Chipotle Honey Vinaigrette is a copycat recipe from the famous Chipotle restaurant. I used to love their burritos, but have you ever had a Chipotle Salad? It isn’t the salad that makes it, it is the Chipotle Dressing that I crave!
Chipotle Honey Vinaigrette is a sweet and peppery salad dressing blend perfect for serving on fresh green salads, drizzling on tacos or dipping vegetables.
Chipotle Honey Vinaigrette is slightly sweet, but also a tad bit spicy and peppery. The flavor can change from batch to batch, as can the texture.
They make the salad dressing in-house so it really depends on who makes it what day. Which was also rally challenging on my part to make a copycat version, LOL.
From what I hear “behind the scenes” at the restaurant, the main ingredients for the Chipotle Dressing recipe are red wine vinegar, honey, salt, adobo sauce, cumin, garlic, vegetable and oregano.
Which is odd, because I never really pick up on the oregano and I almost always feel like there is pepper.
In my Chipotle Honey Vinaigrette, I made both oregano and pepper optional and didn’t even use them in the video. You can play around with your own taste buds.
While my secret Chipotle source claims there is whole garlic, I couldn’t get the texture right using whole garlic cloves, so I opted for garlic powder. Just make sure your garlic powder isn’t older than 6 months, or you might miss the flavor altogether.
Lastly, instead of just using straight adobo sauce, I used 1 chipotle pepper in adobo sauce. This will give a smoky and spicy flavor. You can add more if you prefer.
Roughly chop it before adding to the mini food processor to make sure it gets pulverized when you blend. You don’t want chunks.
Copycat Chipotle Honey Vinaigrette doesn’t just taste good on salads! Use it as a marinade for chicken or steak, dip raw vegetables in it, baste grilled vegetables or use on tacos and burritos. It is delicious!
Tools you’ll need to make your own Copycat Chipotle Vinaigrette Dressing:
Mini Food Processor– I use this thing daily! It is by far my most used kitchen appliance, it is small and I throw all the parts into the dishwasher, well except the base and cord, of course!
Salad Dressing Shaker
– I only make homemade salad dressings, so I have a few of these around to easily store and shake onto salads.
I’m convinced that no recipe will ever use an entire can of chipotle peppers in adobo sauce. So here is a list of other recipes you can make to use up the rest of your can after you make this delicious Chipotle Dressing!
- Crispy Chipotle Salmon Salad
- Chipotle Honey BBQ Sauce
- Chipotle Hummus
- Spicy Buttered Shrimp
- Chipotle Aioli
- 1/2 cup red wine vinegar
- 1/2 cup honey
- 1 teaspoon fine sea salt
- 1 chipotle pepper in adobo sauce minced
- 1 teaspoon cumin
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1/3 cup Vegetable oil
- 1 teaspoon fresh orgegano optional
- 1 teaspoon ground black pepper optional
- Combine all ingredients into a small food processor and blend until combined and mostly smooth.
If you've tried this recipe, come back and let us know how it was!
Recipe Video
