There’s this burrito truck near me that makes a really unique hot sauce, and I can’t figure out what it is. I’ve tried it a bunch of times and it’s always the same:
• Really dark in color
• smoky and spicy but not nutty
• Very watery/liquidy, not thick at all
• Definitely not a bright red or tomatillo-style sauce
• Doesn’t taste like it has a ton of vinegar either—more just pure chili flavor
• Not too earthy, has a slight bitterness, but overall spicy and flavorful
I’ve been experimenting at home with different dried Mexican chiles (ancho, guajillo, pasilla, arbol, etc.) but I haven’t quite nailed it down.
Should I just message the burrito truck and ask, or do you guys have different ideas or recipes I could try to recreate it?
by South-Drummer2222
22 Comments
Could be a salsa negra
Ask, for sure. No way anyone is gonna be able to identify it accurately based on this description.
That looks like chipotle in adobo sauce blended up with some other stuff in it. Flavor profile you described matches too. Go grab a can of “chipotle in adobo” and see if it’s close. I like the costeña brand
Salsa roja . Roasted . Maybe salsa borracha
You’ll need to ask. It’s really impossible to identify a salsa exactly just by looking at it. This could have dried chiles or chipotle in adobo or any number of things.
Its a type of a salsa.I make something similar. First roast onion tomato and jalapeno. In a pan toast chili de arbol and piquan if you want more spicy. Combine all and blend, salt and pepper and cumin to taste. It doesnt keep for very long though.
Could be a arbol sauce maybe?
Chipotle is the most likely candidate but you may also try dried chile Japones , they give that unique brown color.
https://www.reddit.com/r/SalsaSnobs/s/qU3qqJc5p8
But yes also ask the truck, even if they don’t want to give up the full recipe they may say key ingredients
I use pasilla negro peppers to give my salsa a nice darker color.
Is it smokey, sweet, spicy, tomatoey, garlicy? can you id the peppers in it? Cumin? Paprika? We need more than just a pic and saying it’s really good.
Tomato, Guajillo, onion, garlic, and maybe chipotle/arbol. I can see the rib from the Guajillo and definitely tomato
Can you describe the taste?
They very likely could have used chipotle in adobo. That’s typically the color you get from using them.
1/2 pound of tomatios (roasted)
1/4 cup water
8 Chile de Arbol (roasted)
2 ancho pepper (roasted)
1/2 onion (roasted)
Prolly half a lime or lemon
4 garlic cloves (roasted)
Salt to taste
If want to make it more watery use a lil more water
Looks like it has chipotle peppers in adobo sauce. I can see a little straight splinter looking thing in that picture, which is from the stems that are left on the peppers when they are canned. Plus, you mentioned a noticeable bitterness and chipotle peppers are bitter.
Why don’t you just ask them?
It’s probably (mix of dried chilis) toasted in a pan, then tomato garlic onion and fresh chili are charred in a pan, then everything is blended.
Looks like the real deal. More peppers than tomato. Authentic hot sauce contains very little if any tomato.
Looks good!
Please make another post if you ask the truck and find the recipe. Looks great! Thanks for sharing.
Looks like there’s definitely some dried De Arbol hot peppers in there.
Molcajate salsa?