Smoky Adobo Sauce Recipe – If you are a fan of spicy sauce, you’ll want to try adobo sauce. Adobo sauce is a type of sauce involving chili powder, vinegar, sugar, garlic, and herbs. “Adobo” is based on the Spanish word “adobar”, which means to marinate. It was originally a sauce used for flavoring and preserving meats. Nowadays, you can add the sauce to different Mexican dishes or chipotle peppers. The sauce is pretty simple to make and has plenty of options. Depending on how much spice you can handle you can add in dried or smoked chipotle peppers. You’re free to experiment with the spices but a good smoky adobo sauce recipe to use as a beginner is as follows:
Smoky Adobe Sauce
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup chile powder
- 2 Roma tomatoes chopped (8 oz with juices)
- 1/4 cup cider vinegar
- 3 garlic cloves
- 2 tbsp brown sugar
- 1 tsp oregano
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp ground cumin
- 1/4 tsp cinnamon
- 1/4 tsp black pepper
- 1/4 tsp allspice
- 3 tbsp olive oil
Instructions
Process for the Sauce
- Add the chile powder and 1 1/2 cups of boiling water to a food processor or blender then cover it and let it steep.
- Add the vinegar, chopped tomatoes, garlic, brown sugar, oregano, salt, cumin, cinnamon, pepper, and allspice to the food processor or blender and process the ingredients until they reach a purée like consistency. If the sauce comes off to thick, you can add water to thin it out.
- Heat oil in a skillet over medium-high heat and carefully pour the purée. Bring the mixture to a boil then let it reduce to a simmer and cook for 20 minutes.
- The mixture should result in about 2 1/2 to 3 cups of adobo sauce. If you want to add extra spice, consider the following instructions.
If You're Adding Chipotle Peppers in Adobo Sauce:
For Dried Chipotle Peppers
- Before adding the chipotle peppers to the sauce, you need to let the dried peppers boil. To do this, you first need to bend and slightly crack the dried chipotle peppers or make punctures with a knife.Then add the peppers to a saucepan with water and bring it to a boil. Let the peppers reduce to a simmer and cook for 30 minutes. Make sure to add water to prevent drying out or burns.
- Once the peppers are cooked, set them aside then add them to the sauce once it is cooked. Let the sauce simmer with the peppers for another ten minutes before taking it out of the pan.
For Freshly Smoked (Non-Dried) Chipotle Peppers
- You need to add the freshly smoked peppers directly to the sauce mixture after cooking it and let it simmer for another 10 minutes.
- Carefully spoon adobo sauce or adobo sauce with chipotles into clean, sterilized 4 ounce canning jars. Apply lid per packaged instructions and submerge in boiling water for 30 minutes. Remove jars from water bath and allow to cool.
Notes
- You can substitute ancho chile powder for regular chile powder.
- If you can find it, try adding 2 tablespoons of Mexican piloncillo. Mexican piloncillo is a type of sugar you can find in most Mexican markets or in the Mexican aside of most markets and is formed into a cone shape.
- Mexican oregano can be a flavorful addition to the sauce.
Additional Notes for Smoky Adobo Recipe
If you want to try this sauce, there are different pairings and options you can try. Do you want to add some spice to certain dishes? A little bit of this sauce can go a long way. For example, you can add a spoon of the sauce into a soup or mix it with salsa. You can also use it as an extra flavoring for dishes like burgers or other meat dishes. Whether you like spice or not, this smoky adobo sauce is a great option for adding a kick to any dish.
Check out more of our sauce recipes with our “Lechon Kawali Sauce” and “Bechamel Sauce“
