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Cooking With Anadi
12K subscribers · creamy mayo spiked with smoky chipotle and tangy pickle
As I mention in my free motivational guide to explore your potential in the kitchen, Make Cooking Fun!, using ingredients that are already in your fridge and pantry can really spark creativity!
I had used chipotle peppers in adobo sauce in my Instant Pot Vegetarian Bean Chili recipe. They definitely don’t last forever in the fridge, so I didn’t want them to go to waste. I also had lots of mayo and pickles on hand, so here we go with making this amazing Chipotle Mayo Sauce recipe in just five minutes!
I’ll go into more details later on in this post on how this Chipotle Mayo’s uses extend beyond burritos, but if I’ve heard lots of praise for a good burrito sauce. If it’s been on your bucket list to make a super delicious burrito sauce that will enhance sandwiches, wraps, burgers, or as a versatile dip, then check it off now by following this simple and quick recipe as part of your Live to Cook one-month challenge! Get started on your cooking journey for free today by signing up to my email newsletter, plus restaurant-quality recipes will be sent straight to your inbox so you never have to rely on delivery again!
Be sure to watch the video to see how instant this chipotle mayo recipe comes together! I would appreciate it if you could please subscribe to my YouTube channel if you haven’t already, and don’t forget to press the bell button to be notified when all of my video recipes are live! Let’s get mixing!
What Is Chipotle Mayonnaise?▼
You may be curious as to what a burrito sauce actually is, since “burrito sauce” is indeed a vague term. Well, my understanding is that this sauce is just a burrito’s best friend! It will add lots of tangy and smoky flavor along with creaminess to your burrito, making it an excellent flavor base.
Why You’ll Love This Spicy Chipotle Mayo Recipe
- Simple and quick to make: All you need to do is grab the ingredients and mix! Nothing fancy is needed nor do you need to get out your blender. This makes clean-up so easy too!
- Control over ingredients: Unlike packaged and processed sauces, yours will be custom-made to you! You can choose however much of one ingredient you want based on if you want your chipotle mayo to be more or less smoky, creamy, tangy, or salty. You also control the quality of the ingredients going in there, which is crucial for the most flavorful results not only for the sauce but in the food you’ll use your sauce for!
- Creamy and delicious: This Burrito Sauce is packed full of flavor that will have you wanting more!
- Versatile: I’ll give plenty of serving suggestions later on in this post, but despite its name, Chipotle Mayo can be used in many more ways than just burritos! Be sure to read on so that you never run out of ways to use up your delicious and creamy Chipotle Mayo to make every meal exciting!
Tools Needed to Make This Chipotle Mayo Recipe
Why Do Some Recipes blend the Mayo?▼
You may notice that we’re just going to mix everything together directly in a bowl. I’m not blending the ingredients together because I wanted to leave some chunks of the chipotle peppers in my mayonnaise. However, if you do want the mayo to be entirely smooth, then you will need to blend everything in a high power blender or a food processor.
Ingredients for This Chipotle Mayo Recipe
To save the recipe for later and to see all ingredients and their quantities, scroll to the bottom of this post for the FULL PRINTABLE recipe card or press the “Jump to Recipe” button. You can also use the recipe card to scale the recipe based on how much burrito sauce you want to make so that ingredient quantities all adjust automatically!
- Japanese mayonnaise: Of course you can substitute with regular mayonnaise if you don’t have Japanese mayo (Kewpie). However, I find that the Japanese mayo gives a more delicious result and has an airier texture!
- Sour cream: Adds a little more creaminess to our burrito sauce.
- Sriracha: Nicely complements the chipotle peppers.
- Chipotle peppers in adobo sauce: The key flavor here to make this Chipotle Mayonnaise! We’ll chop them up.
- Pickles: Dill pickles that will be chopped.
- Ground black pepper: Our main seasoning in the burrito sauce.
- Salt: Because the pickles are quite salty, leave the salt for the end to see if it’s required in your mixture.
How to Make Chipotle Mayo
Combine all the ingredients in a bowl and whisk well until combined. Taste and adjust the amounts as to your personal preference.
Transfer into a ramekin or mason jar for serving. Enjoy!
Questions You May Have!
How can I Make This Chipotle mayo Recipe lighter?▼
For sure you can! All you need to do is replace the mayonnaise with Greek yogurt or sour cream, although your burrito sauce technically will no longer be “chipotle mayo.” If anything, you can use a reduce-fat mayonnaise.
Can I Make this Chipotle Mayo Recipe Vegan?▼
The only ingredient that is not plant-based in our Chipotle Mayo is the mayo. Simply substitute with a plant-based mayonnaise and you’re good to go!
Is Chipotle Mayo Spicy?▼
No, while there is some heat, this sauce is also slightly creamy, tangy, sweet, as well as smoky, giving you a really well-rounded condiment to put on whatever your heart desires, as we will discuss in the next section! If you want to play around with some additional spice, then you could experiment seasoning with smoked paprika, cayenne, or chili powder. You could also throw in a few dashes of your favorite hot sauce, if desired.
How to Serve Chipotle Mayo
- Sandwiches & wraps: Try it out in my Patty Melts, Tuna Melt, Spicy Mexican-Style Shrimp Wraps, Tim Horton’s Farmer’s Wrap, Baja Fish Tacos, Meal Prep Breakfast Burritos, or a Grilled Chicken Sandwich.
- Burgers: Switch up burgers by swapping out your regular mayo for this Chipotle Mayo! Use it in my Zinger Chicken Burgers, Dinner Roll Smash Burger Sliders, or my McDonald’s India Crispy Paneer Burger
- Pizza: Top over your Paneer Tikka Pizza or any other pizza where mayo would work!
- Sushi: Substitute spicy mayonnaise for this Chipotle Mayonnaise to drizzle over your sushi, such as sushi cones, for a crazy wild Mexican-Asian fusion experience!
- Dipping sauce: You can dip your fries in this mayo, such as your Cajun Air Fryer Wedges, Air Fryer Garlic Parmesan Fries, or Curly Fries. Of course, feel free to use the sauce as a dip for other snacks, such as Baked Chicken Nuggets, Air Fryer Jalapeño Poppers, Pigs in a Blanket, or Mini Mozzarella Balls.
- Bowls: Top your Poke Bowl for a unique experience, or top over a Healthy Burrito Bowl.
- Potatoes: Mix Chipotle Mayo into your Potato Salad or Butter-Herb Mashed Potatoes.
Storing Burrito Sauce
You can keep your Chipotle Burrito Sauce in the fridge for about 1-2 weeks because none of the ingredients spoil easily. Please be mindful to always check for changes in smell or texture if you’ve kept the chipotle sauce for longer than two weeks.
If you want to spoon on your burrito sauce onto tortillas or other toppings, transfer the sauce into a mason jar or in an airtight container. On the other hand, if you want to use the burrito sauce for drizzling as a garnish, I recommend that you store the sauce in a squeeze bottle.
More Easy and Creamy Sauces!
- Classic Burger Sauce
- Classic Spicy Aioli
- Quick & Fresh Green Goddess Dressing
- Ranch Dip
- Garlic Truffle Aioli
- Yogurt Caesar Dressing
There Is No Lime in This Chipotle Mayo
Nearly every chipotle mayo recipe you will find leans on lime juice, and this one does not have a drop. No lime, no lemon, no citrus of any kind. The tang comes from three other places instead: half a cup of sour cream, the adobo sauce clinging to the chipotle peppers, and 2 tablespoons of chopped dill pickles. Pickles in a chipotle mayo is genuinely unusual and it is the single thing that makes this taste different from every other version, because you get a sharp briny note exactly where the citrus would normally sit. Cornichons work in their place, chopped finely, for something tangier and more pungent.
The mayonnaise matters too. It is a quarter cup of Japanese mayonnaise, not regular, which is richer and already carries a slight sweet-tartness from rice vinegar. If regular mayonnaise is what you have, the recipe card tells you how to close the gap: add half a teaspoon of rice vinegar and a pinch of sugar. Greek yogurt makes a lighter, tangier version, and plain full-fat yogurt or creme fraiche both stand in for the sour cream, the yogurt slightly tangier and the creme fraiche richer and less so.
Two Kinds of Heat, and How to Dial Them
There are two separate heat sources in this bowl, which is worth knowing before you start adjusting. Four to five chipotle peppers in adobo sauce, chopped, and 1 to 2 tablespoons of sriracha on top of that. Four or five whole chipotles is a lot for a bowl this size, and brands of adobo vary enormously in how hot they run, so start at four, mix, and taste before you commit to the fifth. The recipe says to taste and adjust to your personal preference and that is not a throwaway line here, it is the actual method.
If you cannot find chipotles in adobo, chipotle powder substitutes at roughly 1 teaspoon per pepper, though you lose the smoky depth that the adobo sauce itself brings and the result is drier in flavour. Smoked paprika with a little cayenne gets you the smoke and the heat separately at a milder overall level. For the sriracha, sambal oelek brings the same heat with less sweetness and chili garlic sauce is chunkier but lands in a similar place. One more thing that is easy to overlook: a full teaspoon of ground black pepper goes in, which is more than it sounds and is doing real work behind the chilli.
Seven Simple Ingredients, One Bowl, Five Minutes
There is no cooking in this at all. Every one of the simple ingredients goes into a bowl, gets mixed until combined, tasted and adjusted, and then transferred to a ramekin or a mason jar. Prep is 5 minutes and total time is 5 minutes, because those are the same thing here. That is the entire appeal of an easy chipotle mayo recipe: it is the perfect condiment precisely because nothing about it is difficult.
The recipe card makes 16 servings and one is 46 calories, with 4 g of fat, 2 g of carbs, 1 g of sugar and 101 mg of sodium, so a spoonful costs you very little. It goes on burgers, fries, tacos and burrito bowls, and it is particularly good alongside crab cakes, where the smoke in the chipotle plays against sweet crab better than a plain remoulade does. Keep it in a sealed jar in the refrigerator and go by the date on your sour cream carton, since that is the ingredient in the bowl with the shortest life.
Let me know what you think of this recipe in the comments! If you’ve tried this recipe, be sure to post it on social media and tag it with #cookingwithanadi and mention me @cooking.with.anadi. Thank you!
Recipe by Anadi Misra
Make the best chipotle mayo at home in minutes! This creamy, tangy sauce is perfect as a burrito topping, dip, or spread. Bold, smoky flavor in every bite.
No-cook
Rate this recipe ✦
5 min
Prep
5 min
Total
16
servings
makes 1 cup
easy
Level
Ingredients
Ingredients
Tap any quantity to scale
Instructions
- 1
Add all of the ingredients to a bowl and mix well until combined. Taste and adjust the amounts as to your personal preference.
Add all of the ingredients to a bowl and mix well until combined. Taste and adjust the amounts as to your personal preference.
- 2
Transfer into a ramekin or mason jar for serving. Enjoy!
Transfer into a ramekin or mason jar for serving. Enjoy!
Nutrition per serving
Did you make this recipe? Tag @cooking.with.anadi on Instagram and hashtag it #cookingwithanadi
Tested & written in Anadi’s kitchen
Recipe history
- April 16, 2026 — Reworked and refreshed for the 2026 relaunch — new photography, restructured and standardized ingredients & instructions.
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