Chipotle Pepper In Adobo

Chipotle pepper in adobo is a smoked, dried jalapeño packed in a tangy chile-tomato vinegar sauce. The peppers are supple and deeply smoky, and the brick-red sauce is moderately spicy with gentle sweetness; it blends smoothly into marinades, stews, and dressings, and is sold canned or in small jars with whole peppers and sauce.

Originating in central and southern Mexico where jalapeños are smoke-dried into chipotles, the adobo style developed as a vinegar-and-spice medium for preserving and seasoning. It spread through Mexican and Tex-Mex cuisines, with commercial canning standardizing a tomato-vinegar base seasoned with garlic and warm spices.