Make This 5-Minute Sauce And You'll Never Want Another Taco Night Without It

The first thing you may think of when you hear "chipotle" is the Mexican fast casual chain of restaurants, but what a chipotle truly is is a dried and smoked red jalapeño pepper, and it's a staple in Mexican cuisine. While you can usually find dried, whole chipotles in Mexican or Latin supermarkets, they are also widely available in cans, labeled chipotles en adobo, or chipotle peppers in adobo sauce. The adobo sauce usually consists of pureed tomatoes, onions, vinegar, a sweetener like sugar (or sometimes high fructose corn syrup), oil, garlic, and spices, among other things, depending on how it's made. Most importantly, chipotle in adobo is the smoky ingredient to take your tacos to the next level.

Sour cream makes everything better, but chipotle peppers really amp up sour cream for tacos. You could remove a chipotle pepper from it's saucy bath in the can and simply finely chop the pepper, exactly the method used in our super easy chipotle crema recipe, or you could transfer the contents of the can to a taller vessel and puree the chipotle peppers and adobo sauce together, and then use about a tablespoon of the puree in place of the chopped chipotle pepper. From there, combine the chipotle or chipotle puree with lime juice, a grated clove of garlic, sour cream, a bit of honey, and cumin and salt.

The spice from the chipotle pepper, along with the kick of raw garlic, punch of the fresh lime juice, and honey, all combined with the rich, fatty sour cream, make for a perfectly balanced sauce that's amazing on anything, especially tacos. Stewed or shredded chicken tacos are an ideal match for chipotle crema, as chicken can sometimes need a boost in the flavor and richness departments.

Pickled red onions would be a great addition to chipotle crema on tacos, as their bright acidity helps cut through the richness of the meat, along with some fresh cilantro. Not just for meat-based tacos, chipotle crema works well with vegetarian tacos, especially tacos filled with savory, spiced mushrooms seared to perfection. You can also use chipotle crema in burritos or on burrito bowls, taco salad, or even swap it for chipotle mayo in this chipotle burger recipe.

Since you're unlikely to use the entire can's worth of the chipotle in adobo puree, take the opportunity to freeze the leftovers. Spread the remaining paste out onto a plate lined with plastic wrap or parchment paper, then once it's frozen, break it up into smaller chunks and place those chunks in a freezer-safe container or plastic bag. From there, you can easily grab one of those smaller chunks and incorporate it into your cooking as needed, saving yourself the hassle of opening a new can every time you'd like a bit of chipotle in adobo flavor.