Easy Chipotle Aioli, also known as Chipotle Mayo, is a verstile condiment.
Use this chipotle mayo recipe on deli sandwiches, burgers, grilled cheese, fries, onion rings, fish tacos and more! Add a little spice to your life with aioli sauce.
Chipotle Aioli Recipe
Easy, creamy chipotle aioli is a quick and zesty sauce perfect for dipping or spreading on sandwiches. Chipotle peppers in adobo sauce add heat while the mayonnaise is slightly sweet.
This perfect combination is also known as chipotle mayo. Mayo is just a less fancy word for aioli.
Condiments can easily make or break a meal. Sauces should complement, not take over the flavor profile. Otherwise you’d just need a bowl of sauce. Gross.
Aioli Sauce (Fancy Mayo)
Aioli sauces are the perfect way to do this. If you make the quick version using premade mayonnaise, they take only minutes and amplify the whole dish.
T says: “I toasted some whole garlic cloves and added it to the mayo. Delicious.”
If you don’t want super intense garlic flavor like T, you can also mute it a little by using bottled minced garlic or roast garlic.
What is aioli?
Aioli translates to “garlic and oil” and is usually emulsified with egg. Is this starting to sound familiar? Emulsified oil and egg is… drumroll please… MAYONNAISE.
You can make mayo from scratch or you can combine your desired ingredients and flavors with premade mayonnaise. So easy! Although making mayonnaise is also pretty simple. Aioli recipes differ from person to person.
There is no “right” way.
Jenn says: “Basically my favorite condiment ever! I cannot wait to try it with the spicy chicken sandwich next – holy cow that looks good together!!!”
So simple that I’ve taught my niece how to make her own in a blender. I love making my own, it has so much more flavor, especially when you use a good quality olive oil.
Chipotle Peppers in Adobo Sauce
For this recipe, my flavor of choice is chipotle. Chipotles in adobo are smoky and sweet, providing the best of both worlds for the ultimate gluten free chipotle sauce.
Chipotle peppers are pretty spicy! Therefore, depending on how many peppers you throw into the blend, you can also adjust the heat of your sauce.
Some dishes, like my Spicy Chicken Sandwich, are defined by the chipotle aioli and certain level of heat.
The adobo sauce that chipotle peppers are typically canned in also adds a layer of smoky flavor sophistication.
Even if you don’t use it in the aioli, store it in an airtight container for later and use it in Mexican dishes or salad dressing. It is so tasty!
Jodi says: “Yum! I was looking for a Chipotle ranch for a grilled chicken gyro. So glad I found your recipe. We added a little ranch seasoning and probably used half the pepper.
Everyone loves it and now we are trying to figure out what else we can make to use the rest of sauce. The possibilities are endless!”
Ingredients
All of these ingredients can easily be found in your local grocery stores. The can of chipotle peppers can be found down the international aisle.
- Chiles in adobo sauce – Chipotles in adobo are smoky and sweet, providing the best of both worlds for the ultimate gluten free chipotle sauce.
- Mayonnaise – Grab your favorite store-bought mayo and use it for this recipe. Or you can make your own homemade mayonnaise.
- Lime juice – Squeeze your own or just get it from the store. I much prefer the taste of fresh squeezed lime juice though.
- Cilantro – I know you either love or hate cilantro, so this ingredient is optional. That being said, I like the zing it adds to this dipping sauce.
- Fine sea salt and ground black pepper – Just use a pinch! The chiles and mayo will do their jobs bringing the saltiness to the table.
How to Make Chipotle Aioli
You are going to love how easy it is to make this spicy sauce!
- Blend peppers. In a small food processor (or immersion blender), puree chipotle peppers and adobo sauce. It should be thick and paste like, it will not be smooth.
- Add rest of ingredients. Without cleaning the food processor, add remaining ingredients including lime juice, mayonnaise, cilantro fine sea salt and ground black pepper.
- Add in peppers. Add 1 tablespoon of chipotle peppers at a time until the desired taste is achieved. I use the whole can, however I like things spicy. You are much better off adding in small amounts and taste testing along the way.
- Chill. Refrigerate for a minimum of 30 minutes or until served. You can refrigerate for up to a week in an airtight container.
How to Use Spicy Chipotle Aioli
This easy dipping sauce can be used for just about anything! My favorite thing to do is spread it on a sandwich or dip french fries into it.
Here are a few more fun options for dipping:
Storage & Freezing
Storage: Make easy chipotle aioli sauce and store it an airtight container for up to a week in the refrigerator.
Freezing: I don’t suggest freezing mayo based sauces.
Frequently Asked Questions
It is as spicy as you want it to be. Make is less spicy by adding less chipotle peppers and/or adobo sauce. Want to sweat a little? Add more!
You can also alter the the flavor profile to make your own unique recipe by adding a dish of smoked paprika, chili powder, basic salt and pepper or even just lemon juice.
You can! You’ll miss the smoky factor of adobo sauce, but about 1 teaspoon of chipotle chili powder will do the trick in a pinch.
When made with egg yolks, no. But you can use a vegan mayonnaise and it will be!
It isn’t just chipotle peppers blended with mayo. Mine, at least, adds a little acid with lime juice (you can also use lemon), cilantro (that can be omitted for cilantro haters), and seasoning.
If it just a mayo base, then yes! Check to make sure your brand of chipotle peppers is also low sugar. Adobo sauce can have added sugar, so use minimal amounts of adobo sauce.
Well, no, at least my version of chipotle mayo doesn’t. Eggs aren’t dairy.
It is a little sweet, a little spicy and a little smoky. All of these flavors can be adjusted when you are making chipotle aioli from scratch.
You might also like these other classic sauce recipes:
More Favorites from Savory Experiments
Chipotle Aioli Recipe
Ingredients
- 3-6 chipotle chiles in adobo sauce
- 2 teaspoons lime juice
- 1 cup mayonnaise
- 1 tablespoons cilantro , chopped and optional
- 1/4 teaspoon fine sea salt
- 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
Instructions
- In a small food processor (or blender), puree chipotle peppers and adobo sauce for 30 seconds. It should be thick and paste like, it will not be smooth. Transfer to a seperate bowl.
- Without cleaning the food processor, add remaining ingredients including lime juice, mayonnaise, cilantro (optional) fine sea salt and ground black pepper.
- Add 1 tablespoon of chipotle peppers at a time until the desired taste is achieved. I use the whole can, however I like things spicy. You are much better off adding in small amounts and taste testing along the way.
- Refrigerate for a minimum of 30 minutes or until served. You can refrigerate for up to a week in an airtight container.
- If you’ve tried this recipe, please come back and leave us a rating and comment. We like to hear how we did!
Excellent recipe. The whole family loved this. We served it on chicken sandwiches, but there are so many other things we can use it for.
A very life changing recipe I am doing my best not to eat the entire thing! It works super well with light mayo as well!
Glad you love it!
This sauce is amazing! Used the whole can of chipotle peppers, it’s spicy and delicious! 👌
My husband wants to put it on everything now 😂
Hubby says it’s so good, could even be good on flip flops! I didn’t have cilantro or any lime juice so I used lime powder I buy on Amazon and always keep around, it was perfect. We ate it on a baguette with grilled portobello + grilled chicken strips and are writing down a list of other foods we could eat it with. Great great sauce, thank you so much.
Flip flops is a new one, but probably one of the best compliments we’ve ever gotten. So glad you enjoyed!
Such a delicious chipotle aioli recipe! Love how easy it is to make.
This was so zesty and delicious! I tried it on burgers instead of mayo and it was fabulous!
I badly want to try this – I think it would be perfect with vegan mayo too. Love the smoky flavour of chipotle!
I really loved your recipe, BUT, in South Africa, it’s very difficult or impossible to get the chipotle in adobe sauce, so I had to make the adobe sauce first. I incorporated dried chipotle peppers into this sauce, THEN I made your recipe, except that the sauce was blended already so I added 2 Tbsps of the adobe sauce instead of the peppers. Oh, also added 1/4 tsp smoked paprika to give it that extra smoky flavour. Fab with chicken tacos!
Hi Jennifer- sorry to hear that, but it sounds like you had it all under control. Thanks so much for the feedback!
The recipe is excellent, the sauce is handy & tasty as touted.
But, why must the print programing be so poorly programmed? To wit, trying to print the recipe renders poorly in the Chrome browser, as well in others. Specfically, the black band for the web page menu at the top of every web page covers (blocks out) the top of the text portion, especially for the two recipe pages for the aioli, to the effect that the first two lines in the recipe cannot be seen on the printed page. Even setting the printer facility to “Exclude background graphics” does not cure the issue.
I’m sorry you had this issue, Kim. I’ve never had this problem, but we have our tech team taking a look at it. Happy New Year!
It was easy to make and tastes good. But unless you’re trying to set yourself on fire 3-6 peppers is an awful lot. When I make it again I will use one pepper, blend it and then add the other ingredients and blend again. That’s enough hotness for me. Thank you for the recipe.
Thank you for the feedback. I do confess, we like it HOT around here. The heat will also vary based on brand.