What is a Chipotle Pepper?
Chipotle Peppers are smoked, dried jalapeno peppers. Most jalapenos are sold green. However, as jalapeno peppers age, they turn red on the vine as they fully ripen and eventually begin to dry. These red jalapeño peppers are plucked and smoked for days with soaked wood until dried, turning them into chipotle peppers. It takes about 10 pounds of jalapeno peppers to make 1 pound of chipotle peppers. Chili growers typically pick unripe green jalapeños for selling, but let many stay on the plants to ripen and turn red as long as possible for making chipotle peppers. There are actually two types of chipotle peppers, depending on how long the are dried. Morita peppers are red ripened jalapenos that have been smoked and dried for half the time of darker chipotles, leaving them dark red in color, softer and fruitier. They are more commonly used in chipotles in adobo sauce. The other is chipotle meco, which is more tan or grayish in color. They are smoked for twice as long, resulting in their darker color.
How Hot is a Chipotle Pepper?
Chipotles are as hot as your typical jalapeno peppers, which range from 2,500 to 8,000 Scoville Heat Units on the Scoville Scale. They give a good level of heat, but nothing dramatic. It isn’t really a hot pepper, but for some people, the heat is just right. As they are dried, you can grind them into chipotle powder for mixing into soups, sauces, salsas and chilis, or you can rehydrate them and process them into a wonderful chili paste that will flavor anything you’d like. It is widely used in Mexican cuisine, but also Tex Mex cooking, and has found it’s way into all manners of American cooking. While this product is delicious and made with chipotles, they are not the same thing. Chipotles in adobo is made with rehydrated chipotle peppers that are pureed with tomato, vinegar, garlic and spices. The resulting sauce is rich, smoky and spicy, perfect for adding to many, many dishes. Sometimes you will find whole chipotles in the sauce. They are very soft and can be used as-is or processed with the rest of the sauce. You can grind them up into chili flakes or powders, then use them as a dry rub or a seasoning for making Mexican dishes, sauces or chili. I use chipotle powder quite liberally in my kitchen. You can also rehydrate them in hot water until they are softened, then remove the stems and seeds. Process them in a food processor, blender, or a molcajete with other ingredients to form a chili paste or a sauce. The smoked peppers will bring a wonderful smoky flavor to your dishes. Guajillo peppers offer a bit of heat along with smoky notes and a berry-like flavor, though you won’t get the heat. Consider mixing some smoked paprika with dark chili powder.
5 dried chipotle chiles, stemmed and seeds removed 1 shallot, diced 1 cloves garlic, diced 2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar 2 tablespoons tomato paste pinch of salt 1.5 cups water
Process the mixture in a food processor or blender to use as a sauce. Strain if you’d like for a smoother sauce.
Chipotle Sauce Chipotle Chicken Chicken Tinga (Spicy Chipotle Shredded Chicken) Cheesy Chipotle Bean Dip Shrimp in Fiery Chipotle-Tequila Sauce Chipotle-Honey Baked Ham Chipotle Mashed Sweet Potatoes Chicken Enchilada Casserole Chipotle Chili Homemade Sofritas
