Do you ever crave Taco Bell’s Chipotle sauce? Maybe you’d rather have it at home whenever you want, without running to the nearest Taco Bell or paying the extra delivery fee to have a Creamy Chipotle Crispy Chicken Crunchwrap Slider or some Chipotle sauce as a side for your usual order delivered to your door.
The good news? You can make your own Chipotle sauce that’s pretty close to the Taco Bell version! It just takes a few ingredients and a little mixing. Then you can put a dollop of Chipotle sauce on whatever you like.
Table of Contents
Why This Recipe for Taco Bell Chipotle Sauce?
The number one reason: You don’t want to be that weirdo who pays 79 cents per tiny container of Chipotle sauce. (Yes, I did look up the price on Taco Bell’s website just now.) With this recipe, you can get a close imitation of Taco Bell’s Chipotle sauce while spending a lot less on ingredients.
Basically, I spent some time reverse-engineering the sauce based on its flavor and available information on Taco Bell’s website. It’s a little simpler than all the ingredients listed on Taco Bell’s online menu, but the difference isn’t huge.
Equipment for This Imitation Taco Bell Chipotle Sauce Recipe
You only need a few things to make this sauce, which makes it easy!
- Mixing bowl
- Rubber spatula or small mixing spoon
- Airtight container (I use a small mason jar)
Ingredients for This Imitation Taco Bell Chipotle Sauce Recipe
Before we dive into this, let’s make sure we have all our ingredients! You should already have most of these in your kitchen. If you need to get one or two of them at the grocery store, you can save or print the recipe card below for easy reference.
- Sour cream
- Mayonnaise
- Chipotle peppers in adobo sauce
- Cayenne
- Garlic Powder
- Onion powder
- Pickled jalapeño juice
About These Ingredients for Taco Bell Chipotle Sauce
One or two of these ingredients might sound a little unusual, but they each add something to the Chipotle sauce that brings it pretty close to the Taco Bell version. Let’s take a closer look!
Sour Cream
1/3 cup sour cream
Sour cream adds half of the creamy base for this Chipotle sauce. Its creamy flavor also has a slight acidic tang.
Mayonnaise
1/3 cup mayonnaise
Mayonnaise provides the other half of this sauce’s base. The reason this recipe doesn’t call for egg yolk, which is listed in the Taco Bell Chipotle Sauce ingredient list, is that mayonnaise already contains egg yolk.
How To Make Your Own Mayonnaise
In the video below, Martha Stewart demonstrates how to make mayonnaise!
Chipotle Peppers
2 chipotle peppers in adobo sauce
Chipotle peppers add spiciness and the signature smoky flavor to this Chipotle sauce. These are actually smoke-dried jalapeño peppers, so they have a similar range of “spice level.” Chipotle peppers can range from 2,500 to 8,000 Scoville heat units (SHU).
Cayenne
1 teaspoon cayenne
Cayenne adds more spice to this sauce. The thing to remember about cayenne is that it has 30,000-50,000 Scoville heat units, so don’t overdo it if you don’t like it too spicy!
What’s a Scoville unit, anyway?
According to Arizona State University’s Arizona STEM Acceleration Project, Wilbur Scoville created the Scoville scale to measure the “spiciness” of peppers in 1912.
One easy way to tell where a pepper falls on this scale is to measure the amount of capsaicin it contains. Capsaicin is the substance that makes peppers spicy. Here’s an easy reference chart showing where common peppers fall on the Scoville scale.
| Pepper | Common culinary use | Typical heat (SHU) | Heat level |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bell pepper | Salads, stir-fries, stuffing, fajitas | 0 | No heat |
| Banana pepper | Sandwiches, pizza, pickling | 0–500 | Very mild |
| Anaheim / New Mexico-type | Roasting, chile rellenos, sauces, soups | 500–2,500 | Mild |
| Poblano | Chiles rellenos, roasting, mole, and sauces | 1,000–2,000 or 2,500–3,000 depending on source/variety | Mild |
| Jalapeño | Salsa, nachos, tacos, pickling | 2,500–8,000 | Medium |
| Chipotle (smoked dried jalapeño) | Adobo, marinades, chili, barbecue sauces | roughly jalapeño range; often treated as about 2,500–8,000 | Medium |
| Serrano | Fresh salsa, hot sauces, and garnishes | 5,000–25,000 | Hot |
| Cayenne | Ground red pepper, sauces, spice blends | 30,000–50,000 | Hot |
| Thai chili | Curries, stir-fries, and dipping sauces | 50,000–100,000 | Very hot |
| Habanero | Hot sauce, fruit salsas, jerk-style dishes | 100,000–350,000 | Very hot |
Garlic Powder
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
Garlic powder has a warm, earthy flavor that complements many savory or spicy dishes.
Onion Powder
1 teaspoon onion powder
Onion powder adds a slight sweet-savory flavor that helps balance the spiciness of this sauce.
Pickled Jalapeño Juice
2 tablespoons pickled jalapeno juice
This may sound like a slightly unusual ingredient, but pickled jalapeno juice combines the spicy flavor of jalapenos with the tangy, salty, and slightly sweet brine most often used for pickling. If you happen to have a jar of pickled, sliced jalapeño peppers for nachos, you probably already have some pickled jalapeño juice.
Printable Homemade Taco Bell Chipotle Sauce Recipe Card
Ingredients
- 1/3 cup sour cream
- 1/3 cup mayonnaise
- 2 chipotle peppers in adobo sauce
- 1 teaspoon cayenne
- 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 teaspoon onion powder
- 2 tablespoons pickled jalapeno juice
Instructions
- In a mixing bowl, combine sour cream, mayonnaise, chipotle peppers, cayenne, garlic powder, onion powder, and pickled jalapeno juice.
- Using a rubber spatula, blend the ingredients until smooth and free of any clumps.
- Transfer the sauce into an airtight container.
- Refrigerate the sauce, allowing the flavors to meld for at least an hour.
- Serve with your favorite Mexican or spicy dishes.
Step-By-Step Method for Making Taco Bell Chipotle Sauce
Let’s jump right into making this sauce, because it really is as easy as mixing everything together!
Step One: Mix Together All Ingredients
Add sour cream, mayonnaise, chipotle peppers, cayenne, garlic powder, onion powder, and pickled jalapeno juice to a mixing bowl. Mix with a rubber spatula or small mixing spoon until smooth and free of any clumps.
Step Two: Transfer Sauce to an Airtight Container
Transfer the sauce to an airtight container. Seal the container with the lid.
Step Three: Refrigerate for One Hour
Place the airtight container in the refrigerator. Refrigerate the sauce for at least one hour to allow the flavors to combine.
Step Four: Serve with Your Favorite Mexican Dishes
Serve this Chipotle sauce with your favorite Mexican dishes. This sauce also goes well with anything that’s a little bit spicy (or a lot spicy – your preference). I’ve sneaked this Chipotle sauce into the selection of dipping sauces for chicken wings before.
Nutrition Information for This Taco Bell Chipotle Sauce Recipe
This nutrition information is based on the recipe as shown. Feel free to explore the nutrition information of individual ingredients at the USDA FoodData Central database.
Substitutions for This Taco Bell Chipotle Sauce Recipe
If you’re out of cayenne, you might get away with adding a little hot sauce. Just be cautious, because many hot sauces are higher than cayenne on the Scoville scale, especially if they contain a super-hot pepper like habanero.
You can tweak the spice level to your liking by adjusting the number of chipotle peppers or the amount of cayenne you use. Don’t forget to use taste tests while experimenting with the amount of spice!
No sour cream? Yogurt will work in a pinch, though it’s a little lighter because it has less fat and more protein than sour cream.
How To Store Your Chipotle Sauce
Did you make more than you need? Believe me, I know how tempting (and easy!) it is to double or triple the recipe, so no shame in that!
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recommends not keeping dairy- or egg-based foods, like the sour cream and mayonnaise in this sauce, at room temperature for more than two hours, so be sure to refrigerate or freeze them before then.
This sauce can be stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator for 3-4 days or frozen for up to a month. If you freeze it, keep in mind that the sauce may separate or become less smooth as it thaws, so you may have to stir it after thawing.
FAQ About This Taco Bell Chipotle Sauce Recipe
This sauce is super easy to make. However, we do sometimes get questions. I did my best to answer the most commonly asked questions here. If you think of one we haven’t answered yet, feel free to ask in the comments section, and we’ll answer as soon as possible.
Is Taco Bell’s chipotle sauce the same as quesadilla sauce?
Not exactly, though it is easy to confuse the two due to their similar creamy bases. Taco Bell’s chipotle sauce has a smokier flavor than quesadilla sauce due to the addition of chipotle peppers.
Can I make this Chipotle sauce ahead of time?
I often make it the day before I need it, or even the morning of my big “Mexican night” dinner. The important thing is just to let it sit in the fridge long enough for the flavors to blend. Making it a few hours in advance or even the day before just gives the sauce that much more time for the flavors to develop!
I accidentally used yogurt instead of sour cream! Is it salvageable?
That’s an easy mistake to make when they come in similar containers! Luckily, unflavored yogurt makes a decent substitute for sour cream. The only difference you might notice is that the sauce is a little less rich, and the smoky and spicy flavors might help mask it.
I thawed some leftover sauce I had in the freezer, and it separated! What can I do?
Try giving it a good stir to get the ingredients to combine again.
Why is my Chipotle sauce too thick?
This is most common when too much mayonnaise or not enough liquid is added. It can be fixed by adding a little more adobo sauce from the chipotle peppers or pickled jalapeno juice.
Why is my Chipotle sauce too thin?
Chipotle sauce might turn out too thin if too much adobo sauce or pickled jalapeno juice is added. Stir in a little more sour cream or mayonnaise, and then put it back in the fridge for 15 to 30 minutes.
Why does my Chipotle sauce taste too spicy?
The Chipotle peppers might have been higher on the Scoville scale than expected. Remember, they can range from 2,500 to 8,000 Scoville heat units, which is a pretty broad range for peppers that are commonly used in spicy foods. The spiciness can be toned down by stirring in a little more mayonnaise and adding a bit of honey to help cut the spice.
Why does my Chipotle sauce taste bland?
It’s possible that it just needs a little more flavor. One way to solve this problem is to add a bit more adobo sauce, a few drops of lime juice, or a little extra garlic powder to wake up the flavor. (Or, as I tell my mom when she complains about her food coming out too bland, “You need to not be afraid of adding more flavor! It doesn’t have to be salt, either!”)
Why does my Chipotle sauce taste too smoky?
Too much chipotle pepper or adobo sauce can overpower the other ingredients. Balance it out with more sour cream or mayo, and add a little lime juice to brighten the flavor.
Is there a way to make it smokier without using more Chipotle peppers or adobo sauce?
Try adding a pinch of smoked paprika! The thing to remember about smoked paprika is that it is a little stronger-tasting than regular paprika, so don’t overdo it.
Some Recipes to Try This Chipotle Sauce With
Looking for ideas to try with Chipotle sauce? Here are a few of my favorites!
- Simple Baked Homemade Tortilla Chips
- Vegan Taco Lettuce Wraps
- Southwest Rice Bowl with Roasted Veggies
- Grilled Corn and Quesadilla Bowl
- Shredded Chicken Nachos
This sauce adds a smoky, creamy kick that works with just about anything, so don’t be afraid to get creative. Once you make it, you’ll probably find yourself adding it to everything from bowls to wraps and beyond.
Wrapping Up
Did you try a little of this imitation Taco Bell Chipotle sauce on some Mexican food? Now you have an easy way to get a little taste of Taco Bell without having to make the trip to the nearest location.
Did you like it, or do you have a suggestion? Be sure to let us know in the comments section, and don’t forget to rate this recipe!
