# Guajillo Shrimp Tacos w/ Chile de Arbol Sauce (Bachelor Week)



## xray (Nov 11, 2019)

Another planned meal that I wanted to make for bachelor week was shrimp tacos. I've made these before as posted here: https://www.smokingmeatforums.com/threads/grilled-shrimp-tacos-taco-tuesday.276241/

The only difference is I decided to skip the avocado tomato salsa and try out a Chile de Arbol Sauce. The shrimp were prepared the same way and the sauce was adapted from Tacolicious. The sauce is an orange sauce found at West Coast Taquerias, most notably La Vic's.  I've never been to the west coast or had their tacos, but I really liked how this sauce came out.  Recipe at the end of the post.

*16-20 size shrimp thawed, peeled and marinated in Guajillo pepper adobo*. I get this from Wegman's.







*Shrimp was marinated for 8 hours and then grilled:*






*Shrimp all done:*






Tacos were assembled using grilled corn tortillas, cilantro, onion and the Arbol sauce. Then I topped with a little queso fresco. I wanted to keep these simple.

*Guajillo shrimp tacos:*
















These were very good. They were actually pretty spicy with the guajillo marinade. I really liked the Chile de Arbol sauce. It had a very creamy texture even though there was no dairy.  Here's the recipe.

*Chile de Arbol Sauce:*

4 Roma tomatoes, halved
2 small onions, sliced into thick slices
1/2c. packed dried Arbol chiles, destemmed and somewhat seeded
2 dried New Mexican chiles, destemmed and seeded
5 garlic cloves
3/4c. Vegetable Oil
1/3c. Apple Cider Vinegar
1/2c. Hot water
1TBSP Kosher salt

1.Remove stems and seeds from dried chiles.






2. Slice tomatoes in half and slice onions into thick slices. Place under a broiler or onto a grill until charred.






3. Heat 1TBSP Vegetable oil in a pan and lightly toast chiles and garlic, about 2-3minutes. Take care not to burn garlic or chiles.






4. After toasting chiles, add contents of pan into a blender. Add 1/2 cup hot water and 1/3 apple cider vinegar. Let chiles sit for 10 minutes to soften. After 10 minutes, add roasted tomatoes and onions and accumulated juices from the baking sheet. Add 1 TBSP kosher salt and blend until finely pureed.






5. After mixture is pureed. Slowly add 3/4c. vegetable oil while blending to emulsify sauce. Continue blending until desired texture and smoothness. This took me about 4-5 minutes.






6. Finished sauce was put in a squeeze bottle. Here's how much it made.







Thanks for looking.

Joe


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## chilerelleno (Nov 11, 2019)

Damn Joe!
You're killing it!
Absolutely stunning meal and StepXStep w/ great pics.
*Like!*


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## zwiller (Nov 11, 2019)

OMG Looks incredible!  Big shrimp taco fan.   

Timely post.  Playing with some chili powders tonight!  I really want to like guajillo...  Bright, smokey, and citrusy BUT just too hot for a base.  Ancho is too weak on its own.  Looking at NM red.   In the end I will probably need to build a blend.


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## radioguy (Nov 11, 2019)

X,  this looks delicious.   Shrimp tacos are on my list.   Sauce looks
simple but tasty.

RG


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## motocrash (Nov 11, 2019)

Great cook and tutorial thread!


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## chef jimmyj (Nov 11, 2019)

This looks great. The Arbor Sauce I would enjoy...JJ


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## Sowsage (Nov 11, 2019)

Wow that looks great! I love shrimp! That sauce has got to be killer! Nice job!


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## jcam222 (Nov 11, 2019)

Man you killed it again!! These make my mouth water. I’d have to have at least 3 :)


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## SmokinAl (Nov 12, 2019)

Man those look good Joe!
Thanks for posting the recipe, going to bookmark this!
Al


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## Smokin' in AZ (Nov 12, 2019)

Xray those look very nice! Love taco night.

LIKE!

John


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## xray (Nov 12, 2019)

chilerelleno said:


> Damn Joe!
> You're killing it!
> Absolutely stunning meal and StepXStep w/ great pics.
> *Like!*





radioguy said:


> X,  this looks delicious.   Shrimp tacos are on my list.   Sauce looks
> simple but tasty.
> 
> RG





motocrash said:


> Great cook and tutorial thread!
> View attachment 411307





chef jimmyj said:


> This looks great. The Arbor Sauce I would enjoy...JJ





Sowsage said:


> Wow that looks great! I love shrimp! That sauce has got to be killer! Nice job!




Thanks guys, they sure were good.


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## xray (Nov 12, 2019)

zwiller said:


> OMG Looks incredible!  Big shrimp taco fan.
> 
> Timely post.  Playing with some chili powders tonight!  I really want to like guajillo...  Bright, smokey, and citrusy BUT just too hot for a base.  Ancho is too weak on its own.  Looking at NM red.   In the end I will probably need to build a blend.



Thank you zwiller. Are you toasting and grinding your own powders?

I always use a combination of different chiles when making powder. I commonly use a mixture of ancho, guajillo and pasilla chiles.  I don't measure, I just make a powder according to the number of chiles that I grind up.  I use 4 ancho, 2 guajillo and 2 pasilla when making a powder. If I want more heat, I add arbol chiles to the mix.


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## xray (Nov 12, 2019)

chef jimmyj said:


> This looks great. The Arbor Sauce I would enjoy...JJ



It has a mild heat and it's not too overpowering. There's actually a creaminess to the sauce that if you tasted it you would think there's sour cream in it. 

I've been using it on everything now. I just had some over my eggs for breakfast.


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## zwiller (Nov 12, 2019)

I am not hardcore and just using the pre ground powders (Spice House).  Thanks for the blend advice!  Chili powder was a game changer for me.  I slowly started blending it in my stuff and eventually substituted it for paprika for years now.  Just starting to explore it further.  One thing I found odd was how similar Guajillo and Chipotle were.  Guajillo was just as smokey and hot.  I did not expect that and expected Guajillo to be both less hot and smokey.


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## xray (Nov 12, 2019)

jcam222 said:


> Man you killed it again!! These make my mouth water. I’d have to have at least 3 :)



Thanks jcam, I remember you saying you perk up when it come to tacos...hope I didn’t disappoint.

I was stuffer from 4!


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## xray (Nov 12, 2019)

SmokinAl said:


> Man those look good Joe!
> Thanks for posting the recipe, going to bookmark this!
> Al



Thanks Al! This is a quick weeknight meal. 



Smokin' in AZ said:


> Xray those look very nice! Love taco night.
> 
> LIKE!
> 
> John



Thanks John, Taco Tuesday was a day early. I was happy with these! Thanks for the like.


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## xray (Nov 12, 2019)

zwiller said:


> I am not hardcore and just using the pre ground powders (Spice House).  Thanks for the blend advice!  Chili powder was a game changer for me.  I slowly started blending it in my stuff and eventually substituted it for paprika for years now.  Just starting to explore it further.  One thing I found odd was how similar Guajillo and Chipotle were.  Guajillo was just as smokey and hot.  I did not expect that and expected Guajillo to be both less hot and smokey.



I’ve really enjoyed grinding my own chili powders the past two years. It is head and shoulders above the store bought stuff. 

And it’s actually not expensive either. Some local stores around me carry a good selection. Most of the bags are $2-3. 

I bought a big 1lb.  bag of anchos 2 years ago off of Amazon. I think I paid like $15. I still have them. I put them in  ziplock bags and keep them in the freezer. Then I just pull out what I need.

If I make a powder, I’ll let them sit out a few minutes until they’re pliable again, deseed and throw them in the oven to toast them and then grind.


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## chilerelleno (Nov 12, 2019)

Joe, what are you using to grind your chiles?


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## xray (Nov 12, 2019)

chilerelleno said:


> Joe, what are you using to grind your chiles?



John, I use an electric coffee/spice grinder.  This is what I have:






I'm able to grind to a fine powder with this unit.  They only downsides are that it is a fixed bowl model, so I could only grind small batches at a time and it's a pain in the ass to clean.

I'm actually thinking about buying a new one. I've had this one for about 7 years.

 I would prefer a removable bowl model. I remember seeing a ghost pepper post by Holly2015 where he used a ninja attachment. That one looked pretty cool.


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## gmc2003 (Nov 13, 2019)

Joe those look great, and a whole heap better then my first attempt at a taco. Thanks for posting the how-to. 

Point for sure
Chris


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## xray (Nov 13, 2019)

gmc2003 said:


> Joe those look great, and a whole heap better then my first attempt at a taco. Thanks for posting the how-to.
> 
> Point for sure
> Chris



Thank you Chris, that is high praise coming from you, I appreciate it. Thanks for the point too.


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## SmokinVOLfan (Nov 14, 2019)

Man cant believe I missed this one thanks for sending me the link. Those look absolutely amazing! We love doing shrimp tacos around here and that sauce you made looks delicious will have to give it a try!


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## xray (Nov 14, 2019)

SmokinVOLfan said:


> Man cant believe I missed this one thanks for sending me the link. Those look absolutely amazing! We love doing shrimp tacos around here and that sauce you made looks delicious will have to give it a try!



Thanks John, appreciate the kind words. Shrimp tacos are a favorite around here.


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## Hawging It (Nov 14, 2019)

xray said:


> Another planned meal that I wanted to make for bachelor week was shrimp tacos. I've made these before as posted here: https://www.smokingmeatforums.com/threads/grilled-shrimp-tacos-taco-tuesday.276241/
> 
> The only difference is I decided to skip the avocado tomato salsa and try out a Chile de Arbol Sauce. The shrimp were prepared the same way and the sauce was adapted from Tacolicious. The sauce is an orange sauce found at West Coast Taquerias, most notably La Vic's.  I've never been to the west coast or had their tacos, but I really liked how this sauce came out.  Recipe at the end of the post.
> 
> ...


Holy Moly. Can you mail me some of those. I will pay the shipping!!!


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## xray (Nov 14, 2019)

Hawging It said:


> Holy Moly. Can you mail me some of those. I will pay the shipping!!!



Thanks Hawg! I tried doing that before but the postman ate them


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