affect color. You can use lighter colored peppers and spices to have a lighter color.
Bart says
Made this yesterday. The best ever! We added a dried datil pepper (basically a habenero) and two tablespoons of craisens.
Mike Hultquist says
Glad you enjoyed it, Bart! Yes, so versatile!
Luis says
Hello Mike,
How much vinegar should I add and how long will it last in the fridge?
Mike Hultquist says
Luis, you can add 3-4 tablespoons, or more to taste. It will help it keep in the fridge a month or so. More vinegar will help it keep longer, but be careful not to add TOO much as it will affect flavor.
Isa says
How many weeks is the maximum to keep this sauce in the refrigerator?
Mike Hultquist says
Isa, it should last a week, maybe longer. I keep a bit of oil over the top in the container. It freezes nicely, which is the best way to preserve a larger batch.
Daniel says
My sauce came out really bitter. I used a cup of the soaking liquid in the recipe using a liquid measuring cup but I saw in your youtube video that you used a dry 1 cup measuring cup which is much smaller than a liquid one. What spices should i put in it to save it?
Thanks,
Mike Hultquist says
Daniel, some people find the skins bitter, and the liquid can be bitter, so next time you can use fresh water. Honey would be a good addition to balance any bitterness, or tomato.
Kurt says
u may have over toasted your peppers in step 1 skip the tosting.
Marsha says
This is awesome. I used a food mill to separate the skins and seeds from the
sauce. Can the sauce be water bath canned for latter use, if so what is the processing time for pint and quart jars?
Thanks so much for the recipe.
Mike Hultquist says
Thanks, Marsha. This sauce isn't good for canning, as there is no acid, unless you pressure can it. You can freeze it, though. If you want to can it with a water bath, you'll need to add acid, like vinegar or citrus. Let me know if you have any more questions.
Tonnia Williams says
She does have some suggestions about adding in lemon or lime juice to add a zing of citrus to the sauce. By putting 1 teaspoon in the pint jar you may water bath this sauce and it be safe to consume.
The sauce should be packed hot, with 1 tsp lemon juice added to each pint Jar.
Water bath~~15 min for 0-1,000' elevation, 20 min for 1,001-6,000 and 25 min for elevations over 6,000'.
Dave Harnois says
Used this as an enchilada sauce to make beef enchiladas, it was amazing! Super flavorful and just the right amount of heat/spice. I usually use chili powder for my homemade enchilada sauce, this definitely took it up a notch or two.
Thanks, Mike!
Mike Hultquist says
Very nice! Glad you enjoyed it, Dave, and I appreciate your sharing! Cheers!!
Sam says
love it! i had a bunch of guajillos left over from another recipe so i tried this, added a couple de arbols for spice, some honey and lotsss of extra garlic. fantastic
Mike Hultquist says
Nice! Perfect use, Sam! Very versatile. I'm sure you'll find many uses for it! Enjoy.
Jade says
Great! Thank you!