Smokin Hot Chipotle Mayo

When grocery shopping, are you reaching out again for your favourite chipotle mayo? Don’t. Why settle for something that has an ingredient list that doesn’t sound like real food, loaded with tons of preservatives? Especially when you can make your very own chipotle mayo in a matter of a few minutes… how about 10 minutes max? Sounds good, right? So let’s do it. You can jump straight to the recipe, or be with me for some more fun facts of this Bomb sauce…

What is Chipotle Mayo, or Chipotle Aioli?

Both are the same sauce. Chipotle Aioli just seems a fancier name. Plain aioli is quite similar to mayonnaise, found in the cuisines of Spain, France and Italy. Like mayo, it is made with raw eggs emulsified with oil, but with the inclusion of garlic.The word aioli literally means “garlic and oil” and that’s why chipotle aioli is what chipotle mayo is. Tada! Just to clear up some facts. There are a lot of different ways to give your mayo a spicy makeover. People use chili powder, smoked paprika, chipotle powder or chipotle peppers in adobo sauce. The last one is my favorite, as it gives the perfect amount of smoky kick to the sauce. Whatever spice source you add, all you need is some fresh lime juice to give an extra freshness and tang, a little garlic to make it zesty, and a little kosher salt… and voila, every meal sounds double tempting.

So what is Chipotle?

Chipotles are nothing but smoked jalapenõs. And chipotle in adobo sauce are these smoked peppers added to adobo sauce, which is a barbeque like sauce commonly used in Mexican cuisine. So that can of chipotle in adobo sauce is packed with smoky, tangy spiciness with a dash of sweet factor. All these flavors result in excellent chipotle mayo, rather than using just some spice powders. We highly recommend grabbing a can of these chipotles in adobo sauce, which normally finds its place in the latin section of your grocery store.

This is all you need

Mayonnaise – We like full fat mayo for this recipe, but your choice.Chipotles in adobo sauce – For the ultimate chipotle mayo.Garlic – Just a little.Lime juice – A little splash goes a long way.Salt

This is a super quick one, almost as quick as a few blinks of your eyes… 🙂

Cut the stems off the chipotle peppers and scrape out the seeds. Don’t worry too much if you miss a few seeds. Then transfer the peppers to a blender, along with adobo sauce, and purée them for 30 seconds. You can use anywhere from 3-6 peppers, depending on how spicy you want the sauce. Transfer them to a bowl and set aside. Now in the same blender (no need to clean) add in mayonnaise, garlic, lime juice and salt. Start by adding just 1 Tbsp of the ground up chipotle peppers and give all it a whirl. Taste and keep adding the chipotle paste and blending till you get your desired spiciness. For someone like me, who likes things spicy, I might go up to 4-5 tablespoons. But you are best off adding in small amounts, and stopping when it’s just right for you. Keep track so next time you know exactly how much chipotle you like in your mayo, so you can swirl everything together at one go! This is best served cold, so keep it in the fridge at least 30 minutes before serving. And then you are ready to drizzle it over anything and everything.

There are unlimited ways to use this sauce:

Your life is never going to be same when it comes to biting into the following loaded with this chipotle mayo… Burgers, sandwiches (can you imagine how much your regular chicken sandwich gets an oomph from adding this spicy mayo?), wraps, hot dogs, nachos, tacos, burrito bowls, chicken salads, egg salads, coleslaw, po boys… Dilute the sauce with a little water to make it chipotle mayo crema and it’s excellent as a creamy salad dressing. How about dipping your fries? My favorite are sweet potato fries, as the sweet and spicy is an excellent combo. Tostones or potato latkes are great with this sauce. Dip your chicken nuggets, fried shrimp or fried fish. How about salmon cakes or crab cakes? Even sushi… boy, are you like me, drooling already?

A few variations

Ok, saying all this, how to store it?

This is best stored up to a week in an air tight jar or a container. Sometimes I do fill my plastic squirt bottles and then it’s fun drizzling it over everything.