Smoky Morita Chipotle Hot Sauce

By Sprig Originals ✓ · cooked up in Sprig

A pourable, deep-red table hot sauce built from whole dried chipotle chiles instead of a can of adobo. Toasting the moritas until they smell like sweet tobacco, then simmering them with charred garlic, onion and two vinegars, gives you a sauce that is smoky and tart with a slow, rounded burn — thin enough to shake over eggs, tacos, roast chicken or a bowl of beans. One 30-minute batch fills two bottles and keeps for months in the fridge.

Ingredients

• 2 oz dried chipotle morita chiles (about 12–14)
• 2 dried guajillo chiles, stemmed and seeded
• 6 cloves garlic, unpeeled
• 1/2 medium white onion, cut into 2 thick slabs
• 1 medium Roma tomato, halved lengthwise
• 2 cups boiling water

• 3/4 cup distilled white vinegar
• 1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
• 2 tbsp grated piloncillo or dark brown sugar
• 2 tsp fine sea salt, plus more to taste
• 3/4 tsp ground cumin
• 1 tsp dried Mexican oregano
• 1 tbsp neutral oil
• 1 tsp blackstrap or regular molasses (optional, for depth)

Instructions

1. Snap the stems off the morita chiles and tear each one open with your fingers. Shake out most of the seeds — leave a teaspoon or two in if you want a sharper burn, or discard them all for a mellower, smokier sauce. Do the same with the guajillos.
2. Heat a dry cast-iron or heavy stainless skillet over medium heat for 2 minutes. Toast the chiles flat, in batches, pressing them down with a spatula for 30–45 seconds per side, until they puff slightly, turn fragrant and smell like sweet smoke and tobacco. Do not let them darken to black or the whole batch turns bitter. Transfer to a heatproof bowl as they finish.
3. Pour 2 cups boiling water over the toasted chiles, set a small plate on top to keep them submerged, and soak for 20 minutes until fully pliable. Reserve the soaking liquid.
4. While the chiles soak, return the skillet to medium-high heat. Dry-char the unpeeled garlic, onion slabs and tomato halves (cut side down first), turning occasionally, 8–12 minutes total, until blistered and blackened in spots and softened through. Peel the garlic once cool enough to handle.
5. Combine the drained chiles, charred vegetables, both vinegars, piloncillo, salt, cumin, oregano and 1 cup of the chile soaking liquid in a saucepan. Bring to a simmer over medium heat, then reduce to low and cook uncovered for 12 minutes, stirring now and then, until everything is very soft and the raw vinegar edge has softened.
6. Let the mixture cool for 10 minutes, then blend on high for a full 2 minutes — longer than feels necessary — until glossy and completely smooth. With the blender running, stream in the oil and the molasses if using; this rounds the acidity and gives the sauce a slight sheen.
7. Press the sauce through a fine-mesh sieve set over a bowl, working it with a flexible spatula and discarding the skins and seeds left behind. For a thinner, shakeable table sauce, whisk in the remaining soaking liquid 1 tablespoon at a time until it coats a spoon but runs off freely.
8. Taste and finish: add salt in 1/4 teaspoon increments until the smoke and heat snap into focus, and an extra splash of cider vinegar if it tastes flat. Cool completely, then funnel into clean bottles or jars. Refrigerate at least 12 hours before serving — the flavor tightens and deepens overnight.

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Nutrition (per serving, estimated)

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