This quick homemade adobo sauce recipe is silky smooth, slightly spicy and incredibly versatile. Whip up a batch and keep it in your fridge for quick dinners anytime including tacos, enchiladas, soups, barbacoa and more.
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What is Adobo Sauce?
Adobo sauce is a dark red chile sauce made from ground dried chiles, dried herbs and vinegar. It’s earthy, spicy and bold in flavor.
Adobo sauce is used as a condiment as well as a marinade in Mexican and Spanish cuisine.
You likely know and have experienced adobo sauce through canned chipotle peppers in adobo. We love those around here and use them in our Vegetarian Chili and Smoky Tempeh Tacos.
As delicious as the canned product is, homemade adobo sauce just can’t be beat (especially when it’s this easy).
Why This Recipe Works
Dried ancho, guajillo and/or pasilla chiles are traditionally used to make this sauce. However, I’ve found many American home cooks find dried chiles to be intimidating.
For a quick, easy and less intimidating method, I use dried ancho chili powder instead of whole chiles. The chili powder cuts out the process of toasting and rehydrating the dried chiles.
It’s important to use dried ancho chili powder as it’s just that—dried and powdered ancho chiles. No added spices or seasonings (which are found in regular chili powder).
You can find ancho chili powder in the spice aisle of most grocery stores. It can also be found at Mexican markets, specialty spice stores and online.
Once hydrated and blended with traditional adobo sauce ingredients, the dried powder takes on a lovely velvety texture.
Ingredient Notes
Ancho Chile Powder
Make sure you seek out ancho chili powder. Not Regular chili powder. Look for it in the spice aisle, or order online.
Fresh Garlic
Fresh cloves of garlic are essential for this recipe! You’ll need 8 cloves, so grab a whole head of garlic.
Vinegar
Every great adobo sauce is a bit tangy—you can use apple cider vinegar or distilled white vinegar.
Dried Herbs and Spices
You’ll need dried Mexican oregano (though marjoram is a good substitute and regular oregano can be using in a pinch). You will also need ground cumin, ground cinnamon, black pepper and kosher salt.
How to Make Quick Adobo Sauce
By using ancho chili powder instead of dried whole chiles, we cut down on the total time of this recipe by quite a bit.
- Add water and garlic cloves to a small saucepan and bring to a boil.
- Add ancho chili powder, vinegar, salt, oregano, cumin, cinnamon and black pepper to a blender.
- Add water and garlic to a blender.
- Blend until smooth.
How to Use Adobo Sauce
This quick adobo sauce is incredibly versatile and can be used in an array of recipes.
- Chicken Barbacoa
- Enchiladas, I love these Chicken Enchiladas from Mom’s Dinner
- Carne Adovada
- Toss it with some shredded chicken or pork and use as taco filling.
- Stir a spoonful into Albóndigas Soup or Black Bean Chili.
- Use as a marinade for white fish, scallops, shrimp, grilled pork or grilled chicken. It’s also great brushed over different cuts of steak before or after grilling.
- Mix with ground pork to make homemade chorizo sausage.
- Mix with olive oil, lime juice and a splash of honey for a simple vinaigrette.
- Stir a spoonful into rice as it cooks.
- Drizzled over crispy potatoes.
Test Kitchen Tips
- Store homemade adobo sauce in a glass, airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 2 months.
- To make the adobo sauce last even longer, freeze sauce in ice cube trays until solid then transfer to a large zipper-lock bag. Homemade adobo sauce will last up to 6 months in the freezer.
More Mexican-Inspired Recipes to Try
- We’ve got loads of taco recipes, but these Tacos Arabes, Tacos Gobernador, and Blackened Fish Tacos are some of our favorite.
- Our Chicken Pozole Verde is truly out of this world. Bright, flavorful and ultra-satisfying.
- If you’re looking for another soup/stew, try out One Pot Carne en su Jugó.
- And if you have dried chiles that need to be used, make our Carne Adovada featuring tender pork and a luscious, rich chile sauce.
FAQs
Mexican oregano has a very different flavor than mediterranean oregano. “Regular” or mediterranean oregano has a slight minty undertone whereas Mexican oregano is more earthy and cirtusy. Marjoram is a closer substitute for Mexican oregano than “regular” oregano is.
I get Mexican oregano at my local Mexican market, but you can also find it on Amazon. Then again, if all you have is “regular” oregano, go ahead and use that. It certainly won’t make or break this recipe.
You can absolutely use whole dried ancho chiles instead of ancho chili powder for this homemade adobo sauce. Instead of the powder, use 4 medium to large dried ancho chiles. Remove their stems and seeds then transfer to a dry skillet. Toast the chiles over medium heat until slightly softened, pliable and very aromatic.
Transfer the toasted chiles to a cutting board and let rest until they’re cool enough to handle. Tear chiles into 1-inch pieces and transfer to the blender with spices, vinegar, hot water and garlic. Blend the sauce as directed in the recipe.
Stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator, adobo sauce should last a couple of months.
Quick Red Adobo Sauce
Description
Ingredients
- 8 large cloves garlic
- ½ cup ancho chile powder
- 3 tablespoons apple cider vinegar or distilled white vinegar
- 1 ½ teaspoons kosher salt
- 1 teaspoon dried Mexican oregano, marjoram or regular oregano
- ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon ground cumin
- ¼ teaspoon ground black pepper
Instructions
- Add garlic and 1 ¼ cups water to a small saucepan; bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Meanwhile, add ancho chile powder, vinegar, salt, oregano, cinnamon, cumin and black pepper to a high-powered blender or food processor.
- Add hot water and garlic to blender, secure lid and blend on high until completely smooth, about 1 minute.
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Equipment
Notes
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A wonderful adobo sauce recipe that’s easy to make. I appreciate it’s made with acho chile powder instead of whole dried chiles. Just easier for us! Wonderful flavor—will be using this again!
Is 1/2 cup chilli powder correct, that seems like a lot.
Hi Karen,
Yes, that’s the correct amount! The chile powder takes the place of dried chiles (and is what makes this a quick version)!
I’ve used this recipe a few times in the past as it’s really tasty and this time followed it through and found that while it was still tasty, but very runny.
Has the recipe changed, specifically the amount of water for the garlic? Or is the instruction to add the water to the blender new
Thanks
Hi Kevin—thanks for your comment. I went back to my original recipe notes and compared them to the published recipe and nothing has changed. The water has always been apart of the recipe and using hot water is key to thickening the chili powder. The hot water rehydrates the powdered chiles and makes the mixture thick. You can do one of two things to fix the texture: simmer the mixture for a few minutes on the stove top to thicken it. Or add more chili powder. I would opt for the simmering step.
I can’t imagine what is making this runny, especially since you’ve had good luck in the past. I hope this helps!