Chipotle dipping sauce

This one is a dip/sauce/dressing/marinade all rolled in one. This recipe is a variation on one that my dear friends at Simple Gourmet used to make. The original recipe—if I recall correctly—called for mayo and sour cream. In adapting this to a more paleo palate, I first made this with no mayo—just the olive oil. It was good, but it wasn’t the creamy sauce I wanted. Once I figured out a decent paleo mayo, I didn’t even miss the sour cream. You can omit the mayo if you’d like too—it’s still really tasty without! This sauce keeps in the refrigerator for at least a week and is incredibly tasty served on top of a fresh grilled burger or some fish tacos!

½ cup (125 mL) Paleo Mayonnaise ( recipe here)
½ cup (12 g) cilantro
1 clove garlic
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 chipotle peppers in adobo sauce
~ juice of 1 lime

  1. Combine all ingredients in a mini-blender or food processor until mixed well.
  2. Keep refrigerated until ready to serve.

Ingredient Notes—Chipotles (smoked jalapeños) in adobo (sauce) are found in the Mexican section of most grocery stores and at any Mexican mercados I’ve been to. Just check the ingredients, as some use less-than-ideal oils and others actually contain wheat flour. La Morena is one brand we like.

Variations—Tinker around with this one to get it as spicy as you’d like it (note well: even with the low amount of chipotles called for in this, for some palates this recipe will be like fire!). My BFF Melissa enjoys her sauce with some fresh squeezed orange juice and lots of cilantro. There are so many ways for you to make this sauce your own! If using the sauce as a dressing, you’ll want to up the olive oil content some to get it more liquefied.