Copycat Recipe: Chipotle’s Honey Chipotle Dressing

I recently ordered a salad for the first time at Chipotle’s Mexican Grill and discovered a bit more of heaven on earth. The house dressing they give with the salad is just wonderful. It’s a wonderfully light and spicy vinaigrette that I just wanted more of.

I kept thinking about that dressing (Yes, it was that good), so I finally started digging around online to see what I could come up with. I’m glad I did because I had one of the ingredients wrong. I thought it had some tomato in it. The taste buds let me down there, because I found out I was completely wrong. The “tomatoey” flavor was the Adobe sauce from chipotle chilies in Adobe sauce.

After some extensive research, I can across Chef Paul’s blog. He had the yummiest version of the recipe I could find and one that sounded more accurate than many I looked at. So it was off to the store to get chipotle chilies and then home to make some dressing.

With just a few adjustments to the recipe, I had a batch of Chipotle’s Honey Chipotle Dressing ready to pour over my salad in about fifteen minutes. I just couldn’t bring myself to add the full tablespoon of salt he called for to the recipe, despite assurances from other’s who said Chipotle really does salt the dressing that much. I also upped the amount of chipotle chilies added because I felt it needed more of the flavor after sampling. You add as much as you like for your spice levels.

I threw together a quick salad so I could give the dressing a try. I was so excited after trying it. I no longer have to go out to Chipotle and order a salad to get that wonderful dressing. I ‘m also not eating all that added salt. It was spicy, robust, fun and so full of flavors that just kept going dancing across my tongue. I see lots of fun in the future with this one and summer coming up.

Chipotle's Honey Chipotle Dressing

• Time: 15 mins
• Difficulty: easy
• Print

1/2 cup red wine vinegar

1/3 cup honey

1 Tbsp fresh or freeze-dried oregano

2 tsp. salt

1 tsp. black pepper

*1 1/2 chipotle peppers in Adobe sauce, about 1 1/2 Tbsp.

1 1/2 cups canola oil or other salad oil (no olive oil)

Reserving the oil, add the rest of the ingredients to a blender and pulse until smooth.

Slowly add the oil to the blender, to create the emulsion, until all the oil is added.

Chill and serve.

*You can find chipotle peppers in Adobe sauce in a can generally in most grocery stores in the Latin food section.

More beautiful vinaigrette recipes:

Easy Mason Jar Caesar Vinaigrette from The Well Floured Kitchen

Roasted Strawberry & Black Pepper Vinaigrette from Sweet Peas & Saffron

Parmesan Dill Vinaigrette from Funny Love

Poppy Seed Dressing from Culinary Mamas

3 Salad Dressings from Domestic Deborah