Whether as a barbecue sauce marinade or as an on-the-side dipper, maple chipotle sauce delivers a perfect mix of sweet and spice. Chipotle peppers in adobo sauce add the heat, along with a smoky and earthy flair that’s a perfect flavor foil to sweet maple syrup. It’s delicious on steaks or pork, and we love it just as much as a chicken finger dipper.
🌶️ Quick recipe snapshot
| Flavor profile | Sweet and smoky up front, sharp underneath from the cider vinegar, with a rounded chipotle heat that arrives late. |
| Primary heat source | Two chipotle peppers in adobo, plus a teaspoon of the adobo they came packed in. |
| Heat level | Mild to medium, and easy to move in either direction. |
| Texture | Smooth and glossy while warm, which is what the two tablespoons of butter are for. |
| Best uses | A dipper for anything fried, a glaze in the last minutes on the grill, or a swap for ketchup on a burger. |
| Customization ideas | A third pepper for heat, a darker maple for more caramel, or no butter at all for a sauce that keeps. |
| Before you start | A food processor and a saucepan, about twenty minutes, and nothing gets cooked, only warmed. |
Flavor notes
Butter is what makes this sauce glossy. Two tablespoons of it against half a cup of ketchup and a quarter cup of maple syrup is enough fat to get the sauce clinging to a chicken finger instead of running off it. A barbecue-style sauce usually builds its body from sugar and long reduction, and this one builds it from fat.
That fat is also why you warm it and serve it straight away. Butter only holds together while it’s warm, so the sauce firms up and separates once it cools. Once it does, you can bring it back, but it’s easier to just serve it hot.
And nothing simmers or reduces here either, since everything goes into the processor raw and then comes up to temperature in a pan, so the three tablespoons of cider vinegar keep their edge all the way through. That sharpness is what stops a quarter cup of maple syrup tasting like dessert.
You won’t find salt in the ingredients, and it doesn’t need any. Half a cup of ketchup brings most of what you want, and the Worcestershire and the adobo bring the rest. Taste it before you add a pinch of your own.
Adaptation ideas
Heat and thickness are the two easiest things to change here, and both of them move on their own.
- Want more heat? Add a third chipotle, or another teaspoon of the adobo they come packed in. The adobo is the gentler of the two, because it spreads heat through the sauce without adding more pepper solids.
- Want less? Scrape the seeds and pith out of the peppers before they go into the processor. That’s where most of the capsaicin is, and the smoke stays behind in the flesh.
- Thicker, for brushing. Hold the butter back, reduce everything else in the pan for five minutes, then whisk the butter in off the heat.
- Make it keep. Leave the butter out altogether and you get a sauce that refrigerates and reheats without separating, at the cost of the gloss.
- Darker maple. A Grade A dark or very dark syrup brings more of the woody caramel note, and that has more to say next to the smoke than a delicate amber does.
Serving ideas
There’s more to do with it than steak and chicken fingers, and this is where the butter and the vinegar earn their keep.
- As a glaze in the last few minutes. Brush it on near the end instead of at the start, because the maple and the ketchup sugars will darken fast over direct heat and you can go from glazed to scorched in under a minute.
- On a burger in place of ketchup. Same base, considerably more going on.
- Over roasted sweet potato or squash. The smoke cuts the sweetness and the vinegar keeps it from cloying.
- Stirred into baked beans. A couple of spoonfuls at the end of cooking.
- With anything fried. Halloumi, fried chicken, onion rings, where a sharp warm sauce does more for you than a cold creamy one.
Storage notes
Serve it warm and straight from the pan, because a batch makes more than most people get through at once.
If you have leftovers, they keep in a sealed jar in the fridge for up to a week. It will set firm and look broken when it comes out, and that’s just the butter. So warm it gently over low heat and whisk it back together, and a few seconds in a blender will also do it.
Freezing is worth skipping unless you left the butter out, because the emulsion comes back poorly after a thaw.
Like this recipe? You’ll love these too:
- Chipotle Maple Syrup: The same two flavors without the tomato, for pancakes and fried chicken.
- Honey Chipotle BBQ Sauce: The same idea with honey doing the sweetening and a longer cook.
- Maple Sriracha Sauce: Maple again, with a brighter and less smoky chili behind it.
50 quick, bold sauces and salsas: classic salsas and fun twists, BBQ sauces with a kick, and dippers with bang. Simple to make, big on flavor.
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Maple Chipotle Sauce
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup ketchup
- 1/4 cup maple syrup
- 2 in chipotle peppers adobo sauce with one teaspoon of extra adobo sauce
- 3 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
- 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
- 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
Instructions
- Place all ingredients in a food processor, then process until smooth.
- Transfer the sauce to a saucepan and heat over medium-low until warm. Use immediately.
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