Copycat Chipotle Red Chimichurri Recipe

Chipotle unveiled its new sauce — red chimichurri — on September 30 in response to its customers' love of sauces and dips. Available for a limited time only, this red version of chimichurri is fresh and tangy, with cilantro cut by hand, roasted garlic, chile peppers, and citrus juice, and it's made in the restaurant every day. The sauce was created to pair with Chipotle's Carne Asada Burrito, Sofritas Bowl, and Chicken Bowl, but it's a versatile sauce that can also be paired with their tacos, quesadillas, salads, and build-your-own meals.

Recipe developer Michelle Bottalico has created a copycat version of Chipotle's Red Chimichurri sauce you can easily make at home. The steps start with roasting your own garlic and red bell pepper for the best taste. Both parsley and cilantro are finely chopped by hand before being combined with the roasted vegetables, chile pepper, spices, extra virgin olive oil, red wine vinegar, and lemon juice. Bottalico recommends using the best quality olive oil you can afford because the sauce is meant to be quite liquid from a lot of oil, and you will taste it. You can make this recipe faster with regular garlic, jarred roasted red peppers, and a food processor if needed, but consider the traditional method for better flavor, texture, and the satisfaction of making it from scratch.

There's no need to make a trip to a restaurant to enjoy a restaurant-quality sauce. Remember this recipe the next time you're looking for a delicious and versatile sauce you can put on just about everything.

The first steps of this recipe are for roasting garlic and bell pepper. You will need a head of garlic, olive oil, salt, and a red bell pepper. Grab some fresh parsley and cilantro, too. Cilantro tastes bad to some people for genetic reasons, and in that case, you can substitute more parsley. You will also need a red chile pepper (fresh or dried), smoked paprika, dried oregano, salt, black pepper, extra virgin olive oil, red wine vinegar, and freshly squeezed lemon juice.

Preheat the oven to 375 F.

Peel the very outer layers of garlic skin off the head of garlic, but don't remove enough to separate the cloves.

Slice off the top pointy end of the head of garlic so the tops of the cloves are visible.

Place a piece of aluminum foil on a baking sheet or roasting pan, followed by the head of garlic. Season with a drizzle of olive oil and a pinch of salt.

Fold up the aluminum foil to seal the garlic inside and roast for 50-60 minutes until the garlic is creamy and golden brown.

Remove the pan from the oven, transfer the foil packet to a wire rack, and set aside to cool until the garlic can be safely handled.

Meanwhile, raise the oven temperature to 450 F.

Line the pan with a new piece of foil and place the bell pepper on top.

When the oven is preheated, roast the pepper for 25-30 minutes, turning halfway through the cooking time, until tender, sunken, and lightly charred on both sides.

Remove the pepper from the oven and place it in a heat-safe bowl. Cover the bowl with a lid or a towel and let it steam for 10 minutes.

Remove the cover and set the pepper aside to cool until it can be handled.

While the pepper cools, chop the parsley and cilantro as finely as you can using a chef's knife or mezzaluna and place them in a bowl.

Unwrap the foil packet and squeeze the roasted garlic cloves out of the skin. Mince 4 of the cloves and add them to the bowl. Reserve the remaining cloves for another use.

When the pepper is cool, remove the skin, stem, and seeds.

Finely chop the roasted pepper and add it to the bowl.

Add the chile pepper, smoked paprika, oregano, salt, and black pepper to the bowl and stir well to mix.

Add the olive oil, vinegar, and lemon juice and carefully stir until well combined.

Set the chimichurri aside for 1-2 hours to develop more flavor before serving as desired. For the best flavor, let it sit out (or refrigerate) overnight.

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No one knows where chimichurri got its name, but fans don't seem to mind as they enjoy this delicious sauce, which can take many forms. The classic green version is generally made with ingredients such as parsley, olive oil, wine vinegar, garlic, oregano, chile pepper, paprika, lemon juice, and salt. Some people make green chimichurri with cilantro instead of parsley, and others use onion along with the garlic. If you're a fan of both herbs, you can choose to use half parsley and half cilantro for a more varied flavor, like we did in this recipe.

There's a garlicky version of green chimichurri that uses a whole head of garlic instead of a few cloves (but it's not roasted like we did here). Red chimichurri, like this one, calls for red bell pepper, while another red version is made with sun-dried tomatoes and raw red and green bell pepper. Onions or scallions are a nice addition to this tomato version.

To mix it up, feel free to use your preferred vinegar, whether that's red wine, white wine, apple cider, or balsamic vinegar. Additional herbs — fresh or dried — like thyme, basil, or tarragon, can add even more flavor. Finally, make it as hot as you like with fresh or dried chile pepper or chile powder, tone down the heat by using smoked paprika instead, or just sweet paprika if you're not a fan of heat.

This recipe calls for one whole roasted head of garlic and one roasted red bell pepper, but if you're going to fire up the oven, consider roasting more garlic and pepper at the same time. There are plenty of delicious ways to use the other pieces.

Roasted garlic is creamy and caramelized with a milder flavor than regular garlic. It also spreads like butter: Just spreading it on toasted bread is a delicious way to enjoy it. You can also blend it and add it to dressings like vinaigrette, pesto, and aioli. Consider blending it into a mayonnaise dressing to transform tuna salad with the flavor of roasted garlic. Using roasted garlic in soups and stews adds a lovely depth of flavor. Other tasty ideas are to stir it into mashed potatoes, add it to pasta sauce, serve it with roast chicken or roast potatoes, add it to pizza, stir it into compound butter, blend it in dips, and add it to casseroles or macaroni and cheese.

Roasted peppers can also be blended into dips like hummus and pesto. You can also add them to soups or blend them into a dairy or cashew cream sauce, which is terrific over pasta. Use them to top salads, pizza, or bruschetta, cook them in omelets, or add a layer of roasted peppers to sandwiches or wraps. They're also delicious eaten alone or as part of an appetizer spread.

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