Gluten Free Chipotle Sauce Recipe (Gum-Free and Tomato-Free)

If you are looking for gluten-free chipotle sauce, this super easy and quick recipe will work perfectly. It is not only safe for those who are gluten intolerant, but it’s delicious. I also list my research results on the ingredients, from when I contacted the manufacturers.

Story Behind the Recipe and What’s Safe to Consume

I fell in love with Bufalo Chipotle Salsa Sauce, but I can’t find it anymore. So, I created this homemade chipotle sauce that tastes the same. It’s thick, hot, and slightly sweet chipotle sauce that I use in guacamole and many other recipes. I am allergic to tomatoes, and this one is tomato-free. However, it’s difficult to find nowadays. The worse part is that the parent company, Hormel Foods, could not verify whether it was it made at the same time as gluten products. They could only tell me that they clean their equipment thoroughly to prevent cross-contact with gluten. All their customer service rep could tell me was that the ingredients are gluten-free. She stated that they use a highly effective cleaning process to clean their machines and lines to avoid cross-contact with allergens.

I spent several hours researching other brands of chipotle sauce and couldn’t find any safe sauce that is similar to the one I had been using.

I considered using canned chipotles. La Costena brand is gluten free, but for me, it was a no-go as it contained tomatoes. Plus, it wasn’t just chipotles, all of the brands I found were cooked in an adobo sauce.

Then I decided to research whether or not McCormick made a ground chipotle pepper. Sure enough, they do! It’s called, Chipotle Chile Pepper. It’s part of their Gourmet Collection. I ordered some and love it! It has a smoky flavor.

I know that all of McCormick’s single ingredient spices are gluten-free. However, this one contains more than one ingredient. So, I contacted them to ensure it was safe. This is what they had to say,

McCormick^® uses “Plain English” allergen labeling to communicate our product ingredients to our consumers. Gluten is listed as “wheat”, “barley”, “rye”, “oats”, “spelt”, “triticale”, “kamut” or any protein containing part thereof and hybridized strains of these grains in our ingredient statements. This labeling policy adheres to the Food Allergen Labeling and Consumer Protection Act (FALCPA) of 2004.

If a product does not have an ingredient statement, it is a pure spice or herb with nothing added and contains no added glutens. In addition, our retail extracts and Food Colors are gluten free. Currently, we do not offer a list of our products that do not contain glutens. We encourage you to read the ingredient statement on your package at the time of purchase to ensure accurate, up to date information.

Since there are no gluten ingredients in the ingredients listed on my bottle, it’s safe!

While you may not react to Bufalo Chipotle Sauce, I didn’t want to recommend it in my cookbook if I wasn’t sure it was safe. (I include a list of gluten-free brands for the ingredients I use in the book.) If you are highly intolerant to gluten, consider making your own gluten free chipotle sauce (see recipe below).

Since Bufalo brand chipotle sauce only includes a few ingredients, I decided to give a homemade version a try. During my first attempt, I added xanthan gum as the Bufalo brand contained it. While it turned out just like theirs, a bit gummy and always clogging up the neck of the bottle, I knew I could do better.

During my second attempt, I tossed the xanthan gum idea and use potato starch instead. The texture was smooth, just incredible! I didn’t want to waste the other one. So, I combined the two. The texture was still great. However, I think I’ll stick with the potato starch in the future. There’s enough gum in my baked goods. I only like to use it when necessary.

Without further ado, here is my homemade gluten free chipotle sauce recipe.