Smoky Red Pepper Crema (2024)

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This smoky red pepper crema has a rich, smoky flavor that goes great with a wide variety of dishes. Add it to your tacos, mix it into pasta, dip tortilla chips (or fries) in it, use it as a topping for mashed potatoes, or spread it on sandwiches. This red pepper crema recipe is an incredibly versatile condiment that’s guaranteed to become your new favorite dipping sauce!

Smoky red crema is a classic Mexican sauce with red peppers or tomatoes, olive oil, and fresh herbs. It’s rich, slightly sweet, super smoky, and a little spicy too. It’s typically served as a condiment to accompany all kinds of dishes like these air fryer tortilla chips, sweet potato tacos, as a dip for these vegan roasted potatoes!

Traditional Mexican red sauces like this red pepper crema are an excellent accompaniment for chicken breast, fish, or for almost any vegetarian main dishes (even as a red pepper pasta sauce!)

While you can find a red pepper crema as a canned product in the Mexican aisle of your grocery store, making it fresh is always better. Not only is it healthier, but it allows you to tweak your sauce if you like it spicier, smokier or sweeter.

Simple ingredients are blended together to achieve a savory flavor that you can spice up as much as you like. Roasted bell pepper is the star of this recipe, and when blended together with the rest of this winning combination, the end result is hard to resist.

I love how this easy recipe can elevate any dish, no matter how simple and plain, and make it amazing. And the best thing is – it’s so easy to make!

👩🏽‍🍳 Why This Recipe Works

• Versatile sauce and condiment
• Can be made vegan
• Super smooth consistency
• Packed with smoky flavors
• The perfect way to add a lot of flavor using simple ingredients
• Can be made spicy
• Healthier than store bought crema!

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🥘 Ingredients

This easy red pepper crema requires just a handful of simple ingredients that you can find at most grocery stores (and may already be in your kitchen!). This homemade sauce will soon be a favorite recipe for your whole family.

• Red Bell Peppers: This roasted red pepper crema gets the bulk of its flavor from this ingredient. Red bell peppers also add a bit of sweetness to this sauce.
• Olive Oil: Olive oil helps accentuate the flavor of the red bell peppers as they roast.
• Sour Cream: The tangy flavor of sour cream adds to the traditional flavor of Mexican crema.
• Mayo: Mayo along with the sour cream makes this recipe rich, creamy and flavorful.
• Smoked Paprika: Smoked paprika has a smoky flavor with a little bit of spice and a little bit of sweetness.
• Garlic Powder: Garlic powder makes everything taste more delicious. A little garlic powder will add an intense, concentrated garlic flavor to this smoky red pepper crema recipe.
• Lime Juice: This ingredient is optional, but it adds a crisp, citrusy, and fresh flavor to this creamy sauce.

📖 Variations

• Smoky Red Pepper Crema Substitute: A good substitute for smoky red crema is to mix ingredients you probably already have on hand, such as sour cream with smoked paprika. To spice it up or for a little extra flavor, you can add something like cayenne pepper, black pepper, siracha sauce, or other hot sauces.
• Spicy Smoky Red Crema: If you love spicy food, you can easily add more spicy flavor by adding chili powder, cayenne pepper, white pepper, or hot sauce. A little goes a long way in this spicy crema so be sure to add small amounts at a time and do a taste test before adding more.
• Adobo Chipotle Crema: Adobo crema is made with chipotle peppers in adobo sauce. Chipotle peppers in adobo sauce are jalapeno peppers that have been smoked and dried. Adobo crema is a delicious sauce option with a light tangy and smoky flavor.
• Lower Calorie Crema: Use low fat or fat free sour cream, and light mayo for this recipe.
• Roasted Poblano Pepper Crema: Poblano peppers are a great option for a crema recipe. They fall somewhere in the middle of the level of spiciness of bell pepper, with zero spice, and jalapeño peppers. Roasted poblano peppers are even less spicy than using fresh poblano. To make this crema variation, use the same recipe but leave out the smoked paprika and red bell peppers and use poblano peppers instead.
• Vegan Red Pepper Crema: Make this sauce vegan the easy way by simply using vegan sour cream and vegan mayo.

🔪 Instructions

Preheat Oven, Roast Bell Peppers: Start preheating the oven to 375 degrees F / 190 C. Coat the bell peppers in the oil, place on a baking sheet and roast for 40 minutes. Turning half way to ensure even cooking.

Transfer Bell Peppers To A Bowl: Remove and place the peppers, while still hot into a bowl, and cover with plastic wrap.

Cool & Prep Roasted Bell Peppers: Allow the bell peppers to cool for 10-15 minutes. Remove the stems, seeds, and charred skin from the bell peppers and cut them into slices.

Dry Bell Peppers: Pat dry with kitchen paper towel.

Combine All Ingredients And Blend: Place all ingredients into a food processor and blend until smooth.

Serve: Adjust seasoning as needed, serve immediately.

❓Recipe FAQs

💭 Expert Tips

• Eat within five days. These fresh ingredients won’t taste the same after that.
• If your sauce is too thick, you can add a splash of water or vegetable stock to thin out the consistency. You can also change the consistency depending on what type of dish you’re using this for. For example, a dip would need a thicker consistency, while a dressing or pasta sauce could be slightly thinner.
• Crema must be stored in an airtight container. Don’t let air get into your crema while storing or it will spoil faster.
• Due to the dairy component, this recipe doesn’t freeze well.

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📋 Recipe Card

12 responses to “Smoky Red Pepper Crema”

1. it is after midnight and i don’t have any mayo, can i just use more sour cream?

   Reply

   • Hi Rose! You can certainly try, but the crema might turn out to be too sour or have the wrong consistency. I haven’t tested it with only sour cream so I can’t tell you for sure how it would taste. If you do try it with only sour cream let me know how it turns out, but if you have time to pick up the mayo tomorrow – I’d recommend using the mayo! Hope that helps!

     Reply

2. This dip is so versatile! Chips, carrots, etc – you name it! Plus, I love how creamy the sour cream makes it. Yum!

   Reply

   • Totally!! Thanks so much! 🙂

     Reply

   • Amazing base (I loaded mine with garlic and anchi chili powder), and one I’m bookmarking for future reference!
     I can’t wait until summer when I can roast the peppers over charcoal while I’m cooking the steak (that will be the recipent of the sauce). 🙂
     Thanks!!!

     Reply

     • Aw yay!! I’m so happy to hear that Bill – thanks for letting me know! 🙂

3. This crema was the perfect sauce to drizzle over our tacos. Loved the smokiness! I added a few dashes of hot sauce to spice it up even more. Thanks!

   Reply

   • Awesome! So happy to hear that Sharon – thanks for letting me know!

     Reply

4. Tomorrow is taco night and I am excited to try this delicious red pepper crema. I know it will be a hit!

   Reply

   • Yay! This works great on tacos – I’m sure you will love it!

     Reply

5. Oh wow… this is one of the best crema recipes that I have ever seen! That smoky flavor must be amazing!

   Reply

   • Awesome!! Yes it really is and it tastes good with so many dishes! Enjoy!

     Reply