Taco sauce, aka “salsa taquera” in Spanish, is a blended red sauce made of tomatoes and peppers used on tacos. Versions of it are served at Mexican taquerias, and the Americanized version stars at Taco Bell and in Tex Mex food: so it’s a Mexican-inspired food that spans cuisines. It’s tangy, a little spicy, and utterly delicious.
Homemade taco sauce is simple to whip up with mostly pantry ingredients. The only thing you might not have on hand is canned tomato sauce, depending on what you keep on hand. Here’s what you’ll need:
- Canned tomato sauce: this is a puree of unseasoned tomatoes: not marinara sauce, spaghetti sauce, or tomato paste! Look for the words “tomato sauce” labeled on the can.
- White vinegar
- Hot sauce, like Cholula
- Sugar
- Spices: garlic powder, onion powder and cumin
- Salt
- Cornstarch, for thickening
Tips for Making Taco Sauce
There’s really nothing to making taco sauce: simply add the ingredients and heat for just 5 minutes. Here are a few notes on the process:
- Make sure to use low heat. It’s important not to overheat the sauce: otherwise it will become gummy and too thick.
- Remove from heat and stir in more vinegar. After you’ve simmered your sauce, you’ll stir in a little more vinegar at the end. Why? This maximizes the tangy, bright flavor.
- Refrigerate: it thickens as it cools. The sauce will thicken up after you refrigerate it to the texture of what you’d expect from the store-bought version.
Preparations
- In a medium saucepan, whisk together tomato sauce, water, 2 tablespoons white vinegar, hot sauce, sugar, salt, garlic powder, onion powder and cumin. Bring to a boil and then reduce heat to low or medium low. Simmer where the sauce is steadily bubbling for 15 minutes.
After 15 minutes, stir the cornstarch into 1 tablespoon water in a small bowl until dissolved. Add the cornstarch slurry to the taco sauce and cook for an additional 1 minute, stirring constantly, until the sauce becomes thick and glossy. Remove from the heat and stir in the additional 1 teaspoon vinegar. Store refrigerated; it will thicken even more as it cools.