Chipotles in Adobo Sauce

Recipe for the popular South American Adobo sauce with chipotle chillies

Smoky, spicy and extremely tasty.
In Latin America, the Adobo sauce is a typical and tasty marinade for meat dishes, consisting only of a handful of ingredients, including mainly tomatoes, vinegar and spices. With the chipotles it becomes an extremely tasty sauce with a slightly smoky flavour.
It is suitable as a dip, for grilled meat, beans, eggs and rice dishes as well as for vegetables. It is also a great condiment to have on hand as a boost of flavour and heat to any dish, try adding it to mayonnaise, guacamole or chili con carne.

This homemade Chipotles in Adobo sauce tastes much better than the canned one you get in the supermarket. If you prepare more than you need, it also keeps well in jam jars - so its worth preparing a little bit more.

Ingredients for approx. 400 - 500 ml sauce

100 g Chipotle Morita Chilis, whole dried
3 Ancho Chilis, whole dried
150 g tomatoes (about 3 medium-sized), cut into small cubes
3 cloves of garlic
1 onion, diced
60 ml of olive oil
250 ml apple cider vinegar
2 whole allspice berries
1 bay leaf
1 tsp dried Mexican oregano
1 pinch of cinnamon
½ tsp black peppercorns
salt
2 tsp panela or brown raw cane sugar

Preparation

Remove the stems from the dried chillies and soak the chillies in hot water for about 20 minutes.
Heat the oil in a large saucepan over medium heat. Add the onion and cook, stirring, for 3-4 mins until softened. Then add the chopped garlic and simmer for 1 to 2 minutes. Then add the tomato cubes and Ancho Chilis and let them simmer on medium heat. Salt to taste.

Heat the vinegar in a pot and let the panela / raw cane sugar dissolve. Then add the tomato-onion sauce, the bay leaf, allspice, pepper, cinnamon and oregano.
Bring to the boil, reduce heat and simmer for approx. 1 hour (stir occasionally), remove the bay leaf and blend until very smooth. Then add the soaked chipotles and let the whole simmer for another 10 minutes on low heat.

If you dont consume immediately, fill the mixture into sterilized jars. The flavours develop strongest after leaving for at least one week. Store in a refrigerator after cooling. Refrigerated, the chipotles in Adobo sauce will keep for at least 2 months.

Photo credits: Fotolia #127058937 - Chipotle en Adobo sauce (smoked Jalapeno) © maxsol7