Taco bell Baja sauce is a creamy topping for crispy shrimp tacos, fish tacos, and other Mexican food. This delicious condiment has bursting zesty flavors that are a great addition to tacos and crucial in other Mexican food like burritos and fajitas.
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Baja Sauce Recipe
- This taco bell copycat Baja sauce recipe is the heart of any Mexican food you can think of.
- It’s creamy, tangy, slightly spicy, and crucial in tacos for its taste.
- This Baja-style copycat Chipotle sauce needs straightforward ingredients and you can whip it up in 5 minutes.
- Your taco Tuesday isn’t complete with a generous drizzling of this chipotle’s sauce on top of tacos. A condiment that plays a vital role in the taste of tacos.
- Baja sauce is vital for the taste of tacos. Don’t just stop there, you can use delicious condiments for dipping shrimp, fish, chicken, veggies, fries, and more.
- You can easily customize the sauce as per your preference. If you like it spicy use hotter pepper or add chili powder or even sriracha to suit your palate.
Baja sauce Vs spicy ranch
The baja sauce recipe has specific ingredients and uses mayonnaise as the base. It tastes similar to the spicy ranch but it’s not the same.
While the Baja sauce recipe uses mayonnaise and has a hint of tang from lime juice, spicy ranch sauce is a sour-cream-based sauce with a bit of spice to it.
Ingredients
Here’s what you’ll need-
- 1 cup mayonnaise
- ½ red bell peppers
- 1 jalapeno
- ½ teaspoon mustard powder
- ½ teaspoon onion powder
- ½ teaspoon garlic powder
- ½ teaspoon paprika or chili powder or cayenne pepper
- ¼ teaspoon pepper
- ¼ teaspoon oregano
- Salt to taste
- Juice of ½ lime or use 1 tablespoon lemon juice
- 2 tablespoon Parmesan cheese, freshly grated
Ingredients additions and substitutions
Use pickled jalapeno if you don’t have fresh jalapeno. Remove seed from jalapeno if you like it milder, for a spicier version leave the seeds on.
To give it a smoky flavor add 2-3 canned chipotle chilies in adobo sauce.
Use crystal lime salt instead of freshly squeezed lime juice. I used lemon juice, if using lemon juice adjust the quantity per your taste. Do not use bottled lemon juice, always use freshly squeezed juice only.
Paprika can be substituted with chili powder or cayenne pepper.
You can also add little sriracha to make the spicier sauce.
How to make baja sauce
To make Baja sauce, add mayonnaise, chopped red bell peppers, chopped jalapeno, mustard powder, onion powder, garlic powder, paprika, pepper, salt, oregano, lime juice, and Parmesan cheese to a blender.
Blend until smooth. Scrape the sides of the blender in between and blend to make a smooth creamy sauce.
Rest the sauce in the refrigerator for 1 to 2 hours before serving.
Serve it over tacos. Enjoy!
Tips to make best baja sauce
- Use a powerful blender to make the sauce. Scraped sides of the blender while blending to get a creamy, smooth consistency sauce.
- To give it a smoky flavor add 2-3 canned chipotle chilies in adobo sauce along with the rest of the ingredients.
- Allow Baja sauce to rest for a couple of hours in the refrigerator before servings. As the sauce rests, it develops more flavor.
FAQS
It’s a ranch-like sauce that has unique flavors. This creamy, tang and a slightly spicy sauce forms a vital flavor boost for tacos, burritos, and fajitas.
The sauce was created in the Baja California region of Mexico. So I speculate that’s how it got the name.
It is slightly spicy as there is jalapeno and paprika in the recipe. You can customize the recipe to make it spicier or mild depending on your taste preference.
Yes, you can switch mayonnaise with diary-free yogurt. Replace parmesan cheese with diary-free cheese (hard cheese).
No, taco bell got rid of Baja sauce around 2014. There was no known reason why the chain stopped serving the sauce, but not to worry as now you can make it at home easily and that too customize it to your liking as well.
Store the sauce in air tight container. Baja sauce will keep for up to 2 weeks in the refrigerator.
I don’t recommend freezing. The main component of the sauce is mayonnaise which when frozen can turn grainy and change its texture and taste.
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📋Taco Bell Baja Sauce Recipe (Copycat)
Ingredients
- 1 cup mayonnaise
- ½ red bell peppers
- 1 jalapeno
- ½ teaspoon mustard powder
- ½ teaspoon onion powder
- ½ teaspoon garlic powder
- ½ teaspoon paprika or chili powder or cayenne pepper
- ¼ teaspoon pepper
- ¼ teaspoon oregano
- Salt to taste
- Juice ½ lime or use 1 tablespoon lemon juice
- 2 tablespoon Parmesan cheese freshly grated
Instructions
- To make Baja sauce, add mayonnaise, chopped red bell peppers, chopped jalapeno, mustard powder, onion powder, garlic powder, paprika, pepper, salt, oregano, lime juice, and Parmesan cheese to a blender.
- Blend until smooth. Scrape the sides of the blender in between and blend to make a smooth creamy sauce.
- Rest the sauce in the refrigerator for 1 to 2 hours before serving.
- Serve it over tacos. Enjoy!
Video
Notes
Nutrition
Recipe Notes
- Use a powerful blender to make the sauce. Scraped sides of the blender while blending to get creamy, smooth consistency sauce.
- To give it smoky flavor add 2-3 canned chipotle chilies in adobo sauce along with the rest of the ingredients.
- Allow Baja sauce to rest for a couple of hours in the refrigerator before servings. As the sauce rests, it develops more flavor.
Created by Jyothi Rajesh
Jyothi Rajesh is the founder of the food blog, Curry Trail. She lives in Bangalore, India and is the mom of two beautiful kids. Her passion is creating and sharing delicious and easy recipes for the home cook. She’s been blogging since 2007 and many of her recipes have appeared in both online and print publications over the years. Learn more about Jyothi Rajesh.
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