Chipotle Cheddar Salad Dressing (Similar to Smashburger’s Baja Cobb Salad)

Once upon a time, I had a Groupon to Smashburger.  Somehow, I got in my head that it was for $25 instead of $12 and so I ordered their Baja Cobb salad to share with Jeremy in addition to the normal burgers and fries.  And then I realized the Groupon was for half as much as I thought and so I basically paid full price for the salad, which was fine because the salad was quite good.

After eating that yummy salad, I decided to try to recreate the dressing at home.  While I’ve only had the salad once and can’t definitively say “this is exactly like Smashburger’s Baja Cobb salad dressing”, I think it’s a pretty comparable dressing based on my recollection.  And even if it’s not, it’s really good!

It’s a creamy, slightly spicy dressing with some Tex Mex flavors.  It’s especially good on a salad topped with grilled chicken, and if you really want to recreate Smashburger’s Baja Cobb salad, you could add fresh tomatoes, green onions, jalapenos, and guacamole… Truly, then it’s amazing but if you just want a simple dressing that you can whip up with ingredients from the pantry, it’s a great dressing for “plain” salad, too.

Chipotle Cheddar Salad Dressing
(Similar to Smashburger’s Baja Cobb Salad)

Ingredients
1/4 mayonnaise
1/4 cup sour cream
1/4 cup shredded sharp cheddar cheese
1 tablespoon blended chipotle peppers in adobo sauce
1 tablespoon lime juice
Salt and pepper to taste

Yield: about 3/4 dressing; enough to dress 2-3 large heads of romaine

Instructions
Blend all ingredients and add salt and pepper to taste.

Notes:

The sour cream makes the consistency a little lighter, but you can use all mayo if desired.  If you don’t want to dirty a blender, you could simply whisk everything together.  (I personally use my immersion blender for all my salad dressings because it’s a cinch to clean up.)

This is best with a relatively sturdy lettuce, such as romaine or spinach.  I highly recommend tossing your salad greens with the dressing before serving – you will use much less dressing and each piece of lettuce will be nicely coated.  Just pour a little dressing on top of the lettuce in a large bowl, and use tongs to gently toss it together.  Add dressing a little bit at time until the lettuce is lightly coated.