Taco Bell Taco Sauce

JustaQT's Note:

You can have this taste at home!

• Total Time: 25 mins
• Prep Time: 5 mins
• Cook Time: 20 mins

Ingredients:

Servings: 4

• 1 (8 ounce) can tomato sauce
• 1/3 cup water
• 1/4 teaspoon chili powder
• 1 1/2 teaspoons cumin
• 1 1/2 teaspoons instant minced onion
• 1 tablespoon white vinegar
• 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1/2 teaspoon garlic salt
• 1/4 teaspoon paprika
• 1/4 teaspoon sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper

Directions:

1. Place in sauce pan and stir well, simmer at a very low temperature for 15- 20 minutes.
2. Remove and cool.
3. May be kept in refrigerator for several days.

Reviews

[rws0042]

Just a note to clarify for people, especially Loves2cook4everyone: this recipe is a knockoff of the red sauce Taco Bell uses on their bean burritos and several other foods. It is NOT a knock off of anything in their little sauce packets, hot, mild or fire, even though those little sauces are red, too. You cannot get this sauce in a packet -- they don't sell it that way. I wish they did!

[rinnie1]

OK I read the reviews, and whoever was complaining about the sugar may have gotten "tomato sauce" confused with "tomato ketchup" - because ketchup is totally loaded with sugar, especially if you go with Heinz. HOWEVER... the ingredients on my tomato sauce (Muir Glen organic) are just tomatoes, water, and salt - no sugar, no HFCS - and even Hunts doesn't have as much sugar as Heinz. The amount of sugar added to this recipe is just 1/4 TEASPOON - negligible at best - but you can always add an equal amount of Kosher salt to cut the sweet edge of that sugar and still get the rounded palette flavor.

That said, we are a household with Celiac and food allergies to accommodate, so processed sauces are hazardous to our health. This is one of the easiest sauces with best taste that I've found for tacos and enchiladas - and having lived all over the SW and in TX, I'm pretty picky about what's passable for Mexican cuisine. That said, I made the following modifications:

Instead of garlic powder, I used fresh garlic with garlic oil.
Instead of dried minced onion, I used onion powder to get the deeper flavor.
I added salt to taste to balance out the sweetness.

My husband has decided that (just as with the BBQ sauce I make that is probably closer to Bone Sucking Sauce than any widely available brand), he wants me to make this taco sauce in bulk and keep it on hand, rather than him using the processed stuff -- and he is the one with NO allergies and NO Celiac.

[dsimkovic]

My son LOVES tacos and Taco Bell. Whenever we get low on taco sauce at home he always begs me not to buy it in the store but for us to make this sauce again. It's perfect!