This Chipotle Vinaigrette Dressing packs a spicy kick for your yummy salad! It has a great Mexican flavor that you’ll love!
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Please let me know if you have any questions about this recipe. I read all the comments myself and I try to help as soon as I can. I have readers from all levels of comfort and experience in the kitchen on my site, and I’ve tried to answer some of your questions already in the post. But if I’ve missed anything, please feel free to leave a comment and ask.
Spice level
If you’re worried about the heat level in this Mexican-style vinaigrette dressing, start with 1/2 teaspoon chipotle paste and work your way up to 2 teaspoons. You can always add in heat, but you can never take it out!
Homemade Dressing
I’m happy to say that we don’t rely on bottled salad dressings anymore in our house. We pretty much only eat homemade dressings. My husband would say that his favorite, and the one he always asks for is my Sweet and Soy Dressing. But, recently I’ve been experimenting with some different flavored ones. Like this Chipotle Vinaigrette Dressing. Easy to make, and super flavorful!
I like that I know exactly what’s in my dressings (have you ever read the labels on some bottles of dressings!). I make a batch, and keep it in a little Mason jar in the fridge. That way, whenever I want a salad, I have a yummy homemade dressing at the ready. Oh, just be sure to write on the lid what’s inside the jar! Trust me on this one, you don’t want to mistake teriyaki sauce for Chipotle Vinaigrette Dressing!
Oaxacan Mole Sauce inspiration
I fashioned this Chipotle Vinaigrette Dressing after Oaxacan Mole Sauce. Oh, and since I live in Southern California, Mole Sauce is super common, but in case you aren’t familiar with it, Mole is a Mexican Sauce that combines chiles, cocoa, and nuts. It’s typically thick, red, and flavorful, but there are many variations. My vinaigrette takes the flavors of Mole and turns them into a lovely dressing.
Chipotle Paste
I love keeping this chipotle paste around. I always have some in my freezer so I can use it at a moment’s notice. Just defrost a little in the microwave, and I’m all set.
Kitchen Tip!
One other thing of note, and also a kitchen tip for you, is how I’ve written the recipe.
The dry ingredients are at the top of the recipe, with the liquid ingredients coming afterwards.
I like to measure the dry stuff first so I can use the same set of measuring spoons through the whole recipe. That way, you keep your spoons clean with the dry stuff, the paste comes next because it makes a mess of the spoon, but the liquid stuff is poured in, so no cross contamination of the ingredients in their jars. I try to do this with most recipes.
Want to use this dressing on a fun salad?
Try making my Spicy Lentil and Sweet Potato Salad.
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Chipotle Vinaigrette Dressing Recipe
Chipotle Vinaigrette Dressing
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 teaspoons unsweetened cocoa
- 1 teaspoon ground cumin
- 4 tablespoons red wine vinegar
- 2 teaspoons chipotle paste
- 4 tablespoons olive oil
- 2 teaspoons maple syrup
Instructions
- Combine all ingredients in a jar with a tight-fitting lid. Shake to combine. Store any unused dressing in the fridge.
Nutrition
Nutritional information is based on third-party calculations, and should be considered estimates. Actual nutritional content will vary based on brands used, measuring methods, portion sizes, and more.
mealplanmaven
I seriously love the flavor profile you selected for this dressing, especially the cocoa! Undoubtedly, you are the “Dressing and Sauce Queen!”
It Happens in a Blink Blog
I would definitely like to use this for a salad!
dishofdailylife
I’m looking forward to trying this! And I have some extra chipotles in the fridge from my last recipe. Can I use the chipotle sauce from the can rather than paste?
Kelly The Take Action WAHM
Repinned this earlier – looking forward to giving it a try soon. It seems like it would be good for dipping a lot of things.
Stephanie Pass
Wow, this sounds so good for a salad. My husband loves spicy, and I think he’d love this on his salad.
Jillian
This would be perfect on a Taco Salad!
Emily Thompson
ooo sounds great! I think I would love that combination..
Allison
This looks awesome! I love the addition of a little cocoa powder to make it authentic and super rich. I need to get my hands on some chipotle paste. What a cool product!
Carisa Smith
Already pinned this! Looks and sounds yummy!
Sheena @ Hot Eats and Cool Reads
Oh my goodness! Such a great recipe!!
Victoria @ Creative Home Keeper
Pinning! Can’t wait to try this dressing
Joanna Sormunen
I can only imagine this hot and spice deliciousness on top of the food! Yummy!
Danita Carr
This looks like something my husband would really enjoy. Thanks for sharing!
Jamie @ Love Bakes Good Cakes
Oh my goodness! I can imagine the flavor explosion! Perfect for a Mexican type salad!
Two Healthy Kitchens
First off, this dressing looks AMAZING (yes – of course … pinning! 😀 ). But second – I love your note about how the dry ingredients come first! I’m often conflicted – knowing that a recipe should have all ingredients that are added at the same time listed in descending measurement order, yet also knowing that I would rather use the measuring spoons first for all dry ingredients, before I get them yucky with the wet ingredients! Your solution is prefect! 😀 ~Shelley
Prairie Gal Cookin'
So simple – Cannot wait to try this!!
gellyroller
I was looking for the Baja Fresh Chipolte Vinegarette recipe.
Made the paste and used too much adobo.
The cumin for me needs to be cut down but I found this recipe easy to make and I think the idea of the paste, if made correctly..lol, is a brilliant idea.
I am going to try to experiment with rice vinegar, mango,, chipoltes and a bit of oil and see how that comes out.
I will use the paste on many recipes so I am so happy I found you.
Do you by any chance have any idea where I can get the Baja fresh Chipolte Vinegarette recipe?
Thank you and I have now become a devoted follower.
Debi
Thanks for the comment! I’m glad you liked the recipe even though it wasn’t exactly what you were looking for. Let me know how your experimenting goes. I haven’t tried that Baja Fresh dressing yet. I go there sometimes, so the next time I go I’ll look for it on the menu. Sounds yummy. I did a quick internet search and came up with this link. Though, it says you have to purchase the recipe and I’m not a big fan of that. http://www.topsecretrecipes.com/Baja-Fresh-Salsa-Baja-Copycat-Recipe.html I’d go through the comments and play around with it. I also saw something online that said pineapple, so maybe pineapple juice in the dressing? Thanks again for the sweet comment, you’ve made my day! 🙂
And, now I just went back and looked a little more closely at the recipe as see that the title changed after I clicked through to it, and that that was a salsa recipe. I’ll see if I can find anything for you. I know LOTS of bloggers! 🙂
gellyroller
Hi,
I figured out a close second to the Baja Fresh dressing I was looking for.
4T rice vinegar
2T olive oil
1/2-1 tsp chipotle’s
1/4 tsp ground sea salt, ground pepper, and marjoram,
1/2 tsp garlic salt and parsley
1/2 tsp chopped onions
Mix together in ninja, bullet, or blender
I added chopped mango pieces on top of the salad
I used to treat myself to the Baja Fresh Mango Chicken salad with chipotle dressing and ask for 4 extra designs to dip my chicken in. It was to die for and if I could have afforded it I would have eaten this many more times a week.
Thank you so much for your recipe as it was a great start that lead me to my experimentIf anyone knows the exact Baja Fresh Dressing I would be happy to see how close I came to making my favorite dressing.
Thanks again.
Debi
Gelly roller, that’s awesome! I’ll have to give it a try! We don’t buy the bottled stuff any more, so it’s nice to try new stuff! Thanks for letting me know. 🙂