Here’s my latest taco sauce – a quick Creamy Jalapeño Sauce that’s zingy and tangy and just spicy enough to keep things interesting! Great with all things Mexican, especially fajitas and tacos. I especially love it with salmon fajitas.
Creamy Jalapeño Sauce
Mexican food and sauces just belong together. Whether it’s a fresh pico de Gallo, a fiery hot sauce or something creamy for cooling contrast, a good sauce is often the thing that takes tacos, burritos, quesadillas and bowls from good to YES!
This sauce is one of the creamy kind – a Creamy Jalapeño Sauce with just enough buzz from jalapeños, plenty of tang, the sort of sauce you want to drizzle generously onto tacos then you’ll find yourself putting it on everything. Yesterday it was breakfast eggs. The night before, I was dipping veggie sticks in it. On the weekend, roasted cauliflower!
Ingredients in Creamy Japaleño Sauce
Here’s what you need to make this. I actually prefer using pickled rather than fresh jalapeños as the brine adds a tanginess that works so well with Mexican flavours. There’s a reason “a squeeze of lime” appears in virtually every taco recipe! 😅 But you can totally use fresh jalapeños if you prefer.
* Bugger, I just realised I forgot to add garlic! One small clove!*
Pickled jalapeños – As noted above, I prefer using pickled jalapeños for the extra briny flavour and salt it adds into the sauce. Fresh jalapeños also works and you get a fresher jalapeño flavour instead. Use a little less, as fresh jalapeños are spicier than pickled.
Sour cream and mayonnaise – Using a combination of both gives the balance of creamy-rich and fresh-creamy that I want in this sauce. If you want it richer, just add a little extra mayonnaise. The sour cream can be substituted with yogurt, it’s a little less rich but pretty close.
Coriander / cilantro – This is what makes the sauce green. We need 1/3 cup tightly packed. Grab a handful of the leaves, twist, and rip it off the stem. Pick out the larger stems, just leave the thinner ones, it’s totally fine to include them.
Lime or vinegar – For a smidge of extra tang in the sauce.
It will keep in the fridge for 3 days. It starts to lose freshness after this, and also this contains fresh garlic so it’s best to be cautious and use it within a few days.
I’m sharing this Creamy Jalapeño Sauce alongside Salmon Fajitas that I also shared today. It’s an all-in-the-oven 12 minute tray bake dinner! Super handy for busy weeknight dinners. Just blitz up this Jalapeño Sauce while it’s in the oven, then dinner is done!
Hope you enjoy. – Nagi x
PS No video today because this is an easy quick-flick recipe. 🙂
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Creamy Jalapeño Sauce
Ingredients
CHOOSE ONE Jalapeño (Note 1):
- 1/3 cup pickled jalapeños (my default – I like the tanginess and convenience)
- 3 – 4 tbsp roughly chopped fresh jalapeños , white membrane and seeds removed (terrific fresh jalapeño flavour)
EVERYTHING ELSE:
- 1/3 cup sour cream
- 1/3 cup whole-egg mayonnaise or kewpie , or more sour cream (Note 2)
- 1/3 cup tightly packed coriander/cilantro leaves (just rip a handful of leaves off the stems, some stems is fine)
- 1 small garlic clove
- 2 tsp lime juice
- 1/4 tsp cooking salt / kosher salt (use a little extra if using fresh jalapeños)
Instructions
- Blitz and stir – Put everything EXCEPT the sour cream in a jug. Blitz using a stick blender until it's completely smooth. Then stir in the sour cream. (Note 3) Taste and add more salt or lime juice, if needed.
Recipe Notes:
Nutrition Information:
Remembering Dozer
He took his role as Chief Taste Tester so seriously that even when he wasn’t allowed to sample the finished food – like spicy jalapeños (💩😆) – he’d happily step in to QA the ingredients instead! 😂
