Smooth and spiced just right… Mixing jalapeño heat with the smoothness of honey makes one delicious marinade or dipping sauce. Try it with chicken tenders or roasted chicken. Control the spiciness by leaving the jalapeño seeds in (spicier) or remove them for less heat.
Whether a simple spring salad, a grilled chicken salad, or a mango salsa salad, chipotle lime vinaigrette just works. Part tangy, party spicy, and a touch of sweet, this vinaigrette works perfectly with chicken, shrimp, or tropical fruits. If it’s too spicy, halve the amount of chipotle pepper used and increase the adobo sauce by an additional tablespoon.
Jamaican jerk sauce is not for the timid, that’s for sure. No sauce that starts with a half dozen Scotch bonnet peppers is one to take lightly. But that’s of course why we love it so much. It’s spicy, but also deliciously spiced – with the likes of allspice, nutmeg, and cinnamon in the mix. It’s a delicious marinade for chicken, beef, and pork.
If you can’t get your hands on Scotch bonnets, choose habanero peppers instead. They’re a close cousin that brings the same heat, just not quite the tropical fruitiness.
What’s an egg roll, spring roll, or fried wonton to do without a little spicy sauce on the side? The same, of course, could be said about nearly anything in our books, but in this instance a bold Thai chili sauce is well in order. This recipe delivers the big heat of Thai chilies (50,000 to 100,000 Scoville heat units) with a pinch of garlic, sugar, and salt. Want some extra oomph? Leave those seeds in while processing. It brings this sauce to another spicy stratosphere.
Sure chipotle peppers in adobo sauce are smoky enough in their own right, but to really deliver on the promise of this recipe’s name, smoked paprika is added into the mix, too. It’s a doubling down on smoky chili pepper ingredients to bring both that rustic earthiness and a nice dose of heat. Try it on sandwiches or simply as a dipping sauce.
Delicious…from pasta sauce to dipping sauce. Spicy Cajun cream sauce is not only tasty, it’s also very versatile. It’s obviously a good choice for adding a touch of spice to basic pasta. But try it, too, topping some chicken cutlets or as a dipping sauce side for …
Talk about two rich flavors that are at the opposite ends of the taste spectrum. Yet together, they are magic. On one side you have rich, sweet maple syrup, on the other smoky, spicy chipotle pepper. Paired in a barbecue sauce, you have a taste bud explosion for your next cookout. Try it on steak, pork, or chicken. It’s great, too, as a barbecue dipping sauce for your favorite fried foods. If there’s too much heat here, lessen the amount of chipotle used to two.
Who doesn’t love the ketchup tang and horseradish kick of a good cocktail sauce? But why have the flavor explosion stop there? Adding a little Tabasco hot sauce will help light your world on fire. Of course, control the heat by the amount of hot sauce used, but we think there’s only one way to go…up, up, up! Try it with shrimp cocktail, fried shrimp, oysters, or crab.
The lovely cascabel pepper offers a lot more than just good looks. Its earthy flavors – smoky and nutty – make for one flavorful sauce, especially for tortilla-based Mexican cuisines like enchiladas, quesadillas, and burritos. Try this cascabel sauce, too, with grilled chicken and beef. We like it without the cilantro to retain the full nuttiness, but some prefer the hint of freshness the cilantro brings to balance some of the earthiness.
As far as chili-based sauces go, few are as brightly beautiful as aji amarillo sauce. It looks like captured sunshine, and its tropical flavor and medium-high heat tastes terrific on everything from chicken to french fries. Aji amarillo is a staple of Peruvian cooking, so this sauce works very well with South American cuisine and other Peruvian recipes. If you happen to have fresh aji amarillo available, use it instead of the paste.