What is Pasilla Sauce Made Of?

Slofoodgroup Team octubre 12, 2023

Different Types of Pasilla Sauce and Their Ingredients

Typically, when someone refers to pasilla sauce, they are talking about one of two sauces. The first, is a mild tomato salsa made with rehydrated pasilla chiles and typical dipping salsa ingredient like onions, lime, cilantro, and garlic. The second, is a simple Oaxacan pasilla sauce made by pulsing pasillas, plenty of garlic, salt, and olive oil. It is quite often found atop or alongside dishes like chilequiles, jueveos rancheros, and grilled meats.

We created another pasilla sauce that is definitely desserving of some recognition. Like the Oaxacan pasilla sauce, it is silky, garlicy, and compliments a variety of dishes—but it also has a bit of tanginess, which is perfectly balanced with sweetness from the cream. This creamy pasilla sauce is wonderful served atop grilled chicken, tossed with shrimp for tacos, or drizzled over poached eggs and chorizo atop a corn cake for a Mexican-style version of eggs benedict.

Making this sauce couldn’t be any quicker or easier, either. In fact, the hardest part is actually peeling the garlic. Other than that, you just drop the ingredients into a blender and blend until smooth.

Creamy Pasilla Chile Sauce

Ingredients

• 3 tablespoons olive oil
• ½ cup crema Mexicana
• 1 whole head of garlic
• 1 ½ tablespoons pasilla chile powder
• 1 teaspoon sea salt
• ½ teaspoon lime juice

Procedure

1. Peel the garlic and drop it into the blender. Pour in the olive oil and blend until the garlic is mostly blended to a paste.
2. Add the crema, pasilla chile powder, and sea salt, and blend to combine.
3. Pour in the lime juice and pulse to incorporate.The sauce will be quite thick, much like an aioli.
4. Store in the refrigerator or use right away.

Most pasilla sauce recipes call for whole, dried chiles, which are either rehydrated before blending or used as-is. Our pasilla powder takes less effort overall and incorporates a highly concentrated pasilla flavor that is through the roof! Try our dried, ground pasilla chile powder for yourself.