This is my take on the ‘earthy’ hot sauce that I can never get enough of from my favorite taco truck. It takes a little time, but it’s totally worth it. I put it on eggs, tacos, quesadillas, and salads, among other things. Any combination of calabrian, chipotle, Californian, and new mexican chiles may be used. You can add a few dried arbol chiles or use only spicy New Mexico chiles if you want a stronger sauce. Add the juice of 1 lime to the sauce for more tang.
| Prep Time: | 30 mins |
| Additional Time: | 40 mins |
| Total Time: | 1 hr 10 mins |
| Servings: | 12 |
| Yield: | 12 ounces |
Ingredients
- 1 dried guajillo chile
- 1 dried chile negro (pasilla) pepper
- 2 dried New Mexico chile pods
- 1 ½ cups warm water
- 2 cloves garlic, pressed
- 1 teaspoon ground cumin
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon packed brown sugar
- 1 teaspoon white vinegar
Instructions
- Remove stems and seeds from the guajillo chile, pasilla chile, and the New Mexico chile pods.
- Heat a cast-iron skillet over medium heat. Toast the chile pods in the skillet until lightly brown, about 2 to 3 minutes. Transfer the chile pods to a small bowl and pour the warm water over them. Allow chiles to soak about 40 minutes.
- Remove the guajillo and New Mexico chiles from the water. Use a spoon to scrape the pulp from the skin. Discard the skin. Place the pulp of the guajillo chile and the New Mexico chiles in a food processor with the pasilla chile and the water in which the peppers soaked. Puree in the food processor until all ingredients are combined. Add the garlic, cumin, salt, brown sugar, salt, and vinegar. Puree the mixture until smooth.
Reviews
I was very disappointed in this sauce. It was very bitter and not at all like the sauce served at Mexican fast food places.
I thought this was easy and tastey. I even left the skin on and used hatch peppers, if thats any different from New Mexico. Mine had the perfect amount of heat. I will make I
I would suggest when heating chilis in the pan to try to do that outside. We had too much chili in the air and were coughing like crazy, but we did use arbol chilis, which probably made fumes in the air
Big BIG thanks for the helpful recipe. We no longer have to beg at Coronas or Tacos Por Favor!!! We mixed and matched as you suggested and slugged it outta the park on the first go! Oh happy days!
Just joined this was my first try I must say this is too runny, but good flavor..
Great flavor! But no heat. Definitely needs to be thicker. Will try to adjust
This is pretty good sauce. It was easy to make. I didn’t have the guajillo chile so I subbed a chipotle. It gave it a nice smoky flavor. I just read that you suggested an arbol chile for heat. I have those. I will have to make again to try with the arbols. Interesting sauce. Would like it a little thicker though. Going to play with the recipe now that I’ve tried it the way you posted it. Thanks for a nice hot sauce recipe.
Great hot sauce. I didn’t have quite enough cumin, so used only 3/4 tsp., but everything else was the same. I did add the optional lime. Great flavor.