Creamy Chipotle Sauce (Taco Bell Inspired)

healthy chipotle sauce in a glass jar with a lid.

Creamy Chipotle Sauce (Taco Bell Inspired)

Course: sauce

Cuisine: American

Keyword: creamy chipotle sauce

Prep Time: 5

Cook Time: 0

Total Time: 5

Servings:

Calories: 53kcal

Author: Megan Gilmore

I'm obsessed with this creamy chipotle sauce. It's inspired by the one from Taco Bell, but this version uses ridiculously healthy ingredients, like almond butter and fresh lime juice. There's no oil or mayo required, and once you taste this recipe, you may end up making it every single week. (Like I have!) It's delicious on breakfast sandwiches, tacos, wraps, salads, and more. I literally want to drench everything in this.

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Ingredients

¼ cup raw almond butter (or cashew butter)
½ cup water (see notes)
2 tablespoons lime juice
1 teaspoon maple syrup
1 chipotle pepper in adobo sauce (about 2 inches long)
½ teaspoon fine sea salt

Instructions

In a personal-sized blender, combine the almond butter, water, lime juice, maple syrup, chipotle pepper, and salt. Secure the lid and blend until smooth.

A personal-size blender works best for this recipe because the batch size is small. (You'll get about 1 cup of sauce.) If you only have a full-size blender, you may want to double this recipe and freeze the extra so it blends smoothly.

Once the sauce is totally smooth (with no visible chunks of pepper), taste it and make any adjustments you see fit. You can make it sweeter by adding another teaspoon of maple syrup, or make it tangier by adding an extra squeeze of lime. This sauce will have a runny consistency at this point, more like a salad dressing, but it's still perfect for drizzling over tacos and burrito bowls. When you put it in the fridge overnight, it will thicken. So if you want a thicker result, make this in advance.
Leftover sauce can be stored in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 5 days. I think this one will freeze well, too!

Notes

Nutrition information is for approximately 2 tablespoons of sauce, assuming you get 1 cup total from this batch. This is automatically calculated using an online ingredient database, so it's just an estimate, not a guarantee.

Almond Butter Note: I tested this recipe with Artisana's raw almond butter, which has a mild, neutral flavor. If you use a roasted almond butter, your sauce will have a roasted flavor, too. Feel free to experiment with using cashew butter or your favorite tahini as a swap, if needed.

Water Note: I also tested this recipe with only 1/3 cup of water to make the sauce thicker right away. I didn't love the flavor quite as much, so I ended up adding 2 more tablespoons of water to make it like this version above. But that's an option if you want to start with a thicker sauce.

Nutrition