Home » From Fast Food to Fine Dining: Copycat Restaurant Recipes for Every Taste! » Taco Bell Mild Sauce – Taco Sauce Recipe
by Stephanie Manley, Last Updated 64 Comments
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When you make Taco Bell Taco Sauce you don’t need to leave the restaurant with tons of little sauce packets in your pockets. You can make homemade taco sauce, it is made with the perfect combination of spices that makes it full of flavor.
Homemade Taco Bell Taco Sauce
You can make flavorful this homemade taco sauce recipe at home that tastes just like it does in the restaurant. Homemade hot sauces are just as good as ones you get away from home.
This copycat recipe is made with common ingredients you can find at the grocery store or may already be in your pantry. Soon you will enjoy mild taco sauce made in your kitchen.
Where Did the Taco Come From?
The taco today is a fast-food staple, but you might be wondering how it came about. The taco was most likely invented by Mexican silver miners in the 18th Century.
In those mines, a “taco” was the name of the little charges that were used to excavate the ore. These consisted of pieces of paper wrapped around some gunpowder. These “tacos” were inserted into holes the miners carved in the rock.
Actually, if you stop and think about it, a chicken taco with a good hot sauce is a lot like a stick of dynamite!
What to put Taco Sauce on?
Did you know you can put this Taco Bell sauce on so many different things? Sure, it’s great for tacos, but Taco sauce goes well on:
- Quesadillas
- Tacos
- Sauce for burritos, either inside or on top
- On eggs, either scrambled or even fried eggs
- Nachos
How can your easy homemade taco sauce?
You can use taco sauce in many different ways, it goes great on tacos, taco salad, or quesadillas. You could use it to top nachos, it could also make a great salad dressing. The possibilities are endless.
Homemade Taco Bell Sauce Ingredients
Here’s a list of what you need:
- Canned tomato sauce
- Water
- Chili powder
- Groundcumin
- Dry minced onions or onion powder
- White vinegar
- Garlic powder
- Garlic salt
- Paprika
- Sugar
- Cayenne pepper
How to Make Taco Bell Mild Sauce
- Place all ingredients in a saucepan and stir well.
- Simmer at a very low temperature for 15 to 20 minutes.
- Remove the pan from the heat and allow the sauce to cool to room temperature.
How to store your leftover taco sauce
You can store your leftover taco sauce in an airtight container, a squeeze bottle, or perhaps you have a leftover bottle of Ortega taco sauce. It will last for up to 10 days when stored in the fridge.
More Taco Bell Copycat Recipes
- Taco Bell Tacos
- Fresco Crunchy Taco
- Spicy Potato Soft Taco
- Taco Bell Crunchwrap Recipe
- Taco Bell Breakfast Burrito
- Taco Bell Enchilada
- Taco Bell Mexican Pizza
- Crispito
- Cinnamon Twists
- Baja Blast Freeze
Favorite Mexican Fast Food Copycat Recipes
- Chipotle Barbacoa
- McDonalds Breakfast Burrito
- Wendy’s Taco Salad
Be sure to check out more of my easy Mexican recipes and the best fast food copycat recipes.
Taco Bell Taco Sauce
Make your own mild version of theTaco Bell Taco Sauce. This is one of the easiest homemade sauces you can prepare.
4.78 from 22 votes
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Course: Main Course
Cuisine: Mexican
Keyword: Taco Bell Recipes, Taco Sauce
Prep Time: 10 minutes minutes
Cook Time: 20 minutes minutes
Total Time: 30 minutes minutes
Servings: 12
Calories: 83kcal
Author: Stephanie Manley
Ingredients
- 8 ounces canned tomato sauce
- 1/3 cup water
- 1/4 teaspoon chili powder
- 1 1/2 teaspoon cumin
- 1 1/2 teaspoon dry minced onions
- 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
Instructions
Place ingredients in a saucepan and stir well. Simmer at a very low temperature for 15 – 20 minutes. Remove and cool. The taco sauce may be kept in the refrigerator for several days.
Video
Nutrition
Calories: 83kcal | Carbohydrates: 16g | Protein: 3g | Fat: 1g | Saturated Fat: 0g | Cholesterol: 0mg | Sodium: 2370mg | Potassium: 804mg | Fiber: 3g | Sugar: 11g | Vitamin A: 1585IU | Vitamin C: 15.8mg | Calcium: 57mg | Iron: 4.3mg
About Stephanie Manley
I recreate your favorite restaurant recipes, so you can prepare these dishes at home. I help you cook dinner, and serve up dishes you know your family will love. You can find most of the ingredients for all of the recipes in your local grocery store.
Stephanie is the author of CopyKat.com's Dining Out in the Home, and CopyKat.com's Dining Out in the Home 2.
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Reader Interactions
Comments
Eva de Pallais
I have a question: the canned tomatoes sauce is something like regular Prego sauce?
Reply
Stephanie Manley
No, it just plain tomato sauce, it is sold where the canned vegetables are.
Reply
Karen J Gregory
Have not found much from Taco Bell that I haven’t liked with the exception of some of the hot sauces. Have you or would you consider making their green sauce? That was my favorite. Thank you.Reply
Stephanie Manley
At some point I should try their green sauce!
Reply
John Sanderson
How come this only keeps for a couple of days in the frig?
No mention of what and how much to add to make Medium or Hot sauce.Reply
Stephanie Manley
I will only advise keeping this for a few days, I don’t know how long it will last. I have not personally tested this. I don’t add preservatives to anything, so I would keep it for the time listed. I don’t know how to make the medium or the hot version, I haven’t given the a try.
Reply
Rich A
I take recipes like this with no preservatives and put the extra sauce in a ice cube tray and freeze it. Then pop a few cubes out when i need it and microwave them. Do the same when i buy a gal can of pizza sauce. Use what i need and freeze the rest.
Rich
Alan
This is an excellent recipe, and it’s so easy to adjust for heat, piquancy etc. Living in the Canary Islands with sometimes limited ranges in the shops, it’s great to be able to duplicate things at a fraction of the cost. As for preservation, this sauce freezes brilliantly, losing nothing when thawed. I freeze in batches and take out what I need, when I need it.Reply
Mike n
Is this the sauce that comes in the packets or was they put on the food while preparing it?
Thanks in advance
Reply
Stephanie Manley
This is close to the sauce that they prepare food.
Christopher Williams
Is just about spot on. I reduce the garlic salt to a pinch and omit the sugar due to health issues. Great recipe and super easy.Reply
Kelly
Substituting tomato JUICE for the tomato sauce better simulated the consistency of the Taco Bell sauce.Reply
Chris
Love this. So easy to make and I can control the ingredients – no worrying about preservatives or too much sodium. Add a little juice from jalapeño for an extra kick.Reply
Maureen
This would taste more like Taco Bell with the addition of pickle juice from pickled jalapeños or peperoncini. I compared the made recipe to a bottle of the Taco Bell.Reply
Lynne Hedges
Stephanie, I have not yet tried your Taco Bell Taco Sauce, because I have concerns about the nutritional information. The sodium is listed as 2370mg, which is more sodium than I take in daily. Is this a typo?
Reply
Stephanie Manley
No, it is what the nutritional info picked up. You could reduce this if you use no sodium canned tomato sauce.
Reply
K
Have you thought about replicating their spicy ranch sauce? It used to be called Baja Sauce.
Reply
Stephanie
I have not, but I appreciate your suggestion.
Reply
Angie
Oh I loved that stuff!! I would love to know how to make it too!!
Reply
ZippyDSMlee
Not tried it yet but the thing I have noticed is tacobell sauce is almost a pureed picante sauce, mind you it has less onions and bell pepper but it seems like it has more of a pickled vegetable flavor than Ortega or old elpaso brand sauce. They changed the flavor a few years back(that or my tastebuds died a bit again) almost seems more black pepery, maybe they changed peppers and had to change the dilution of the mix, I tend to go fiery but that had a twang to it I did not like, hot is good enough. I wonder if I could mix pureed picante and Ortega to make a decent tasting sauce, most picante even non chunky seem a bit to onoiny to me, I guess what I want most in a sauce is a mix of pickled peppers and taco seasoning that’s not chunky….I wish they would sale this stuff 5$ for a gallon I get 4-5 bottles a month LOL it goes great with hamburgers and mayo LOL
Reply
Maureen
I noticed the same issue and would suggest adding pickled jalapeño juice to your liking.
Reply
Steve
Ortega makes taco Bell’s sauces.
Reply
Stephanie Manley
I love Ortega’s mild sauce!
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4.78 from 22 votes (13 ratings without comment)
