Quick Red Adobo Sauce Recipe (2024)

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.

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.

1. Add water and garlic cloves to a small saucepan and bring to a boil.
2. Add ancho chili powder, vinegar, salt, oregano, cumin, cinnamon and black pepper to a blender.
3. Add water and garlic to a blender.
4. 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.

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.

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